ALICIAI am seated by a big gray house, wearing my sunglasses and enjoying the sunlight. I don't know how I have gotten here but that doesn't bother me. Somewhere within the compound someone is cooking a nice meal, my nostrils can tell me that. I am enjoying my life because I have finally found my mate. It's my wolf I should be celebrating really because after being absent for so long she is now active. She is the one who has led me to this mate and I am very grateful.I can sense his scent, a very intoxicating one, as he walks around the house and I am waiting patiently for him to come out so that I can meet him. I wonder why his wolf has not alerted him of my presence but I am willing to wait for as long as it takes until when he will come out. I have waited for this day for too long and I am glad that it has finally come.What makes me happy is that my mate is a person of means. His compound is so tidy. The grass has been mowed to an uniform height and watered properly to a dark gr
ALICIAIt's the first day of physical training. After classes we all troop to the pack's training grounds. It's not compulsory, but for every student who wants to train.We are all given some simple tasks to perform so that the best among us can be chosen. Exercises range from sit ups, press ups, jumping jacks and many more for girls. For men it's weight lifting and body building. Those who can lift heavy weights are given first chances, then other exercises are conducted on the others.Finally, we are told to run around the field. Those who finish first are given an opportunity to be among the best. I fail in all the categories, and so does Amos because we end up in the same category. We find some time to laugh at ourselves at some corner after the selection has been done.“Amos! I can't believe that you are so weak. You can't lift a fifty kilogram weight and you can't run?” I ask in jest, knowing only too well that I am no better.“I don't care. I may be weak in athletics and physic
ALICIAAmos cowers in fright. He doesn't know what to say to a visibly angry Alpha. He mutters a weak “excuse me” then walks away, leaving his coffee untouched. I watch as he walks towards the washrooms and feel some pity for him. Drake towers above me, waiting for me to speak.“I am here Alpha Drake. Please let me know what I can do for you.” I say, looking up to face him. I must admit that I am also scared of him too. He cuts the figure of someone worth fearing. I can feel everyone's eyes on us, the whole restaurant having come to a standstill.“In my car, right outside. Let's go now.” A command given in a low tone, but carrying huge weight. He starts walking out and I quickly follow closely behind. From the corner of my eye I see Amos, standing some distance away, in some recess in the restaurant, quietly watching what is happening.Once outside Drake opens the car door for me and once I am seated he gets in, reverses out of the parking lot and drives away at high speed. No one say
ALICIAIt's not one pursuer behind me but at least three. They are quickly catching up with me because I can hear their footsteps clearly. When my wolf was present the first thing I would have noticed was their scents. Without her I am just like any other human.I am getting exhausted because I am not used to running for long, and one of my pursuers overtakes me and stands before me, hindering my progress. I turn back and see two more approaching. There is nowhere to run to because the sides of the road are dense woods and there is no telling whether more adversaries await in there.“Who are you and what do you want?” I ask amid sweating and panting. I can't help but breathe heavily due to that small stretch of running. My wolf should come back because this is unacceptable. A normal werewolf should run long distances without getting tired.“Don't ask. We are here to teach you a very important lesson.” The one in front says. I quickly go through the events of the day to find out who it
DRAKE'S POVI take Alicia to my house. She has suffered serious injuries and it seems that she has been a victim of an assault. Someone beat her then left her for the dead. Her face is swollen and she is bleeding all over. There is a huge bruise on her chest, someone hit her with a sharp object. The rain hasn't helped much, her clothes are dripping of dirty water.I take her to the room she previously occupied and call our pack doctor to look at her. I also order my Beta, Jim to go back and comb the scene in a bid to establish who is responsible for the assault. I need also to find out the motive of the attack since she hasn't been robbed, there's money in her pockets and jewellery on her neck. If the motive had been theft, then her expensive jewelry wouldn't be with her. Maybe they were after her phone because she doesn't have it.Then something else, I'm now certain than ever before that she is my mate. My wolf is restless and he growls angrily inside my head, feeling the pain for h
DRAKE'S POV It's becoming clear each passing day that war is going to happen, it's inevitable, not a matter of if, but when.Rogues have positioned themselves, ready to attack the packs around us and since we have peace treaties with the packs, if someone attacks them we join in the war on their side. In line with this I have authorized our trainers to recruit more fighters and warriors. We have been here before, I have fought rogues before.When I became Alpha, a group of rogues led by their leader Brice tried to attack us. They were taking advantage of my being new in leadership to topple me and take over the leadership of this pack. I fought him in a very fierce battle that saw so many of his warriors dead. I drove him back to the woods, weak and humiliated.I had heard about him before, his pack and mode of operation but it was only theory, I hadn't seen him in real life.My father had told me about the exploits of Brice. According to him, Brice was once a Beta of some pack a dis
