White wolf

  I smile as I have my eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the autumn sun on my face. It has been a few days since I could last feel it’s warmth on my skin. Luna Rachel knew just how to punish me any time I broke one of her rules. Locking me away in the damn dungeon cell wasn’t the worst she could do, but it was the hardest to live with. This time I had not gotten the right dress pressed for the dinner she and her mate, the head of the blue moon pack, Alpha Raul, were attending with other particularly important Alphas and their Lunas. The morning of the dinner she had told me to have her favorite black beaded off the shoulders cocktail dress pressed perfectly. When she had entered her room that evening to get dressed, I had been starting dinner for the pack members in the kitchen when I suddenly heard a loud scream coming from the second story of the pack house. I knew right away it was Luna Rachel and rushed up to see what had happened. As I ran up the large marble staircase that ran up the middle of the mansion, I could hear Rachel screaming and crying to Alpha Raul about me not listening to her orders.  “I specifically told her about the blue Valentino dress Raul! She’s trying to ruin us! Blue is Alpha Azrael's favorite color. She needs to pay Raul!” She said while pointing at me at the top step of the staircase, trying to blend in with the wall.   Alpha Raul glared at me angrily to the point that you could almost see steam coming out of his ears. “Come here mutt.” he grits through his teeth.   I bow my head, keeping my eyes to the ground as I tentatively closed the distance between them and me on the cold dark marble floor. I stood in front of the alpha, who was no larger than the average human male at five foot nine, which was strange for an alpha from what I'd heard from other pack members.   As I stood there with my eyes on the floor and warning once white sneakers, I prepared myself for his usual violent outburst. “How many times do you have to be told before you learn to listen mutt? How many times do you have to be punished before you learn? You seem to enjoy being locked away.”   He roughly grabs my left arm and shakes me violently. “You could cost us our entire pack mutt!” I’ve learned many years ago that fighting back or even making a sound would only make the punishment worse, so I scream or cry as he squeezes my under nourished arm painfully and gives it a violent shake.  “I think you need a f*****g reminder of your place in this f*****g pack mutt.” As he pushes me down the staircase, I remain silent even as I hit the bottom and know I’ve broken my wrist again along with some other cuts and bruises. As I lay at the bottom broken and in pain, the alpha and Luna both stood at the top glaring at me “This had better be the last f**k up mutt."   I knew the alpha's punishment, no matter how harsh, nothing was compared to the Lunas. I’d always wondered why he wasn’t as cruel to me as she was. It was almost as if the alpha was protecting me in a way. While lying on the cold hard marble floor, I heard the Luna call for the guards to take me down the basement dungeons. I didn’t have time to see who exactly was dragging me down to my usual cell before I passed out from the pain. The last thing I remember seeing is the look in the alpha's mahogany brown eyes. He looked almost sorry for a moment before turning his attention back to his grinning mate.  When I woke up a few hours later, the cuts and bruises had healed but my wrist would take a little longer, but I was used to that. I’d learned to take care of my own wounds after the Luna forbade the pack doctor from treating me when I was ten and was caught speaking to other children, so I was whipped as punishment. Now, at eighteen, I didn’t even know what my own voice sounded like.  When I was finally released from the pitch-black damp cell a few days later by a pack guard, I was told to clean up and get back to my duties. That was last night around midnight, and I had stayed up all night putting the packhouse back in order cleaning after it had become a complete disaster while I was locked away.   It was just after noon, and I had finally caught up on all the cleaning and cooking that had piled up and was now enjoying a moment of peace in the sun. It was the only thing that gave me peace, at least for a moment. But my peace had always allowed the tormented questions of my past to creep into my mind. The questions running in my mind were more painful than any punishment I had ever endured in my entire life. They were the only things that could still bring me to tears. Who was I? How did I end up here like this? The Luna had once told me that I was abandoned in the woods by my mother as a baby because I was a shameful secret she had to keep from the world. My mother knew that I would always be nothing and, to save herself embarrassment, she left me to die in rouge territory but that a guard had found me and brought me back to the pack house where the alpha took pity on me. But was any of that the truth? Not knowing hurts worse than any broken bones or wound.   