CHAPTER ONE - THE STORM

PIXIE

Cold rain drops beat me from my head down as I plodded through the hail. I was cold, clothes sodden and what pained me most was the fact I was doing this for my stupid handmaid.

I had searched halfway across our pack lands, keeping my hoodie up and avoiding eye contact with anyone that came close to me, I didn’t want anyone knowing the Alphas heir was plodding in the hail alone late into the evenings.

“Amber?!” I screamed her name after several minutes of frustration but the sound of my voice was easily dampened by the sound of the rain beating against rooftops.

“Where could she be?” I reasoned to myself, taking cover under a shed.

Tomorrow was going to be a big ball ceremony, my father had invited most of the Alphas from neighbouring packs and several honoured guests, though I knew it was just one of his ways to get me to find a mate I was sure I would be more interested in Ambers snark jokes than I would be in the polished Alphas. They said when you found your mate you would feel like your soul had finally located it’s missing piece, just being away from them would be a hell you would suffer only in your soul. So far I had felt no such sensations apart from sneezing when they suffocated me with their ridiculous amounts of perfume.

My mother found my father when they were still pups, a beautiful way to start their life together. My grandfather was Alpha then, my father was a kid and once he laid eyes on my mother (so they say) he had the widest smile brighter than morning sun. They were married once he was eighteen and she was seventeen and he took over from my grandfather when he was twenty. Though my grandfather is still alive, enjoying his old years with his Luna is a lot better than doing all the work of a ruler in your sixties.

A lump of hail hit me hard on the head, wiping me out from my thoughts. I cursed silently, swearing to rip away Ambers throat once I see her.

Then it occurred to me, and sooner I was racing to the bar at the edge of pack lands. I banged on the door severally, wondering why f anyone would even be inside the bar under this weather and at such a time.

My knuckles hurt from pounding against the hard wood but when someone finally opened the door from the inside I missed my swing and fell flat on my face.

Warm air kissed my neck and reduced the goosebumps that had assembled on my skin.

“Oh thank you for…” I trailed off, gasping lightly when I realized I was being attacked with multiple eyes staring at my face. This bar was totally occupied by men.

I stood up quickly, hoping they won’t pay much attention to me but I already knew that would not possible as I was now the only female amongst at least twenty drunk men.

With my head down and hood up I walked to the bar man, he had a toothpick between his teeth and the ugliest of grins on his face.

Amber had said she would be coming here to wait for him, her mate, today was supposed to be their wedding anniversary and though she was the younger than me and still found it weird every time that she had already got married. My father would not have permitted her the day off for her tryst with Tristan who was he mate but with the right excuse I could help her slip out, something I was regretting now that she was no where to be found. Amber was like a sister to me since I really had no siblings and we had lived together for the better part of my life.

“Want a cup of tea?” The bar man sneered, clearly he did not like my presence here and I was sure none of the other men liked it either, it was looked down upon for women to be in bars, it just wasn’t ‘lady-like’ and anyone woman in a bar would be called a whore.

“Err, no thank you, I’m actually looking for someone, a girl actually, red hair and green eyes. She was here earlier—”

“Haven’t seen her!” He said firmly, his eyes trying to see the face hidden behind my hood so I lowered my gaze even further. I knew he had seen Amber, he was just scared of releasing any information about her to me because he must have recognized her from my fathers castle.

“You sure?” I asked, nerving up as I started hearing the men around whispering curse words to each other and the sound of a few chairs shifting as their occupants stood up. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all, she must have already left and I doubt she would have told him anything anyway, who knows, she might already even be back at home.

“Okay then, have a good—”

“Oi Oi! Now, leaving so soon?” The man had yellowed teeth and a raspy voice probably from years and drinking and boorishly dog fighting other wolves. He had stood up from a table of similarly looking drunks.

Ignoring him must have been the best option. “I don’t want to interrupt your asinine interactions with your peers…”

He looked at me as if I had spoken in a foreign tongue, I knew he would be too drunk to understand what I was saying, if he could even understand the word when sober anyway.

I turned to leave but he held my hand.

