Chosen Alpha

by Rae Hendricks

  “As for the pack, it means war. The coven will come. I am sure of that,” Isaiah told her.

  “Then, we will be ready,” she told him, placing her hand over his. It was the first show of affection between them that had felt natural since they had become mates. They needed to start slow, just like Annalise had suggested.

  It was strange to think that after everything she had done to protect them that she would lie about anything, but the accusation about Orson struck him wrong. Maybe it had been too dark to tell, and it was another member of the pack that looked like Orson. Either way, it did seem that they had someone in their midst that knew something about her attack. They had hidden it well, so well that he doubted they would find anything now to absolve himself. The full moon would come, and with it, the impending doom of the invading coven out for blood.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Annalise could feel the full moon coming as sunset was happening over the tree line. She had been staying with her best friend, Diane, practicing the use and control of her growing powers. Diane was the only person she felt safe revealing everything to about Isaiah and what had happened to her. Diane had also lost her parents, but to a much more normal happening than Annalise. Diane’s parents had died in a car crash that Diane had managed survive when she was a kid. She was then sent to live up there in her grandmother's house. Her grandmother was a part of the coven and taught Diane everything she knew about magic after her parents had shunned it for a regular life in the suburbs. It was a common tale. Many witches not related to the royal bloodline would choose to live in the human world and blend in. The two girls had formed an unbreakable bond at a young age and shared everything.

  Diane was so supportive about everything Annalise was going through, being there for her every day until now. She would have to join the other members of the coven as well as those that lived in the city who pledged an oath to defend it. The numbers were tremendous, and the pack was going to be easily overwhelmed. They wouldn't even see it coming. The coven had never so prospered as it had under the last years of Isaiah’s father’s reign.

  Diane came out of the house as the coven gathered, pulling her purple hood up over her dirty blonde curls. Her green eyes held a secret as she looked back at Annalise before going to join the others. Annalise had been told to stay away from the fight along with some of the more elderly members, such as Diane’s grandmother. It didn’t matter, there was no way she was going to risk the pack that way.

  What Isaiah had said meant little in this case, it was still her pack, and someone was threatening it. Someone had attacked her and others on purpose to cause a war between the pack and the coven. Everyone involved probably thought that in the chaos they could step up and look like saviors or leaders and overthrow whoever was in power. Annalise wasn’t going to let that happen. She was going to stand up for Isaiah and find a way to stop it all, even if it meant revealing just how powerful she was.

  Annalise nodded towards Diane knowingly, waiting for the right moment. She would go invisible and join them, making sure she was there and unseen until absolutely necessary.

  Annalise struggled through the feeling the moon was giving her, that strange buzz that struck her body and made her want to run and be wild. She could also feel the magic in herself growing even more, just as it had before. It felt free flowing, made her feel like she could do anything she wanted with it. She would just have to keep herself under control. If she started experimenting, she might hurt someone or even herself.

  The march went on for ages, and she could see Diane just ahead of her. She caught up to her and gave her a light tap on the shoulder the way they had practiced, to let her know that she was there. Diane was the one there on her side. She would make sure Annalise didn't get out of control but that she did whatever it was she needed to do.

  Once they got close enough, she could see Isaiah. They were a few rows in the crowd behind Hyacinthe. She had taken the lead because Isaiah had requested to talk with her, before he did, she could see him searching the crowd. Annalise could feel it was her he was looking for. Annalise knew in that moment how much he cared for her. She doubted he had meant anything that he had said before she left. He had just been hurt. In that moment, she knew she would do whatever she had to in order to save him, including stepping in front of a spell intended for him.

  “Please, let me explain,” Isaiah asked of Hyacinthe, but Annalise already knew what she was going to say. Annalise had tried to plead the pack’s case a week before, the best she could, without giving too much away. The coven wasn't going to have any of it. It looked clear to them that the pack had broken the treaty.

  “There is no explanation that could remedy the apparent breaking of the treaty by the Olympia pack. Even if none of our other troubles have to do with you, a member has been found dead, killed by a werewolf. You know what it means. You have been foolish as a new alpha and not kept the pack under your thumb. That is no longer my problem.” Hyacinthe’s voice was harsh, and she backed up into the crowd of witches. The coven far outnumbered the wolves that were there, some who had already shifted to be ready for a fight. Annalise’s heart thumped loudly in her chest. She was sure it would give her away. Diane’s hand wrapped around hers just as the darkness came and the moon hit its full peak.

  The coven was about to attack, and Isaiah was not moving out of the way. He would go down first. Annalise was ready to run and get in the way and had almost reached him when a gut-wrenching scream rang through the night, followed by another. Suddenly, members of the coven were dropping, members who had never disappeared. They began to shift into wolves, crying out with the pain of the first transformation and unable to stop it. Annalise looked around in horror, trying to count the number that had been bitten, but there were too many. The coven had been penetrated, and it was worse than any of them had ever imagined.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Please, let me explain,” Isaiah asked of Hyacinthe, but Annalise already knew what she was going to say. Annalise had tried to plead the pack’s case a week before, the best she could, without giving too much away. The coven wasn't going to have any of it. It looked clear to them that the pack had broken the long-standing treaty between the two groups. That could mean disaster, and probably would ensure it.