My peace was interrupted as a guard ordered me to clean up, meaning shower and change, then meet the alpha in his office in 20 minutes. I rushed into the back door of the back house that opened to the kitchen, then into the make shift room I was given in the laundry room. Being the alpha's personal maid, they wanted me as close as possible. The laundry room held a small cot that I slept on. I had managed to rescue a few pieces of clothing from the trash that I stored in a box under my bed along with a pillow and a thin worn-out blanket that had a few large holes in it.  After showering quickly, I ran my fingers through my waist-length raven hair pulled a faded grey t-shirt and baggy blue jeans out of my box of clothes, pulling them on as quickly as possible before rushing to the alpha's office. I had already knocked on the door before I had noticed I'd forgotten my shoes.  “Come in mutt.” As I entered the large conference room that held a fifteen-foot black and gold marble table in the center, I kept my eyes cast down at my bare feet, hoping no one would notice. I noticed the Luna sitting at the table to the alphas left near the gold floor to ceiling bookcase as the alpha sat at the head of the table in his oversized chair fit for a king. The room felt dark and cold with all the black marble and gold decorating it. For that matter, so did the entire house. The Luna decorated it so that anyone who entered would know that they were a rich pack. “Power is everything” she’d once said. I guess that explains why she rules over the pack as if she was a cruel queen. This was her castle, and the pack were her subjects. Leaving me to be her slave.   I could feel Luna Rachel glaring at me as I stood just inside the doorway. “I trust you’ve learned your lesson mutt?” I quickly nodded my head. “Good. We have an important guest arriving this evening. He will be with his beta and will be staying a few days. . I want you to prepare your best Italian dish for dinner before leaving the house for the night. While Alpha Azrael and his beta are here, I want you completely out of sight. The last thing we need is to answer questions about the mutt we took. I want you to prepare each meal before anyone is awake so that all the omegas must do is heat them up and serve them. You are to stay in the tool shed near the lake while they are there. Show your face once while they're here and I will make you wish you were f*****g dead. Do you understand me mutt?” I gave him another silent answer. “Go now. They will be here around five and I want you out of the packhouse before then.”  I quickly bowed and rushed out of the room to begin my preparations because I only had less than four hours before the guest arrived. I began preparing my favorite authentic Italian dishes; ribollita, Tortelli and ravioli, focaccia, Fiorentina, arrosticini and gelato for dessert. By the time the meal was done, I had two hours left to get both rooms ready for alpha Azrael and his beta, then leave the packhouse. Over the years, I have prepared so many rooms for guests that I could do it in my sleep at this point.  But for some reason my wolf felt anxious and was pacing back and forth in my head all day. What was up with her? I had no idea, but I had a feeling I would find out soon enough.   By the time I was finally done with everything, I had ten minutes to get my things and head into the woods to the toolshed. I got to the edge of the woods that surrounded the grounds when a large blacked out SUV pulled up the front door of the mansion. It must be the alpha Azrael and his beta. I try to make my way through the woods as unnoticed as possible. I pass a few guards on my way to my temporary lodgings but they don’t really pay me any mind. Why would they? I'm just a pack mutt. I was honestly excited to be away from the packhouse for the night. It's been an exceedingly long time since I last had a break from the alpha and Lunas' constant torture. It had only gotten worse now that she was eighteen.  Usually, werewolves would pick a mate at my age, but no one would ever dare to pick the pack's favorite punching bag as a mate. Why not just run away? And what, become another packs b***h? No thank you. At least here I knew what to expect. Out there, who knows what is waiting for me? No, my wolf wouldn’t let me leave no matter how many times I had wanted to in the past. For some reason, she needed me to stay here in this hell at least for now.   As I made my bed out of a couple of forgotten patio lounge chairs that had seen better days, I decided to make up for the night's sleep I had missed cleaning. I lay on the chairs, closed my eyes and focused on the sounds of the woods and the sun began to set. The deer that made their way east about two miles away. The constant crip of crickets and other bugs. The owl hooting not too far from the opposite side of the lake. I let the woodland lullaby lull me to sleep peacefully for the first time since I could remember.                                                                   