The Lost Alpha

1

Call it a premonition or delusions, but Bella's feeling of some unpleasant situation sitting somewhere waiting for her before the end of this day keeps mounting, and no matter how much she tries to stitch the feeling of reassurance around herself, it keeps getting severed.

She lies facedown on the mattress closing her eyes, trying and failing to remember faint memories from years ago. The memories of long ago keep slipping through the cracks in her mind, until all she remembers are the fervent whispers of a red-headed woman:

"I know you are too young for all this, but whatever happens, don't let him get you. You are the only hope of our pack. I hope you remember this. If you die, all hope is lost, for you are the last element!"

Don't let who get me?

She has heard these words, dreamed of these words spoken to her too many times since she was little, and lately it has started to bother her.

Also, what elements?

Perhaps the correct question to ask would be who or what are the other element?

"Bella? Get up! Don't forget Mr. Trenton is joining us for lunch today. You want to look good for him!"

"Mom, why should I care?" Bella groans, unable to believe her mother is making her go through this again.

Gage Trenton is the son of one of the richest men in Houston, and he has all the qualities that remind Bella of why she hates rich men.

Selfish. Arrogant. Entitlement. Add anything else you can think of about the annoying rich man, and he is exactly that.

Or almost.

For some reason, ever since Gage Trenton visited Welcome a year ago, he has been obsessed with Bella and won't stop visiting her, trying to win her affection with expensive gifts.

And that's one of the two things she finds the most annoying about her life, the other one being her wolf, Star.

Why? You might wonder.

Well, it's because she has been the only werewolf in Welcome for a long time. Until recently.

And she can only imagine what people would say if they found out she hears voices in her head.

Her wolf talks to her. She has an opinion about everything. And she has this habit of speaking the uncomfortable facts that Bella wishes to ignore. Anyone would be annoyed.

But after years of thinking she was a weirdo for being a werewolf, the only werewolf she knew, a man showed up who was exactly like her a few weeks ago.

Jack.

Her parents express strong dislike of Jack, preferring Trenton over him, but she finds it hard to let go of him because he is her soulmate, and he understands what she goes through every full moon.

Speaking of the full moon, it had come as a huge shock to her on her very first shift. It was exactly five years ago and she had still been a teenager.

Nothing had prepared her for that, nothing at all.

After knocking off from school that day, she had walked home on her own, and along the way, her body had suddenly started to change. She had felt the weirdest tingling all over her body, her thoughts as though they were being rearranged in her head.

An unbearable burning sensation that hurt like the fires of hell had followed. A few minutes later, she had turned into a wolf after a very painful shift.

A wolf with beautiful fur that glimmered in the moonlight.

She had taken it all almost too calmly, waiting for her parents to come home in the hopes that they might offer an explanation, otherwise, Bella felt the world would end that day.

She had never heard of anyone turning into a wolf before, and Bella was convinced it was the end of the world.

But it has been five years now since she had her first and only shift, and the world is still intact.

She had been immensely relieved when her parents had told her that there was nothing to worry about because they had been werewolves in the past and kept it a secret, that a strange illness took their wolves away.

They'd also told her to never let anyone know she is a werewolf because their family is the only family of werewolves in Welcome, a very small town in East Texas.

And so, she always tries to shut out Star's voice with the words;

"You are a figment of my imagination. Shut the f*ck up!"

Her family cannot be called rich by the standards of big cities, but by Welcome standards, they are not doing badly. Her family owns a trailer park and also run a grocery store in town. They had a house in the town but it had gone into foreclosure because of unpaid mortgages last year, the only time when a serious financial crisis had hit the family, forcing them to move into a trailer.

Even though she and her family are comfortable with the way things are in their lives, Gage Trenton still treats them like they are dreadfully poor and in dire need of his help.

Just because she lives in a trailer park. She will never date him, or whatever it is he wants from her.

Truth be told, she is not bad looking, with her long black hair and tanned skin and gorgeous figure, but she doubts Jack is in short supply of beautiful women in his own circle.

Her life is as boring as it can be, especially now that she's grown older, and she often wishes she had more purpose than to be the center of a tug of war between Gage and Jack.

She met Jack a few weeks ago at a friend's birthday party. He had simply walked over to her, and immediately, her wolf had gotten so happy and excited (Bella had never witnessed her get so excited before) and she had shouted, 'mate'!

Before she had a chance to ask what the word 'mate' even meant, the man had pulled her to a secluded corner and kissed her. It had been nothing like she had ever experienced with any of the human boys, her life turned into blissful happiness at a faster pace than she could keep up with. And by being with Jack, she might get answers to the weird dreams she has about a redheaded woman begging her to 'not let him get her'.

"Mom, you should have asked me before allowing him to come here. I have plans for the day with Jack. For the last time, I don't want Trenton, I want Jack. But I don't expect you to understand because you are not a werewolf experiencing the mate bond..."

"Nonsense. Jack is creepy and you are going nowhere with him. Now get up and help me prepare for Gage Trenton's visit, young lady!"