Diary of a True Alpha

by C Y Jones

  “Rushing in teeth and paws blazing is not a plan,” she retorts, guessing exactly what we were going to do.

  “Why not? It worked for them when they attacked us,” I point out.

  “Yeah, well they had a bunch of mages helping them. You only have one, and thank fuck it’s me or you three would be toast.”

  “Well, what’s your plan then?” Ethan growls angrily. Aspen missing has not helped his temperament any. He was already a moody asshole before, but now he’s taken it to all new limits. The sooner we get Aspen back, the better.

  “I’ll tell you once we get to a hotel near the Wolfhaven pack. I still have some details I need to work out in my head,” April answers before she closes her eyes and tunes us all out.

  ‘What the fuck?’ I mouth to my brother, who just shrugs, turning his attention out the window. Great, our rescue party consists of three wolves and a crazy witch. Hopefully whatever April comes up with will help. I know better than to count her out. If it weren’t for her, we would all be imprisoned or dead after she was able to conduct a spell proving we had good reason to kill Joey Ravenclaw after he and his friends tried to rape Aspen at a house party he threw. His friend Karter Bloodjoy had compelled Aspen and was going to film her getting raped and gangbanged as revenge for Kassie. After killing Joey and some human that was there, April’s spell gave us the evidence we needed to clear our names and leaving Ravenclaw clan no reason to seek revenge, not that it stopped them. With help from Aspen's dad and Kassie letting the enemy in like the slimy snake she is, they still attacked us. For my girl, I’ll make sure Kassie stays alive, but after this, I’m done. I don’t care where Kassie ends up or what happens afterwards. Once we get her back to her dad if someone wants to take a bite out of her, I’ll happily step aside and relish in her blood painting the walls.

  “Are you ok over there big guy? You look kind of bloodthirsty,” Mekka questions as he looks at me through the rear-view mirror, snapping me out my dark thoughts.

  “Yeah, I’m cool,” I mutter and he gives me a ‘I don’t believe you look’ but thankfully he drops it. Closing my eyes, I drift off. I was still a little weak from the fight, and I’ll need all the strength I can get once we get to our destination.

  Thankfully the ride wasn’t too bad. I ended up sleeping most of the way, only waking to eat. I needed the downtime. Already my body felt a hundred times better. Besides a little tenderness on my side, I feel brand new. I didn’t even have a scar. My shifter blood having healed everything. Pulling up to a Hilton, Mekka has us all get out of the car while he parks. Taking the lead, my brother strolls to the check-in counter and orders our rooms while I stand guard in the lobby with April.

  “You don’t have any clothes. Do you want me to have Mekka take you to get some when he goes out to get us food?” I ask April while we wait.

  “I’ll get some later when I go out to pick up supplies for Aspen’s breakout,” she answers cryptically as she watches the humans walk around the busy lobby.

  “Supplies?” I ask, raising my brow.

  “I already told you, beefcake, you’re going to need more than your paws and teeth to get Aspen back.”

  “Ok,” I say, drawing the word out. Who knows what the crazy witch cooked up on the way up here, but if it’ll get our girl back, I’m all game.

  “Ready,” Ethan says, holding out a key card and handing it to April. “I don’t know if the town around the pack is being monitored or not, so I thought it would be best if we’re not alone, so we’ll share rooms. You’ll be with Mekka while I’ll stay with my brother. Both rooms are right next to each other and have an adjoining door,” he explains.

  “Ok, cool beans,” April replies, taking the card from my brother.

  I’m relieved she’s not arguing about this. While here, we can’t afford for anything to happen to her or Aspen will kill us. They’re both fiercely protective of each other. Once Mekka joins us with our bags in tow, we take the elevator up to the fifth floor to our separate rooms.

  “Why don’t we all get refreshed and settle in and meet back in my room in an hour?” Ethan suggests, and we all agree.

  The suite is nice, but that’s expected with a Hilton. It’s like the middle class luxury resort. The room has a small living area with a table, a TV, and a couch that can be converted into a bed. In the bedroom are two twin beds, double nightstands, and a low dresser with a couple information pamphlets of the area on top. Bolted to that, was another TV, this one a standard size, and on the other wall is a colorful watercolor of two women having a picnic in the forest.

