Chapter 1

Zephyra

It is a dark and humid night here in the City of Mexico and I am dealing with one of the small-time drug dealers, that we leant a large sum of money to, we gave him six months to pay us back the money; it will now be going onto a year, we have sent some of our, let me see… how can I say this? Our “passive” negotiators to allow him to pay in instalments, which he has not kept to and that is why I am here instead of being out with my friends and having a ball of a time on a Friday night. My men were waiting in the Jeep and I was here on my own; the drug dealer was a short middle-aged man, with slight stubble on his face and a bald patch on his head, he had a gold ring for every finger, a gold plated Rado watch and two thick gold chains on his neck, he looked like a mini jewellery store just waiting to be robbed. His dressing style looked like something out of the sixties, a silk shirt with too much print, buttoned down and a polyester coat and formal pants. He took two puffs of his Cuban cigar and blew it in my direction and leaned in,

“now, listen here sweetheart. I do not know why they sent a pretty lady like you into the wolf’s den. Tell your boss that if she has a problem with how I do my payments then she should stop giving me trouble and back off!”

I raised an eyebrow and laughed in my head, you see the drug dealer was a mere human; he had no idea how literal the term “wolf den” was and he had no idea that he was dealing with a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He stood up and came around the table and rubbed my shoulders; obviously trying to get a feel up of me. I did not flinch, even when he groped my breast he sat back down,

“see here pretty lady, you have a sexy figure, and you would do well in our business; I don’t think the loan shark henchman is your thing”.

I looked at him and had already decided my next move and smirked, he threw his hands up and continued to talk,

“but if it is then I would not mind seeing your pretty face in here again maybe in two weeks and wear something sexier, not these combat boots and army pants okay darling”.

I stood up, not having said a word since I entered and relieved one of my men from trying to get our money from this fool, I stretched a bit and finally spoke.

“it will be the last face you ever see old man”

I swung out my already loaded gun and blew his brains out, the thin wisp of white smoke that came from firing my gun, I mind-linked my men.

“Come in and pick up the body, let it be sent off to his family so they can mourn their loss and tell them that in a week we would be coming to collect all his valuable belongs to make up for the amount of money he stilled owed to us and remember to take their passports so they can’t flee the country” three big sized men came inside and picked up the body and took it away to be put into a body bag, I was walking out; I then paused and then turned back.

“One more thing, free the girls that he has held captive and unite them with their families”

Before I got any questions I turned casually and walked out to the Jeep and my best friend Charles is waiting outside and having a cigarette, he looked in my direction and then smiled,

“so, what pushed you over the edge this time Zephyra?” he asked, and I looked up at him.

“Nothing, he was never going to return our money to us”

“yeah, and I am as beautiful as a rose” Charles mocked, and I punched his arm.

Charles was gay and I could always talk to him about anything and everything, I figured out he was gay back in high school when he blurted out to me that his crush was Antonio Sanchez, but that was a forbidden love, he hailed from a family of werewolf hunters and we were what they hunted.

“Ouch” Charles whined

“you deserve it” I giggled and leaned against the jeep as I saw the storm clouds roll into the night sky.

“so, will you tell me what this bastard did that you blew his brains out” he chimed again

I took a deep breath in and kept my eyes fixated to the sky and the storm brewing,

“aside from drugs, he was dealing in human trafficking and even tried to sexually harass me; so, I made the world a safer place by killing another demon living among us”

I opened the Jeep door and jumped in, I felt absolutely no regret for what I did; he was a terrible man and I hated human trafficking, drug dealers I could deal with; they were the main source of our income as big-time loan sharks. By the time we reached the pack house Olivia, our Alpha and the woman who raised me, was waiting for us. I have a huge amount of respect for Olivia, but she never allowed me fully shift into my wolf and my training is away from the rest of the pack; all I remember was after my first shift, which was excruciating, I blacked out and when I came too, I was in my room and Olivia was hovering over me with a worried expression and since then, I was to be trained away from the rest of the pack and not allowed to shift; and even my training was dammed down! I moved out of living with Olivia to living in the pack house once I hit my twentieth birthday and I asked her why my training was so different and that I wanted to train with the rest of our pack. She got angry with me and said it was because of my parents,

Flashback

It was a thunderous night, and the rain was pouring down; Olivia and I were having a quiet dinner for my birthday and asked me what I would want for my birthday

“the truth about my parents” I stated bluntly.

Olivia took a deep breath in and pursed her lips and exhaled slowly, it was the same thing I asked ever since my eighth birthday and I was never given an answer and that night I was determined to get an answer,

“Anything else but that?” Olivia asked annoyed

I knew there was a storm brewing in the house and not just one happening outside the house.

“No” I said dryly, and I could feel a new kind of anger awakening in me; Olivia was hiding something from me, and I wanted answers. She looked at me curiously and then woke up from her seat and went into the kitchen, I followed

“we will talk about this another day” Olivia answered while her back was turned to me.

My temper was now rising, I wanted answers, I had asked politely for several years but I now wanted the truth,

“Olivia, I never ask you for anything else but this; why do you keep denying it!” I banged the plates on the granite counter-top and cause them to break and the granite to crack.

Olivia for the first time that night lost her temper and lashed out at me,

“your parents left you for dead! I found you and took you in, ungrateful bitch”

She called me that heinous word and the dynamics of our “mother-daughter” relationship changed

Flashback Ends

That night I left Olivia’s house with all my belongings and moved into the pack house, I picked the biggest vacant room and decided I would live here among the pack as their beta and not as the adopted daughter of their Alpha Olivia; since then Olivia and I only  talk when it regards our money-lending business and if I needed to go in and get the money back because they tried to swindle us. I usually made all the hard decisions about when we would attack and how negotiations would happen, these were the responsibilities of an Alpha, but Olivia found that these were all an inconvenience; she only made appearances at events to get a new boy toy for the night. So, there was Olivia, in a silk short night dress and her fiery red hair looking like she was having a good lay, standing and waiting to have a go at me… again.

