Chapter 3 Alpha Aurora

The dark forest was eerily quiet as if all animals hushed their movements and sounds for fear of the sudden appearance of predators. It was pretty different from the forest in the north where Aurora was used to. The giant trees with their sprawling branches hung overhead like thin ghosts, only allowing rays of sunset lights to penetrate through them. 

Aurora carefully treaded on the dirt road, followed closely by Alice and Warrior Andrew, the guard the Luna Queen arranged for her especially. 

“Luna, we need to head back. It’s getting dark and we are near the border,” Andrew warned with the tone of an order. 

Aurora’s wolf snorted in her head. As an alpha, she didn’t like being ordered around, but she understood the importance of what they were doing. So she let the transgression go unpunished. 

“Are you scared of the rogues, Warrior Andrew?” Aurora raised her eyebrow. 

“Scared? I can batter these filthy creatures’ heads into pulps. I killed five rogues last week,” Andrew sneered viciously. Alice cowered at his words, her big eyes written with fear and horror. 

Aurora inwardly pitied Andrew’s arrogance and ignorance. Unfortunately, it would be his head that would turn into pulps today. 

Ignoring Andrew’s urging to return to the palace, Aurora crouched down to look at a cluster of wildflowers. 

“The flowers resemble my earrings? Isn’t it, Alice?” Aurora turned to her maid with a smile on her face. 

The maid opened her eyes wide. “Luna, your earrings…” 

Aurora reached her hands to touch her ears. “Oh my Moon Goddess. I must have lost them on our way here. They were given to me yesterday by the Queen as a gift to match with the green dress for the party.” 

“The Queen must be very mad,” Aurora feigned a worried tone.  

The words made Alice flustered with fear. “We must find them, otherwise…” she said in a panicked voice. 

“I must have lost them when I sat on the fallen log for a rest two hours ago,” Aurora thought out loud, “Alice, you go to the log and check, I and Warrior Andrew will search along the way.” 

“Yes, Luna,” Aurora hurried towards the way where they came. Being a malnourished omega, she wasn’t able to shift into her wolf. It would give Aurora enough time to deal with Andrew. 

Aurora stood up and walked towards the direction of the border. “Luna, it’s not that way, we need to go back to find your earrings.” Andrew was both baffled and annoyed. 

“The earrings are not important,” Aurora said coldly without stopping her steps. She started to run. Even in her human form, she was fast. The trees receded from her vision like a blur, and the wind sliced against her delicate face. 

Andrew was chasing her from behind, panting and shouting. Aurora could tell he hadn’t shifted. Maybe he thought he didn’t need to shift to handle Aurora since she was wolfless. He was going to pay for his arrogance. 

Aurora stopped in her tracks once she reached the border. She stood there motionlessly until a rough hand grabbed her arm forcibly. 

“If you want to die at the hands of the rogues, it might save me some trouble,” Andrew mocked. 

Aurora turned her back, her eyes flaring red. Andrew flinched and stumbled back at the alpha power exuded from her.

But it was too late. Low, menacing growls surrounded them. In a flash, a crowd of rogues stalked to them with saliva hung from their jaws. A man in ragged clothes who hadn’t shifted walked to Aurora. 

“Alpha,” he bowed his head. 

Andrew’s jaw hung open with his eyes bulging. “You, you are not Aurora Coleman…” 

A cold, murderous smile bloomed across Aurora’s face. “Too bad you won’t live to tell that to your beloved Queen.” Andrew’s face was painted with fear as he stumbled to stand up.

“Finish him, for our brothers he killed,” Aurora ordered. 

The wolves didn’t waste a second after the order was issued. They leaped onto the poor man and pushed him to the ground before he could shift. Blood splattered on the ground and to the leaves of the bushes. Andrew’s pathetic wails echoed in the quiet forest, birds perched on the branches of the trees flew away alarmedly. 

Andrew was dead. His body parts scattered on the ground, his face still having a shocked expression. 

The wolves gathered in a group and together with Aurora, they mourned the loss of their pack members. 

“Lee, find a young rogue called Jack Hunter and bring him to safety,” Aurora said to the man standing by her side. 

“Yes, Alpha. But is he important to us?” Lee asked.

“Maybe not to us, but important to his family.” Lee nodded his head at Aurora’s words. 

“Now it’s my turn. I need someone to bite me,” Aurora scanned the wolves sitting in front of her. 

The wolves looked at each other hesitantly. “Alpha, what is this for?” A brown wolf asked. 

“To make the scene more believable,” Aurora said. But none of the wolves dared to move. 