Azrael   Sometimes I f*****g hate my job, this being one of those times. As head of the werewolf council, I had the unpleasant pleasure of visiting packs to ensure they were following our laws and keeping the human world completely ignorant of the supernatural world. For the past fifteen years, since my father passed down the title to me. Sure, there were hiccups here and there, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. Then a few years ago, we’d begun to notice a decline in natural matting and, as a result, fewer pups had been born.  We managed to figure out what was causing the problem, which was why I was here in the goddess-forsaken part of the world near the Canadian border. The council, which consisted of seven members, figured out that the blue moon pack had broken with wolf tradition and had a pack entirely consisting of chosen mates only. Not allowing pack members to find their true mates had damaged the entire werewolf community. After inviting alpha Raul and his chosen mate to dinner to explain to the council how they’ve managed to implement this rule in their pack, if it is working for them, why was it so damaging to the rest of our packs? The alpha had assured the council that their pack was happy and thriving. That insurance only led the council to agree to see it for themselves. Which is why I am here now. Only, I felt off since about a mile away from the packhouse.   I felt as if my wolf was restlessly pacing back and forth whimpering. He was giving me a f*****g headache. As I sigh aloud, I catch the attention of Damien, my beta, in the passenger seat and he gives me a curious look. “You all, right? You look like you're about to come out of your skin. You, the council, only agreed to this to get you to see if your mate is here, right? They're really getting desperate, aren't they?”   I feel my wolf stop in his tracks at the mention of our mate and I know right away why felt before he can even utter the word. “Fuuuucckk.”   Damien's head c***s his head to the side, confused for a moment, but quickly catches on. He grins at me. “She’s here, isn't she?”   I scratched the back of my neck. “Drago’s been going ape s**t for a while now and I couldn’t f*****g figure out why until you said our mate. He can feel her close.”   Daimen had a concerned look on his face. “What if she’s part of the blue moon pack and they won't let you take her?”  Drago takes out for a moment and chuckles “Let them try.” As we pull up to the gates of the blue moon pack lands Drago begins to claw at me to take control again, but I deny him. We need to be calm if we want to find our mate in a pack that only mated for power and money.  When we pull up to the front of the pack house Alpha Raul and Luna Rachel are already waiting with a few servants. Damien mind links with me when we see the outfit the Luna is wearing. “Does she plan on trying to distract you from finding your mate by wearing that? If Kali saw her, she’d lose her s**t and rip her throat out on the spot.”  We both exit the SUV and come face to face with Raul and his barely dressed mate. The woman wore a scrap of hot pink cloth that hugged her thin frame and was being held together by thin pieces of string. Between her outfit and overdone makeup, she looked more like a spoiled rich girl that was trying too hard to get noticed. It was strange. Luna’s traditionally acted as mothers of the pack, taking care of its members, making sure everyone was comfortable. I had a feeling that Luna Rachel was far from the motherly type. Which only added to my pile of questions I already had. Who exactly was keeping this pack running? Both Alpha and Luna both smile brightly at us.   “Alpha Azrael, it's good to have you both here! We’re excited to show you how well our pack is doing.” Just as I'm about to respond to Raul I get hit by the most amazing smell. I know right away that it's my mate and her lavender and cedarwood scent is coming from inside the open front door.   My beta quickly answers for me before either of them can notice something is off. I didn’t trust anyone here and letting anyone know my mate was here would put her in danger. My enemies would gladly kill her to weaken me.  “We’re interested to learn exactly how your pack works Alpha.” I nod my head in agreement with Damien. Luna Rachel gives me a flirtatious smile then links her arm in mine. I must stop Drago from ripping her arm off because she wasn’t our mate.  “I'm sure you must be exhausted from your trip. Why don’t I show you to your room alpha Azrael? Why don’t I show you both to your rooms so you can freshen up while dinner is being prepared?” I give her a silent nod because I know that if I speak one word, I'd tell her to keep her damn hands off of me and show me to my mate immediately.   I mind link Damien letting him know to keep an eye out for any unmarked females. Which he reminds me of the fact that we were in a pack of chosen mates and my mate could possibly be mated already. f**k! That complicated things.   