Bound To The Supreme Alpha

2- Not who I thought I was

Anja

It’s cold, for Dania, at least. I can take the cold; my body keeps heat more than my small sister. I wrap the large blanket I managed to steal from one of the surrounding houses tighter around Dania. She’s shivering, and her lips are blue.

I lay behind her under this massive tree in the forest; my arms wrapped tightly around her tiny body. Hopefully, my body heat will help me keep Dania alive through the night.

It’s hard trying to keep someone alive out in the wilderness, especially a human. Dania needs to be somewhere warm, with people who will love and care for her, but I don’t know where the hell to take her.

Dania and I were banished from our pack two weeks ago after the man, whom I believed was my father, found out that I wasn’t his child.

Okay, that’s a lie. I was banished, Dania was not; I pretty much abducted her. Correction, I did abduct her.

I had waited all my life for the day I would come of age and be able to shift. All I wanted was to be the Bear I knew I was inside.

The day I had been waiting for finally arrived, and the high council gathered the pack around the massive fire burning brightly. The Nightshade Clan had always been big on parading around first-time shifters. There was nothing seedy in it, but to the King, it was a time to celebrate the younger generation becoming adults.

I was a late bloomer, years later than everyone else, which was unheard of for a Princess of Nightshade.

Males shift by the age of fifteen, females by sixteen. Some can shift as early as thirteen; both males and females have done so. However, those who shift at such an early age are born for combat, strong in ways most will never be. They are then trained for battle and thrust into the King’s Army whether they want it or not.

My elder brother, Brody, shifted at the age of twelve, which was nothing new for a Royal Family member. Everyone was so proud of Brody, and he soon began his combat training.

It was not required for my brother to train for such a thing, but that’s what Brody wanted. It wasn’t long before Brody was leading the King’s troops, and he was feared throughout Bear Clan’s everywhere.

When I didn’t shift at twelve like my brother, the elders told Leopold that it was not such a big deal. Not all Royals will shift so young.

However, when I still hadn’t shifted at eighteen, the King and his people began to believe that I had no bear or that I was too weak to release the animal within. It made the King look weak for producing such a disappointment, thus meaning Leopold was ashamed of me.

He never mistreated me, though he made sure to let me know how ashamed he was. I was the cause of the whispers from Nightshade’s people. I was the girl without a bear, and I was nothing like them.

The council called a meeting where Elder Jones pointed out that grief can cause the bear to shrink away for some time. I had lost my mother, our Queen, and it had affected me deeply. If the Bear had gone into hibernation, it could take years for her to awaken. He also said that forcing the bear out would never work; she can only arise when she is ready.

The Elders agreed that this is what had happened and that I should be given time to recover. Each person agreed that they could sense the bear within me and that they knew how powerful I was. I was no shrinking violet, and I could hold my own.

So, of course, when I went to the King and explained how I could feel the bear inside clawing to get out, excitement filled the castle.

Transformation night was even more special because the Princess was finally transforming. The clan would all soon see just how strong their Princess could be.

My older brother, my best friend, explained that I had nothing to fear, and soon, everything would be as it should.

I stood in front of that fire, my beautiful white dress that hit the floor, swishing around my ankles in the slight breeze. I was so proud, so happy.

My fiancé watched with a proud smile on his face as the change began to take over me. I’d been told how the first change would consume me, that I wouldn’t feel the difference, but as soon as the bear inside of me was set free, I’d know what true freedom was.

I lost everything that night, my friends, family, and fiancé. I would never be the same, forever altered and unloved.

I never loved Christopher, but I was betrothed to him the moment I was born, the way my mother was to Leopold.

The clan didn’t care much for bonding when you were Royalty; if you found your mate and bonded great.

If not?

Tough shi.t.

As a Princess, a mate was chosen for me. I wasn’t allowed to find someone of my own. It was what was expected of me as the daughter of the King.

Christopher and I were friends, but love and bonding never came into it. Yet, it still hurt that he turned his back on me.

I thought I meant something to him; I thought we were friends. But it turns out that I meant nothing to him at all. All that mattered to Christopher was standing and what he looked like in the eyes of the people.

My father was the King, and it was my duty to marry a man almost as high up in the chain as I was; that’s why he chose Christopher. Christopher was the son of a Lord. Lord Byron Von Aimes of Barkley.

Even though I didn’t love Christopher, I was willing to do my duty for the good of the clan. It’s not like Christopher and I didn’t have fun, we liked each other very much, we were close friends.

I was happy to do what was required of me, and I thought Christopher was happy with me too. But he turned his back on me quicker than I ever thought anyone could. Christopher cared more about his standing within the pack than he did me, and it hurt.

I was banished that night with no possessions and no help from anyone, banished and disowned. Either I left right then and there, or they would literally tear me apart. The only thing I took with me was my sister.

Why did I take her?

Because it would only have been a matter of time before the King found out the truth.

You see, my mother, it seems, couldn’t help herself when it came to handsome men, even other shifters, shifters with different animal abilities. She fooled the King into thinking that I was his cub; how she did that, I don’t know. Not with the King’s ability to sense a shifter even when they’re wearing a glamour to hide their true selves.

However, I know my mother was powerful, an Alpha in her own right. She was strong and commanded attention from everyone around her, and as Queen, she wasn’t afraid to show people who was boss.

