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Chapter 31
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2024-10-29 19:42:56[Valerie]
** Six Years Ago **I had often wondered why it took as long as it did for my wolf to come. I was already well past my seventeenth birthday, and was the only one in the pack who remained there without a wolf.Garrett - the jock of Pleasant Hill High - was giving Mateo hell for his decision to keep me there. The Beta seemed to hate my guts, and probably hated the Alpha more than that. I had no idea why he looked at me as if he’d punch my face if I said something wrong, but I kept my distance and said nothing for my own safety.Mateo was preparing to leave for college, and it worried me more than I thought it would. It felt as though I was losing my best friend, who had proved that I could trust him with my life when he kept my secret safe - from the pack and from his own parents.Even though I only knew the vague details of my birth, I was well aware that I was never born to be a part of the Shadow Hunters pack. Which is why I accepted my fateRelated chapters
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 32
[Alexander]I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I pushed off the chair, hearing it fall behind me, and kept sceptical eyes narrowed on the witch leader. I was trying to process, trying to find a loophole in what she said.“She led you to her pack! She led you to her Alpha.”“I read her palms before she did any of that. She is of Alpha blood, Alexander.”Alpha blood? How was that possible when Valerie was an Omega?“She told me herself!” I defended her. “She is an Omega of her pack. She led you to them to climb up the ladder. It’s not possible.”“Oh, but it is,” Elena said calmly, “She just doesn’t know it yet.”“Why are you keeping here?”Elena stood up gracefully, as if she was floating instead of standing on her own two feet and beckoned me to follow her. I wasn’t sure if she had some kind of an effect on me - after all, she was a w
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 33
[Valerie]** Five Years Ago **For my best friend, I endured even more of the bullying. Not just because I knew he was there to protect me and defend me every time someone crossed a line, but because I loved being around him. His Beta stopped pairing up with him to go around impressing Selena, so Mateo and I partnered up on these hunts.A year after my wolf came, Mateo taught me everything there was to learn about the “perfect hunt”. How to train my breathing so that I barely made a sound, how to walk, how to prowl, how to run faster than any other animal out in the woods. Running was the hardest part for me - not because I couldn’t do it all, but because I was smaller than the rest and always ended up being left behind. Mateo showed me how to use my size to my advantage and to the disadvantage of my prey, and become a nimble werewolf with a tiny frame.They never did stop teasing me. From pack meetings to our last year in high school, I was alw
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 34
[Alexander]I was determined to see Valerie one last time before I left. The witches seemed pleased to know that I was willing to give up my pack and myself, and I was just pleased that it meant my Valerie could be free from them.As I stood in the witches’ house, waiting on their leader, I thought about what it meant to give ourselves up. I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell Adam about the deal I just made. I would just tell him to stay at home, where he was safe. If there was one thing I did know was that these witches craved power, and would target Adam as soon as they knew he was my Beta. No. He’d be better off at home, with his wife Amelia and their daughter Ava.It pained me to think about what I was giving up for Valerie’s life. Not my own - I hardly cared what would happen to me - but the lives of the five werewolves the witches would choose. Each member had a family, had a life outside of this, and I felt like the villain in my own story.
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 35
[Valerie]There was movement outside the door, and I stirred awake, wondering who could be there. Alexander left hours ago, and as much as I tried to call out to him, or call out to anyone to come down, no one came. Even Layla, who had suffered much more than I did because she was considered a traitor, laid unconscious on the ground and barely moved after I managed to feed her the vegetable soup when Elena was done with us.The slices on my back stung as if I’d been attacked by a thousand bees. I had to take my bra off, and used it to tie a terrible wound on Layla’s arm when she was bleeding out too much. Luckily, the bleeding stopped, but I knew her pain didn’t. There was no way out of this dungeon, and the dull light ahead was flickering as if it would die too. It seemed to match the way Layla was breathing sporadically, and I wished there was something more I could do.I found an old blanket and used it to cover Layla’s beaten body. The horr
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 36
[Alexander]One week. The witches had given me one week to gather my pack and have them ready for the scalping. I too had to mentally prepare myself for the most horrific death any werewolf had to endure.It was a tough decision to make, and as the days passed, it only became tougher on my head, like leaded weights being carried on my shoulders. I was finding it hard to concentrate, and the only thing I could think of was the ones I’d picked to give up to the witches.Among them, was not my Beta. I couldn’t bear to put my sister under the tremense stress of losing her mate, the man she loved and the father of their child. I’d be a savage beast if I had to do that. Already it felt as if what I was doing was selfish. But saving Valerie in itself was an act of selflessness. Perhaps I only looked at it that way to make it easier for me. But nothing could prepare me for what was bound to happen.I found it difficult to fall asleep, plagued by nightma