ANDREW'S POVMy family was the happiest in our pack for years until the sudden disappearance of my sister Alicia. The last time anyone saw her was during the inauguration party of Alpha Eric, the current leader of the pack. We had all attended the party and she was part of the group who had been assigned to serve drinks, then at one point someone noticed that she was missing and reported to our father.On looking further, father established that someone had seen her by the poolside talking to the Alpha but when Eric was asked about it he denied ever holding any conversation with anyone. This was proving to be complicated and sad. My father didn't give up the search, indeed, he escalated it, looking for her everywhere within the borders of our pack. He even looked for her at the morgue but to no avail.After about a month of a fruitless search he started to go slow, but then he came across some interesting information. He had gone to file an official report about a lost person, presume
ALICIAMelissa is the first one to get in, followed closely behind by a few of my classmates. I am still in my sleeping position when they all troop in.“Alicia dear!” Melissa exclaims, her hand covering her mouth in disbelief. I honestly think that letting her see me like this was not a good idea. Melissa is the emotional type who cry over very minor issues, but I can't question the Alpha because I am certain that he is the one who let them in. I try to smile.“I am fine Melissa. The doctor says that I am out of danger.” I say just to make her feel better. There's some pain in my back that wasn't there when I regained my consequences. I can't get myself out of the bed, but I can't let her find out.“How did you find out that I was here?” I ask as I pass my eyes around the room to see who she has come with. It's funny how I don't know most of the names of my classmates, but all the faces here are familiar. I try to smile at them but from their reactions I can see that they aren't buyi
ALICIA In the early hours of the morning we walk back to the pack house and straight to our quarters. I am very sleepy and tired from the activities of the night.We didn't sleep much last night because we couldn't have enough of each other. We ended up devouring each other all night but now that's in the past. I feel great, having Drake as mine and mine only. Except for the sleep in my system, I feel sufficiently energized and ready to join the troops, but not today. Right now I want nothing else but to sleep the whole day. Drake isn't as lucky as I am. As a major leader in the ongoing war, he is needed in the usual morning meetings to plan the day's activities at the battleground. I look at him as he strips to his undergarments and puts on his fighting gear. He looks commanding, given his huge physique, his broad shoulders, his tallness and big muscles. I am glad that all these belong to me and consider myself very lucky. I feel that I have won the war against Bernice and others w
ALICIA The cave has some dark recesses where the candle light doesn't reach and our shadows are cast dancing on the walls. The cool breeze washes in and I feel a bit cold, but there's some sort of comfort in Drake's hands, some warmth. The cave has no door, but the falling waters block the opening, and no one can ever suspect that there exists a dwelling here. We can live here for years without anyone knowing about our whereabouts. Maybe we should stay here until the war is over? I should suggest this to Drake. We can make it our love nest, secure ourselves from whatever it is that's happening out there. But asking him will be wasting my time. I know he is dying to join the war. War ignites a flame in him that's very difficult to extinguish. Just last night he was so sad that he had been away from the battlefield.He's holding me tightly as we romance wildly."Don't hide from me Alicia. You're beautiful. Please allow me to show you how much I love you," He tells me.This is a day I
ALICIA “I want you to assume that you have not seen that letter. Promise me that you won't think about it and you will sleep like a baby." Drake tells me as we cuddle in his bed.“Maybe I should just run away and go back to my pack. Alpha Lazarus may decide to give me away to secure release of the hostages.” I muse.“And you think I'll allow you to slip away? Do you know how dangerous it is for you out there?” He asks.“But at least I will be doing something, running away Drake?”“Relax. I can assure you that Lazarus won't even think about giving you away.” He says as he pats my hair.I am so worried because I have now become one of the conditions Alpha Eric has set in order to release the prisoners in his custody. Earlier, I had suggested sleeping in the separate bedroom since we are now away from home but Drake didn't think so and that's how we have ended up in this bed.Regarding the letter, Alpha Lazarus said that he needed to sleep over Eric's demands and discuss them with his s
