The quest of Alpha Airen

~Airen's Challenge~

“Airen!”, Ariel growled.

Airen immediately paused his hand that was already set to pounce on Zeke who was trembling on the floor, using his arms as some kind of shield to protect him from Airen's punches.

Ariel's growl had a hold on Airen, one that he had never experienced, it was like there was something in him pulling him away from Zeke. Airen's breath intensified hastily as he clutched his hands, his eyes relished with fury as he glared at Zeke. 

“Take him out of here!”, Alpha Airel ordered an omega to get Zeke out of the hall. 

“You, follow me”, Ariel declared to Airen, dragging him by his collar and leaving the hall, seething in anguish.

He was disappointed and at the same time embarrassed over Airen.

How could his mentee display such a rude demeanor in front of the other mentors? Never had that happened to anyone under him. They had known better than to display such arrogance under his mentorship. After all, he had a reputation to uphold.

And here was Airen trying his best to destroy all he had built over the years. Maybe he had been too lenient with him because he was his godmother's child, but enough was enough, he was going to put him in his place.

“What was that you just displayed out there?”, Ariel bellowed, tossing him a spear.

Airen bent his head down in shame as he didn't have an answer to what his mentor had asked. He didn't know what came over him. All he knew was that there had been a voice in his head telling him not to overlook Zeke's disrespectful attitude towards his sister.  

“I don't know what came over me”, Airen said in a quiet tone, his head still lowered in regret as he held the spear that was given to him.

“Well, since you are powerful enough to fight Zeke, how about a duel?”, Ariel hit Airen with the spear as hard as he could. He wasn't holding back even though he knew the poor boy did not know how to fight.

This might even be his first time holding a spear. After all, this was really his first time holding a spear and he, of course, didn't know how to use it. 

“I am sorry Alpha Ariel”, Airen asks forgiveness with the hopes of Ariel letting him off.

“Sorry? You are no longer living with humans. You are now in the world of werewolves where laws and orders are meant to be followed without questions being asked”, Ariel hit him again with the spear. 

“You stop talking when an Alpha asks you to. You don't start a battle you can't win. You don't disrespect those who are of higher rank than you, regardless of what”, Airen raised his head and scowled at his mentor.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was like the words coming out of his mentor's lips were cutting through his skin like blades. Was he expecting him to keep shut and allow Zeke to call his sister a w***e? Zeke disrespected her honor, and yet, he was the one being reprimanded and asked to follow the rules? 

“Amazing. Zeke gets to call my sister a w***e, and I am the one being berated by my mentor? What about him?  Does he get away with what he said to my sister? Is this how you werewolves behave towards women? Are they not to be respected because they are women or is it because my sister is a half-breed, which is why she gets to be degraded like that?”, Airen lamented bitterly at his mentor, who stopped hitting him with the spear after listening to him say all those words. 

“Would you abide by the rules if it was your sister?”, Airen challenged.

“See, you can't even give me an answer, but you expect me to turn a blind eye”, Airen uttered.

He closed the distance between him and Ariel and stretched his spear towards Ariel, screaming at him vehemently to hit him with the spear, as he wouldn't apologize for standing up for his sister's honor.

Ariel suddenly became speechless. He stood there and stared at Airen for a while before walking out on him.

The moment he left, Airen released a deep breath as he thought Ariel would have done far worse than hitting him with the spear. His legs gave out on him, and he found himself sitting on the floor as he began to inhale and exhale heavily.

He put his hands on his forehead as he attempted to catch his breath. 

Ariel came a few minutes later and threw some books on the floor by Airen's body.

“Here, read all of this by the end of the week”, Ariel instructed, and left.

“Was it wrong of me to speak to him in that way?”, Airen mumbled to himself as he couldn't help but feel bad about how he had spoken to Airel.

“[No, anyone in your shoes would do the same thing] “.

Airen turned around to see who was talking to him, but he found himself alone in the training hall. It was the same voice that had told him to beat up Zeke to a pulp. 

“[Who are you? Show yourself ?]”.

Airen said, scanning the training hall searching for whoever was the owner of the mysterious voice.

