The Mating System: A Paranormal Shifter Romance

by Angela Foxxe

  At the edge of the forest facing south, Noemi raised her tail, and a fearsome snarl ripped from her throat. All at once, she seemed to double in size, each of her hairs standing on edge as she approached the forest. It was the opposite of good news that was facing them, and Alexa felt her blood run cold.

  Antony had begun to snarl as well, his tail raised high and his ears pressed flat to his skull. Alexa attempted to shrink down next to him, making herself seem as small as possible. From the edge of the trees, a wolf emerged.

  He was one that Alexa recognized. The male that always confronted her, day after day. Her blood was running colder with each step forward that he took. When he got too close to Noemi, the female snapped her teeth and snarled at him.

  He was unaffected by the display of brute force, not even a hint of emotion on his face. He seemed to be the only one, and Alexa was happy to know that they would be able to take down only one wolf. It was stupid of him to try and follow them.

  Noemi was still like stone, only swiveling her head to watch her fellow alpha as he paced back and forth in front of her, tongue lolling out of her mouth. The casual display was making Noemi angrier, and Alexa couldn’t help but think that that was the entire purpose of his fronting.

  In a flash, where Noemi had once been standing, was only dirt that had been kicked up by her massive paws. One leap forward and she had the male under her teeth, snapping and clicking her fangs at him savagely. Only then did he begin to fight back, and the two were as fierce as Alexa had ever seen anything. Noemi hardly looked like the same wolf as she bit down onto the male’s foreleg, and used her paws to land huge, crushing blows to his chest and to his head. She was above him, and had the upper ground, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

  The male, while Noemi was huge, had weight in muscle whereas she did not. With one swift motion of his hind legs, he had kicked Noemi away from himself. He rounded on Antony and Alexa, the former of which stepped over Alexa to guard her from the aggressive male. Antony was snarling, as threatening as a bear would be.

  Noemi regained herself quickly, and flung herself at the male once more. He went toppling sideways, trapped once more underneath her speed and her grace, despite her size.

  Alexa’s ears perked up, and she swiveled around just in time to watch as another wolf, having gone unnoticed, sank her teeth into Antony’s flank. Antony howled in pain, and was quick to launch himself away from the powerful bite. It only took a moment for him to analyze the situation and to throw himself at the female.

  Alexa was surrounded by fighting: in front of her, Antony was wrestling with the female who stood little to no chance against him. Behind her, Noemi was fighting with the male, using her wits and her speed to maintain the upper hand that she had started the fight with.

  All around Alexa, wolves melted out of the forest. First in ones, then in twos. Most of them were unfamiliar, and she had the sinking realization that they were from Antony’s pack. Cold fear sank into her body as she looked around at the wolves. They were outnumbered by a long shot.

  Behind her, the male let out a wracked, strangled squeal for help, and then was silenced. Alexa turned just in time to see his broken neck fall from Noemi’s jaws. Sickness crawled through her stomach, looking at Noemi covered in blood. She looked like a monster, one that Alexa didn’t want to get in the way of.

  Noemi snarled at her, and she ducked to the side. The she-wolf was quick to help Antony with his battle, and it wasn’t long before the female who had bitten Antony was dead like the first male that had attacked.

  Antony and Noemi fell back to flank themselves around Alexa, snarling and snapping at the wolves that approached. Alexa wasn’t sure how they had been found out, but she knew that it was over now. It was just as in her nightmare. She shot worried glances between the vicious Noemi and the protective Antony. All that was left was to be betrayed. Alexa shook her head, and when she opened her eyes again, she was faced with a wolf that was all too familiar.

  Despite her low status, she carried herself regally. Her head and tail were held high, and other wolves fell into rank behind her. Alexa’s jaw hung open at the sight of her. The betrayal had come, but not in the way that she had ever imagined it happening.

  Standing in front of her was none other than Sabrina. The pure white wolf glowed in the night, even with no light to shine off her fur. She looked powerful and strong, nothing like the frail she-wolf that Alexa was familiar with.

