Chapter 4

I continue to look forward despite the overwhelming need to take a good look at those pretty eyes.

“You brought him in just moments ago, correct, Beta Lucas?” she asks her second as I feel her eyes rake up and down my rigid form.

“Yes, Alpha. We caught a scent from the East and found him and a pack member headed in our direction about a mile west of the location of five slaughtered rogues.”

“Well it’s not illegal to kill a rogue. But, a slaughtering of that magnitude by one wolf is surly something to investigate. It is the belief that it was him?”

“Yes, Alpha,” her Beta’s responses were all quick and clam.

“You said a pack member was with him? Who, exactly?” the Alpha asks, dark eyebrows that I could see furrow from the corner of my eye.

“Harper Lowen, Alpha. She transitioned last week.”

The Alpha hums thoughtfully.

“Get her, will you,” she ordered, a guard leaving quickly to retrieve the young Harper.

Harper is soon brought to the field by a well trimmed guard.

“Harper. Such a joy to have you with us,” the Alpha’s flat voice gave way to no form of enthusiasm as she turned her attention to the pale headed girl.

“Alpha, the pleasure is all mine,” Harper said, soft eyes glancing up at me from where she stood before her Alpha.

“I heard that you were found in the forest with this male? Is that true, Harper?”

“Yes, Alpha Axel,” Harper mumbled.

“And why were you in the forest, much less with a rogue male? Scentless, might I add,” Alpha Axel takes a step towards the freshly turned pup.

“I was on a run, Alpha.”

“That explains nothing. You were far beyond the boarders and even further beyond the boundary for a common wolf.”

“Yes, Alpha, I understand.”

“Then enlighten me further, will you,” Alpha Axel’s voice raised just slight.

“I wanted to explore my abilities a bit further and may have devised a plan to do that without the watchful eye of my peers. I just wanted some privacy. During my run, a band of rogues found me. This male saved me,” young Harper explained, gesturing towards me.

“Does this male have a name?” the Alpha asks.

“I did not get the chance to learn his name, Alpha,” Harper shakes her head softly.

“Your name, scentless rogue?” the Alpha asks, turning to me with her steely expression, eyes narrowed from what I could see.

“Arden Soulen, Alpha Axel,” I said, introducing myself for the first time.

Her expression wavers for a second, eyebrows furrowing and she focuses on me closer, nostrils flaring, attempting to catch a scent.

“My scent is hidden. You will not be able to find it,” I admit, still looking straight ahead.

“Then reveal it, and which pack have you been exiled from?” she orders before continuing thusly.

“I was not exiled from any pack, Alpha.”

“Reveal your scent. From which pack were you birthed?” she pressed again.

“My mother birthed me in the Tracker pack but I do not call them my pack nor do they have the honor of calling me their member,” I bite back, forcing a snarl away.

She scoffs, looking over me.

“Reveal your scent,” she said it slowly, demanding, her teeth clenched together as she pressed her aura into me despite my resistance.

“Aren’t you going to tell me what my punishment is for close proximity to a pack member of the Enforcers pack?”

“Don’t taunt me. Reveal your scent and you may earn the opportunity to live,” she snarled, canines revealed.

“Alpha…” young Harper began.

“Don’t!” the Alpha and I commanded together, her eyes flashing to me in an instant as I look at Harper with a warning scowl.

“Alpha, he protected me and risked himself by means of my own protection. Even more than willing to see me to the boarder of our lands to ensure my safety. Alpha, if he is to be punished, let me be given the same punishment,” despite our snarls at her words, she spoke with clarity before taking her stance beside me, chin high and arms at her side.

Her Alpha stares at her wide eyed.

“Oh don’t worry. You will be more than adequately dealt with. Beta, remove her and take her to my office before I do it myself,” Alpha Axel snarls, her teeth bared, the illumination from her eyes reaching my own retinas.

“Yes, Alpha,” he sends her a curt nod before taking Harper by the hand and leading her away.

She looks at me with anxious eyes as she leaves, a soft ‘sorry’ leaving her mouth silently.

“Reveal your scent,” the Alpha urges once more, my eyes still above her head as I watch Harper and the Beta disappear.

“I don’t know why it matters.”

“If you were truly from the Trackers pack then you, above all others, would understand the importance of one’s scent. Now, reveal it.”

Sighing, I close my eyes for a short moment.

The little Alpha was right. Feisty, but right.

Slowly, I reveal my scent, listening as the Alpha takes a quick but deep inhale before doing if again.

I hear as she snarls, a low, lustrous, seductive sound that pulled my eyes from the setting sun to eyes that felt like home.

Right then, right when her eyes met mine everything change, the world shifted, the sun shined warmer, the stars seemed brighter, the moon seemed bigger, the world felt smaller.

In this moment it was just her and I, the world around us was nothing more than a blur of color and white noise.

I felt, for the first time ever, that home existed and it was right there, right in her eyes. Her eyes, her voice, her presence was my home, was my safety, was my sanity, was my heart, was my soul.

My mother told me that I’d be a fool to ignore fate.

I’d promised her that her son would never be that fool and that fool would never be me.

It felt like we’d been there a life time. Staring into each other’s eyes, but only moments had passed.

The Goddess had blessed me with a strong, willing, powerful mate and for that, I’d always be in her debt.

“You…” she whispered, eyes wide on mine as she stared up at me, a gorgeously warm viridian shining up at me.

My new favorite color.

“What is your name?” I husk, eyes flitting over her face, memorizing every freckle and every hair.

“Drew Axel.”