The quest of Alpha Airen

~Airen's ingenuity~

“Woah, Woah, Woah, Airen, you can't join the conquest!”, Lola vehemently protested as soon as she heard him.

She was scared for his safety, no one knew the amount of information Zephyr had found about him, and he didn't even know who or what his enemies looked like.

“Why?”, Arien and Decker asked simultaneously. They looked at each other the moment they realized they had both asked at the same time.

“We don't know who is after us or who killed mama and Matthew”, Lola explained, or rather, she came up with an excuse, so he wouldn't go further with his idea, as it seemed impossibly silly.

“So, are we just going to wait in this pub until they find our location and kill us? I'm sorry, Lo, but I'm just not going to sit down here and wait for my death”, Airen retorted. He was beginning to get tired of all of Lola's excuses.

“Airen is right, Lola. The safest place to be is in the arena dormitory, where you will have Alphas, Gammas, and Betas from different packs to protect you and Airen. No one would be stupid enough to dare attack the arena dormitory unless they wanted their entire generation to be wiped off of the surface of the earth. Not even Zephyr would try that”, Decker explained why he agreed with Airen's idea.

“Why are you including Zephyr? That aside, that's not why I'm worried. Airen hasn't shifted nor has his mind linked with his wolf yet. Wouldn't that be a problem for him”, Lola revealed, sharing her fears with them.

“But you have? And I also have linked with my wolf, so there is no problem. We will help him until he shifts and his mind links with his wolf. Plus, they can help him achieve all these things at the conquest”, Decker said.

There was no way Lola could refuse as Decker had provided a solution for them, which was killing two birds with one stone.

“Fine”, Lola sighed in defeat.

“Good”, Airen replied and walked into the bathroom to take his bath.

Once he turned on the shower, Decker moved closer to Lola, staring at her suspiciously as he believed she was hiding something important that she didn't want Airen to find out.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”, Lola sneered.

“What are you hiding? You and I know the person who wants Airen dead is Zephyr, and he is supposed to have shifted and to be linked with his wolf already”, Decker queried, backing Lola in a corner as her facial expression said that there was some truth in what Decker was saying.

“You are right, Zephyr is the one who wants him dead, and I don't need to tell you the reason behind that, plus Airen was given an antidote to suppress his wolf. Every year, mama renewed the antidote by putting it in his food”, Lola revealed, but that wasn't all.

She had omitted the fact that Airen had shifted when he was fourteen because the old antidote they were using on him couldn't hold down his wolf's side as he became stronger and was able to overcome it.

Decker stared at her and let out a sigh before he started talking.

“I know you are doing all this because you want to protect him. I understand fully, but you should tell him the truth about why he hasn't been able to connect with his wolf side”, Decker advised.

“He didn't question why he hadn't shifted yet because he didn't know anything about werewolves or that he was supposed to shift at age eighteen or, for special cases like his, earlier than that. But believe me, once he finds out, he will be more hurt and start doubting your words”, Decker added. He got up from where he was seated and went back to his side of the bed and sat down.

Airen came out of the bathroom and noticed the awkwardness between his sister and Decker. He stood at the entrance of the bathroom and glanced at both of them back and forth before he went and lay on his side of the bed.

“Good night, I'm going to bed, we have a long day ahead of us”, he said and flung the cover over his body, and in a split second all they could hear was Airen snoring quite loudly.

“Poor boy, he doesn't know the danger that lurks around him because of who his parents are”, Decker commented as he felt pity for Airen.

“Good night”, Lola, Decker said and covered himself up.

Lola couldn't sleep, she stared at the ceiling, deep in her thoughts. She was unable to stop herself from blaming her mother, even if she wanted to.

If only their mother had listened to her when she asked her to reveal the whole truth about Airen's true identity to him, then maybe they wouldn't be in this situation, and she would still be alive. She shut her eyes to force herself to sleep, but tears escaped from her eyes.

The next morning, Airen was the first one up. He was dressed and ready to go before he woke the others up to also get ready.

Finally, after almost an hour, they could leave.

Decker was leading the way towards the arena when they came across another group of werewolves also headed to the arena.

Lola immediately began to introduce herself and Airen and make small talk with the new people, while Airen kept quiet as he thought of the dormitory that he had to hurry to, to secure a spot.

“Zeke”, Decker called out spitefully.

“Decker, I see you have made yourself some new friends. I hope they will help you get a place in the arena dorm this time”, Zeke mocked Decker.

“Ignore him”, Lola said, stopping Decker from doing something stupid as she noticed him lift his fist.

“Why are you all standing here?”, Lola asked.

“We can't seem to find the pathway that leads to the Arena ground”, a contestant answered back.

Lola and Decker walked over to where the other contestants were standing to see if they could help with finding the pathway.

Airen stood by the side and scanned the surroundings checking to see if there was any hint and, lo and behold, he found what he was looking for. He smiled and informed the others, without waiting for them, he began walking. Lola and Decker chased after him.