“[Sky]”.

The strange voice replied.

“[Show yourself]”.

 Airen bellowed in response as his eyes traveled around.

“[How can I show myself when you haven't accepted me?]”

“[I can barely even speak to you]”, Sky replied.

“[Who are you Sky?]”.

Airen stood up and picked up the spear lying on the floor, swinging it in different directions. 

“[I am your wolf. I am you, and you are me and I can only show myself to you when you allow me]”.

Sky explained further to Airen, who was a newbie to the wolf world.

“[How are you conversing with me?]”

Airen asked, confused about what was happening to him at that very moment. No one told him he could communicate through the mind link with his wolf nor did they explain that this was how mind linking worked. To him, it had first seemed like he was going crazy. 

“[I am in your head. You should know how mind linking works. I thought you were a straight-A student?]”.

Sky mocked his host. He was getting tired of all the useless questions Airen was asking. 

“Airen, are you okay?”, Lola surged into the training hall with Decker by her side, interrupting the little conversation going on between Airen and his wolf.

“I thought he was going to kill you”, Decker sighed.

He was relieved to see Airen not battling for his life. Everyone had seen the rage in Ariel's eyes when he dragged Airen by his collar into the training hall. 

“I am okay, you are both just overreacting”, Airen chuckled and sat down on the floor, picking up the books Airel had thrown at him earlier.

“What are these for?”, Decker picked up one of the books and started scuffing through it. 

“Alpha Ariel gave them to me. He asked that I read them all by the end of this week”, Airen replied.

“Wow, this is different. The Alpha Ariel that everyone knows would have locked you up after beating the hell out of you for showcasing such a rude attitude even when he attempted to stop you from hitting Zeke”, Decker explained, he seemed stunned at how Ariel was dealing with Airen.

His mind began to run through several hypotheses as he sat down staring at Airen.  Why was the young Alpha acting completely differently whenever Airen was involved? What was the relationship between the two of them? 

“Decker, back to Earth. We have chores to do, remember?”, Lola tapped him and stood up from the floor.

She put both hands on her waist as she waited for Decker to stand up.

“Ugh, I forgot about that”, Decker grumbled and stood up.

“Airen, we are not done talking about your mentor's newly developed attitude”, Decker added, and left the training hall with Lola. 

“[He talks too much, just goes on and on]”.

Sky commented the minute Decker and Lola were out of sight. 

“Finally, someone agrees with me. Hold on, are you back?”, Airen asked the moment he realized Sky was back in his head. 

“[Trust me Airen, you are not going to get rid of me that easily. I am you, and you are me, we are one]”.

“How does this mind linking stuff work?”, Airen began to inquire. He wanted to know more about this new ability he had suddenly discovered. 

“[You are smart Airen, you will figure it out]”.

Airen sighed and put the spears back to where they belonged. He picked up the books Ariel had given him and made his way out of the training arena.

He hummed to the music that was playing through the little speakers placed in different parts of the hallway. He felt an immense amount of joy as he walked through the hallway. Music had always been Airen's escape from reality.

No matter how angry he was or how sad he was, a song from one of his favorite artists could snatch away such emotions from him, it was like it magically turned him into a cheerful soul. He continued humming and gesturing his hands in the air. It was like the music had taken control over his body, his eyes had a different glow. Even Sky could feel the positive emotions Airen was feeling as he walked through the hall.

“There he is”, Omri, Ariel's Beta said, blocking Airen's path.

“[Way to be a vibe killer]”.

Sky sneered, vexed at Omri for interrupting him and Airen's little euphoric moment.

“I'm sorry, do I know you?”, Airen asked in a soft tone, trying not to sound disrespectful, as he didn't know who Omri was nor his rank in the conquest. To him, Omri was neither an omega nor a mentor.

“Omri? Your sister's mentor? Alpha Ariel's Beta?”, Omri tried his best to introduce himself to Airen in a way he could easily recognize him.

“I am sorry, Beta Omri, I didn't know who you were, please forgive my rudeness”, Airen apologized and bowed his head as a sign of respect to Omri, who was cackling at how modest Airen was towards him.

