Chapter 7: Female Alpha
Rhys’s P.O.V:
Mate.
She was my potential mate. The first wolf that my wolf had chosen after my transformation ten years ago, after my first shift into a werewolf. I’ve finally found her!
When a shifter first turns eighteen, they shift into their respective animal halves. As soon as the animal part comes to surface it starts searching for a partner. It happens because even though our human urges can be controlled, our animal side longs for contact, for a connection that is unbreakable until the day we die. Contact of the most intimate kind with someone like its own. Hence, it starts searching for potential mates. But I had never found one until now, my wolf hadn’t found anyone worthy until this instant. As Alpha, I had much more control over my wolf than any other wolf, which is why I had been able to control the urge to find a mate and to stabilize my pack.
The first thought I had after realizing she was a potential mate was that, she didn't belong here. With hair an unique shade of silver and eyes an endless blue as that of the ocean, she looked very much like the fairy tale princesses in pink gowns that my mother had told me about when I was just a babe. Instead, here she was in a navy full sleeve sweater and black jeans with knee high snow boots, standing in the middle of a dungeon, looking very much in control over the situation.
"Mat-"
"Why did you come here?" Though her voice was a snarl, it's rough yet feminine sound felt like music to my ears.
It seemed to register a bit later in my love-fried brain that she had just cut me off. No one has ever dared to do that, except for my father and he had been an Alpha. Mate or not, this wolf needed to be taught who she was dealing with. "How dare you speak to me like that? I'm the most powerful Alpha in all of Asia!" I roared, my Alpha wolf seeping into my voice. “I will not tolerate-“
"You will never, ever speak to me that way." Spoken in the calmest of voices, but the power in it made my wolf whine and bow its head. I was beyond astonished. My wolf had never bowed down to anyone. Why did it bow to her? Who was she?
"You killed eight wolves send by our allies to negotiate peace. How do you explain that? And we don't let women do the talking, call your Alpha." Zyane seemed to have broken out of his mate-inflicted stupor but his brain hadn't yet registered who he was speaking to.
"Oh! Those trackers you mean? Mind telling us what they were doing in our lands, without our permission and that too armed to the teeth?" The village girl grit out sarcastically, her expression turning to anger. "And you are already in the presence of our Alpha, wolf. This is our land, our reign, our territory. So you better start respecting our Alpha."
"What were you doing here? State your purpose! Am I to assume that you are here for the same reasons those trackers were here for? To find our weakness and take over the pack?" She spoke to me directly, ignoring the bickering going on just behind her back.
"No," I answered truthfully. "We heard from our allies in China that their trackers were killed by a single white wolf and we wanted to know who had that much strength to have taken down eight highly trained wolves. That's why we came. To see if you had any intention of attacking us or turning hostile."
"I see," she said thoughtfully, brows wrinkling in concentration. Even that tiny, meaningless gesture looked good on her.
She finally seemed to have noticed the other couple in the vicinity, one glaring and the other looking utterly lovesick. A few days ago, I would have thrown Zyane off a cliff back in Jever for daring to look so pitiful when we were in danger, but now I knew exactly how he felt. Damn fate!
"Aya," she warned the girl and I finally had a name for her. "Let’s go. We have work to do.”
"But jiji, it was his fault!" Aya wined childishly, stomping her foot on the ground. So the brat was her little sister.
"I don't care. Out. Now!" Aya glared at Zyane one last time and then stormed away in a fit of rage. The silver haired woman looked me dead in the eyes. "The crime for trespassing into our lands is death. But since you are an Alpha, we have no intention of starting a war with your pack. But a crime is a crime. You and your beta," she momentarily turned her gaze at Zyane before turning back to me. "You will stay in this dungeon for two more days without any food or water. That should be punishment enough for the time being.”
"You can't do that to us! I'm an Alpha; I will not endure such treatment! There will be severe consequences once I get out of here, remember that!" No matter what happens, I would never beg her to release me on the basis of us being potential mates; it was as pathetic as being a little girl scared of the big bad wolf. She must be feeling it too, the pull was strong, but she was hiding it exceptionally well. She can't be that strong that she feels nothing...could she?
"That is, if you get out of here,” she mocked me with her hand on her hip. She looked like a woman who had never heard no for an answer. She must have a weak spot somewhere! Something that I can use to manipulate her and get out of here. But the woman looked tough as ice and her gaze was just as frosty.
“Who are you? Which pack do you belong to?” I asked her, trying to get as much information out of her as I could so I could find out her weakness. But it looks like she knew exactly what game I was playing at.
“For now, the only thing you need to know is that I’m an Alpha and you’re my hostage. We’ll get to first name basis only after your punishment is over.”
With that, she turned and left the dungeons, her silver hair floating like cloud behind her.