The Forbidden Alpha

Chapter 1

Asher

I jolted upright in my bed. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was covered in a thin layer of sweat as the remnants of the dream began to fade away. Not again, I thought, as I leaned back against my pillow and covered my face with my hands. I have gotten very good at suppressing the awful memories of that night and, for the most part, it works. But every year around the same time, they return to torment me relentlessly.

Ares's deep guttural growl came from the depths of my mind.

Losing them that day had changed me in more ways than just gaining my Lycan at the age of seven. I grew angry. I was always looking for a fight. It didn’t matter what the reason was, it was the only thing that I could feel anymore. The only thing that overrode the pain of losing them. And if I wasn't throwing my fist around, I was obsessed with finding the person responsible for their deaths. I have spent countless hours searching and researching different leads in the hopes of finding something. Hell, anything at this point, but the majority of them always come to naught.

Ares tried to go after the clocked figure that had plunged the silver knife into our father's neck but the force it took to shift had been too great. He had collapsed in the snow along the road that led to the cemetery. I probably would have joined my family in death then had it not been for Margaret.

I had already shifted back when she found me lying naked in the snow drift when she happened to stumble across me. She took me to her cabin a few miles away and nursed me back to health and raised me as her own all these years. She isn't my mother, but she is the closest thing to one that I have now, that all of us have now.

She appears older on the surface, with graying hair and soft wrinkles on her face. But don't let her looks fool you. She has more energy in her big toe than most creatures her age.

“Another one?” She said as she opened the door to my room and looked in. The walking cane she normally used when out of the house was probably lying on the floor in her own room down the hall. She crossed the room with ease and sat on the corner of my bed. Even at 36, she still treated me like I was that seven-year-old little boy no matter how many times I told her I was a grown ass man now. A Lycan, to be exact.

“It was just a dream, Margaret. I’m fine. You should go back to bed.” I ground out as I turned on my side facing away from her, praying she would leave, but as always she did not.

“I can’t do that. I’m worried about you and the others and this hair-brained idea that has gotten into your head. What if something goes wrong, and they realize what you are and why your there.” She rambled as she twirled the hem of her nightgown between her fingers.

I sighed a bit annoyed that I was once again having to discuss this with her for what felt like the hundredth time. I rolled back on to my back and sat up slightly and took in her worried expression. I know she is concerned about us, but that won’t happen.

“Margaret, you know as well as I do that you are the most powerful witch in both valleys. You have taught the four of us very well how to handle ourselves in situations like this. It isn't the first time we have gone sneaking into a pack that we suspect might have answers. But we have to do this. You know that,” I said, softening my tone slightly. “We have to find what they were looking for that night, otherwise they will wipe the remaining Lycan's out looking for whatever it is. There are only a couple more splinter packs left in hiding and I fear they are closing in on them, so time is of the essence.”

Her shoulders sagged in defeat, knowing that this was something that she would not change my mind about this. This was probably our last shot and if we f*cked this up, then our species would probably go extinct, like they had originally planned. I understood that she had grown quite affectionate towards the four of us over the years, thinking of Damien, Alec, Tessa and myself as the children she never had.

She loved us and had hoped that as we grew older that we would let go of our anger, but none of us ever did. With the looming threat of our race being completely wiped out, we just couldn't sit back and do nothing. We had moved the remaining Lycan's to a secret location. Using Margaret's magic, we were able to conceal their new location and were hopeful that they would not be found before we figured this out.

“I know." She said with a slight sigh. "I just wish it wasn’t the four of you being the ones putting yourselves in harms way.” She held up her hand to stop me before I even had a chance to make a sound. “I get it and I don’t need Ares biting my head off for worrying about the two of you the most.” She said and Ares rolled his eyes in my mind. "I just want the four of you to be safe."

“We will be fine." I said, giving her what I thought was a reassuring smile. "Always are.” I added, and her expression changed to one of despair, but she did not say anything else and simply nodded and walked out of the room.

The next morning, Ares is pacing in the back of my mind before I am even fully awake. He is on edge, I can tell, but he refuses to talk about it, so I simply leave him to continue his brooding mood and begin to get ready.

There is a mating ball being held at the wealthiest packs in Moon Valley tonight and all the surrounding packs have been invited to attend. The Moon Stone Pack is a young pack by most standards and how they came to be in their position is still not fully understood. It is like just one day poof and they suddenly had all this money and power. The pack is run by Alpha Allen Riggins, and it is said that he is a bit of a prick and runs his pack with a firm hand.

There have been many rumors about the Alpha and his pack over the years, but the one that stood out to me is that he may be working with Hunters. After a bit of digging, Alec had finally found a source that proved that the attack that wiped out The Pure was led by Hunters and that the subsequent attacks on the splinter packs had also been led by Hunters. It was time to see just what he knew.

We were not technically invited to the ball since we don’t actually have a pack outside the four of us or even any territory to call ours. Margaret had always kept her home cloaked in magic, so it was not very easy to find. You had to know what you were looking for to be able to see through her magic and see what was hidden underneath it.