  “Do you think he knows we’re here?” I ask my brother while I take in the view out the huge pane glass window.

  “I doubt it. The Wolfhaven Alpha would not expect us to come this soon for Aspen with all the destruction he left back at our pack. I’m pretty sure that was his goal and why he revealed Kassie was the one to betray the pack and let them in. He wanted to cause chaos and discord within the pack.”

  “Well it worked. I hope by now Alpha has gotten back control. We need to be working together and not at each other's throats,” I tell him as I pace the window. Now, since I’ve had enough sleep, my worry for Aspen is starting to kick in. I want her back in my arms so I can show her just how much I love her. That she is more than just a mate to me. She is my everything, and I can’t lose her again. Because we’re pack. Because we have a twin connection, Ethan walks over to me and hugs me tight, having felt what I’m feeling.

  “We’ll get her back, and in time, we will make him pay for taking her in the first place, I promise,” he murmurs, and I hug him tighter, holding him to his words.

  5

  Aspen

  After a day of playing prisoner in my room, I was already over it. My wolf was agitated just as much as I was about being cooped up. We wanted to run out in the open air and stretch our legs. There's so much reality TV one can watch before enough is enough. I wasn’t even allowed out my room for dinner last night. The same arsehole guard from before brought a plate to my room and watched me eat it like I was going to swipe the silverware and use it to escape. I can make fire with just a thought. I am a living weapon, but apparently my father is a bit paranoid about losing me again. I wonder what he has at stake to make sure this deal goes through. Too bad for him I don’t plan on playing into his plans. I’m just as firey and stubborn as my mother.

  “Here,” my arsehole babysitter says as he barges into my room and throws a dress onto my bed.

  “What is that?” I ask, wrinkling my nose.

  “Your father wants you to eat dinner tonight with him,” is his only reply.

  “Since when do I need to dress up for dinner with him?” I question, raising my brow.

  “Look, I’m just the messenger,” he retorts and I roll my eyes. This whole lot is nothing but a bunch of pussies. I get he needs to follow his Alpha, but I’m sure even he can recognize crazy and delusional when he sees it. My father isn’t running on all cylinders. He has something more going on that involves me somehow, but what? And why me?

  “Whatever,” I mutter at the wanker as I storm in the bathroom to get a shower.

  When I come out, Trevor is gone and the dress is still lying on my bed. I should burn it. I was very tempted to, but my need to get out of this room overrode my need to piss my father off. So like a good girl, I put the stupid dress on and stepped out to the hall to my scowling guard. As we walk through the halls, I decide to make conversation as I take in my guard. He’s actually quite cute, maybe five years older than me. He has thick sandy brown hair, green sparkling eyes, and a lean muscular build. He’s tall, which isn’t uncommon with our kind, and has a gauge in both ears.

  “So Trevor, do you have a mate?”

  “Yes,” he grumbles like he was reluctant to give that one word answer.

  “I have a mate too. Three of them in fact. We’re true mates,” I tell him and his gait slows just a fraction.

  Why I told him that, I don’t know. While living here I
didn’t get to know any of my father’s wolves. The children I played with weren’t real friends. The only ones that actually cared about me were Ethan and Logan, and I treated them like crap. Maybe if I got to know my father’s people they wouldn’t be so gung-ho to see me suffer.

  “My mate is a dreamer and believes in stuff like that,” he says softly.

  “And you don’t?” I inquire.

  “I’ve never seen a true match before, so no,” he answers honestly.

  “My mother, your former Alpha Mate, is a true mate to the Alpha whose pack you guys attacked yesterday. I was there at their ceremony and watched the fire burn blue with my own eyes. It was amazing.”

  “Alpha said your mother was stolen away, and you both were being held hostage by that pack.”

