Alpha Black
Chapter 30 - Are You Ready?

Alice Forrest

I walked through the forest, letting the breeze fan through my hair, the lightweight material of my dress floated around me. The smell of the forest was intoxicating, it made me feel like I could accomplish anything, I turned and stopped at a stream, dipping my feet in the cool water, letting the current wash away the dirt that had stuck to my feet.

I looked up from the clear waters to see a large white wolf on the other side of the stream, her fur sparkled in the sunlight and her eyes were so light, so white, that they looked like the iris wasn’t even there.

The wolf looked up at me, blinking her eyes slowly and she waded out into the middle of the creek, which seemed to grow wider. The look in her eyes told me she was waiting for me, wanted me to meet her in the middle.

“Alice, it’s time to wake up,” Nathaniel said, and my eyes snapped open, and I was met with his green eyes staring down at me.

“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my hands over my face.

“Ten to nine,” he said, getting up off the bed.

“Sorry, I must have slept through my alarm,” I said rolling over onto the other side of the bed, the cool sheets refreshing and waking me.

“It’s okay, I thought I’d let you sleep a bit longer, you said you hadn’t been sleeping well.”

“Thank you,” I smiled and got out of bed, “what’s the itinerary then?” I asked, stretching my arms, and untangling myself from the maze of blankets.

“We’ll leave at 10, Jamie and three other guards will be going with us. If we make good time, we should reach our destination before dinner.”

“Sounds like a long drive,” I said, forcing a smile, “I’ll bring a book.”

He looked up from the suitcase that he was packing, his green eyes sparkling in the morning light and caution flickering in his mind. As he didn’t react to my friendly banter, I went and hoped into the shower, letting the warm water wash away the sleepiness. It didn’t need to be a long shower, as I quickly shaved and washed my hair, then stepping out I moisturiser, put on deodorant, did some light make up and dried my hair, tying it into a high ponytail.

His gaze snapped to me as I exited the bathroom, he’d now finished packing, his suitcases sitting in the corner of the bathroom next to my own, that I’d packed the night before. He stood on the balcony, phone in one hand, pressed against his ear as he spoke quietly.

I could feel his gaze burning on my thighs as I walked across the room and in front of him, disappearing into my wardrobe and pulling the doors closed behind me. I couldn’t deny that I’d gotten used to the certain luxuries of living in this pack, as the Luna. I hadn’t had to clean in months now and all of my clothes were expensive and brand name products.

My underwear was now quality, shaping my body like it was made for me. But still, despite the expenses I still stuck to the basic side of the wardrobe, today I’d decided to wear a black tank top, high waisted khaki-coloured pants, and some black leather boots. I’d talked to Nathaniel’s mother, Ellianna, over the past couple of months about any tours of the pack she’d gone on. She’d worn sun dresses and heels, she’d been an elegant goddess, but I had another idea in mind.

Nathaniel seemed to smirk as I strutted out of the closet, taking my watch off the charger and fastening it around my wrist, “Jamie called, he said he’s done picking up your special request.”

I smiled, “wonderful.”

“Are you sure it’s fine?” he said staring at me quizzically.

“Yeah, you’ll see,” I smiled, picking up two of my suitcases and carrying them down the stairs, Nathaniel following two steps behind me, carrying his own suitcases. “How was your sleep?” I asked.

“Fine, probably as good as your own,” he grumbled.

“Do I have time for coffee?” I asked leaving the suitcases in the entry, heading towards the kitchen.

“I’ll make you some breakfast, we’ve got half an hour.”

“Oh, I can make my own.”

“No, it’s fine, Jamie probably hasn’t eaten either and he’ll be around in a minute.”

“Okay, I’ll do coffee then,” I said, heading towards the coffee machine.

As Jamie swaggered into the kitchen the smell of coffee, eggs and bacon wafted through the house as I placed three plates on the island bench. “Hey Jamie, how are you going?” I smiled as his friendly face warmed the room.

“Oh, I’ve been awake since four, so as good as you imagine. But you two seem to be getting along fine today,” he said with a grin picking up his cup of coffee and taking a sip. He handed me a medium sized box and gave me an encouraging smile.

“Thanks,” I said, accepting the box and throwing the lid off and rummaging through the tissue paper. Nathaniel’s hand seized my wrist and pulled my hand out of the box, a growl rippling from his chest.

“You’re being reckless Alice, what if you’re wrong?” His eyes flickering between black and green.

I closed my eyes and sighed, throwing Jamie a glancing, begging for support.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Jamie said walking around to the other side of the counter and continuing to smear avocado on the slices of toast that Nathaniel had put down.

I looked back at Nathaniel, “I’m not being reckless, it should be in it’s sheath,” I said, placing my hand on his arm, “It’s okay.”

He chewed on his cheek and realised my arm, “fine,” going to stand beside Jamie and dish out the bacon and eggs, a scowl etched onto his face. I rolled my eyes and his stubbornness and pulled a black leather-bound sheath and blade out of the box.

“See,” I said, holding the blade in front of me, “completely safe.”