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 37
[Valerie]The rage I was feeling only grew stronger inside me, and I was afraid of myself. I scrambled across the cold hard floor, grabbed Layla by the arm and shook her, neglecting to feel remorse for her pain in my pursuit to stop whatever was happening to me.“Hm?” Layla mumbled under her strained breath, and turned to me, shading her eyes from the dying light. “Val? Are you okay?”“Something’s wrong Layla. I think I’m having a panic attack.” I frowned at my own assumption, because I knew what a panic attack felt like, and this was not it.My fingers didn’t tingle, and the bile never visited my throat. Neither was my head spinning enough to leave me disoriented. The only thing I could think of was that the baby inside me - the baby that grew fast enough to give a positive test in the doctor’s office and alert Layla’s senses - could sense that its father was in danger.Layla sat up - struggl
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 38
[Alexander]The voice I heard was stern, unlike anything I had ever heard before. But I knew that it was coming from inside me and couldn’t be heard by the others. There was anger laced in that voice, a throbbing bitterness, but at the same time, it eased my heart knowing that all wasn’t lost after all. Elena became alert, tilting her ears in the direction of the werewolf standing on the top of the mountain where we could see it clearly, its fur gently swaying in the wind while its magnificent sheen seemed to outshine the moon itself.I called out to the others, “Now!” when the witchwolves turned their attention to the wolf on the mountain, and we all sprang into action, fighting them off us, kicking them and getting back to our feet so we weren’t as overpowered as we were before the werewolf howled our attention to it. Their moment of weakness was our turn to gain the upperhand, and from my periphery I saw that the wolf was climbing down the
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 39
[Valerie]The immense power I felt was almost as if it came from an outward entity, stronger than I could ever imagine anything could be. Except, the entity was balled up inside me, like a titan’s fist ready to throw punches, and I was puppeteering my own strings.I never thought myself a killer. I always fantasized about the strength I felt right now, being able to heedlessly shed blood with no remorse for the next life, only feeding into the strength that was already there. I tasted that careless from the bitterness between my lips, as I severed Marcella’s neck, forgetting her name in that moment and only thinking about her crimes against me. It was a selfish act of revenge, yet it worked out as a selfless one the moment I laid eyes on my mate, laying on the ground and breathing from the wounds inflicted by the one whose blood reeked and tasted of her sins.I always controlled the rage, the anger, and pushed it far enough so that it wouldn’t consum
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Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 99
[Alexander]** Epilogue **** One Year Later **I didn’t mind that we had had to postpone our wedding. The twins were growing beautifully, and rather normal for babies who had both wolf and witch blood coursing through them. It was Camilla who had explained their rapid growth before birth - Elizabeth, who was afraid of the dark, had closed her little eyes inside her mother’s womb, and had somehow managed to speed up the process of her mother’s pregnancy. Leo, on the other hand, seemed to fear nothing. I could tell by the way he climbed to the very top of the apple tree in the garden to pick some fruit for his sister and him.All those around us, our friends, family, acquaintances, all fell in love with the twins the moment they interacted with them. Leo, with his gift of insight, and Beth with her gift of healing. The girl had a tremendous power to win over hearts, while Leo awed them with his strength and ability to show them what he wanted wit
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 98
[Valerie]If I thought I was full of nerves before, I really had no idea what I was in for the afternoon before my wedding.Everything around me was moving fast, and the women who’d seemingly taken up residence in our small, two-bedroom house were moving faster.“Where are the dresses?!”“Where are Valerie’s shoes?!”“Did anyone call the makeup artist?!”Questions like these were flying around, the air thick with the agitation I was sure everyone was feeling. But all the preparations seemed to overshadow me, and in some ways, I was thankful for that. I didn’t quite like being the center of attention, and with only a few hours left before that became inevitable, I sneaked into my room, quietly locked my door, and laid down on my bed.My belly was huge by now, and if I looked up while laying down, it was as if I was staring at a mountain. Watching my babies grow day by day made me miss my mate eve
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 97
[Alexander]I had promised Adam one last hunt before the wedding. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but after all, it was only a few more days until I’d get to wake up next to Valerie every morning for the rest of my life.Over the past couple of days, I’d been packing away some of the clothes I had in my closet, making space for Valerie’s things. The small, abandoned town in Walnut Creek wasn’t exactly ready to be lived in, and I had contracted some builders to redo the dilapidated walls and tile the floors. I’d told them to leave the walls unpainted because it sounded like a good idea to do it myself.I’d been spending most of the day organizing some work files that I was planning to give to Adam while he stood in my place at Young Industries. It was only temporary, while Valerie and I would spend our honeymoon in Greece.Valerie didn’t know about our trip. I’d managed to keep it a secret, and thought