  With one jerk of her head, the wolves surged forward and tore the three traitors away from each other. Noemi struggled like a demon, but was quickly subdued. Antony didn’t fight. He knew that there was no reason to.

  The only wolves left standing in the middle of the clearing were Sabrina and Alexa.

  Alexa had shifted before she realized it, and she could feel the tears pour from her newly-gained tear ducts.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, her eyes wide and damp.

  “I told you not to go,” Sabrina said. Her voice was cold as she shifted back, still tainted by the wolf inside of her hanging on for power. “I told you that you would be killed. You had to have known that something like this was going to happen to you, Alexa.”

  “I was scared that it would, but I didn’t realize that it would be from you,” she hissed. Alexa curled her arms around her stomach, and tried to keep the feeling of sickness at bay. “I can’t believe you did this to me. We were going to get away.”

  “You were never going to get away,” Sabrina scoffed. “Since you told me what was going to happen, I knew that I had to stop you. We’ve been watching the three of you. All of us have been. We knew when this was going to happen, and we were prepared to stop it at all costs.”

  Alexa felt rage course through her body, overtaking the feeling that she was going to empty the contents of her stomach all over the grass in front of her. She looked up at her mother, hoping that the female would be able to see the hurt and the betrayal in her eyes.

  Sabrina clicked her tongue, and Noemi was herded off in the direction towards the pack. Antony was guided the other way, back towards the pack grounds that he was from. Two wolves stayed behind to guard Sabrina and Alexa. She began to walk behind the group of wolves guarding Noemi, and Alexa was slow to follow. The wolves behind her bit at her heels and the back of her legs, and she sped up her pace. However, she stayed as far away from her mother as she possibly could. She didn’t even want to look at the other woman, hatred rushing through her like a powerful river.

  The walk back to the pack grounds was silent save for the sounds of Noemi occasionally trying to escape her entourage. She was weak, and unable to do anything. Alexa wished that she could have helped. Beside her, Sabrina sighed.

  “The twins are going to be so upset with you,” she murmured. “Do you know what happens to wolves that try to run away?”

  Alexa, determined to be stoic and not say a word to her mother, stared straight ahead of herself and didn’t make a peep. She was straining her eyes with the effort that it took to keep her eyes pinned somewhere in the distance in front of her.

  “You’ve had that nightmare for so long, I was hoping that it would have deterred you. You stupid girl, it wasn’t just a dream, it was reality. You’ve lied and you’ve tried to escape. You’ve seen the male that you were meant to be kept away from, and now you’re going to pay the price.”

  Alexa was guided back toward where the alphas frequented. Noemi was already there, her wolf tied to a sturdy tree with lengths of leather. It was something normally reserved for criminals. Alexa supposed that it was fitting.

  “You’re going to die, Alexa,” Sabrina said, her voice cold.

  Only then did Alexa allow herself to feel scared.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The trek back to the pack grounds was a long one, punctuated with a cold fear sinking through Alexa’s bones. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and cease to exist. In the end, it would have been far easier than trying to keep her feet moving under her at a ste
ady pace. Her mother hadn’t spoken a word since they had left the clearing. Cold fear traveled through Alexa with each step forward.

  She had ruined absolutely everything. Noemi was going to die. Antony was going to die. She was going to die. There was nothing that they could do about it. This was going to end in bloodshed. Alexa, with the crushing worry coming down on her, buried her face in her hands as she walked. The sudden thought of it made her heart race.

  “Why did you do this?” Sabrina asked, breaking the silence that had been lingering for so long between her and her daughter. “You should have known that something was going to happen. Plans like these never turn out, and you will not be able to get out of it now. You should have just listened to me.”

  Anger coursed through Alexa, but she didn’t have the energy to act upon it. Ahead of them, probably in the pack grounds by then, she could hear Noemi snarling and putting up as much of a fight as she could. As a strong alpha, it wasn’t hard for her to be able to take control and scare others into submission. Alexa didn’t have that power. She didn’t have anything. Now that she had messed everything up, she only had one thing to look forward to: her death.