“I still don’t like it,” he grumbled.

I smirked and threaded the belt around my waist, tightening the buckle before moving to tighten the strap around my thigh, fastening the blade against my hip and stepping back, “what do you think?”

Jamie grinned and Nathaniel continued to glare at it, “you look like a warrior goddess,” Jamie laughed.

“It looks good, you look good,” Nathaniel mumbled.

“Well, whip it out then,” Jamie laughed with a gave me a wink, “Show us what you got.”

I pulled the blade out of the sheath and it reflected the light, the blade was embedded with silver, the lighter metal swirling against the darker. The fuller engraved with two wolves, tall pine trees and a mountain range, “What do you think?” I asked, carefully holding the blade in my other hand, and showing the engraving to Nathaniel.

His eyes wandered from my hand to the blade where he let his gaze trace the etched pattern, “it’s here, Savage River,” he said looking at the mountain range.

“The view from our room,” I said with a smile.

He looked up at me, a pain in his eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s ‘our’, you two haven’t slept in the same room since the Luna ceremony.”

“We just need the space at the moment,” Nathaniel said taking a bite out of his breakfast as Jamie slid my plate towards me.

“Mhmm, you guys know you won’t be able to pull that crap on this tour, everyone will know, and it will have the opposite effect to what you want.”

I looked at Nathaniel, he dropped his gaze when I met his eyes and I felt a pang in his chest, he wasn’t happy about sleeping separately, but I needed the space to heal. Yet I knew every day he hated waking up to an empty bed, and so did I, we needed each other, but we also needed time to get to know each other.

“I know, we won’t. We’ll be perfect, hopelessly in love power couple that everyone thinks we are,” I said smiling and Jamie and putting the blade back into the sheath.

He shook his head as Nathaniel continued to eat his breakfast in silence, “I still don’t understand why you want the knife,” Jamie said, walking around and sitting next to me.

Nathaniel looked up from his plate and met my gaze, “I think we should tell him,” he said.

“I agree, it’s stupid not to tell him, it’s not like he spends time with anyone else, so he won’t gossip about it.”

“Okay, one I have friends,” Jamie said sassily, “and two, I’m sitting right here.”

Nathaniel and I couldn’t control the laughter, “yeah, we’re your friends, and we’re sitting right here too,” I choaked out.

“So, what do you want to tell me?”

“Alice’s bond with her wolf is incomplete, she’s strong, heals quickly and has all the heightened abilities of a wolf, but she dosen’t shift.”

“Do you have a wolf at all?” Jamie said, his eyes growing wide and looking at me with a mixture of horror and sadness.

I nodded, “I do, but she’s not me, and I not her. She’s not safe or tame, we don’t get along.”

“Hence the knife,” Nathaniel said gesturing to the blade, “it was her idea, a way to protect herself, the silver will allow her to protect herself ferociously, but it dosen’t burn her like it does us, she’s an anomaly.”

Jamie looked at me, a sadness swirling in his eyes, “I didn’t know,” he said softly, placing a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. “I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologies for anything Jamie, you can’t miss what you’ve never had,” I said smiling reassuringly.

“But don’t you feel incomplete? I don’t know what I’d do without my wolf,” he said his brow furrowed.

“It’s not like I’ve had my wolf killed Jamie, it’s the only life I’ve know, so it’s fine really. So long as you don’t think any less of me,” I said placing a hand on his and giving him a wink.

A small growl erupting from Nathaniel and I shot him a glare, “Of course not Alice, you’re my Luna and my best friend, how could I not love everything about you,” he said with a smile.

It was like a light bulb turned on over Jamie as he suddenly looked between Nathaniel and myself, his mouth opening and closing, “is this why you’ve been fighting so much recently?” he said in shock.

I looked down and I heard Nathaniel shuffle his feet awkwardly, before shoving the rest of his breakfast in his mouth, and turning away to put his plate in the dishwasher. “Nathaniel Black!” Jamie roared, “Do not tell me you have been giving your mate crap for not shifting!” he said sauntering around the island bench and grabbing Nathaniel by the collar.

“It’s more than that Jamie,” he said sadly and brushing the Beta’s grip off, “I’ll put the bags in the car, you two finish your breakfast,” and just like that he walked out of the kitchen leaving Jamie staring at the door and me eating my breakfast.

“Seriously?” Jamie said turning to face me, “Seriously?”

“It’s complicated Jamie,” I said, as I empathised with the pain and hurt he was going through.

“Yeah okay, but you two are meant to be made for each other! You’re meant to be getting better, not worse, I’m worried about the two of you!”

I offered him a sympathetic smile, “We’re both difficult people Jamie, and we have very different ways of doing this and confronting obstacles. We just have to work out how to do this all together.”

“What if you don’t?” Jamie said, sitting back down and looking at me, even his eyebrows looked sad.

“Well, I’ll always have you,” I winked and gave him a one armed hug. “I’m sure we’ll be fine Jamie,” I said, not even believing my own words but hoping that he would. “Everything happens for a reason.”

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