  “There is no explanation that could remedy the apparent breaking of the treaty by the Olympia werewolf pack. Even if none of our other troubles have to do with you, a member has been found dead; killed by a werewolf. You know what it means. You have been foolish as a new alpha and not kept the pack under your thumb. That is no longer my problem.” Hyacinthe’s voice was harsh, and she backed up into the crowd of witches. The coven far outnumbered the wolves that were there, some who had already shifted to be ready for a fight.

  Annalise’s heart thumped loudly in her chest. She was sure it would give her location away. She was supposed to be invisible and undetected. Diane’s hand wrapped around hers just as the darkness came and the moon hit its full peak.

  The coven was about to attack, and Isaiah was not moving out of the way. He would go down first. Annalise was ready to run and get in the way and had almost reached him when a gut-wrenching scream rang through the night, followed by another.

  Suddenly, members of the coven were dropping; members who had never disappeared. They began to shift into wolves, crying out with the pain of the first transformation and unable to stop it. Annalise looked around in horror, trying to count the number that had been bitten, but there were too many. The coven had been penetrated, and it was worse than any of them had ever imagined.

  Annalise made her move, a new fear coming to her in that moment. The original fight had paused with the shock and chaos, and understandably so. Now they had to worry about the new werewolves that would be confused and hungry for whatever they could get their hands on. Though, she could not be sure it would do more than delay the offensive that was coming.

  Annalise let go of the spell she had been holding onto that kept her i
nvisible, instead deciding to go for something better as she placed herself in front of Isaiah and a still shifted Roman. It was also in that moment Annalise noticed that a key brother was now missing, gone in the middle of the chaos.

  She willed her body to become the embodiment of the hybrid, an ultimate way to fight, as she had found in her secluded training with Diane over the past few weeks. Annalise had discovered some amazing new things about herself and her powers, and she was only getting started.

  “I will not let any harm come to them,” Annalise said, half growling and half carrying her high-pitched tone over the crowd that was the mixture of scared coven members and those that were still roiling with pain as they shifted. She could feel the canine extensions in her mouth as they pierced her tongue by accident, sending coppery blood sliding down her throat. Her eyes saw as the wolf, scanning the crowd for the number of affected coven members.

  With horror, what she also saw was that, as they turned, they were lashing out at coven members, forcing the members to back away to avoid also being bitten and infected. The hybrids growled and gnashed their teeth as their bones continued to compact and snap in place, bringing them down onto all fours.

  Hyacinthe looked stunned, only for a moment, before recovering. “Use your magic to help ease the change. See if you can get them under control,” Hyacinthe barked back at those who were watching their brethren fall, one by one. Then, she turned to Isaiah. “Can you help them?” she asked him in the humblest way Annalise had ever heard her speak. She was frightened underneath her hard exterior, and Annalise could tell. She couldn’t blame her. Hyacinthe had faced many things, but this one must have blindsided her in a way nothing had, since her powers of divination were strong compared to other witches.

  “Only if they allow me to,” Isaiah responded, loosening his body from a fighting stance. He had been tensed and ready to defend his pack or die trying, until now. Instead, he was distracted and amazed by the incredible powers Annalise had just displayed. She had been busy since she had been gone, and he also now knew that he owed her an apology. His youngest brother was nowhere in sight, even though he had been there only moments before the scale of the deceit had been revealed. How had he not realized the depth of betrayal that was going on right under his nose? “I can order them as alpha, and I can take them on a hunt for the night with my pack. They have to let me in and let my will take over them.”

  “Then, they will be members,” Hyacinthe said with pursed, white lips. It wasn’t a question. Isaiah only nodded in response. “Alright, do what you must to keep them safe. We will deal with the culprit and what this means for the treaty at a later date. Right now, those hybrids need control.”

  Isaiah looked out across the coven members behind her and saw that at least a dozen, if not more, were just completing their turns, with the help of a little magic. It seemed the witches had the ability to speed up the transition slightly, thus dulling the pain. The power was nothing on the scale that Annalise had shown him the night she had turned, but it was helping, nonetheless.

  “I can help calm them,” Annalise offered, looking between Isaiah and Hyacinthe. She was unsure which leader she should look to for guidance at that moment. She felt caught in this strange whirlwind that was the in between, unfinished business hanging over her head like a guillotine.

  “Can you do it in wolf form?” Isaiah asked, prompting her to turn around and look him in the eye for the first time since getting there. It was hard for her, harder than she had imagined. Distance had not done the job to lessen her feelings like she had expected, but as always, it didn't matter. There were more crucial problems to worry about. As the slender white wolf that stood regally next to Roman let out a small yip, Annalise was brought back to reality. She was certain that it had to be Tamara.

  “Yes, I think so,” she answered with a nod of her head.