“Well, you seem different from the Airen who threw off his Mentor and disregarded his authority”, Omri taunted.

Airen bent his head in guilt and Omri moved closer to him and tapped his head softly, telling him that it was okay as he understood why he acted the way he did.  

“That's not the reason I am here. Your mentor asked me to give you this since you missed breakfast and also asked that you should be in the task hall”, Omri informed him, giving him a cup of smoothie.

He began nagging about running an errand for Ariel.

“Yes, I know he is the Alpha, but there are some things he shouldn't ask of him. Like giving his mentee a smoothie”, Omri whined.

“I am sorry that you were disturbed about delivering smoothies to a mere mentee like myself when I should be the one doing the delivery”, Airen agreed with Omri's nagging.

“Hmm, I like you. I think we will get along just fine”, Omri gave him a warm smile and left his presence.

“Such a weird guy”, Arien commented and giggled.

He looked at the smoothie in his hand and smiled. He was thankful for his mentor's thoughtfulness towards him.

Even though Alpha Ariel was angry at him, he still made sure he was okay. That alone left a strong impact on Airen towards his mentor.

He drank the smoothie and strutted into the task hall. 

“Airen, you are here”, Lola ran up to him. She was glad to see him.

“You just saw me like ten minutes ago, Lo, please stop being overly dramatic”, Airen shrugged his shoulders and pulled her off him.

Lola rolled her eyes at him and hissed.

Alpha Ariel walked into the task hall with Omri and Zara beside him along with the rest of the mentors, they all had stern looks on their faces. Anyone could tell it was no time to joke around.

“Selected by my right and non-selected by my left”, Omri snarled as he glared at them.

“What is going on?”, the participants murmured as they went to their ordered positions. 

"Omri”, Efe called gracefully as she walked in with her entourage.

She wore a blue satin dress with a wrap neckline and dolman sleeves that complimented her deep, green eyes.

Her curly, long, raven hair poured down to her shoulders.  

“High Priestess”, Omri bowed his head as a sign of respect to her. The other mentors there also did the same. 

“I am sorry to impede on you, but I needed to do this before they do the tasks”, Efe smiled at him.

Omri nodded, acknowledging Efe's words, and moved aside for her to make her speech. 

“What are you doing?”, Ariel moved a bit closer to Efe and whispered into her ears. 

“Allow me, brother”, Efe responded softly.

“Greetings, I am Efe. Some of you know me as the High Priestess of the Autumn moon pack, while some of you know me as Alpha Ariel's sister and some of you might know me as the enchantress who enchants men to do my bidding”, the participants laughed at Efe's awkward introduction.  Efe's personality was different from that of her brother. She was easily loved by all because of how accessible she was with everyone be it an omega or an Alpha. Efe was the embodiment of kindness, but that doesn't mean one could mistake her kindness for weakness: she was far more brutal than Ariel and anyone who steps on her toes gets to see the brutal side of Efe. 

“Silence!”, Elyria growled. “High priestess Efe isn't done talking, you will do well by keeping shut and heeding to what she has to say”. 

“Thank you, Elyria”, Efe said and continued.

“I know a lot of you must be wondering why only twenty-one candidates were selected. Well, that's because I have decided to take some of you under my tutelage, isn't that just wonderful news?”, Efe revealed cheerfully.

 Ariel's eyes widened as he heard her. He looked stunned and unable to speak. This wasn't part of the plan. What was she thinking? Everyone had begun to murmur among themselves.

“Someone seems to be in way over their head”, a voice that was as calm as a flowing river that was laced with toxins said, walking in with her entourage. 

Everyone turned their attention to the voice. Efe also turned and grimaced softly.

“Oh almighty goddess, Zephyr!”, Decker said out loud.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N

Hi, a new chapter is up lol: I am sorry for the delay. I wasn't really feeling this chapter, which was delayed for a while, but I finally got it done, although I'm not too confident about this chapter. Please tell me you enjoyed it?

Also, share your thoughts on it, so I know where and what to improve on and do better next time. I hope you loved it. See you all in two days, cheers.