Rejected Alpha

Chapter Four

I met Elijah at the door all but jumping down the flight of stairs in my haste. My skin felt like it was vibrating. I felt like bugs were crawling all over me and nipping at me making my skin tingle. A new kind of energy buzzed within me, a kind I didn’t understand but needed to get rid of. My dad was standing bedside Elijah looking over at me with concern in his eyes, he knew I never acted like this. And I mean never. My body has never vibrated with the need of release. I felt like I was crawling out of my skin and it was more than just uncomfortable.

“Seraphina? Are you alright?” My father asked as he came over and placed a hand on my bare shoulder. I all but screamed at his touch. His skin burning against my own as if a fire had grown to life in his palm. It hurt, sweat beaded on my brow and I grit my teeth. My dad jerked his hand back immediately looking over to Elijah in concern and confusion.

“Darius, when does she turn eighteen?” Elijah asked coming over to me. He made sure not to touch me but he did examine me. He noted the sweat on my brow and the way my frame was trembling. He noticed how I ground my teeth together and how my hands were balled into white knuckled fists. The way I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet. He noted it all. It was weird but I trusted he would know what the hell was going on with me.

“Not for another year.” My father told him. “She turned eighteen on May 20th. She should have plenty of time before she shifts.”

Elijah looked over to my dad a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “She is changing Darius. Her wolf must be tired of waiting, she wants out. Training should be exactly what she needs to speed the process up. If not, it will be a very unpleasant first shift. No wolf has shifted early in over a decade.”

My father nodded at Elijah. “You’re right.” He turned to me and smiled crookedly. “This training will be hard Sera. Anyone’s touch would hurt like a live wire was touching your skin. Body heat from another wolf will make you feel as if you were burning. The sparring should help bring your wolf to the surface faster making the shift shorter and less painful. But it will be painful honey. When it happens don’t let the pain over take you it will make things worse. Give into it, let it wash over you. Your wolf will know what to do.”

I nodded in understanding and also just needing him to stop talking so we could get on with it already. If this training session was supposed to help then I needed to go, like now. I couldn’t handle this anymore. This buzzing, this tingling, any of it. It was driving me insane. I wanted to scratch my skin off, I wanted to dig this feeling out of me so I could go back to normal. Something however told me I would never be normal again. Not after today, not after this change that is starting to overtake me.

“Can we go now? Please!” My voice was raspy, my throat dry and hurting. “This needs to stop; it needs to go away. I can’t stand it much longer. If fighting will help then damn it let me go fight.”

“Alright Sera, let’s go.” My father reached out to lead me by the small of my back like usual but thought better of it, dropping his hands to his sides. Instead, I followed behind him and Elijah my hands twitching beside me. I could hear the sounds of flesh on flesh, grunts and the clashing of metal on metal. Weapons. Werewolves use weapons? Huh, who knew. Not very patiently I continued to follow behind the two men in front of me brushing off the need and the urge to rush past them and engage the first person I came across in a sparring match.

“Everyone.” Elijah shouted making all sparring stop and everyone to look over at him. They all stood to their full height, bowing their heads in submission at him and my father. “I would like to introduce two of the three new members of our pack. This is alpha Darius of the lost Death Valley Pack and his daughter Seraphina. His wife and Luna will be formally introduced along with them at their acceptance ceremony. Now, on to a different matter. Seraphina here is in the middle of her change. She is shifting early, her birthday not for another year so we all know how uncomfortable she is though none of us have experienced it ourselves. You all learn from the history books what an early shift can do. So, she is here to spar to make her transition more easily.”

Everyone looked over at me like I was the new science project to observe, and it bugged me this time. Normally, I didn’t care what people think of me, it never really mattered. People always stared at me. Either in lust, envy or apprehension. I was the weird girl. I had very few real friends and they were taken when my parents picked us up and moved us here. But I still couldn’t find it in me to hate them. I liked it here, I felt like I belonged for the first time in so very long. This though, the staring, the questioning and fearful looks, the surprised expressions. It all grated on my nerves, added to the skin tingling feeling that already surrounded me.

Finally, I grew tired of it and a feral, guttural growl vibrated through my chest and out of my mouth through my sneered lips. An instinctual feeling took over and I crouched low, my legs stance in an unmovable position. Whatever alpha thing was inside me I felt grow and seep from every pore in my body. People froze, most eyes shooting down to their feet. Only Elijah, my dad and Blaze remained staring at me. Though it seemed Blaze was struggling.

I couldn’t stand to feel their eyes on me. It felt the same as when my dad touched me only without the pain. Oh God the pain. How was I supposed to spar when every touch made me feel like I was burning alive, when it made me feel as if a live wire lived under my skin? It would be hard, that much was clear. But if it got rid of this it was more than worth it. “Who wants to spar?” The words came out on a ragged growl. To my dismay everyone seemed to step back as a unit, no one stepping forward to spar. I growled turning back to Elijah and my dad. “What now?”

Elijah sighed as he shrugged off his suit coat and lithely undone his tie throwing it to the ground beside his coat. Next came his shirt. One by one he unbuttoned it revealing more and more of his toned body. I shook my head. Oh, yuck. He has a son my age, he is my dad’s age. What the hell was wrong with me? “I’ll spar with you.” He told me as he stepped forward.

A feral grin spread across my lips. Elijah would be an actual challenge and I knew he wouldn’t go easy on me. Not that I wanted him to, I wanted him to go full force, I wanted him to do his best, use all of his strength. I wanted it all, I needed it. I knew it would help whatever was happening to me. I didn’t even get a countdown, a warning nothing before Elijah lunged. While he did everything seemed to slow down around me as my mind slipped into its battle mind set. I dodged his strike that was aimed for my face, whirling under his arm before swiftly turning on my heels. I dropped low to the ground and spun my leg out. Elijah didn’t have a chance. The second he turned to face me his leg caught mine and he crashed to the ground.

It didn’t even faze him as he jumped to his feet. He caught me off guard with how quickly he jumped up and it allowed him a blow to the ribs. Pain radiated through me both from the pain in my ribs and the fire spreading through me. I hissed a growl through my teeth as I lunged for him this time. I barreled into him knocking us both to the ground. I managed to lay three blows before he threw me off of him and pinned me under him. I thrashed despite him punching me until I had gained a fraction of space. That was all I needed to toss my legs up and wrap one around his chest effectively throwing him off of me and onto the ground beside me.

We kept going like this far longer than I cared to keep track of. We landed blow for blow, both of us matching the other. It was an exhilarating feeling to finally be matched by someone. Now don’t get me wrong, I make mistakes while fighting. A lot. I get cocky and bull headed and do something I really shouldn’t have. I goad people on, mock them, all just for the fun of it, to get a rise out of them. Now I apologize afterward and explain why I said what I said or did what I did. I don’t like hurting people, but I do like at least trying to have a fair and even fight. It never works.