  “Because I love him,” Alexa said, staring straight ahead. She didn’t know why she didn’t look at her mother. Perhaps avoiding eye contact with the she wolf would give her some sort of power that she wouldn’t normally have. “And you know that. I told you that I love him.”

  “You don’t love him,” Sabrina growled, a tinge of her wolf sneaking into her voice. It was a play to try and get Alexa to roll over and show her belly in her last moments. “I tried to tell you that. If you’d just listened to me, you wouldn’t be in this situation,” she reiterated.

  The repetition made Alexa snarl ad turn a glare upon her mother. “You don’t know anything. You can’t possibly understand what it is that I’m going through right now.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Alexa,” her mother muttered, although she failed to offer any more information.

  At the edge of the pack grounds, the alphas who had come from Antony’s pack dispersed and turned away. They dipped their heads in a polite gesture, although there was no emotion in the act. It was then that they took off, heading towards their destination. Alexa turned to look over her shoulder at the vanishing forms of the wolves. All she could hope was that Antony would have an easier time at his pack.

  Sabrina, with one hand on Alexa’s shoulder, steered the girl through the pack. They passed the dens of sleeping wolves, and Alexa was only granted a second of peace to pause outside of the den where the twins were sleeping. She felt bad about leaving them, only to return and leave them once more. They did not deserve to be left alone with their mother.

  Alexa pulled her shoulder away from Sabrina, and one of the remaining alphas behind her let out a snarl.

  Sabrina held up her hand. “She won’t try anything,” she said. “Just leave her be for now.”

  The alpha nodded at the command, although Alexa could see the begrudging expression that he was wearing. They didn’t like taking orders from a lower ranking wolf, even if Sabrina was in charge of the whole operation.

  As they walked, Alexa found a new lightness to her steps. It wasn’t as though she was happy, in fact she was far from it, but she was able to accept that she had made a mistake. There would be a way for her to get out of it. She knew that Noemi would be reluctant at first, but the alpha would soon understand and bend to Alexa’s will. After all, Noemi wasn’t the type of wolf to go down without a fight.

  As if on cue, Alexa was led around a corner and towards the center of the pack grounds, where Noemi was tangled in teeth and claws with another alpha. None of the others had dared to join in after seeing what she had done at the clearing. They didn’t want to lose their lives.

  Sabrina sighed, and pinched her brows together. “Alexa, stop your friend this instant.”

  “She’s an alpha,” Alexa retorted. “She’ll do what she pleases.”

  Alexa watched as Noemi landed blow after blow on the other wolf with her powerful claws, showing absolutely no mercy. It wasn’t until the other alpha slipped away from her and tucked his tail between his legs that Noemi stopped fighting. Her chest was heaving and her eyes were ablaze, but when she caught sight of Alexa she calmed down immediately.

  “She and you will be watched over all day long and all night long. This will go on until we decide what to properly do with the two of you,” Sabrina said. She put a hand on the small of Alexa’s back and pushed her forward.

  Alexa stumbled to Noemi, kneeling next to the wolf and putting a hand on her cheek. Noemi nuzzled into the touch, her tail lifting in a gentle wag. It was the calmest that Alexa had ever seen her friend.

  “Why would it take so long to decide?” Alexa asked. “We broke the rules, and the punishment for that is death. Why were we not killed in the clearing?”

  Sabrina turned away and walked back to her den. She dismissed Alexa as easily as she had done for the girl’s entire life. It wasn’t anything new to her, but it made her hairs stand up on end.

  Two alphas took a post, one on either side of Noemi and Alexa. They gave the two she wolves a wide berth, but not wide enough to allow them to escape. It was just a safety precaution. Next to her, Noemi whined at Alexa and pawed at her leg with her warm pads. Alexa smiled at Noemi, running her fingers through the wolf’s thick fur.

  “It’ll be okay. I’m okay. They barely even touched me,” she said.

