Alpha Black
Chapter 29 - No More Lies

Nathaniel Black

Another growl rippled through my chest, as Alice stood composed in front of me, her mind raced and yet she had guarded her thoughts completely. It was like I was connected to a brick wall, no flinch, no prevailing weakness.

’Why?’ I said, slightly more aggressively than what I had intended.

Her lips opened before she let out a small breath, her mouth closing again and she let her eyes shut and, her head tilt back.

“I don’t know where to start,” she sighed, as I felt the dam of her emotions smack against my heart like an assault against the mind.

I brushed up against her, nuzzling my nose and head under her arm. She breathed deeply, ’start from the beginning,’ I snapped, circling her once more.

“I don’t, I-, I didn’t have anyone. The Seaport Pack dosen’t have a great deal of traditions like you do here, they’re smaller and more relaxed, so we didn’t have monthly shifting rituals. Someone might throw a party if they knew they were going to shift on a specific full moon, but it was only people like the Alpha’s and Beta’s who did this. Normally families would gather with your aunts, uncles, parents, siblings, close family friends. I didn’t have this.”

She paused and looked at me, “Angel was older than me, Jenny and Steph younger, so Angel had gone through her shift a couple of months prior to my birthday. With my mother being dead and dad in rehab at the time, I was going to shift alone for the first time, and I was so afraid.”

I felt the rubber band inside Alice’s heart stretch, so close to breaking, so close to that dam of emotions exploding and washing over her. But she continued.

“So, Angel promised to be there for me. She sneaked out of her parent’s house and we snuck off into the forest. It felt like we were walking for hours, waiting for the moon to reach it’s peak, as it drew closer, we stopped in a clearing and sat on the grass and waited. That’s when it started.”

She paused, scrunching her nose and jamming her eyes shut like she was trying to hold back tears. “I started to shift, but it was slow, so much slower than anyone else’s shift that I’d seen. It took hours, I felt every bone in my body break, one at a time, reposition and heal, I felt my skin tear and rip as muscles grew and wrapped my new bones. I felt like I was being stung by a thousand bees as fur sprouted from my skin, still raw from re-growing, I screamed for so long and so loud that I couldn’t speak for a week afterwards.”

Bringing her head down to look at me as I stopped in front of her, tears began to fall down her face as the dam of emotions inside her cracked and burst. Guilt, pain, horror, they washed over me, and I could feel her heart throb, I could heart the uneven beat of her pulse.

“That wasn’t even the worst part of it,” she croaked, “once my shift had finished, Angel stood in front of in her wolf form, prepared to run with me for the first time, link me to the rest of the pack, but I was no longer in control. You know the voice you hear in your mind when you first shift, your wolves’ instincts, and conscience. How slowly over time it blends with your own, until you no longer can identify the difference between your own thoughts and those of your wolf, marking that you’re one with your wolf and other half.”

’Yes,’ I said quietly, captivated by her words.

“I don’t have that.”

She looked at me, her chin was still held high, but she looked like she was made of glass, like she could have shattered had the wind blown too strong. “I was trapped, watching through the eyes of a beast as it tried to kill my best friend. The beast hunted her until sunrise, until it collapsed, and I was realised from it. But the forest was painted red with our blood, Angel was broken, bloody and bruised, she’s managed to claw at me in several places, enough to weaken my wolf, enough to fend for her life. But the damage was done. Angel flinched every time I got too close to her, for a year after.”

As she spoke the tears had continued to run down her face, staining her skin and washing away a thin layer of makeup she’d put on earlier after her shower. The dam of emotions suddenly stopped as she breathed in and cleared the tears from her face with her hands, looking up at the sky that peaked through the trees. The control she had over her own mind was incredible, to be able to stop and compose yourself with such conviction left me in awe.

“I swore that I’d never shift again, that I would not allow myself to hurt anyone again, not like that. I never trained, so that the beast would not grow stronger, I never prayed to the Moon Spirits, participated in rituals or ceremonies, I isolated myself from that half of me.”

Her words stung and I paced towards, her shifting into my human form without missing a beat I opened my arms to embrace her, I needed to comfort her. Her brow furrowed and she stepped back, away from my touch.

“Don’t,” she said shaking her head.

“I didn’t know,” I admitted, taking another step towards her, trying to wipe a tear from her cheek.

She flinched away from my action, more affected by my human form than my wolf. “You didn’t, but you didn’t seem to care either, did you?” she hissed, the venom rising in her voice.