“I’m sure you don’t want to go into that storm again aiit.” He snickered, drawing some equally mocking laughs from the drunk men he shared a table with.

“And I’m sure it would be no problem to you if I get more soaked than I already am.” I snatch my wrist free, making for the door but he grabbed me back by my waist. Instinctively I turned around, landing him a hard slap.

He stumbled back a little, spitting out a bloody tooth and something feral borne in his gaze.

I immediately regretted what I had done. His cronies all stood up; five; six; seven; eight of them.

“I just want to leave okay!” I hissed but they didn’t seem to hear me.

“Now what about we have some fun with this young lady huh?” He echoed across the room and from the sly smirks on their faces I knew they were all in agreement even if they did not directly say so.

“You wouldn’t dare!” I hissed, a low growl escaping my throat.

“It’s a storm outside lady, no one would hear you scream!” He snickered.

They would touch me if they knew who I was, if I took off this hood and showed them I was sole daughter to the Alpha that ruled them. But how would it sound when word got out that the Alphas daughter was comfortably in a bar late in the evening and alone? My father would be so disappointed in me and I would have brought down the family name.

“Just let me go and—” I yelped when he grabbed my wrists again.

“Let’s have some fun shall we!”

There was a loud cheer from the men around, it tried struggling against his hold but all in vain.

“Let me go!” I yelled, pulling against his hold with all my strength.

“Any female in a bar by this time belongs to the men!” He said and his sooner I was surrounded by towering heads that sized me up and licked their lips when they groped me.

The goosebumps on my neck now where not because of the cold but because of the possibility of getting raped in this bar and discarded into the streets.

“Now why don’t we all play a game…” The voice was calm yet loud and commanding, it made the men around me stop their indecent actions immediately and all heads turned towards the bare chested tan skin man that had a hat covering most of his face.

“What game?” The lead drunkard echoed.

“Anyone who wants the girl has to fight me to get her.” The man said calmly and I immediately felt his aura, powerful, strong, dominating, but I could only feel this from a distance.

He stood up and I wondered if it was just a trick of the light but in an instance he was in front of the drunk man.

“Do you want to fight me?” He raised his hat just so his eyes could be seen. Silence fell over the bar like everyone did not even dare to breathe.

“Good then, she’s mine!” He did not give me a chance to refuse when he grabbed me and hoisted me over his shoulders like I had no weight and for some reason I did not struggle, in fact I liked it.

Once we were outside I could sense it all. This aura, this scent, that voice, that body, it all made me want to party. Excited, I was more than that, aroused, it was more intense than that. Who was this? Why was I reacting this way to just a sniff of his scent?

I was so confused I did not even notice we had gotten into another building and I stumbled a little when he finally put me back on my feet,

A smaller man appeared from nowhere, he slid my hood off my shoulders as if I was an inanimate object.

“My master insists you stay for a cup of tea my err… my lady.” He had deep black eyes and a silky mop of black hair in his head.

I wanted to refuse, but where was I really going anyway? The rain outside had intensified and who knew how many feet I’d had gotten before getting struck by a lump of hail.

The strange man from before reappeared, he had been gone so fast I only noticed because now he had a robe on.

“Pardon my manners…” his voice was smooth, like silk yet firm and commanding. He sounded like an Alpha.

“I should be thanking you…” I said slowly, trying to get a glimpse of what was under his hat that had made the other men mellow.

I could tell this was the grand hotel that hosted most of our guests for tomorrows ball ceremony. Could he have been one of the guests?

He motioned I take a seat, I dumped my weight into one of the chairs at the receptionist area and I watched him pour warm steamy liquid from a teapot into two ornate mugs.

“What was a Pixie like you doing in such a bar for scoundrels?!”

The word ‘Pixie’ rolled off his tongue so smoothly, I liked it better when he bent down to meet my ear and whispered to me, “You could have gotten hurt…” his breath was hot against my ear, it made me warm with sexual thoughts involved with him.

“I suppose I should thank you—”

“You supposed?” He scoffed. “You owe me what ever dignity you have left!” He said and I was silent, no submissive. Whatever reaction I was having to his scent was only growing stronger, this man, whoever he was he had captivated me right off the bat and now I was longing to lay with him, to trace the slabs of firm muscle on his chest. He was sexy in the kind of way that made him look ruthless. I pressed my thighs together when sized me up with his gaze and I did not feel insulted rather I felt a heat rush up to my face.

