The Alpha's Bodyguard

Free

Cindy Smith's Refuge

Kingdom Border

4 years before the present events

Ivania's POV

I was certain that, after hitching two rides on the highway, I had not been followed here, nearly two hundred miles from the lycan king’s palace, to the refuge that Mr. Darkwood had arranged for me.

The chain with the locket was still hanging from my neck, and I was eager to open the golden walnut-shaped jewel, just as Belona had instructed me to do to release her.

The afternoon was falling, and I was exhausted, but my excitement got the better of me. Taking advantage of the fact that Mr. Darkwood had not yet arrived, so I opened the locket.

There was a slight “click,” and an intense tingling shook the tips of my fingers, first, then my hands, and then my arms, until it took over my entire body.

The wave was so strong that it forced me to drop the necklace and fall backward to the ground. I writhed, trying to remedy the sensation of searing heat convulsing me, then to try to calm what I felt was entering me, as if a million ants were crawling through every pore of my skin. It was the most intense agony I had ever subjected myself to, much more painful than any injury I had suffered before.

I don’t know how long I spent writhing on the ground, subjected to that torture.

At last, as suddenly as it had arrived, it stopped.

Still agitated, lying on my back on the ground and gasping for air, I realized that someone else was living inside my body, that it was no longer entirely mine, but shared.

‘Ivania. Hello. It’s done. I’m inside you. Now you really are a true she-wolf.’

I felt not only much more invigorated but strong, fast, and with enough reflexes to catch a fly in mid-air. It was as if I now had a body that was not my own, although I was already perfectly adapted to it and wanted to test it as soon as possible.

‘This sensation, Belona. It’s wonderful. I feel so energized, vital, and active. It’s incredible!’

I jumped to my feet and noticed that my clothes were a mess after rolling on the ground.

Excited, I wanted to go out and run, but then I detected that I was not alone.

There was someone else in the solitary mountain house.

I prepared for the worst.

After all my precautions, the lycan king had indeed followed me here.

I tensed my muscles.

There was no better way to test my she-wolf than with a fight.

Gold Moon Pack Hospital

Room 247

Present

Ivania's POV

Valery, Alessandro's Beta, entered the room just as I was coming out of the bathroom after a shower and having changed my clothes.

“You are... completely recovered,” Valery said as our eyes met.

I had taken advantage of the solitude of the shower to command Belona to finish healing me, to close the small wound for good, and to revitalize my body.

I had plans to go to the Astor gala that night and discover what the lycan king could not: who Harmony, the blogger, was.

“Thanks for coming,” I replied to Valery. “As you can see, yes, I feel like new.”

I noticed that Valery was watching me suspiciously.

“I heard that your she-wolf also fell unconscious and that they had to anesthetize you for the surgery.”

I pursed my lips and nodded.

“Yes, only until an hour ago did my she-wolf wake up, and as you can see, we’ve caught up.”

I noticed that the suspicion did not entirely disappear from Valery's face, and I had to admit that I might have been hasty in using my lycan healing gifts, but I needed to be ready for tonight’s purpose.

“Now that you’re well, do you have any plans for tonight?” Valery asked.

I read in her eyes, and with a little of my lycan abilities, that the Beta intended to invite me for a few drinks and to interrogate me.

I saw that I could benefit from that intention.

“Actually, I wanted to get back to work right away,” I said as I gathered my few belongings from the bedside table. “I heard that the Alpha has a gala tonight.”

I let Valery guess what I didn’t want to tell her directly.

“That’s right. There will be a presentation of him and his fiancée to the notables of the Luna Valley pack, governed by the Astor lineage. Now that, after their marriage, both the Gold Moon and Luna Valley packs can unite. Don’t tell me you want to go, do you?”

“It’s my job, isn’t it?”

Valery smiled and crossed her arms.

“The Alpha doesn’t expect you to be there. To him, you should spend at least two more days here, in the hospital, before thinking about getting back to work.”

“But as you can see, I’m fine, completely healed. I can return to work right now, no problem.”

“What about the wound? The one from the surgery. It was only this morning that you came out of the operating room; it could still be open, even for a Gamma’s regenerative gifts.”

I read the suspicion in Valery’s tone and realized that I had overlooked that little detail.

“It will finish closing, it doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “By the time we get to the Astor gala, it will be closed.”

It was becoming evident that Valery suspected something. I wasn’t being careful enough with her, who had been keeping an eye on me since she noticed Alessandro’s change of heart when he decided to hire me as his escort after it seemed he would refuse.

“Let’s talk to the doctor, see what he thinks.”

I clenched my jaw.

If the doctor examined me, he would see that the wound was perfectly healed. There would be no way to maintain my facade of being a Gamma. In the face of something like this, I would have to be, at minimum, an Alpha, which would raise even more doubts in Valery.

The pieces of my dominoes would start to fall.

“You know, Valery, I actually thought we could go to that gala to relax a bit,” I changed my tactics. I had to. “The Alpha couldn’t be in a safer place than in the house of his fiancée’s pack, and you and I would get free drinks.”

I noticed that my change of direction began to have a positive effect.

“Umm, well, I understand what you’re getting at, Cindy,” Valery relaxed her expression. “Alright, if you say you feel better, then I’ll believe your word. And yes, that wound might close tonight.”

I smiled, grateful.

I knew Valery's doubts would not be cleared just by what I had just hinted to her; they were a warning light, one I had to take care of to start dispelling.

Cindy Smith's Refuge

Kingdom Border

4 years before the present events

Ivania's POV

Now that I had my she-wolf, Belona, I felt ready to face the lycan king, because the presence I felt was quite powerful. There was someone else in the cabin, a presence that had not been there when I entered, or I would have noticed it.

‘What are you doing, Ivania?’ Belona asked. ‘Why are you in a combat stance?’

‘What! Are you seriously asking that? Don’t you notice the powerful presence in the house? I think the lycan king followed me here, and now...’

‘No, wait! It’s not the lycan king you’re sensing, Ivania. It’s your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother.’

I was blank.

‘My what? What the hell?’

‘Philisa, a dryad, the only person who has accompanied me all these years since I was born here, confined in this jewel.’

Then I remembered.

Darkwood had told me about the dryad, the curse, a witch named... Ravena.

‘Wait, then...’

From one of the rooms of the house emerged the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She was stunning, with a face sculpted by inspired angels, the slender body of a young fairy, and the elegant demeanor of a Moon in its full splendor.

I was speechless, amazed at the woman who looked at me at that moment with the most moving of gazes.

“Thank you for what you’ve done, Ivania. I didn’t think I would ever feel the warmth of the sun on my skin again.”

I blinked several times, still not convinced of how beautiful that woman was, of the aura of power she radiated, and the noble kindness that emanated from her smile.

“I...” the words stuck in my mouth. “I thought I would only release my she-wolf.”

It may not have been the most appropriate phrase, but it was the only one I could think of.

Philisa smiled, and her gesture comforted me.

“Oh no, I was also there, trapped with her, along with my tree. A witch condemned me to live an eternity in that place, inside the jewel I had asked her to make so that I could move to wherever my oak tree was and thus be able to follow the man I loved so much.”

I swallowed, impressed.

I knew something of the story, the little that Darkwood had told me, but now I longed to know all the details of that fantastic story, and the curse that still held it.