  Laughing, I look up at Trevor, holding his gaze. I’m a True Alpha and he’s nothing more than a soldier. It doesn’t take long for his gaze to drop and for him to slightly bare his throat in submission. “My father lied. My mother left him, because he abused her for years and then passed her over for Candice. She left him and had a mating ceremony blessed by the council to her soul bound mate. You’re the ones in the wrong. You teamed up with mages and came in and stole me away, taking me away from my mates,” I growl, lowering the neckline of my dress so he can see the crescent shaped bite mark clearly. The sole purpose of this dress was to hide all my marks.

  “I didn’t know,” he stutters, eyes wide in shock.

  “That’s what happens when you blindly follow orders. We’re wolves, yes. It’s ingrained in us to follow our Alpha, but I’m sure you’ve seen for yourself that my father hasn’t been quite right. His odd behavior, defying the Council by making Candice his new Alpha Mate, and now the attack on an innocent pack. Don’t go down following a mad man,” is all I say as I continue down the hall.

  In the dining room, my father is already seated at the head of the table with an uncomfortable Kassie right next to him. She has on an indecently short dress that’s completely sheer with strategically placed designs to cover her private parts. She didn’t even have a bra on, just gold wolf stickers covering her nipples. While my dress served to hide my mate’s marks, her dress purpose was to brand her as a whore. My father’s new toy to play with until he gets bored. Around her wrist is a handshape bruise, and her beautifully crafted makeup still couldn’t hide the black eye she’s sporting. The sight of her almost makes me feel sorry for her. Almost. Also at the table is my vile uncle Knox, my father’s Beta and younger brother. When he hears me coming, both him and my father take their eyes off Kassie’s tits long enough to smile at me with perfect rows of sharp white teeth.

  “Niece, it’s nice to see you, love,” he says, greeting me.

  “I wish I could say the same, uncle,” I respond dryly, and he frowns at me.

  “I see time in your room has done nothing for that smart mouth of yours,” father scowls, and I give him a dirty look.

  “You’re the one who wanted me at dinner. I could have eaten in my room.”

  “I called you here because we have some business to discuss,” father says, once the Omega serves us and we all have plates of piping hot food and filled glasses of wine in front of us. As usual, the table is set to perfection to placate my father’s anal needs.

  “And what business is that? If it’s trying to mate me to the Alpha of another pack, I already told you I’m not doing it.”

  “Are you sure about that daughter?” He mocks.

  “Positive,” I growl, and he smiles like the cat who ate the canary. Why do I feel like I played right into a trap?

  “What about for her?” He says, grabbing Kassie’s unblemished wrist, squeezing hard until she starts to scream. I can hear the crunch of her bones as they break, but still I don’t budge. Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I give him my own wicked smile.

  “I don’t give a shite what you do to that traitorous bitch. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here. If it weren’t for her, good wolves wouldn’t have lost their lives.”

  Letting Kassie go, father gives me a calculated look and holds my gaze much like what I did to Trevor in the hall. Unlike Trevor, my father is also a True Alpha, and holding his gaze is a whole other ballgame, but I refused to give in.

  “I see that you hate Kassie too much to be persuaded, so how about someone else? Someone you love,” he states, still looking at me.

  “Well if you think that’s your brother then you’re out of luck, because I don’t give two shits about what happens to him either,” I reply.

  “No, love, I have something better.”

  At his words, I hear a familiar voice yelling and my heart drops. Taking my gaze off my father, I glance over at the source of the noise and see two of my father’s guards dragging in a struggling and very beaten Ethan.

  “What the fuck?” I yell, jumping out my seat and running to him. Calling on my fire ability, I throw a fireball at one of the guards killing him on impact, and I push the other into a wall where he falls in an unceremoniously lump on the floor.

  “Ethan,” I cry, holding him to me, and he wraps his strong arms around me. Breathing in his scent I cry, still not believing he’s here. My mind was buzzing with questions, but I’m still too shocked to voice any.

  “We caught him trying to sneak in at the border. You would think Tyler would have taught his wolves better. He was all too easy to catch,” my father says with a smug smile.

  “You didn’t have to hurt him,” I reply as I hold Ethan up. The fight he made to resist bringing him here has played a toll on him, and he’s barely able to stand on his own two feet.

  “He resisted capture. My guards did what they had to do. Although, if you want to keep him safe you might want to start doing what you’re told.”