  Noemi was staring intently at her, and Alexa diverted her eyes. She didn’t want to anger the alpha, even if they were on the same terms now. As prisoners, there was no distinction between the two of them. They were both as good as omegas.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Alexa assured. She sat back and relaxed, watching as Noemi did the same.

  The she-wolf crept forward until she was able to rest her chin on Alexa’s knee. Alexa could only assume that the reason that the she wolf hadn’t shifted back to a human was due to her lack of energy. Leaning her weight on one hand, Alexa used the other one to pet the space between Noemi’s ears down to between her shoulders. Under her touch, the she wolf loosened up. When Alexa touched a tender spot she let out a little growl, but only as a warning. She would never bite her friend.

  “You were so brave,” Alexa whispered as she scratched behind one of Noemi’s ears.

  Noemi gave a flick of said ear, not even bothering to open her eyes to look at Alexa.

  “You and Antony both were braver than I ever could have been in my life,” she muttered. “I’m envious that the two of you have such courage.”

  Noemi huffed, and then whined at Alexa. It was a sign to hush up and get to sleep. Sighing, Alexa took the hint and stretched out on her back. Noemi shifted to lie next to Alexa, the hulking form of the she wolf heating her better than any den or clothing could have.

  Alexa rolled onto her side to be closer to Noemi, and pet flat the fur on her cheek.

  “Do you think we’re going to get out of this alive?” she asked.

  Noemi huffed again. The she-wolf glanced at Alexa, and if she were human, Alexa could see the pensive pull of her eyebrows. Noemi was stubborn, but she wasn’t certain about what was going to happen to them. Alexa couldn’t blame her. In times like this, she wondered if there was truly anything they could do.

  Noemi closed her eyes after that, and it wasn’t long before the she wolf’s breathing steadied out into shallow breaths. Fast asleep in only a few moments, Noemi left Alexa to her thoughts as she stared up at the dark sky above her. She needed to trust in Noemi and she needed to trust in Antony. The two alphas would know what to do, and they would not let anything bad happen to her.

  Still petting Noemi, Alexa’s fingers brushed over a particularly rough patch where she had yet to heal. Most of her other wounds had scarred over, her fast healing prompted by the shifter blood running through her veins. Alexa envied Noemi’s power and bravery. The she-wolf had torn into wolf after wolf in an attempt to protec
t Alexa.

  Alexa frowned at the thought. Was it selfish to think that Antony and Noemi had fought only with the intent of protecting her? Alexa rolled onto her back, finding it more comfortable than crushing herself by lying on her side. It allowed her a better view of the sky, the storm having long passed over them. Not even a single drop of rain had fallen, making Alexa wish that it had poured buckets upon her meeting with Noemi and Antony. It might have cleansed their scent and given them a few more seconds of safety.

  Without her realizing it, tears sprung forward to Alexa’s eyes and began rolling down her cheeks to the ground. Beside her, the sleeping she wolf huffed in a dream, her paws digging at the ground. Alexa reached out and put her hand on Noemi’s head, calming the she wolf in only a few seconds and allowing her to slip back into a peaceful sleep.

  Alexa removed her hand after a while, despite wanting to leave it there for the rest of the night. In front of her, one of the alphas shot a glance over his shoulder to make sure that their two captives were still in place.

  “I’m sorry, Noemi,” Alexa whispered.

  The other alpha, behind Alexa, let out a cruel laugh. He was sitting on the ground, arms and legs crossed. “Sorry won’t do you any good now,” he said. “The two of you were criminals to begin with, but killing another wolf? That sealed her fate.”

  “She did it because he would have killed her,” Alexa hissed. There was a pit of anger growing in her stomach, and she sat up to glower at the male. “She was protecting me.”

  “Sounds more like she was protecting herself,” the male said. “Why would anyone want to protect a wolf as useless as you? You are not an alpha, you’re just a sniveling, cowering pup. You’re afraid of everything and it makes you weak. You can’t even stand up for yourself. If I wanted, I could kill you right now. You wouldn’t put up an ounce of a fight.”