ALPHA PRIME MAGAZINE JUNE 15th, 202X ALPHA SYLVESTER (SLY) STERLING is the CEO of STERLING INCORPORATED and the current ALPHA of the SILVER CRESCENT PACK. INTERVIEWER: Tell me, Alpha Sylvester, how does it feel running the biggest pack on the West Coast without a permanent Luna? ALPHA SLY: Please, call me Sly. And It feels liberating, Joe. INTERVIEWER: But don't you miss the constant companionship that having a true Luna brings. ALPHA SLY: Not at all. INTERVIEWER: You've been using Rental Lunas since the break up of your marriage to ALPHA LUNA Alexis Greystone 6 years ago? ALPHA SLY: That is correct. INTERVIEWER: You two were once seen as the power couple on the West Coast. She was the daughter of the previous alpha, correct? Everyone thought you'd be together forever. ... ALPHA SLY: Except for her... INTERVIEWER: Do you care to explain...?
Against my better judgment, I take his hand. It is warm and soft and as he guides me. I feel a rush of tingles that move along my fingertips into my arm and settle into my heart. His natural scent, like warm nights under the stars, soothes my nerves even as I tremble anxiously. He gives me a small close-lip smile. "Shall we go?"I nod, my throat dry, my heart beating rapidly against the cage of my chest. Following him back to his car I look up to see Hazel watching the street diligently. She waves and I decide to forgive her for being the type of person to push me out the door for a coffee date with a dangerously handsome beast. Sylvester opens the passenger side, and I buckle my seatbelt with shaking hands, still not convinced that this is a good idea. My body reacts strongly to him, a bit too strongly as I cross my legs, an uncomfortable heat building in my core. We drive in silence and I watch the neighborhoods change into densely populated urban spaces and then slowly melt away
[Apple] I don’t feel safe again until I’m on the other side of the apartment door and both locks are latched. Looking out the window, I can see that the wolf isn’t anywhere nearby. But I also don’t know where he is and that terrifies me too. There is something about this Sylvester Sterling that sets all of my nerves on edge. I can't tell if I'm attracted to him or afraid of him--another reason for me to hesitate. My life is complicated enough. “Hey stranger,” Hazel smiles from the couch as she crosses her legs and bounces happily, “How did it go?”She is almost aglow with joy as she looks at me, her sunny smile shining and her eyes crinkling. “Not as bad as I expected,” I throw the envelope and it lands with a loud clunk on the table just as my phone starts to ring. Startled, I reach into my pocket and almost drop my phone with fumbling fingers. Looking at the number I see it’s the college. They're probably calling me just to demand I pay my tuition or lose my spot. I don't reall
[Apple]“Your apartment?” I shake my head, confused. “But then where does Hazel live?”“Here with me of course,” he laughs. “Where else would she live?”I feel like I’m at the butt of some terrible joke. Did Hazel set me up to be embarrassed by her boyfriend? Did she lie to me and tell me this is her place with roommates?“The question is,” he finds his keys and holds them up, “Is why you are here. A strange girl in my apartment. Alone.” He tilts his head to the side. “I mean I guess I could just hold you here until you tell me the truth,” he smirks. The young man reaches around me and shuts the door and for a brief moment, our faces are only a couple of inches apart. The smell of crushed leaves and fresh rain wraps around me like a cloak just before he steps back. With his hands on his hips, he looks me up and down. “Are you really Hazel’s friend, or are you here for another reason?”“I have no idea what you are implying,” I stand straighter, finding a bit of courage. “And I don’t
[Apple] Within minutes of meeting the two beautiful young women who run the establishment, I had a part-time gig working the night shift at a catering company along with Hazel, who also works with them on major gigs. We have a big job tonight, and I’m promised that the tips are excellent. When they heard I had waitressing experience, they decided to assign me to work as an assistant bartender. “Oh, you are so lucky!” Hazel squeed with envy. “Bartenders get the biggest tips!” While the pay isn’t as good as Rental Luna, it will help me pay the bills and save a bit to eventually pay Alpha Sterling back for his generosity. With a new spring in my step, I feel hope for the first time in a long time. Hazel is like the sister I always wish I had. I’ve only known her for a couple of days, but I can already feel myself bonding to her as our friendship grows deeper. Until meeting her, I didn’t realize you could learn to care for someone so quickly. “So this is the biology department,”
[Sylvester][EARLIER TODAY]My eyes stalk her as she enters her apartment. The street smells of piss and shit, angry witches, and tired humans. It is a vile pit of a neighborhood near the waterfront in an area ripe for redevelopment. "We need to drag her back to the packhouse," Rufus insists. "This place isn't good enough for our Luna." "She isn't our Luna," I remind him. "Even if she chooses to sign the contract." "She is too our Luna," he snaps back, "Even if you refuse to recognize it. She is ours," he growls. "Mine." Rufus refuses to listen to reason. It doesn't matter how many times I say that she's too young, too weak, and far too human, he is insistent that I am wrong. But I can't have a human mate. No matter how good she smells.I take one last look at her apartment window, her gaze pulling my attention upwards. She is frowning, her brow furrowed.Sighing, I turn towards the harbor and begin my slow march back to the office. She'll come around, I'm certain. The offer I'm