The others followed the pathway which Airen discovered, some contestants murmured as they walked through the bushes because they thought the way wasn't leading to the location, but rather Airen was setting out to play them into getting to the competition mansion first before any of them.

However, Airen and his sister Lola were already ahead of them.

“Airen looks, there it is, you were right”, Lola sounded excited as she saw the mansion in front of her.

It was a cream-colored, Victorian-themed mansion with fountains, moats, and silver-railed gates that looked so beautiful altogether.

It was so exotic, from the black-tie roof to the different flowers that lined the whole place.

Furthermore, it looked like it was a palace that a wealthy king had built to get away from ruling and instead hang with fairies.

Airen didn't respond to her but shrugged his shoulders.

He let out a little smile as he saw Lola and Decker bewildered by the mansion in front of them.

The rest of the contestants finally arrived and were surprised to see Airen, his sister, and Decker waiting for them.

Why would they be waiting for them? They could go into the arena and become the first contestants to arrive? What if this was a trap? They began to murmur among themselves until they realized Lola was struggling to get the answer to the riddle to get the gate open.

“Ahhh, I see why you three waited for us, pfft. He acted all mighty and couldn't even do the bare minimum”, Zeke mocked, he walked towards Lola and pulled the piece of paper which the riddle was written on from her hand.

“ Such a rude boy”, Lola sneered at him and looked at him disparagingly. Decker attempted to calm her down while Airen just shook his head and folded his arms, waiting to see what the egotistic Zeke would do.

“Ugh, it's been more than thirty minutes, damn it”, Zeke threw the puzzle sheet on the floor. He trailed his hair backward, frustrated because he had not gotten the answer to the riddle.

Airen sighed before he moved from where he took a shade down to the gate, ringing the bell.

“What is the passcode?”, a hoarse voice asked.

“Reflection”, Airen said and within seconds, the sound of the gate being opened was heard by others.

They were dumbstruck yet again by this boy who did not seem to care about the conquest. How had he gotten the passcode? Lola looked at him astounded. Who are you, she thought to herself.

“You are welcome”, Airen tilted his head sideways and smiled at Zeke, which got on Zeke's nerves. He pushed Airen out of his way and walked in. The other contestants followed as it seemed like Zeke had become their leader.

“Airen, if you knew the passcode all this while, why did you let me go through the stress of racking my brain to get the answer and how the hell did you crack it so fast?”, Lola scolded her brother but at the same time subtly praising him, she wanted answers from him.

“The riddle said, You saw me where I was and where I could not be, and yet within that very place, my face you often see, what am I?”

“And you know how I always observe my surroundings. There were fractions of broken mirrors in the trees but no one was paying attention to them. With every ten steps we took while locating the mansion, a broken mirror was carved into the trees, so it was easy. Besides, I'm not dumb Lo”, Airen was irked by his sister's question. He left her behind and walked into the mansion.

Each of the werewolves there, be it a gamma or a mere omega, all looked astounded at the sight in front of them.

They were all in awe as they scanned through all the mansion.

It had to have been built by people from another world because it looked as if it was a part of heaven.

There were different shades of cream colors with marble floors, portraits of wolves in different stages of shifting, and a swirling staircase that led to the next floor.

A young, good-looking man walked in and interrupted their gaping over the mansion. As he immediately began to address them with a very stern look on his face, with authority and power lacing in his voice.

It seemed everything here was beautiful because the man was beyond beautiful with fluffy-looking, long jet-black hair that stopped at his nape, and eyes that were a silvery gray that glinted coldly as he regarded the wolves he was talking to. He would have melted any heart if he smiled.

He was an alpha, the youngest alpha in all of Europe whose name was respected, and he was known for having a good heart, as he was selfless and always putting his people before himself, but he was also known to be ruthless when the need arose. He was also the godson to Eleanor Zev, and his name is Alpha Ariel.

Furthermore, he gave them their first task and told them they had an hour to each find a mentor, but there was a twist. The mentor could reject a mentee if he wanted to, so even if they were able to locate a mentor, they needed to be accepted first. If not, they were out of the competition and also, the mentor would decide if they wanted to take more than one mentee or just one.

“Do you all understand?”, Alpha Ariel asked sternly to be certain they had understood his words.

“What about you, Alpha Airel? Do you take mentees?”, Lola asked.

It showed all over her that she had taken an interest in him. Well, it was not her fault, who wouldn't want an Alpha with such merits to his name? Anybody would have drooled all over them.

“Lola!”, Airen pinched her, giving her a stink eye with his side-eye. Alpha Ariel seemed to be getting on his nerves with how he was showcasing his arrogance in front of them.

“Good question, halfie. I'm allowed to have just one mentee, but for the past three years no one has been able to locate me, so I doubt I would become anyone's mentor”.

“Halfie?”, Airen and Decker seemed shocked by what Alpha Ariel had just called Lola.

Airen was about to ask Lola what the young Alpha meant by calling her a halfie, but Decker stopped him as this wasn't the time or place to do that.

“Shall we begin? Your time starts now and, oh before I forget, we have just eleven mentors and if any of you clueless werewolves doesn't get one, you are already out of the contest and a mentor can have only two werewolves under their wings”.