“Raymond, do what our alpha asked,” Lee chimed in. The wolf stepped out reluctantly. 

Aurora sat on the ground and extended her claws to shred her jeans, waiting for Raymond to act. “Hurry, we don’t have much time,” she ordered. 

“Sorry, Alpha,” Raymond bowed his head before cutting Aurora’s thigh with his sharp teeth. 

“Deeper,” Aurora ordered. She bit her lips and suppressed her wolf. Her wolf paced up and down in her mind. “You are going to hurt yourself. Let me heal you,” she said worriedly to Aurora. 

“No, you mustn’t,” Aurora said through gritted teeth. Sweat painted her face. Blood trickled down to the ground. 

Raymond hesitated and looked at Aurora’s eyes for signs. “Continue.” 

A whirl of wind brought new smells to Aurora’s nose. “Run. The patrol guards are near,” she ordered. 

Raymond stopped his action and hesitated at the order with the other wolves. They didn’t want to leave their Alpha injured at the hands of the patrol guards. 

“Run,” Aurora let out her alpha aura. The wolves took to running but kept looking back at her. 

Covering the wound where her blood kept gushing out, Aurora shouted, “Help! Somebody please help!” 

—----------------------

“I heard you kept Prince Philip in the dungeon all night on his wedding night,” Alexander, the youngest Elder in the Council, arched his eyebrow at Nicholas. They were heading towards the lookout tower where they could get a bird’s-eye view of the dark forest. The recent sightings of the rogues sent an alarm bell to both of them. Rogues hadn’t frequented their border for decades. 

Nicholas shrugged his shoulder, “You know me. Business always comes first.” 

“We both knew there was no business. The case you called him for had ended weeks earlier. So what was on your mind?” Alexander crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Nothing,” Nicholas strode past him. 

Alexander quickened his steps to keep abreast of his best friend. “A little bird told me you broke Scarlett Black’s arm over the new Luna. Connecting the two dots,  one might think you harbor a secret feeling toward…” 

“You overthink, Elder Alexander,” Nicholas interjected. 

“Your ex-fiancee Amber won’t be happy if she knew how you treated her sister over the new wolfless girl,” Alexander mused, followed by a snarl Nicholas let out. 

Alexander winked knowingly at Nicholas. “Just like I thought. Is the new Luna pretty?” he grinned. 

“Chloe won’t be happy if she knows you are asking what another girl looks like,” Nicholas shot him a dirty look.  

The smile on Alexander’s face wilted at the mention of his mate. He winced. “All right. Message received. Don’t throw Chloe in my face.” 

Nicholas stopped mid-stairs in the lookout tower. “You two still haven’t worked things out?”  

“She is still pissed at me for kissing another woman when we first met. To defend myself, I didn’t expect to meet my mate in a club,” Nicholas rubbed his forehead. 

“Suit you right,” Nicholas commented.

“Speaking from another playboy who has slept with tons of women,” Alexander barbed. 

“At least I haven’t met my mate yet.” Alexander deflated at the words, feeling guilty. 

They ascended the top floor of the lookout tower and took the telescopes handed to them by the guards. 

Nicholas scanned the dark forest carefully for any suspicious moment. The rogues were an ill omen. The patrol guards who had fought them said they were ferocious, much stronger than the stray rogues they usually apprehended in the city. 

From the way they fought, Nicholas could tell that these rogues were well-trained. Last week, they managed to kill a few with their best warriors. They kept one alive and took him to the dungeon for interrogation, hoping to find clues about their origin, but the wolf swallowed his tongue and killed himself. 

The rogues must be from a formed pack. But from where and which pack? 

A thin figure caught Nicholas’ attention. He adjusted the mirror to see it clearer. It was Aurora’s maid Alice, running frantically on the dirt road.

Alarming bells started to ring in his head. He searched for a petite figure but found none until his eyesight reached the border. 

There she was. Standing surrounded by a man and a group of rogues. Lying on the ground was a bloody body. Nicholas’ heart tightened at the sight. Panic, a feeling he seldom had, gripped him, squeezing his heart tightly. 

“Send the patrol guards to the border.” He barked, dropping the telescope on the ground and shifting into a magnificent black wolf. 

“What’s wrong? Rogues?” Alexander shouted from behind. 

Ignoring the question, Alexander’s wolf jumped to the ground from the knee-weakening height and landed on the dirt with a loud thud. Then his wolf sprinted down the road, sending the dirt flying in the air.  

“Help! Somebody please help!” The faint and anguished voice spurred his wolf on as if the missing part of his soul was calling to him.