3. Caught off guard

Everest

As I crawled into bed that night, I went over the day’s events in my head.  So many unanswerable questions filled my mind. Who was that alpha? Maybe he was here for the ceremony? Would I see him again?  Why was there a part of me that wanted too? That thought had little butterflies dancing in my stomach. I drifted off to sleep that night and dreamt of the deep blue ocean.  The strong riptide and the brilliant dapples of blue light when the sun shone through the water dazzled my vision. The blue turned into a pair of eyes, and I was looking into the face of a dark blue-grey wolf.  I ran my hands through his fur and mused at what his human form would look like. He seemed to radiate power and dominance. The scent and the aura emanating from him made my knees weak. Before I could go any further my alarm blared rousing me from my dream that had seemed like it was about to get very good...  

I opened my eyes to the sun shining through the curtains. I showered and dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast.  We were fortunate in the Aurora Moon pack. We were the second

largest pack in the area, after Onyx Moon. The pack house was an enormous four-story mansion on a huge plot of land at the edge of the pack city.  The ground floor was where we entertained guests and held large events in the grand foyer.  The second floor had three kitchens in the east wing with a staff of ten omegas, and then in the west wing there were rooms for the omegas who worked in the household.  The third floor was emergency rooms and guest rooms for visiting pack leaders or friends and family. The top floor was where the pack leaders lived.  The west wing was entirely for the alpha and their family.  My mother and father, the current Alpha and Luna, along with my sister and I, lived in the west wing.  In the east wing of the fourth floor, the beta and delta lived with their families. This was how it worked in most pack houses, but few were as grand in size as ours.

A protein shake, and some bacon and eggs were laid out for me and my sister. Cascade stumbled down the stairs and pulled up the seat next to me.  We were both dressed in spandex shorts and sports bras for morning training.  With the ceremony to introduce the future alpha and luna just three days away now, and lots of people coming to witness, we had to be at our best. While Cas and Griffin weren’t taking over right away it was customary for neighbouring packs to come and accept a new alpha if he wasn’t blood related to the previous one. We jogged over to the training ground after breakfast and began to stretch and warm up with our usual group.  Cas’s mate, Griffin, came racing up to her the minute we arrived and pulled her into a huge hug.  Griffin was well over six feet tall with jet black hair and light brown eyes. He was well built and had a strong handsome face.  Best of all though, he was kind and he adored Cas. They gazed at each other disgustingly and started to get wrapped in a steamy make-out session. I cringed and walked off to go see my friend Kali.  She was the daughter of the current beta and was the same age as me.  Her older brother, Jacob, would be Griffin’s beta after the ceremony.

“Aren’t they perfect?”, Kali sighed. She was two inches shorter than me at 5"3. She had dark chocolate brown hair that was cut into a shoulder length bob, and dark chocolate brown eyes.  Her fair skin had a spattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, and she had the biggest smile you'd ever seen.

“Sure, if what you're looking for is cheesy romance-fillled PDA.” I rolled my eyes.

“Come on, Ev, when you find your mate, it’s going to be exactly the same, you know it!” she said. We had this argument almost daily now that my birthday was in 4 days. I was going to turn 18 the day after the Alpha-Luna ceremony, and Kali a month after me.

“If I find my mate...” I winked at her and she laughed it off. The longer I could put it off, the better, in my opinion.

Kali’s eyes opened wide as she noticed something behind me.

“Woah, Alpha Finn is here."

“Who?” I asked. I turned around and across the field I saw a huge man walking into the training arena. He was a least 6 foot 4 with perfectly styled dark brown hair.  He had strong broad shoulders, rippling arms, and a stubbled jawline that could cut cheese.  His chest was solid and toned under his tight white t-shirt, and you could see the outline of what appeared to be a perfect pack of abs.  My wolf began to whine, noticing the familiar scent that was flowing towards us: Cedar, sandalwood, and whiskey.

Oh, I had heard of him alright.  He had a brutal reputation for being relentlessly violent. Alpha Finn had taken over 5 packs in less than 4 years.  He was unmated, but there were rumours around his dominant nature that were nerve-wracking if they were true. I had heard about one she-wolf being exiled from the pack because he got annoyed with her. He was all business, and all fight. I turned around and continued my stretching, paying him no attention, hoping he wouldn’t catch my scent and spill that I had crossed the pack border without supervision.

“Come on, Kali, stop drooling and spar,” I teased her.

“Okay…but wow,” she mouthed.

I rolled my eyes, and we began to fight one another.  Kali was a great partner. She was incredibly fast and strong and knew my moves well due to us training together for almost our whole lives. I was technically better than her, but she always kept me on my toes anticipating my every move.

As we came out of a particularly complex maneuver, Kali started smirking. “Alpha Finn is watching you,” she whispered. I felt a blush rising in my cheeks.

I shook it off and changed tactics. I started a complex series of twists and flips showing how flexible and agile I was. Sliding across the ground then twisting through the air I felt Kali miss a step and pitch forward. I took that chance to pin her. She blinked up at me in surprise. Was I showing off a little? Possibly…

“Jeeze Everest, that was new”, she panted.

