Equals: Human And Beast

2. Don't Say That!

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Mila sighed as she thought back to that fateful day an year ago. One would think it would have been romantic, meeting the wolf who would become your everything for the first time. But it wasn't.

And the Red Alpha didn't waste time to make things worse.

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"Mate."

The entire room gasped, Gerald and Trisha taking a step back in shock as they stared at their Alpha.

"Why Goddess?" Gerald muttered under his breath. Why was it always his little Mila who had to go through the trials of nature and the Gods. First she had her family taken away from her, then her wolf, and now the Goddess was taking away her right to the right mate, a good mate, someone who would understand her and would support her through her stint as the Alpha of one of the most difficult pack to handle.

A smirk appeared on the Red Alpha's face as he made his way towards his mate, whose eyes hardened as she stood tall. Mate or not, this wolf was an enemy.

"I heard the Alpha of the Western Wind is a she-wolf. Turns out, it was a rumor after all." Laughter erupted from his subordinates while Mila couldn't help but let out a chuckle that quietened the room at once. Someone had just laughed in the face of the Red Alpha. Surely, she was his mate but still... the audacity!

"I heard the Alpha of the Red River was the strongest, fittest of them all..." His smirk widened. "But guess he needs to get his eyes and nose checked."

He dropped his smirk to replace it with a glare that would make any grown man s**t his pants, but Mila wasn't the least fazed by his anger. She continued, her tone even more mocking, "Or is it that you were fantasizing a male all along and is in shock from the disappointment?"

Mila wasn't homophobic but given that this wolf was a sexist, a narcissist, a racist and all the worst things in the book, she could confidently add homophobia to the list as well.

His glare intensified as he stared at his mate, but he didn't say a word for a whole minute. And then he bent down to the level of her face and said in a cold, detached voice. "One year from now, I will come to your territory and take over your pack."

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And with those words, he had disappeared like a phantom.

Of course, Mila thought that all the wolves in that room needed to be grateful to her for warding away that particular storm but everyone was too much in shock to react at all.

It took her three weeks before she was ready to tell her brother and grandfather of the next big tragedy that had struck her life, but she had started training her warriors for the war a year from then, and trained even more because it was like she could read his mind - he would want a duel. After all, it was the easiest way. She was a wolf less Alpha - how hard it could be for the most powerful Alpha to take her down?

But she wondered, would he be able to do it? Kill his own mate? It was a sin he could never get away from. She guessed that after all that he had done, this sin wouldn't be nothing but a grain of sand in the desert for him, but she really really wondered. Would he be able to do it?

She was not scared. She was not wishing that this duel would deter in any way. She was an Alpha and she was the daughter of an Alpha. She was going to be the Alpha of Western Wind till her last breath like her many predecessors and she was not going to have it any other way - she did not want any concession, or any kind of special treatment. Her life was a tragedy - being killed by her mate would just be the topping on the cake.

"Oh Alpha!!" Nilon walked into the room. The twenty one year old sighed as she turned in her chair, glaring at her seventeen year old brother.

"What is it, Nil?" She asked. She was exhausted from the preparation. The Red Alpha had sent them the message that he will be arriving for the challenging of the Alpha position in three full moons. And Mila thought it was quite generous of him to give her that much time to prepare, or baby he was simply looking down on her, but whatever may be the reason, he had made a fatal error.

Mila was confident of fighting wolf to wolf; what she was most afraid of was the safety of her pack members. The three full moons gave her enough time to enhance and fortify the safety measures she had started making since last year when she met Terrence Covens for the first time.

"Grandpa is here." Nilon shrugged.

Mila took another deep breath and stood up from her seat. Her grandfather, Marco, was the only family she had other than Nilon but the wolf had become a hipster in his late years and the three rarely got to spend time together. How could she make anything else her priority when she was someone who learnt at such a young age the importance of family and how one should spend as much time with them as possible while they can.

"I will just finish off with these.." She pointed to two files. "And be there."

Nilon nodded and then gave his sister a small smile. "It will be alright, you know. You will make everything alright."

Mila smiled and nodded at him but her smile dropped immediately as he closed the door behind him.

Did he have to put more pressure on her? By putting all his faith on her?

She sighed as she sat back in her chair.

Her life really was a tragedy.

It had gotten to the point where she was either to kill her own mate or die. As much as it was the biggest sin, she knew that she had no choice but to do her best to end him, and she was determined to end him. Because from what she knew of her mate, he would kill any number of wolves to make Western Wind his but Western Wind had a soul of its own and will keep choosing different wolves.

She had to protect them, her pack. They were the only family she had left. She wasn't going down without a fight.

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"I don't understand why wolves still question your power as an Alpha." Marco commented as he looked through the strategic plans his granddaughter had made. He was a warrior himself in his days and though he held no higher position, he had years of experience working alongside his son and now his granddaughter, and one look at the strategies and he could say that she had inherited her brain from her father, and her vast knowledge showed her zeal to learn, just like her mother.

Mila sighed as she took a bite of her pasta. "Let them think what they want to think. My pack members have full faith in me. It's the councilmen the Were-council has as representatives that get on my nerves." She said and then gave him a small grin. "Not that I let them see that."

"You are as crooked as that mate of yours." Marco chuckled but then his smile dropped. "Only if he used that magnificent brain of his for great things."

"We can only hope that his tyranny will end one day." Mila was saddened by the mere mention of her mate.

If the duel happened as she had predicted, only one of them would walk out of that arena, and they will walk out a sinner. As much as she wished that he would yield, she knew that he wouldn't and one of them would have to definitely die. As an Alpha, she was not going to yield. It was custom to fight to death if that's what it took. But an Alpha never yielded to the invader - there was no shame worse than choosing your life over your pack.

And Mila was a chosen Alpha, chosen by the Western Wind pack. She was meant for this. She could not let anyone, not even her mate, threaten it.

"I wish I could say everything would be alright." He looked at her.

She sighed again. She sighed around a lot for a twenty one year old, but guess it was normal for a she-wolf who had to become Alpha at ten years of age. She was burdened with too much responsibility.

"I just hope that even if I die-"

"Don't say that!" Nilon interjected immediately. The seventeen year old was keeping quiet throughout what was supposed to be a family dinner after a long while. Though his sister was in the mood for one too, the imminent invasion made the grandfather want to go through the plans and strategies that had been prepared. And Mila couldn't decline.

Mila looked over at her younger brother and saw the tinge of fear in his eyes. Of course he was scared to bits about the war because his wolf less sister was facing the cruelest and most powerful wolf to fight out the alpha-ship of Western Wind, something that was not even certain because Western Wind could choose anyone for the position. But Mila had come to terms with the facts and said firmly, "Nil, you need to accept the fact that I could die out there, though I will be trying my best not to."

Nilon looked down and nodded, pursing his lips.

"But if I do die, I hope that will change him. After all, the deaths of their mates have always changed wolves. I hope he changes for the better."

"I hope you are not seeing this as an opportunity of his redemption." Marco said, his eyes narrowed.

Mila looked over at her grandfather and gave him a smile. "My pack is too precious for me to risk it over a stupid intuition of mine."

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