“you killed a man again, without my instruction to do so” she started and blocked my way into the pack house,

“Olivia, he was going to never give our money back” I shrugged and pushed past her

“Zephyra, don’t you forget who brought you into this pack and don’t forget who the Alpha is”

I was halfway up the stairs when her words reached me; I turned and for the first time completely rebelled,

“Trust me Olivia, you never fail to make me forget that I was abandoned, but Alpha of the Night Terrors? I think everyone in this pack is starting to question that”

I turned my back on her and walked up the stairs and slammed my room door shut, and then the words I said sank in and I palmed my face, shit! I might have just incited a rebellion; “Fuck it”.

I threw myself on the bed and the thundering started, I turned on my back and looked up at the ceiling and played with my necklace; I read the back of the pendant “when you are lost, listen to the sound of the thunder.” As I read the words a loud crack of thunder roared through the sky and I felt like it was a sign meant for me.  Had a billion questions running through my head; did my parents really abandon me, if they did why would I have such an expensive necklace? They must have loved me and been forced to give me up. I sat up on my bed, or maybe… Olivia was protecting me from the truth; they were dead and that’s how Olivia found me, but why wouldn’t she tell me? Did she not think that I could handle the truth? She knew I was a bad ass, and I could handle myself, whatever the case; tomorrow I would apologize to Olivia and I needed to show more gratitude for all she has done for me. I did not understand where all this anger was coming from.

Olivia’s P.O.V

I was in bed having some good sex when, and by good sex; I mean mind-blowing sex, especially from a human. I was disturbed when my phone rang and my Delta informed me that once again, Zephyra had killed without my instructions. I pushed the horny moron off me and slipped on my night gown and drove to the pack house. Zephyra was getting out of control and it felt like the pack was looking to her as more of a leader than a beta; after all, she was the child of Dominic and Athena Thunders. I got to the pack house before she arrived and waited; the lust that many of the unmated pack males had for me was undeniable and some of them were great in bed; but I was not here for some quick fun tonight. Zephyra needed to be reminded that I ruled this pack. They arrived and she got out the Jeep, the minute her eyes landed on me, I noticed how they flickered with fire and momentarily they changed from dark brown to red; her wolf was trying to break through, and it all started when I forbid Zephyra from shifting ever again; I blocked Zephyra’s way,

“you killed a man again, without my instruction to do so”

“Olivia, he was going to never give our money back” she shrugged and pushed past me

I saw some of the pack members that were in the dining hall and common lounge watch as I did not attack Zephyra, I could see it in their eyes, their doubt upon my leadership qualities were starting to come to the fore. I had to do something.

“Zephyra, don’t you forget who brought you into this pack and don’t forget who the Alpha is” I turned and yelled out to here, trying to use my Alpha voice.

I was not a born Alpha, I came here to this run down pack and slept with the Alpha of this pack, he was old and weak and had nobody of his own; I heard that his beta was to take over when he died, and when that day arrived I challenged his beta for the position, a battle till death; by hook or by crook, I was going to rebuild this pack and make it my own and now that I have, Zephyra thinks she can usurp it from me.

She was halfway up the stairs when my words reached her; she turned and for the first time completely rebelled, her voice changed, and she did not notice it and her eyes glowed red again for a few seconds

“Trust me Olivia, you never fail to make me forget that I was abandoned, but Alpha of the Night Terrors? I think everyone in this pack is starting to question that”

She turned her back on her and walked up the stairs, slamming her room door shut. Everyone present saw it; they saw something different within her and I could feel a rebellion rising, I needed to act fast and show them I was their Alpha and not that little twit!

I got back to my house and laid in bed, my boy toy for the night had clearly left; so, I had time to think about everything. Twenty-four years have passed and the more I look at Zephyra, the more I realise that she looks like Athena with Dominic’s temper. I had taken her away to get revenge on them for killing my mate, Jake. As Zephyra reached her teens she started to ask more questions about her biological parents and I was quickly running out of excuses to tell her; hiding her so far away was the only option I had, if we stayed in Africa or any other parts of the world where the Blood Moon pack had major allies, I would have been caught years back; Zephyra and Athena looked almost identical, the same brown eyes and long thick black hair, she was beautiful without a doubt and with the temper of her father Dominic and attitude of her mother Athena, this made Zephyra the perfect Beta, I had to keep her Alpha powers hidden from the pack; they adored her so much and her alpha qualities somehow always shined through. I even had her trained separately, the day she first shifted into her wolf I was shocked; I had only heard about mythical Celtic wolf Morrigan, her large charcoal grey-red wolf and blood red eyes were a sure giveaway of her Alpha bloodline and if she and the Night Terror pack came to know about it, they would overthrow me and crown her the new Alpha.

Her fighting skills made her an asset to the pack and she was skilled in martial arts and firearms; after her first shift I made sure to give her enough training to keep her skills sharp but keep her wolf from breaking through, if that happened word would spread and I would have half the world coming to meet the new and mysterious Alpha of Night Terrors. I could not let any of that happen! If it did, Athena and Dominic would be here and figure out that this was their daughter and I would be killed either by Zephyra or Athena… or worse, BOTH OF THEM! I had to approach the situation with Zephyra very cautiously; one wrong move could trigger her shift. If need be; I would challenge her to a battle and send her head on a platter to her parents.