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 96
[Valerie]With less than two weeks to go before the big day, I didn’t have much time left. I’d been putting off going to see Camilla in Oakridge for far too long, and decided that if I didn’t do it today, it would never get done.I wasn’t planning on visiting her alone. I was expecting Layla to accompany me, but she was taking longer than expected to come out of her dorm room. It was only when she finally emerged that I realized what was holding her up.Selena’s cheeks reddened the moment she saw me standing outside. I hadn’t seen her in a while, since I wasn’t allowed to hunt, and was too busy with wedding preparations to meet with her. I was guessing that Layla finally found the courage to speak to her, and it didn’t bother me at all. However, Selena looked like a bear caught in a trap.“Hi, Selena.” I waved from the corridor. “How’s everyone doing?”Selena seemed taken aback by
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 95
[Alexander]I couldn’t wait to get back from work and visit Valerie that evening. It was as if the moment we were given the green light to go ahead and get married; it had become increasingly difficult to stay away from each other.I was just about to pack my things away and leave the office when I saw Adam making his way towards the door. Putting my phone in my pocket, I stood up and picked up my suit jacket from behind my chair.“Hey man!” Adam grinned as he entered the office.The rest of the building had cleared out, with Melissa giving me a curt nod before she left. News about my marriage had spread through the town, and once Melissa heard about it, she’d given in her resignation. For the most part, I was glad. That one very awkward and meaningless kiss we shared on impulse wasn’t exactly a fond memory, and even while I suspected she was leaving because any hope she ever had before had been stripped by the news that I was gettin
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 94
[Valerie]** Two Weeks Later **The day we planned on saying our vows to each other and sealing our souls together into forever was near. I highly doubted that it was nerves for the big day that had me throwing up that morning, or the fact that we were going out shopping for dresses.We’d picked the date - fourth November, the birth of a new moon, as well as the birth of our unification. With just a little less than three weeks to go, planning for the big day was well underway. Everyone seemed to accept that we wanted to do this as quickly as possible, but the only trouble seemed to come from Alexander’s mom, who refused to settle on some private affair. I supposed she had big dreams for her son’s big day - after all, he was the eldest of her children.All the planning didn’t matter much to me. The color of the drapes, the length of the aisle, the style of the dress - seemed insignificant when I was doing the most important thing of all; I
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 93
[Alexander]I didn’t want to leave Valerie alone with my father, but she seemed much braver than I was. In fact, I didn’t know why I felt as afraid as I did when I knew that there was no way he could harm her. Besides, he didn’t know the truth yet, and even if he did, he wouldn’t hurt her here, anyway.I couldn’t hear them speaking behind the thick oak door sealing my father’s office, as much as I strained my ears and tried to listen. I wondered why dad needed to speak to her alone, and I could only hope that they weren’t fighting, or dad wasn’t saying anything to upset her.From the kitchen, mom called out to me and reluctantly, I stopped pacing the hall and went to the kitchen. Amelia was helping mom, while Layla played with my niece in her arms. If you asked me, it was possible for our kind to live in harmony with witches. But as the days passed, Layla was becoming less like a witch, and more like a human. But her tho
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 92
[Valerie]I couldn’t control myself. I ran towards my father and fell at his feet with tears rolling down my cheeks uncontrollably. I had never realized, until this very moment, how much he truly cared for and loved me.I felt like I had failed as a child. I had often looked at them with anger, hurt, thinking that I wasn’t loved the way others were loved by their parents, and when I found out that I wasn’t actually theirs, I was consumed with a disappointment that now held no weight at all.I had been stupid all along. Suddenly, I was being surrounded by the type of love I had always dreamed of, and even then I had shoved those dreams far into the back of my mind, believing that I was never destined for a grand love. But now things were seemingly coming in full-circle, but one problem still remained.Arthur Young.My nemesis - the man who was responsible for stealing my parents away too soon. And the cherry on top? He was my fated mate&rsqu
Beauty & the Alpha Chapter 91
[Alexander]I hadn’t slept a wink last night. I have been doing well over this past week in terms of sleep, work and life in general. But tonight, I was just a nervous wreck.Valerie and I had agreed that I would do things the way any normal couple wanting to get married would; by asking permission from her parents. But that wasn’t exactly something I was looking forward to. And it wasn’t because I wasn’t determined to make her mine forever, with our loved ones as witnesses, but because if I closed my eyes, I was still able to feel my cheek stinging from the punch I’d received from her father.I had to admit, it warmed my heart knowing they cared so much for her. But it worried me that they cared enough that they wouldn’t see me as a fit husband for her. It was as if the fact that I was the father of her kids didn’t matter to them. They knew who I was, who my father was and what he had done to her family, and that made