After being shown to our rooms I noticed my mate's scent was lingering in the air all around me. She was in my room at some point. I give the air a long pull through my nose. Her scent alone calmed me and excited me all at the same time. I had to find her. By the how strong her scent was still in the air, she had left not long before we had arrived. I needed to find her, but I needed to do it quietly.   About a half hour later an omega in a maid's uniform collects both Damien and I for dinner. While walking down the tacky marble staircase I speak to my beta through our mind link. “We need to find my mate as quietly as possible. We’ll continue our mission but keep an eye on her until it is time to leave. I don’t trust Alpha Raul. If he found out that my mate is part of his pack, he could use her as leverage against us or even kill her to weaken us. Once I find her, I want you keep a close eye on her. I will come up with something as a cover.”   As we enter the gold and white formal dining room Raul and Rachel where already seated speaking quietly to each other but stopped as Raul noticed our entrance.  “Alpha. Beta. Please have a seat. We’ve had an authentic Italian dinner prepared tonight.” Damien and I take seats at the large round marble table on the opposite side.   Luna Rachel smirks and leans towards me resting her arms on the table propping up her breasts trying to obviously distract me. That was one of many red flags on my radar. True mates were fiercely loyal to one another and would never flirt with anyone other than their mate.  “So, we were thinking that you would like to visit with some of the families in the pack tomorrow. We have a few couples in mind...” I quickly cut her off “We’ll observe the pack as it runs it day to day activities uninterrupted tomorrow. It’s important to the council that we see it in its natural state.”  Alpha and Luna share a concerned look before smiling as if nothing was wrong and nodding. “They're hiding something.” Damien mind links me.   As the food is brought out, I situate the cloth napkin on my lap “The sooner we find out what it is and where my mate is, the sooner we can get the hell out of here. Have the council guard on alert. If s**t goes sideways at any point, I want you to get my mate out of here.”   Dinner carries on with both alpha and Luna trying to impress us, but I could see that they were hiding something. After we retired to our rooms following dinner I change out of my suit and into a pair of black jeans and t-shirt to match. I was going to find my mate tonight. As I open the heavy wood door, I listen for anyone in the hallway. It was just before midnight and most of the house was already asleep. I could hear the guards outside patrolling, but the house was still. My wolf senses allowed me to silently make my way through the house as I followed my mates scent. The closer I got to the kitchen the stronger the scent of lavender got. As I stood in the white and gold chef style kitchen there wasn't a place that she hadn't touched. But the smell became even stronger as I made my way to the small laundry room just off the kitchen. I noticed a small worn-out cot sitting opposite the washer and dryer and bent down to smell it. To my surprise it held the strongest scent of my mate. This is where she sleeps. How could they keep her in a laundry room? Then it hit me she must be an omega. But Luna’s were normally stronger than omegas. Something was wrong. I had to find her. But why wasn’t she here in her makeshift room right now? Where was she? Raul must have been hiding her someone. Keeping her out of sight but why? My wolf furiously paced back and forth in my mind. He wanted out to find her and I couldn’t agree more.   Rushing out of the back door that led to the woods that surrounded the pack land, I quickly shift and dart off into the woods. I ran about a half a mile before picking up her scent near a lake. The closer I got the stronger her scent became and the louder the voices became.   Once I came to a tool shed where Alpha Rauls voice was coming from, I stayed down wind and out of sight. My jet-black fur made it easy to blend in with the shadows the woods created in the light of the moon.  “I need this man to be happy. Your diner was a complete failure! I want your best recipes tomorrow. Do you understand me?! If there’s even one thing you manage to f**k up, I swear I will give you to the guards to play with however the feel like. And if you manage to survive, I will let Rachel do with you what she pleases. We both know she will enjoy killing you slowly. Now have everything done by dawn before anyone is awake.” The alpha storms out of the shed naked and shifts into his brown wolf then running off towards the pack house.   Raul was abnormally small for an Alpha. Usually, alphas were around six foot or taller and their wolves were massive. But Raul was the average height of a human. Which meant he wasn’t full-blooded werewolf. I silently make my way closer to the shed when I didn’t hear anything inside.   