[Apple] The only warning we receive is the flash of his glowing blue eyes. Faster than I’ve ever seen any man run, Sylvester Sterling crosses the distance from the shadows to our apartment stoop as a gracefully dynamic force, grabbing Hawthorne by the collar and slamming him into the wall near the door. “She is MINE!” he growls, his eyes glowing brightly enough to cast my friend’s face in harsh relief, deepening the shadows and highlighting the fear in Thorne’s eyes. “Alpha, stop!” I shout but it’s no use. Whoever is in charge, it isn’t Sylvester Sterling, even if he is dressed like him. “He’s my friend.”“He is an interloper,” his fangs elongate as he tilts his head to the side. “An invader. An enemy. You are MY Luna. MINE. He may not touch what is mine.”"Sylvester, look at me." The wolf turns his head towards me and his eyes slowly begin to dim. "Please listen. We are just friends. This isn't what you think it is..."“MINE.” The word is spoken with so much force that I can alm
[Sylvester]As she takes his hand and they walk up the stairs together, my stomach sinks and my heart feels like it has stopped. As I move towards the car, my leaden legs resist moving away from the place where I held her in my arms, the smell of our mixed scents calming me, relaxing something deep within. “We need to go get her,” Rufus insists. “She needs us.” “Maybe she doesn’t need us” I push back, “Maybe we are the ones who need her.”My phone rings. It’s the council. I don’t want to answer it, but I know that if I don’t they’ll make trouble for me one way or the other. Their message for me is brief, curt, and on the nose. They have a solution to all my problems. I just need to present myself IMMEDIATELY to receive their justice. Well damn. Calling Rudy, I asked him to pick me up and to bring the file he prepared earlier today. "We need to convince them that Apple is our best option," I explain.Rudy sends a car and the ride is silent as I make my way back to Sterling Inc. I'm
[Apple]I couldn't sleep thinking about the look of dejection on the werewolf's face. Why should I care how he feels. He means nothing to me. He's just a potential employer with an overactive possessive streak. When I finally crawl out of bed the next morning, Hazel is already awake and is in an overly happy mood. “I taste change in the air,” Hazel announces as she enters the kitchen and pours herself a cup of coffee. “Can you feel it?”Oddly enough I can. As the Autumn winds blow through our open window they feel electric, alive with possibilities. Today is my first full day of classes. Classes I wouldn't have been able to attend if it wasn't for the Alpha's generosity. As Hazel walked me from class to class, making sure that I "wouldn't get lost," we discussed the night before. "Werewolves can be funny, sometimes, about the people they chose to protect," she explains. "I know it might not seem like it, but I think the alpha might care about you."How can the alpha have any type
[Sylvester]5 days have passed since the men with whips came to show me my place. Five long days of being locked in a room, planning what will happen next. After they knocked me out the first time, they took me to this…place. I don’t know where I am now, except that it is some kind of medical facility. All the guards and technicians are humans, and all the patients are…not. I’ve seen Calix twice since arriving. The first time to gloat, the second time to let me know that he has sold his entire rogue pack to these monsters. “My payment for your power,” he sneers. “They’ve been testing this new drug on my father. Funny, I’m surprised the old dog is still kicking.”The last time he came by was to laugh as they whipped me. That was two days ago.My body is sore, but I am not broken. They haven’t managed to make me do a damn thing they want me to do. “Kneel, mutt, and drink,” the human asshole holding the bowl of blood demands. My chains are thicker this time, made silver reinforced wit
[Sylvester]My body is cold and stiff as I slowly regain consciousness. Whatever the bastards drugged me with burns my veins and makes my head pound. I don’t want to be awake, it hurts too much.The sound of birdsong in the distance lets me know that I am still in the forest. The cold, slick, wet floor beneath my cheek and the soft trickle of condensation dripping from a stalactite informs me that I am in a large cave, bigger than the one I had woken up within before. And the heavy weight around my neck and ankles tells me I’m bound and chained. Heavy footsteps approach. “Get up,” cold water splashes across my face, shocking my already stressed system. Sputtering, my eyes snap open, and I snarl upward at the tall figure before me who is hard to make out while backlit by the setting sun. Struggling to sit, I pull on the chains enough to stand in a somewhat crouched position. I guess I should be grateful I can move at all. “You’re going to feel like shit for a few days,” the younger
[Sylvester]This was a trap.This pit is at least 12 ft deep. Deeper than I could leap even if I were in perfect health, which after a week of prison I am not. Whoever dug this must have had it prepared in advance, waiting for the opportunity to spring this trap.Because that is exactly what it was--A clever ploy to bring me out here and put me at the mercy of this lone wolf. Somehow, someone knew my reaction to seeing a red wolf and capitalized on it.The wolf who led me away during the confusion in Moon River City is standing over my dank prison, bending over so that I can see his young face as his jackal-like laughter taunts me from above."Oh how the mighty have fallen," he snorts, as he takes pleasure in my pain. "What a shame."He's right to laugh. I was a fool. My desire to see my old mentor was so great that I charged blindly into a dangerous situation without weighing all the possibilities.Seeing him up close, it is very clear that this young wolf was not Lysander. How could