Perhaps, my mother had someone help her hide who I was, even from the King?

I guess I’ll never know.

My mother took something from me when she kept my true identity to herself. I spent my life not knowing who I was, and I doubt I will ever know who I really am. I should be angry with my mother for what she did, but I can’t find it in me to do so. She died, and she’s not coming back.

Dania spent her life not knowing who she was either, and that hurts. She’s three years old, and I guess being the age she is, it won’t be such an adjustment for her if she finds out who she is now.

I have no idea how I’d go about helping her find out any such thing, but I’d be willing to try for her. I’d do anything for Dania.

‘She doesn’t need to know right now, Anja. All Dania needs is love and care and her family. You cannot take care of such a young child when you don’t even have a home to go to.’

Asha, the voice inside my head is right, but the thought hurts me deeply. I only want the best for my sister, just as I know my mother did.

My aunt, my mother’s sister, Madeline, grabbed my arm as I ran from that circle. There was much shouting, bears roaring, and the smell of anger was rife.

My mother had died giving birth to Dania; even her inner bear couldn’t save her from her fate. My aunt told me to take Dania, that she wasn’t the King’s cub either. In fact, she wasn’t a cub at all because Dania’s father was human.

Of course, I couldn’t believe it to be true; the King would have sensed it; he could sense a human from three miles away. However, Madeline assured me that it was very true, and why would I question it when I was so very obviously not the King’s cub, and he hadn’t sensed that either?

That’s when Madeline told me that Dania was utterly human, that not even the Bear was strong enough to live inside of her. There was something powerful inside of my sister, and it was in no way the animal inside the rest of us.

How could she know this before Dania’s shift night?

Which, of course, wouldn’t be for many years to come.

Madeline had taken Dania to Marla, the wise one, a spiritual leader. She did all her usual rituals and concluded that Dania did not possess the bear, nor did she possess any other animal either.

I said nothing; I just ran to my room, changed into jeans and a t-shirt, then I rushed to Dania’s room, lifted her into my arms, and ran for it.

I had no right to take her; the King knows not that Dania is neither his child nor a shifter. Now I’m being hunted because the King wants Dania back. My older brother and the future King of Nightshade Clan, Brody, is hot on my tail. Nothing will stop him from finding me, killing me, and taking Dania back to the King.

But I know what will happen when the King finds out the truth about his youngest child, and I can’t let that happen, not to my little sister.

Therefore, we’re hiding out in the forest belonging to the wolf shifters. I thought we’d at least be safe here until I could figure out what to do. Yes, ears sometimes wander into wolf territory, never to be seen again. However, I’m not a bear – Goddess; I’m not a bear! – and I figured the wolves wouldn’t be able to sniff me out right away.

But I was wrong.

I was hunting food for Dania and me when she was spotted. Dania maybe human, but Bears raised her. She was hungry, and not having food on tap like usual has been hard for her.

Dania can’t just walk into the kitchen at home and have Gloria make a sandwich for her anymore. She’s confused and scared, and she ended up running away from me. I wasn’t quick enough to stop her.

By the time I found Dania, two men had already spotted her. I didn’t wait for them to get close enough to touch her.

Goddess only knows what they thought of Dania; she looked like a wild animal shovelling berries into her mouth the way she was.

I felt so guilty.

She was ravenous, and it was all my fault. I’d been kidding myself thinking I could ever care for such a small child. I have nothing and no one, and Dania didn’t deserve that.

I knew instantly that I was looking at Werewolves. Powerful Werewolves, the older one an Alpha if ever I’d seen one.

I don’t know how, but I managed to block them from reading Dania and me; I didn’t want them to know us, to read us. I kept a hold of the block as best I could as I grabbed Dania and pushed her behind me, only to have the taller, big built, more handsome of the two grab my wrist.

I don’t know what happened, but I saw something, a vision of sorts. I’d only ever heard about such things from the Elders. Only someone with the gift of foresight could get a view of the future, and it looked like the future to me. But I couldn’t be sure if it was his foresight or mine.

In the vision, the handsome man holding my wrist was dancing with me, my head on his shoulder as he hummed the tune of a soft song in my ear. He kissed me when I pulled away, only to feel his hand on my swollen stomach. I was pregnant in this vision!

I heard myself say his name, Orrin.

Orrin.

That name has haunted me ever since.

I yanked my arm away from him in fear, and his eyes were white over — a Romerian Alpha Wolf. The Supreme Alpha of all Wolves – Orrin Dalgaard!

How could I be so damned unlucky?

The man, who was my father, once told me that when finding his mate, or before he transforms, a Supreme Alpha Wolf’s eyes will become white over like snow on the ground. The rest of his pack will have yellow eyes with flecks of something dark in them.

The only Wolves I’d ever seen had yellow eyes. I had never met a Supreme Alpha Wolf, like Orrin in the flesh before.

However, I had been touched by a Supreme Alpha, and it seemed we had a future, and that scared me more than anything.

Wolves are something to fear, so the Bear King drummed into my head my whole life—Wolves along with every other shifter who isn’t a Bear. Just like telling a human that a serial killer is dangerous, we were taught to stay away from Wolves at all costs.

How does anyone know what a serial killer looks like?

They don’t. The only difference is I can sense a Wolf.

None have ever been friendly; all wanted to kill me.

Everyone wants me dead; none want to help me.

The thought is disheartening.