  “Then you will run with us,” he told her. Annalise wasted no time, pulling out the grey wolf that she had been getting to know more about since being away from the pack. She had been able to become one with the spirit of the animal in a way she had not realized possible. Is that what it was like for the Young brothers, or was that something unique to her?

  Annalise stretched out her neck and howled at the moon, prompting many of the others to do the same. Isaiah shifted and took a stance next to her, Tamara and Roman flanking her in wolf form to her right. Annalise reached out with her mind, using the sweet trick that the alpha had, his communication with the pack. She pushed waves of calm and exhilaration through him to send out to the newly turned as an order.

  Annalise noted that many began to respond, falling in line behind them with a howl or whimper. Wolves of all colors, shapes, and sizes fell in behind them. Then, Isaiah took off, prompting them all to run with him.

  They ran through the forest. It felt wild and free, like she had been dreaming of ever since the first moment she felt what it was like to be a werewolf. There was no need to worry about territory anymore, since the coven was more than represented in the pack at this point. Annalise wondered how that was going to work out for the two groups in the long run. It just might force eternal peace, but she supposed it could go the other way as well.

  The night was filled with spoils, pack members and hybrids alike finding pleasure in ripping out the throats of innocent woodland creatures. It was strange to know that those animals she revered, she also craved for in the hunt of the wolf. They were easily using the pack to take down a large sleeping buck in the dense woods that made up the northern half of the pack's territory.

  Annalise felt herself becoming an unspoken integral part of the pack’s leadership. She kept her stride right in between the alpha and his brother the entire time, letting her magic weave its way through the hybrids. It was so they could focus on the fun and freeness associated with the first hunt. There were no worries or pain or even cravings for them. She could not let that happen with so many new wolves that Isaiah would now be responsible for whether he liked it or not. Everything was changing.

  It was near sun-up when the pack was finally exhausted, rounding back to the starting point where some members of the coven had stuck around to make sure everything had gone alright. Besides, Annalise doubted that Hyacinthe believed they could wait for some rest to discuss everything that had happened. There would be no sleep until a plan was made to catch those responsible and until a new version of the treaty was made to encompass this new and unprecedented occurrence.

  As they stood in the vast openness at the edge of the woods, in between the pack members’ homes, the hybrids began their slow shift back into humans, falling to the ground in broken and unclothed states. They looked lost, many of them, with their hair full of leaves, dirt, and soot from the forest floor and their nails full of cold mud. They shivered in the freezing early morning air as they tried to piece together what had happened to them. Annalise’s heart went out to them for what they had suffered. She hoped that like her, they would be able to control the change more easily next time. She feared it would not be so easy for those with powers that lacked her own bloodline’s strength. It was going to be a long road ahead for all involved.

  Annalise was proud that Isaiah's heart and mind had been able to work together in this instance, probably winning his first victory as alpha, at least in her opinion.

  “Please, take them back home and get them cleaned up,” Hyacinthe ordered to those who had remained. Annalise glanced at Diane before watching her walk away.

  “Does that go for me as well?” she asked her leader, bowing her head low in respect; a respect she had not had enough of since returning from her time with Isaiah and the pack.

  “I think it best if you remain. It seems you may have some answers I need in all of this, so I hope you're ready to assume some responsibility for a change,” Hyacinthe told her, picking her chin up so that their eyes met. There was something about Hyacinthe's eyes that had always made her feel uncomfortable, an unnatural shifting of colors. Sometimes,
Annalise wondered if it was something she did on purpose.

  “Yes, Hyacinthe. I think you will find that I am,” she responded, hoping it didn't fall on deaf ears. She was no coven leader yet, but she felt more prepared than she had ever before.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Hyacinthe looked around her as if she were in a foreign land. They had all convened at the alpha cabin after dismissing both the coven members and the rest of the pack. They needed to share what they each knew to come to a sounder conclusion about what was going on.

  Hyacinthe noted that the cabin had changed significantly since the last time she stepped foot inside of it. It had been a long time, though. In fact, she had not been there since shortly after Mirium's death. Mirium had been a friend to the coven in a way no other member of the pack had, and that included the tyrannical alpha who had ruled for far too long. It was hard to think that the man standing before her now, was descended from such a rotten being. Even with all his flubs, she could see the distinct difference in character.

  She took the offer to sit as they all gathered in the living area. Two werewolf guards stood stoically at each entrance, as if someone meaning them harm might enter at any moment. For all she knew, that could be the case. It was like no one could be trusted, not even the young woman that was meant to be ruling the coven right now. The young woman, Annalise, sat before them as a new person; one that had remained under cover all these 21 years, now out in the open and as a hybrid. Why had she not just told Hyacinthe the truth about what happened to her? It was one of many questions Hyacinthe desperately needed the answers to before she could center herself again.

  “I am happy that you were willing to come to us, but are you sure your coven is protected?” Isaiah asked, sitting between his brother and his mate. He was keeping himself at a distance from Annalise on purpose. He knew they were on shaky ground; something that could easily distract him. He didn't need to show any weakness at the moment. It would only serve to be the downfall of the entire pack if he did.