Chapter 1

“We are turning eighteen in two weeks and I can’t wait to find my mate.” My friend Lizzy says excitedly, I understand how she feels, and I feel the same way. “Who do you think your mate would be if he is in our pack?” I have been looking at all the unmated wolves in our pack and wondering if my mate was among them. “I really don’t care who he is, as long as he doesn’t reject me then I will be happy.”

Rejection is another thing we must consider. In our pack, more and more wolves were rejecting their mates because they, for whatever reason, believe that their mates will weaken them. Yes, we are a pack of warriors, both men and women. Our pack has the best warriors, strong, skilled, and good warriors. But I do not think rejecting our mates strengthens us, in fact, it makes us weaker.

I have seen those who rejected their mates, and the rejected looking weaker than they were before. Their fighting skills are no longer the same and they always have this distant and sad look in their eyes. I do not know if I am the only one who sees it or the alpha is just turning a blind eye to it on purpose. “What about you, do you think your mate is here?” I shook my head.

“No, I don’t think he is here because I don’t feel any connection to anyone,” I tell her, and she rolls her eyes at me with her hands on her waist. “Duh! How are you supposed to feel connections when you are not eighteen yet?” she looks at me like am the most stupid she-wolf she has ever met. “I know, but shouldn’t there be some kind of connection?” I know that most people say they felt nothing for their mates until they come of age and discovered that they are mates.

“You are being silly as usual Zoe, now let’s go back it’s almost time for training.” I stood up and dusted my bum to remove and dirt that might have stuck on my jeans when I sat. Our pack trains twice a day, once in the morning and in the evenings before dinner. “I heard that the devil alpha is coming here,” Lizzy says, and I froze in place wondering what he wants from our pack.

“Why is he coming here?” she stops then looks at me again like am the most stupid she-wolves to ever exist. “Tell me, Zoe, am I a beta, a gamma, or maybe a Luna of this pack?” I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what that has to do with anything. “No,” I answered anyway, wanting to see where she was going with her questions.

“Then if that’s the case, how would I know what the devil alpha is doing here?” I clique my tongue, looking at her, annoyed. “Then why did you feel the need to share the news if you don’t have all the answers?” she rolls her eyes then walks, and I followed behind. “Because, my friend, I want to keep you informed. You know me being a good friend and all.”

I stop in my tracks and look at her. ‘why does she think this is even useful information?’ I shook my head and started walking again. The devil alpha is the alpha of our neighboring pack. There is only one word to describe alpha Deluca. Evil! They say that his father, the former alpha that he killed, took him away when he was only nine years old.

They say he went up the mountains and left him there to fend for himself. For ten years he was there on his own and only came back three years ago. They say the first thing he did when he came back was killing his father then took over the pack and from thereon. That pack became the scariest. They kill without reason, and not even rogues’ trespass on their lands.

They are not allied with any pack, which makes me wonder what he wants with our pack. I have never seen him, only a few have, and they do not have good things to say about him. Now, why would our alpha invite someone like that into our pack? They also kill mates in that pack which makes us better because our people only reject their mates, they do not kill them.

This is not so different if you ask me because they say the pain of losing your mate is equal to death and can make a wolf lose its mind. “What are you thinking about?” Lizzy snaps me out of my thoughts. “Just thinking about the devil alpha and what he wants from us,” I tell her, and she frowns. “As long as I don’t see him then I will be fine.”

I do not want to see him either but that may be difficult, seeing that we live close to the packhouse and the alpha always has my father with them when they have meetings.

“Let’s hope that we won’t have to see him,” I tell her and when we get in front of the packhouse we stop. “Do you think what they say about him is true, though?” she asks, and I think about it.

Most people who have seen the alpha say the same thing, ruthless, scary, and so are his pack members. So, if all these people are saying the same thing, then it must be true. “I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I believe that there is some truth to the rumors.” The frown on her face deepens. And I know if we do not stop talking about this. She will start panicking for no reason.

“Look, we don’t have to talk about this because we won’t have to…” her expression changed, and her eyes went wide then I stopped talking wondering what has gotten into her. “Liz,” I call out her name, but she does not respond and seems to be frozen in place. “Liz!” she jumped and her hands trembled. “He’s here.” She says with a whispering voice and her hands have not stopped trembling.

I looked at her worriedly. “Liz, talk to me who is here?” I asked her, but her eyes are now fixed behind me. I turned slowly to look and there are three cars coming over and they are just a few feet away from us. The cars are those big old land rovers. I look back at her, then realization hit me, and my eyes widen. I pulled a frozen Lizzy. “Let’s get inside, now!” I tell her as I drag her along with me and she snaps out of it when we are going up the stairs in the packhouse.

“He is really here.” She says like she does not believe it. Before I could answer our alpha, my dad, gamma, and the beta of the pack emerge at the top of the stairs and I stop in my tracks. “Aaah! Zoe, Lizzy, it’s good that you are both here. Go help aunty Nora in the kitchen we have guests.” Alpha Zane says and I frowned. “The other omegas are their alpha.” Answers Lizzy.

“No, they are not. They are busy helping with the cleaning of the new hospital. Only aunty Nora is here, now help her out.” I want to protest, but my dad gives me a look, and I lowered my head. “Yes alpha.” I turned, then go down the stairs. “But…” I hear Liz trying to protest behind me, but alpha Zane cut her off.

“No buts Lizzy, go!” his voice is stern, and I can tell that he is on edge. Lizzy soon joins me in the kitchen. “I don’t have time to make you something to eat now. We have guests, and I am alone. Make something for yourselves babies.” Aunt Nora says as soon as we get into the kitchen. She knows that every time we come into this kitchen, it is only. Food! Liz and I love food.

It does not help that Aunt Nora is an excellent cook. “Alpha sent here us to help,” I tell her. “Oh! Thank the Goddess! I was panicking. Quickly put those on a tray, we must take them to the conference room. Lizzy takes out the juice while I sort out the tea.” She instructs and we get busy. “Why do we have to prepare tea in this heat? There is juice why must there be tea as well?”

Lizzy questions, and Aunt Nora shakes her head. “It’s because we don’t know what our guests prefer, little one, so we must have everything ready so that they choose what they want.” Explains aunt Nora putting everything on trays then looks at us. “Right! Zoe, take this one and Lizzy take this. Follow me.” We each take a tray and we follow behind her.

On the way, I pray we do not meet the devil alpha, that by chance they are still in the lounge and not the conference room. But as we get close, I smell unfamiliar scents and my heart sinks. ‘They are here.’ My wolf whispers, but I do not have time to entertain her. I know they are here, I can smell their scents. When we get to the door, the temperature drops.

We can feel that whoever is behind those doors is no ordinary wolf. Aunt Nora knocks once, and we hear a ‘come in’ as she twists the doorknob and pushes the door open. She walks in first and we follow, but I do not lift my head to look at the people. My heart booms in my chest, beating like an African drum, and my palms are sweating. I place the tray on the table, then move back.

I hear a gasp next to me and a tray falling. I feel something splash my feet and I look to see what it is. It is the juice; the tray Lizzy was holding with juice and glasses is on the floor. I lift my head to look at her and she had a look I have never seen before. Her eyes are wide open, and her hands clamp her mouth shut as if she is afraid of making a noise.

She is staring at something or someone behind me; I know who it is, but I turn to look, anyway. My bottom lip trembles, and beads of sweat form on my forehead. I cannot talk, I cannot move, and I can’t look away either. ‘The Devil Alpha.’ My wolf, Nikki says in my head, and I nod, trying to confirm what she said.