I shift before making my way to the small window and look inside. I could see a small figure seated with her back to the window. “Mate.” Drago purrs for a moment before we see that she’s wiping blood from her face with a scrap of cloth. “He hurt mate! I’ll rip his f*****g throat out!” Drago growls in my head. “If we don't calm down, we could scare her. We must think before we act. If they find out that she’s the mate of the head of the werewolf council, they could hurt her or worse.” Drago goes still in my head “She’s safe for tonight. We’ll go back to the house and...” Just then we see her turn her head and smell the air. She was beautiful. Her long hair sat in soft curls down to the middle of her back. Her small nose sat just above her perfectly kissable lips. But it was her eyes that surprised me. I’d never seen a wolfs eyes glow blue the way they were just then. Wolfs eyes were only ever gold or silver at night. The only wolves to ever have glowing blue eyes in our history were the original werewolves, white wolves. White wolves were taken out by my ancestors due to their abilities hundreds of years ago. There weren't any white wolves left in existence. What was she then?  I had to get her the hell out of this place so I could figure it out. I back up into the shadows again and hide far enough away that I could keep an on her if she was in trouble without being notice. I watched the tool shed, listening for any movement inside for a while before she finally walks out the door. I was down wind so she wouldn’t catch my scent as I follow her up to the pack house.   As she gracefully makes her way through the woods, I notice her clothing is worn, patched up and baggy. Which told me that she was probably an omega in the pack. But then I thought back to the omegas who had served us since we’d arrived. They all seem to being in good health and well dressed. Was that just for show? I saw that we were now at the back of the pack house, and she took her shoes off by the back door leaving them outside as she entered the kitchen. I stood outside the window and watched as my stunningly gorgeous mate began pulling out ingredients, pots and pans and began cooking. She was the one who did all the cooking in the pack. She had made all my favorite Italian dishes for dinner. But how did she know? I mean everyone know I loved Italian food but only my parents knew the exact dishes were my favorites. I watched as my mate made her way towards the laundry room but then comes to a halt just in the doorway and take a long pull of the air through her nose. f**k! She could smell my scent from when I had followed her scent earlier. I could see her body stiffen for a moment but then to my surprise she just shook her head and continued into the room and begin shorting laundry. Something was defiantly different with her. Usually when we get just the tiniest hint of our mate our wolves know right away and hunt the owner of its delicious smell down. Our wolves don’t calm down until we find our mates. But she was acting as if it was nothing new to her.  After beginning a load of dark laundry, she continues to check on whatever was in the oven. By the smell of it, it was a roast seasoned perfectly with rosemary. I watch as her small figure lifted as she rose on her toes to reach something in a top cabinet. The oversized long sleeve of the grey top fell to her elbow and that was when I noticed bruises on her wrist. I couldn’t help but growl at the thought of someone hurting my mate. I notice her stiffen at the sound and quickly move away from the window before she can turn. I listen as her heart beats quickly as if she was startled for a moment. Then I strain to hear her movements as she moves from the kitchen into the main hallway of the house.   I quickly make my way into the kitchen and up the back stairs up to the second floor as I listen to her move around on the main floor cleaning. When I get to my room I dress while continuing to listen for my mate's heartbeat. I decide to sit against my bedroom door and listen to her cook and clean until the sun rose the following morning. Then I watched her from the large window in the room as she makes her way back into the woods probably headed back to the tool shed by the lake but not before she stops just at the forest edge. She turns back towards the house and gives it one last heartbreakingly sad look. I wanted to rush out to her and pull her into my arms but stopped myself. And she made her way back through the forest.  When she was out of sight I begin dressing in my navy-blue suit while mind linking my beta. “Damien. Get up.” I hear him yawn through the thin walls in the bedroom next to mine as I button my white dress shirt.   “It’s a little early for a meeting right now boss. How about some coffee first.” I ignore him.   “I found my mate last night, but something is off with her. I need you to go and watch over her while I take care of Raul. Under no circumstance is she to know you're there until I tell you to bring her do you understand?”  Damien gets s out of bed and begins to dress. “What is it Azrael?”