“Come on slow ass let’s get this show on the road.” Ares growled as he continued pacing.

I quickly got dressed and applied a bit of hair gel to my hands, running my fingers through my short hair before heading downstairs to join the others.

“You finally done fixing that hair of yours, pretty boy?” Damien said as I entered the kitchen.

“You're one to talk Mr. Spends forty-five minutes styling his hair just right before he leaves the house.” I clapped back with a smirk. “You take longer than Tessa to get ready for anything.” I added and Tessa snickered, earning her a glare from Damien.

“Hey don’t get mad at me. I didn’t say it.” She said with a small smile before taking a sip of her coffee.

“You are all just jealous you don’t look as good as me.” Damien added, flipping his shoulder-length dark brown hair out of his face. He definitely has that Casanova look about him and has no problems attracting women, and they tend to flock to him in droves whenever he goes out. Whereas they typically avoid me altogether for fear that I might bite their heads off if they get too close. Tessa and Margaret are the only women that seem to be able to come near me anymore. He provides the necessary distractions when needed, drawing the attention of those around him and keeping them occupied.

Alec snorted from his typical spot at the kitchen table as he turned the page on the newspaper. Alec is the smart one of our group. His appearance gives off the impression that he is calm and safe, with his jet black hair and light blue eyes. I swear he wears a three-piece suit just for fun. He is someone you might expect to be the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company and donates to multiple charities every year, but instead he prefers the hacker lifestyle. He can make it through almost every fire wall there is in just a few minutes without breaking a sweat.

And Tessa, well, she is what most would consider a bombshell with her long blonde hair sweeping past the middle of her back when she lets it down, which is very rare, preferring to keep it pulled up in a tight bun at the back of her head. Her emerald green eyes are always on the move. Don't let her looks fool you. She is as lethal as they come. I have seen her take down men twice her size on multiple occasions.

“So, what are we looking for tonight exactly?” Tessa asked, her amusement quickly replaced with a serious look.

The room went quiet and everyone turned to me for that answer. Our pack might only consist of the four of us and Margaret, but we all had our own roles, just like in the larger packs. Damien was the Beta, Tessa was our Delta and Alec was the Gamma. As for me, well, I was Alpha.

"Apparently, the human hunters will be present at the Mating Ball tonight," I remarked, observing the shock registering on everyone's faces. It is entirely unprecedented for hunters to associate with werewolves or any supernatural beings, given their disdain for us. However, we've discovered that the Moon Stone Pack has been steadily acquiring land around its territory for many years. And it's not merely vacant or unclaimed land. No, much of it previously belonged to The Pure Pack.

"The plan is to identify the hunters and monitor them, as well as ascertain the extent of Alpha Riggins' knowledge," I stated. "It remains unclear if these hunters are the same ones who attacked The Pure. We must not underestimate them or the Moon Stone Pack, for that matter. Somehow, Moon stone is acquiring former Pure Pack territories along with smaller packs that border them, and they may resort to any means necessary to achieve their goals."

“Okay, but the question still remains about how we are going to make it through their packs security. There are going to be guards everywhere and the moment they scent that we are not like them, they will immediately become suspicious and possibly not even let us in.” Damien said as he pushed his hair back behind his ear and leaned back against the countor top.

I smirked at them.

“We are just going to walk right in.” I responded and they all looked at me like I was crazy. “The Mating Ball is for all packs within Moon Valleys borders.”

"But technically, we don't have a pack," Alec interjected. "Even though we operate as a pack, we're not officially recognized as one anymore. In fact, no one is aware that we still exist. If we enter their territory and the Moon Stone pack recognizes not who we are but WHAT we are, they'll attempt to eliminate us on the spot."

The others all nod in agreement.

“That was true but not anymore.” I said as I pulled the certificate from my back pocket. “We are now for the most part.” I smiled at them all as they starred at the paper I held up, showing that we were now an official pack of Moon Valley.

“No way” Damien said as he snatched the paper out of my hands to examine it.

"We are officially The Night Claw Pack of Southern Moon Valley.” I handed each of them a yellow packet which held their new IDs with their 'new' names on them.

“Really? Tessa Anderson” Tessa said as she held up hers. "Couldn't you come up with something not so generic?"

“We have to be as inconspicuous for the most part tonight. Our real last names are dead giveaways that we are not just ordinary werewolves. Margaret will also clock our scents so they appear to be similar to a normal werewolf. To them, we are just a small group that is looking to make a new start somewhere fresh. To them, we left because Tessa and I chose to be mates and our families didn’t like that, so the four of us left to start our own pack.”

“Why mates, though, couldn’t we just have wanted to leave?” Alec asked, this time, his brows drawn together as he studied his papers as well.

"Chosen Mates is a more credible explanation for why we would all decide to leave at our ages. Most wolves wait for their destined mates. It simply creates a more compelling narrative if we claim we were in love and grew impatient waiting for our mates," I said with a smile.

Tessa and I have worked well together over the years, yet this will be our first attempt at posing as a couple. I sincerely hope we don't f*ck it up tonight.