  The other shoe has dropped. The point of this stupid dinner. My father could not control me before, but now he can. Ethan being here changes everything. I don’t bother saying anything else. There’s no need to. He has already won and he knows it. Instead, I wrap Ethan’s muscled arm around my shoulders, and help him out the dining room towards my room. Trevor having seen and heard everything, starts to help me by taking Ethan’s weight on the other side. As soon as we get to the stairs, I hear my father shout, “tomorrow you have a lunch date. I expect a more compliant daughter.”

  Ignoring his comment for now, I continue the trek to my room, thankful my father isn’t stopping me from taking Ethan with me. Now that he has Ethan, he’s confident we won’t escape. We’re both flys trapped in my father’s web. Once in my room, Trevor helps me lay Ethan on my bed and gives me a sad look.

  “I’m sorry,” he says.

  “Why? You didn’t do this. That wanker you call Alpha did,” I reply as I take a seat on the bed beside Ethan and brush away the stray hairs from his forehead. They really did a number on him. The whole right side of his face is completely bruised and he has a nasty looking blackeye. There are cuts and bruises all over his arms, and when I lift his dirty T-shirt I suck in my breath at the red and black bruises peppering his ribcage. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a couple broken ribs to go along with his growing list of injuries. Having lost his battle with consciousness as soon as his head hit the pillow, he passes out. Now all I can hear is his rattling breaths as he breathes in and out.

  “I’m still sorry,” Trevor says as he leaves out the door.

  Giving Ethan a light kiss on the cheek, I lay beside him until I pass out with his hand twined in mine. In the morning I can find out what happened, but for now we both need our rest.

  Three hours earlier

  Ethan

  “Are you sure this plan is going to work?” Logan asks, pacing the room.

  “It’s the only plan we have. We need someone on the inside since Aspen won’t open up her connection to you guys,” April answers.

  “She can’t. It’s probably too dangerous for her to do so. Her father is a True Alpha. He might not be able to hear what we’re saying, but he can pick up a convers
ation outside his pack that is being made,” I explain.

  “You wolves are weird as fuck, but yeah, the plan will work. We just have to let it play out,” April replies and my brother goes back to his pacing. He’s been doing that a lot lately. Usually when he’s stressed he goes for a run, but we can’t do that here in the enemy’s territory. We can’t risk being spotted.

  This is a risky plan. Not only will the Wolfhaven Alpha have Aspen, but he’ll have one of us too, but April is right, there is no other way.

  “I volunteer to be the one to go in,” I tell them all. If we’re going to do something this damn risky then I rather it be me than my brother or Mekka. April is needed here to execute the second part of the plan.

  “No brother, I’ll do it,” Logan starts to argue, and I immediately stop him.

  “Logan, you’ve already been hurt. Let me do this for all of you,” I plead and they all give in.

  “You know they’re probably going to beat the shit out of you before they even bring you to Aspen’s dad,” Mekka says, and I nod my head already knowing what to expect. The wolves there weren’t happy when my father decided to leave the pack. Wolves are stubborn with long memories.

  “It doesn’t matter as long as they bring me to Aspen,” I reply.

  Everyone is quiet. There's nothing else to say to each other. Our plan has a lot of components to it and one of those components is splitting up. Since I’ll be on the inside, I won’t know what they’re planning to free us. I hate not knowing, but I’m willing to endure it just so I’m with Aspen. I have a lot to atone for with the way I treated her when she first came back into my life. I got a second chance and I don’t plan on wasting it. Without another word, I turn for the door, carrying the small bag with my spare clothes.

  “I’ll check in when I can,” I tell them as I open the door and leave.

  Walking for a couple of miles away from the hotel, I pull out my burner cell and dial an Uber to pick me up. The plan is to have the Uber drop me off at the edge of the forest close to the Wolfhaven boundary line where I’ll shift. From there, I’ll explore and let my scent loose until I’m close enough on their land to get caught. The whole drive I’m silent, not at all paying attention to the chatty driver, which he seemed to not mind. Once we finally arrive at our destination, he gives me an odd look but lets me out.