[Sylvester][Two weeks earlier] The rogues overwhelm the room. I’m not sure how or why, but for some reason, I can push back the worst of their infection with my touch, a glow sparkling along my fur as I reach out and touch their bodies with a clawed hand. Now that I know my mother was a witch, it is as if a floodgate of power that has always been there has finally made its way to the surface. I was more than enough as an alpha. I've always been the strongest, even when I was a pup. Now that I'm a man, there aren't many alphas who can match me. Now, it makes sense. I was never just an alpha. I was a hybrid. A hybrid that had been powerless until now, who had been poisoned by his own mate's bite because I was far too much of a wolf to receive it, and she was still far too much of a witch to give it. I wonder if things would have been different now if we had marked each other after finding our true nature. Walking through the chaos in my wolfman form, my glow brightens, curing eve
[Apple] I am standing in a mist-covered field, a gray sky overhead, the sun hidden behind a massive black cloud promising rain. In the distance is a wolf. He is large, far taller than a man even on four legs, his silver-tipped fur catching the faint light filtering down to us. Around us, everywhere, are bodies. Some wolves, others men and women with glowing skin. “Mate,” the wolf growls from across the field. “I’ve found you. “Mate,” I repeat, my heart mourning the loss of so many lives, my own hands stained red with the blood of the wolves by my feet. “Why did it have to be you?” The wolf transforms in front of me into a tall man covered in scars. His black hair curls around his shoulders and his eyes are the most startling shade of blue-green. “Alpha Rufus,” I call him. Strangely, he has the same name as my Sylvester’s wolf. He looks a lot like Sylvester too but with bolder lines and a stronger chin. “Witch Queen Astrea,” he bows, his eyes flashing as my glowing hand lif
[Rudy]We are so close to finding Sylvester. I can feel it. I know this is going to work. I trust Hazel and her abilities. She is a powerful witch, she just doesn't give herself enough credit. Just because her magic isn't flashy doesn't mean it isn't as potent."Well she's put a spell on me, anyway," I grin as I dart across the street from the park, her juniper berry scent freshly imprinted upon me, the taste of her still on my tongue.Shortly after I first met Apple, I realized there was something special about that brunette witch with sparkling eyes the color of changing leaves—green, brown, and gold all at once. I wasn't sure what it was at first, as I've made a habit of avoiding any type of closeness that could lead to confused feelings. I didn't want a mate; I had no use for one. I intended to spend the rest of my life serving the Alpha family. It is a duty that I am glad to have, a responsibility that I cherish.I love my job. I had no intention of ever giving it up.And then I m
[Hazel]“You’re doing the right thing,” Rudolph tries to convince me as I say goodbye to my dearest friend one last time. “You and I both know it isn’t safe for her above.” He’s right, and I hate him a little bit for it. There are a lot of things that I’ve grown to dislike but also love about him. Damn it, Moon Goddess, sometimes you have a funny sense of humor. “Well let’s just make sure that none of us regret this,” I push past him, our bodies tingling as our knuckles brush against one another. “Let’s go find your alpha and bring him home.” “What about your brother?” the stubborn Beta crosses his arms as he leans against a wall and watches me pack my satchel with various spell components. Unlike Hawthorne and Great-Grandmother who are both sorcerer-class witches, as a hedge-witch my energy needs to funnel through another medium. This means my magic comes through in the forms of potions and tinctures, a magic that can be felt with your fingers and tasted with your tongue. “We don
[Hawthorne]It's a portal. This wall was hiding a portal.Taking a deep breath, I follow after my family matriarch in a leap of faith, biting my lip to keep from screaming as the chilly dark of a void portal takes me to wherever she's gone. Traveling in the spaces between spaces, the void of eternity is a skill that only witches have. You need to have enough glow to sustain the cold, hungry darkness, as it feeds off our life force, taking a small bit into itself as payment. Even witches need to be careful, as a less powerful witch could be drained dry from anything other than the shortest of distances. It feels like I'm falling forever before my feet find purchase on a well-woven rug covering a smooth, stone floor. Usually, portal travel is quick, only seconds. That it felt like several minutes meant that this place wasn't anywhere near Crescent City. It also means that wherever we are isn't a place for a common witch. If I weren't descended from Araminta Thorpe herself, the most po
[Hawthorne]I was three drinks in when my great-grandmother swept into the tavern, her sudden appearance quieting every laugh and sob with the sheer power of her presence. Even the music seemed to disappear as the door closed behind her and she made a direct path to the bar where I sat surrounded by other lovesick witches mourning their losses over cheap beer.“Come with me child,” the old witch commanded in a voice barely above a whisper, as she leaned in. “If you want to help her, you’ll come. You aren’t doing either one of you any good moping around here.” She barely masks her disappointment as she looks me up and down. I've seen that look on her face before, every time that I disappoint her. Now is no different except for the rushed intensity of her movements. Her glare has the power to incinerate stone, so I moved quickly before there was nothing left to me than ash.The powerful Coven Mistress doesn't wait for me to catch up as she sweeps from the room, her cape billowing behind