“Alice,-” I started, trying to comfort her.

“Don’t, touch me,” she spat, her jaw clenching and she glared at me. “You have no right to touch me.”

I swallowed at her words and the sting, and burn they left on my skin, “you’re not a beast, Alice,” I said.

She looked up at my eyes and into my soul, her lip curled as she looked at me in disgust. “I know what one of my demands are,” she said mercilessly.

“What?” I asked, a wash of fear coming over me.

“You will never command me to shift, you will never order me to do anything like what you just did to me. You said I disrespected you, but what you just tried to do to me is unforgiveable.”

My eyes fell and I looked at her shoes, she was right, I crossed a line, I snapped and took it out on her.

“If you do that again, I will leave you Nathaniel,” she said and the fire in her eyes told me she would, at least she would try.

A growl rippled from my lips and out of my chest and I stalked forward, standing millimeters from her. I felt her breath tickle against my skin as she breathed, looking up at me she met my eyes, “Is that a threat?” I growled.

“No, it’s a promise.”

“Fine,” I hissed, “but you will never disrespect me in front of another person, pack member or not. You want to tell me something, you disagree with me, you will come and tap on my shoulder, you will whisper in my ear, you will tell me and only me your problem. Is that clear.”

“Like crystal,” she hissed back.

I turned around to stalk away, quickly changing my mind and closing the space between us, this time my sudden moment taking her by surprise, and she stepped back, now pressed hard against the tree.

“You will never set foot outside of this pack without my permission.”

She swallowed, “how dare you,” he said, the scowl on her face looked like it was permanently etched onto her skin.

“You cannot get away with threatening me Alice, at the end of the day, you are my mate and a pack member.”

She scoffed and her scowl turned into a smirk, but her eyes still cold as she looked at me loathingly. “You’re right, it was stupid of me to think that I was your equal,” she hissed.

The words stung my skin, but not as much as the way she shoved past me, “get some fucking Nate,” she hissed as she walked into the forest.

“Where the fuck are you going?” I hissed, sauntering after her.

I almost heard her eyes roll, “I don’t know.”

“You’re not going anywhere without someone Alice,” I commanded and she stopped turning around to face me again.

I stopped and looked at her, her gaze wandered over my nakedness, causing a smirk to creep it’s way onto my face and I bit down on my lip.

“I told you my shit, you can tell me yours,” she demanded, unzipping her jumper and throwing it at my crotch, “and cover the fuck up.”

I smirked and fastened the jumper around my middle, letting it hang over my man hood and arse. I didn’t mind being naked, espeically in front of Alice, but there was still ice and a lack of truth between us.

“My uncle is trying to overthrow me. He’s trying to stake a claim the title of Alpha, despite having never beaten me in a fight or challenge, he has no way of taking it from me through tradition.”

“What?”

“I brought you into the middle of a war, Alice and I’m so sorry.”

“Is that why there was the rouge attack? Why you keep leaving?” She choaked, her eyes scanning my face for the answer.

“Yes,” I answered, “he’s got a revolt happening down in the Southern Boarder.”

“Is it serious? Is he a threat?”

“He could be, I’m doing my due diligence on who’s involved. I didn’t expect him to conceal the rouges into the pack though, I’m still not even sure how or where they came from.”

She wrapped her arms around her body, and massaged her temple as her eyes continued to race as if she were trying to read a million words a minute. She opened her mouth and closed it again, her eyes watering slightly, “that’s why you pushed the Luna ceremony.”

“What?”

“He would have based your claim off the fact that you’ve been unmated for ten years.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Your uncle, he didn’t know about me before the ceremony, did he?” she asked looked up at me.

“No, he didn’t.”

She swallowed, “then I’m going to be your biggest weapon.”

“I’m not baiting you Alice,” I said raising a brow at her.

“No, I wouldn’t even suggest that to you. But I do think it’s time you take me on a tour of your pack, re-instill some fear and awe in your disobedient pack members.”

“You want me to use you?”

“You told me I was beautiful, were you lying?”

“No, what, Alice. What about Hardwall?”

“Hardwall isn’t apart of this equation Nate, I have already submitted my thesis proposal and I will have an interview in early December.”

I studied the fire that was now burning in her eyes, the way her mind ticked and worked, the way she resolved any issues that. I nodded. “You were pissed at me three minutes ago.”

“And you were pissed at me five minutes ago,” she sighed, leaning against a tree, and resting her head against the trunk. “I think I have emotional whiplash.”

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