Alpha's Last Howl

1. Where It All Began

"Psst. Nessa? You shouldn't be staring at him," Riley told her bench mate in a rushed whisper, trying but failing to be discreet. Her thick brows were raised and knitted together, even though her eyes looked straight ahead at Mrs Robinson—their biology teacher—who was blabbering about frogs. Ew

Despite her continued whispered warnings, Nessa didn't take her eyes away from him. She wanted to, but she just could not.

Nessa didn't see it, but she knew Riley's bulbous eyes were widening as her voice grew restless. She sounded surprised.

Even though she sat beside Nessa in every class they shared and hung out with Niall and her, Riley was not a friend. Not really. She couldn't be labelled as an enemy either. She was more like a frenemy to Nessa—a human cousin she had to tolerate since they were born in the same year on the same island—Bellpond, isolated from the main-land by a long, wide bridge. And Nessa was almost certain that this feeling was mutual.

"Why are you staring at him?" She asked again and Nessa wished to seal her lips to refrain her from talking. What was that question even supposed to mean? Why wouldn't she stare at him? Riley said it like it was an odd thing to do—looking at Jordan—when literally every other girl in the class and some boys did the same.

Nessa passed her a wide-eyed, warning glare and that shut her up.

Mrs Robinson moved onto lizards. Double ew.

Jordan Hale, the target of her eyes and the centre of attraction during that class, was completely unaware of her presence. Or of the fact that she had been looking at him for the whole while.

She never did this, ever, but that day was different. Like the previous day was.

Jordan was quiet, unlike his usual self and his amber eyes were lowered to the desk where his elbows rested. That bothers Nessa a lot. She was used to admiring him inconspicuously—his cheery voice booming through the classroom. And for the past two days, he had barely said more than a syllable in replies, and that too, in answer only to unavoidable questions.

The reason?

Well, his father died in a tragic fire accident three days ago. Nessa had not known Mr Hale up close, but every time she had the chance to see, she had seen him as the cool dad, a great alpha to his pack and a loving husband.

Jordan's behaviour was completely justifiable. He was now the alpha—not something anyone would want to be. Not on their island.

But Nessa could not see him that way.

Needless to mention, Nessa had a huge crush on him throughout middle school. He was a smart guy—good at everything. You name it. And despite his pack's reputation, he was nervous around people.

For someone who could not stop talking, Nessa failed to utter a single word clearly when he was around and that's when she realised what had happened.

She began embracing her one-sided feelings for him, sure that one day, she'd gather up the courage and ask him out. But then as she got older and wiser—as per her mom—she learnt the harsh truth of reality from her grandma. He was the forbidden fruit. A member of the not-rival, Blood Moon pack. Someone Nessa's grandma did not want to see her talking to.

No one openly expressed their enmity to each other because it was all cleverly hidden behind their facade of pretence. The two packs acted friendly to each other but deep inside, each pack member's heart burned with the fire that was lit decades ago.

Bellpond had been prone to fights between its resident packs. One such fight, about six decades ago, had turned into a full-blown war. According to the elders of Silver Crescents—Nessa's pack—the fire had been ignited by a werewolf belonging to the Blood Moons. But she was certain the reports would vary when the other party was questioned.

During that tragic period, a major part of the werewolf community had perished—one of them being Nessa's grandad. Her Dad was barely a few months old. Also, it was the phase when the human inhabitants of the island found out about their secret. But they were kind and made peace with the packs—promising to preserve their secret and took it to their graves. Since then, in Bellpond, werewolves have found human mates. And even though both packs were still pretending to not hate each other, deep inside the hatred still resided. A fuel waiting for that one strike—a flame that would spread like wildfire and burn all of Bellpond.

But that was that.

Nessa's twelve-year-old self had gone through a break up that evening her grandma told her, even though she had never been in a relationship with Jordan. She remembered crying through the night. And even though now she no longer crushed on him, he was more attractive than ever.

Not as attractive as Niall though, she told herself.

Nessa was still looking at him with concern, biting her lower lip, deep in thought, when suddenly, to her complete surprise, Jordan lifted his head and his gaze met hers. She turned her head quickly, but realised with a weight growing on her chest, that she was too late.

He'd caught her.