Alpha Ariel revealed, which got all the contestants confused and worried. That wasn't what he had said the first time. They started muttering among themselves, unknown of how to handle this new information. Right now, it wasn't the battle of the fittest nor the smartest or the strongest, it was all about being able to make those mentors choose you by winning their hearts, and they had just an hour to do that.

“While you are all here reeling from confusion, your time is ticking. If I were you, I would better start searching for my mentor”, Alpha Airel said, and in a blink of an eye, he was nowhere to be found, it was like he disappeared into thin air.

Everyone ran off, even Decker followed the others, and they started looking for their mentors, while Airen just sat down at the corner of the hall, whistling and doing nothing. Lola was bewildered by that act of his. They were supposed to be looking for their mentors and there he was sitting down and being complacent.

“What is your problem, Airen? Why are you making it difficult for us?”, She moved closer to him and bent down.

“You know this is the only way we can find mama's killers”, she whispered, so the people around couldn't hear their conversation.

“I prefer not to do this, I don't want to go around chasing over some people who think they rule the world because they are alpha's, pfft, arrogant bastards”, Airen rolled his eyes and continued with his whistling.

“I'm the oldest, Airen, and I know what's best for us, but if you prefer not to do it, fine, I will do it myself. I just hope I'm not too late in finding a mentor”. Lola got up from where she bent down, pissed and frustrated at Airen.

She strutted her way to the Exit with hopes of Airen joining her, and she wasn't disappointed. Airen stood up after grumbling his ass out.

“Ughh, I hate you for this, Lo. This way, you are going in the wrong direction unless you do not want the young Alpha to be your mentor”, Airen pointed towards the exit door on their right.

“But everyone went through this door, we should also go that way”, Lola suggested, but her suggestion was shot down by her witty younger brother.

“Doing what others do doesn't mean it's right, mama always said, never follow the crowd”.

Airen tilted his head sideways and beamed before walking to the exit door he proposed and his sister following behind him.

He opened the door and saw a stairway in front of him. He took out his phone and put on the flashlight, so they could see properly.

“Be careful, sister, so you don't miss your step”, he advised.

“Airen, are you sure we are going the proper way? We have been here for more than fifteen minutes, climbing stairs upon stairs, I am tired”, Lola whined as she stopped to catch her breath.

“It's the right way, I can smell him”, Airen insisted.

Lola's eyes widened as she heard those words from him. He hadn't shifted like a werewolf, so how could he already have these senses? She stared at him for a while, attempting to understand what was going with him.

“Sister, stop staring at me, it's going to put a hole in the back of my head”, Airen said, even without taking a glance at Lola.

He shouldn't have known she was staring at him weirdly, so how did he? Lola shook her head and rubbed her arms as she tried to shake off the goosebumps she was having.

They continued walking along the stairs until they saw a small wooden door at the edge of the stairs. Airen ran down to the edge and opened the door, a bright light flashed upon his face and he used his hand to cover his eyes for some seconds before taking it off. It was a beautiful garden in front of him, filled with flowers which he had not seen before. They looked rare in his eyes.

“I told you I knew where we were going”, Airen said as he helped Lola out of the door. “He smells like this, the same as the garden house”.

“My goodness, how do you do this? First, it was you leading us to this place and saying the magic word, and now this?”, Lola questioned. She seemed amazed at everything going on with her brother.

“Lo, I'm not the best student for anything, I read everything readable, don't let my good looks deceive you”, Airen joked a bit with his sister.

After they lost their mother and went on the run, this was the first time Lola had heard the sound of Airen's laughter, and it brought warmth to her heart.

“So, what's next?”, Lola asked.

“He is in that room”, Arien said as he walked to a door leading out of the garden room.

He opened the door leading to the room and saw Alpha Ariel sitting behind a desk on his computer, startled. From the way the young Alpha was looking, you could immediately tell that he didn't expect any of the contestants to find him.

“I told you he was here”, Airen bragged as he and his sister walked into the room side by side.

“How did…yo…you find me?” Alpha Ariel questioned, taken aback at how they had located him. No one had been able to do it since he became the Chief mentor of the competition, which was what made it intriguing that Airen could locate him in such a short time and follow the hidden stairway leading to his private room.

“I followed your scent, how else were you expecting us to find you?”, Airen asked and gestured with his hands wide open. He was vexed at the question the young Alpha asked, as it was a foolish one.

“[I told you there was something distinctly strange about him]”.

Ariel's wolf sage mind linked to him, but Ariel rolled his eyes at him and ignored him.

Alpha Ariel stood up from his seat and walked in front of the siblings, he had this smile on his face which said he wasn't too pleased with them finding him.

“You both already know the rules for how the mentees are selected, so I'm not going to waste any more time with you both. You were the first person I saw the moment I raised my head, so you are my mentee. I'm sorry, but I can only accept one”, he said, turning over to Lola, who already had a gloomy look on her face as she realized that she had gotten the short end of the stick.