“Just a little something I’ve been practicing…” I grinned.

“Well, you’ll have to teach me that one” she groaned getting to her feet.

I helped her up and began to explain to her what I had done when I felt a tingle rush up my neck. Kali’s eyes widened and she immediately looked down in submission. I could feel the waves of dominance rolling off the presence behind me and I knew who it was before his scent even hit me. I turned, not submitting because of my own alpha blood, making direct eye contact with Alpha Finn. His scent washed over me like a perfect crisp fall day running through the woods. The sandalwood, cedar and spice smell made my mouth water, but I swallowed and held eye contact, waiting for him to speak first. 

He had the most brilliant blue eyes I had ever seen.  It was like looking into beautiful glacial water. Not icy, but pure and rich and deep. Like they had no bottom. They were framed by thick dark lashes and full serious eyebrows.  His sharp cheekbones and strong jawline made him possibly the most beautiful man I had ever seen. And that’s coming from a girl who hadn't payed much attention to men before this moment. I looked up at him towering over me and he found my eyes with his. I willed the goosebumps that arose on my arms to disappear. Whatever that was - it needed to stop now. I wasn't about to let some domineering alpha get under my skin.

“You’re fast on two legs as well,” he said in a deep, husky voice. The way he spoke was with an air of arrogant authority that made my stomach twist, thought I wasn't sure if that was from irritation...or something else.

“The fastest one around apparently” I stated. My heart pounded at my brash response. What was I doing? Shut up, Everest! I could tell he was surprised at my brash response. His sharp blue eyes narrowed slightly, as if my response amused him, and he took a deliberate step closer. The weight of his aura pressed against me, thick and suffocating. Behind me, Kali retreated instantly, but I stood firm. My blood hummed with my own alpha lineage, refusing to cower—even if every part of me was screaming that I should

“Oh, really?” he arched an eyebrow, his voice like velvet laced with steel.

“If you don’t believe me, I would be happy to race you again,” I challenged. What did I just say? I was startled at the bold words coming from my lips. I wasn’t submissive but I was never confrontational. His eyes darkened slightly.

“I’ll take your word for it, little wolf. Wouldn’t want to cause a stir before the ceremony by challenging the alphas daughter.”

Condescending asshole.

“It’s okay if you’re scared, I won’t tell anyone,” a teasing lilt taking over my tone before I could stop it and turned my back to him. Big mistake. What the hell was I thinking?

He closed the gap between us so that he was almost pressed up right against me. His dominance radiated off him in waves so strong it was like jolts of electricity through my body. He leaned down and I felt his warm, minty breath against my neck and goosebumps covered my shoulders. The tingling across my skin was almost overwhleming.

“Speak to me like that again, and I’ll submit you in the middle of this arena.” He leaned down close to my neck and let out a deep growl sending shivers up my spine. “Oh..." he spoke in almost a whisper "and next time I find you naked in the woods sunshine, you better hope you’re the fastest one around.” He turned and walked back to the rest of the pack, and I stood there frozen at what had just happened. What the hell was I doing talking back to an Alpha like that?

Kali walked over to me open mouthed.

“Ummm what just happened…he looked like he was going to eat you for lunch! What on earth did you say to provoke him and why?”

“I don’t know what came over me honestly. I must have a death wish or something? I don’t need to be childishly challenging the most brutal Alpha in the country a week before our packs strengthen their alliance…what's my problem?”

“I mean, I know you've ever interacted with a hot Alpha that wasn't your dad but...,” snickered Kali.

"Ew?! Why would you say that?" I scrunched up my face in disgust. She rolled her eyes "Oh come on, Alpha Jack is a total silver fox…or wolf? Whatever...he's hot for a dad!"

"Oh my god please stop immediately." I begged. 

"I'm just saying, usually when you find a guy sexy you try to flirt with him, not make him kill you," she was still laughing.

"I'll just...stay away from him," I ran my hands through my ponytail and Kali burst into new fits of laughter at my bewildered face.

“I mean, it might not be a great thing for Alpha Finn to murder the sister of the new Luna so that’s not a terrible idea, but are you sure you can?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me. 

"Of course," I rolled my eyes. "He's just hot...and smells good...I'm sure I can keep myself from getting murdered for the next 4 days..."

"Okaaayyyy...let’s just hope you don't get jealous or anything." she pointed behind me.

"What why would I get.." I trailed off watching the Deltas daughter, Marina, batting her eye lashes at Finn, clearly doing much better at flirting than I had. 

I rolled my eyes at her. “I'll be fine...come on, let’s just try the move again.”

 

The rest of the practice was uneventful, but I couldn’t help but steal glances in the direction of Alpha Finn every now and then. His intense dominant aura covered the whole field and made the other she-wolves completely giddy.  It was disgusting the way they threw themselves at him. I watched as Marina laughed too hard at something and touched her hand to his upper arm. My wolf growled in my head, and I couldn’t help but feel overly irritated about it. Not jealous though...definitely not jealous. Just irritated. Thankfully, Alpha Finn left without giving her the time of day, but I made a mental note to kick Marina’s butt in training the next time we sparred.