“When you walked into that bar, I felt it. I felt you, your presence, your scent, it was beautiful, sweet.” He said and my heartbeat quickened as he spoke, was this really happening?

“I just knew I had found… her…”

I stared at him blankly, unsure of what to say or do. He held out a mug of tea to me, I stood up noticing how her towered above m and I could just see the planes of muscle of his chest from the crack in his robes.

 I reached for the mug but he pulled me close, throwing my body against his and I gasped softly. I had my hands on his chest, his scent filling my lungs and teasing my nostrils as he looked down at me, his hat still somehow covering his eyes.

“Don’t you feel it too? The rush? The urge?!” He breathed down my neck and I winced when his lips brushed against my ears, being so close to him sparked some new power in me, a more instinctive power. My wolf. I hadn’t shifted yet but somehow he brought my wolf to life, and I loved it.

But I couldn’t be doing this, not like this. I am the Alphas daughter, I can’t allow myself be dragged into some impromptu love tryst. But the more I told myself that, the more I leaned into chest. The urge to throw myself on him was now totally unbearable and I fought it with all my might hoping he would not notice.

 I was silent, not wanting to say anything that might ruin the moment. My heart pounded in my chest and the longer I stayed with my body against his the stronger the urge to slip my hand into his robe became.

“Do me a favour Pixie!” He whispered to me and I arched my back as he pressed me against his chest, his hand on the small of my back.

“And what could that be?” I asked.

“You must promise to see me again… that’s what I ask in return for saving you!

“And how would I complete this promise when I do not know who you are?”

“Oh I’m sure you’d recognize me…” he raised up his hat, just so I could see the red glint in his eyes and at that moment cold fear chilled my blood to ice.

My breath was caught in my breathe in my throat

Alpha Asha! No! Not him, anyone but him. Not the sole enemy bloodline to my father, to my pack.

“You’re Alpha Asha!” I stepped back, stories of what his father did to wolves that trespassed his territory made my blood chill even further, his Nightshade pack had once attacked my pack and almost left my grandfather for dead, of course he wasn’t the one in command at then but that didn’t change the fact he was still a good enemy to my father.

How did I manage to feel this sensual urge for someone that could have killed me all this while? Someone that had caused so much pain to my people.

“I have to go!” I said firmly, tripping on my steps but he held me so I didn’t fall. I pulled myself free. Reaching for the door. The emotion I felt now was hard to tell, the strong sensual urge was underlined by livid fear. I wanted to throw myself at him and at the same time be as far away from him as possible.

“You scared… Princess?” He said slowly but I gasped when he said the last word. He knew who I was.

Why? Why me? Of all the Alphas to fall in love with it had to be him! Was this supposed to fate? Was this supposed to be destiny? If not why must it be him in particular?

I stopped at the door, my hand on the door knob. “If you know who I am then you know my father is the Alpha of this pack!”

“I know who your father is, the Alpha, the one I should kill you because you share his blood. Yet I can’t, I can’t hurt you Pixie, the mere thoughts of you now is making me want to have you. To mark you as my mate.”

My eyes grew wide as I held my gaze in his, he brushed his fingers along the side of my face. What was supposed to be a friendly handmaid hunt has now brought me face to face with the Alpha my father would like so very much to kill.

“Tell me Pixie, don’t you feel it too?” He whispered to me, he had a charm I could not resists I did not know if that was the bind or just him.

I do! I want him! I want to rock the Alpha who’s pack are the greatest adversary to mine.

This Alpha? This is supposed to be the brutal and ruthless Alpha Asha? If so then why did I feel like I needed him, like my soul had found something it had always been missing?

He lowered his head to mine, I closed my eyes, not knowing what I was doing as I leaned in closer to him.

“Whether you father likes it or not, whether he threatens to tear me apart for this, there’s no doubting it. You’re my mate!”

And at that moment I hated myself for allowing fate damn me to love the Alpha I should hate.