ALICIA “I was worried about you. My intelligence reports said that you left two days ago and I have been waiting for you. When you didn't turn up I became worried and I sent signals around looking for you. You can imagine my happiness when the radio call came with the information that you had been found" Drake tells me when we get to his quarters. The pack house is very big, with several wings, and one wing is assigned to him alone. It has two bedrooms, a sitting room, a washroom and a kitchen. It is a home away from home. We are in the kitchen together cooking coffee as we talk.“You won't believe if I told you that those warriors were very upset when you sent for me. They kept on taunting me.” I say.He says something to the effect that they were acting out of caution.Earlier, I had gone to the bathroom and scrubbed myself from all the dirt that I had accumulated, then threw into a bucket all my dirty clothes and put on Drake's shorts and T-shirt. They were all oversized but that'
ANDREW'S POV I know that my time with Alpha Eric is coming to an end, a bitter end. All the trust his pointman Brice had in me, if any, is gone and in its place a hatred that is so thinly veiled has set in. We have dispatched our men to go to war without us because we have to wait for Alpha Eric who has communicated through the radio that he's coming. He has indicated strictly that he wants to see me. The radio call was made in my absence by Brice, contrary to our procedures and that alone sends an alarm. This is the very first time a call has been made to Eric without me in the radio room. Brice went silent on me immediately after we came back from the river. Melissa made a very big mistake when she called Alicia by name, forgetting the pseudo, urging her to run away. Brice for some reason thought that I knew who this Alicia was and he demanded that I tell him, but I insisted that I didn't know her. This Brice, he has a very big sixth sense. “I don't believe anything you are sa
ALICIA I run through the open grasslands, aiming at the direction Andrew told us and as the sun rises I have covered more than three kilometers. I have gone through knee high grass which still has it's morning dew and my wet clothes are now soggy with water. The oversized boots make noise every step I make and I decide to do something about it. I can't get far in such conditions. There is no noise from behind and I can tell that my pursuers have called off the chase. I can now relax.I find a river and take out all of my clothes and wash them, then hung them to dry in the sun. I remain with only my undergarments and I plunge into the cold river water to take a bath.The water does wonders, cooling down all my body and mind. I had been haunted by the act of leaving behind Melissa in rogue territory but now the guilt melts away and in its place it's replaced by an assurance in my mind that nothing bad can happen to her with her mate near her. Some things happen for a reason, I muse. Fo
ALICIA We run and run, in the moonlight past the gates into the deep woods. I am leading while Melissa follows closely behind. She keeps on complaining that the boots she is wearing are so big for her but so are mine. Even after fastening them my feet keep on playing inside but I take comfort in the fact that even though they are torn, they are better than running on bare feet.“You better keep up with me Melissa, they will surely come after us, especially when they find out what we have done.” I tell Melissa who has stopped running and she now pants heavily.“My chest burns Alicia. Let's rest for a while.” She manages to say through heavy breathing.Just then the alarms go off, blaring noisily over the woods and echoing in the nearby rocks. They have found out about us and I just hope that Andrew isn't in trouble. I wonder what would have happened had he not come in time to our rescue. The guard he killed was about to inflict serious damage on us.Earlier at the cell we had plotted
ANDREW'S POV This is definitely going to be the longest night of all. I am in a deep hole already and I don't know what to do to stop me from getting deeper and deeper.The problems started when I walked away from a subdued Alpha Drake. Everyone expected me to strike him dead. Alpha Eric came to know about it and came to our camp at night. I only knew of his presence when I heard the generator outside go off and as a result we were plunged into darkness. I presumed it was the enemy's work because the generator wasn't faulty and it had enough fuel.With that conclusion, I jumped out of my sleeping bag and armed myself with a machete that never leaves my bedside. I had slept with my clothes on.I listened carefully, trying to gather any noise and found it odd that no one in the whole camp seemed bothered. They were all silent. Very unprofessional of the whole lot, but that is expected from amateurs.Satisfied that there was nobody outside, I stealthily walked out and dashed into the tr
ALICIA I focus my attention on my brother. He is struggling with himself, with his wolf. I know right away what is troubling him, Melissa is his mate but he can not bring himself to say the word, hence he stands there saying nothing. I smile, seeing him fighting the battle inside him, a losing battle. Melissa, his prisoner, and his mate. I know that his wolf will eventually win because that's what happens.Melissa too is scared. She is shocked at first to hear Andrew call me by name, evidence that he knows me, then coupled with the initial fear of being a prisoner in an unknown land. But I can see her struggling with what is going on inside her head, she has finally found her mate though in the most unexpected circumstances. She has been looking for a mate for a while now, and sometimes she would confide in me that she would like him to be a strong and muscular man who is caring and loving. Well, I didn't know that she was describing my own brother. He has all the qualities she wante