Payton:
We have been on the road for 2 out of the 3 hours it takes to drive to the Dark Shadow Pack. It was an almost silent drive. Accept the little sobs and sniffles from Alison in the back seat next to Caleb. She did not seem to be happy about her mate either.
“Ally, are you alright?” I asked her.
“She is fine,” Caleb answered for her.
“ Just keep your eyes on the road and shut up,” he said.
“You need to remember BETA?” I snapped at him
“ I am a higher-ranked wolf than you are; I am of Alpha blood. SO DO NOT ORDER ME AROUND.” I said,
He smirks at me.
“ I have no problem pulling this car over and booting your a*s out of my car,” I told him.
I hear Ally giggle and see Caleb smack her arm. Oh hell no, I pulled my car over and slammed on the breaks. I got out and went around and opened the back door, pulling Caleb out.
“ If you ever put your hand on my sister again, I will rip your arm off and beat you with it, got it?” I told him.
“ How dare you threaten me” he snaps at me. He raises his hand to strike me, but I catch his arm and attack him first. I tackled him to the ground and broke his arm.
“Try to touch me again, and I will k**l you,” I said to him.
“Understand?”
“Now you can enjoy your walk back because you are not getting back in my car, you basted,” I said
“ Ally climb upfront with me,” I tell her.
I notice the car in front of us with The Beast in it has stopped on the road. I got in my car and started driving towards his car. I pulled to a stop when I pulled right up behind him. The Beast gets out and storms over to my car window. I rolled it down.
“ Why is my beta on the side of the road?” he asked me.
“He was rude, hit Ally, then he tried to hit me,” I answered.
“He is not riding in my car.”
“Go back and get him NOW!” The Beast orders.
“No,” I say
For the first time, he looked at me.
“Did you just tell me No?” he asked.
“Yes I did”
The Beast growls and storms back to his car. A few minutes later, Caleb runs past my car and gets in the front car, and we continue on towards his home.
“I can not believe you just stood up to them both,” Ally says to me.
“I am of Alpha blood Ally. I am a born Alpha female, so I am higher ranked and stronger than that beta, and with the Alpha, I am equally ranked. Being his so-called mate makes me his equal whether we like it or not.”
“When my mate first approached me at the ball, we danced and talked,” says Ally,
“ He seemed so loving and kind; I was happy. “ Then, when he introduced me to the Alpha, he whispered something to my mate. His demeanor changed, and he started to be mean.”
“ It is OK Ally, you are my best friend, you are like my sister. I will make sure you stay safe, “I told her.
” If he ever touches you again, I wanna know Ally, I mean it.”
Ally shakes her head in agreement.
“I just wanna reject him, Payton”
“I know Ally, I know.”
Soon, we made a left turn down a dirt road.
Halfway down the dirt road, it turns to asphalt, and a big gatehouse comes into view.
The Alphas car stops at the gate, and a large man comes out and bows to the Alpha, then reaches inside the gatehouse and the gate opens and the Alphas car drives in. The large man stops me at the gate. I rolled down the window.
“Welcome to Dark Shadow Pack Luna and female Beta,” he says.
“I am Thomas Green, head of security”
“ Thank you, Mr. Green, “I smiled at him.
“ But I am not the Luna; I refused passion.”
He looks at me weirdly and then looks towards Alpha’s car.
“You may drive through now, Luna,” He says.
“Thank you, but again, I am not the Luna,” I drove along, following the car in front of us.
“Are you really going to turn down being the Luna?” Ally asked me.
“Yes, I am not here by choice, Ally. If I knew his full name, I would have rejected him on the spot.”
I hear Aurora whimper in my head.
“Sorry Aurora, but you know who he is and what he and his wolf are capable of.”
She doesn’t say anything in return. Deep down, she knows I am right.
Within minutes, we were pulling in front of a huge 5-story mansion. It was a floor bigger than my father’s.
“gasp! Oh god” shrieked Ally.
“ Ally, what is wrong?”
She pointed to a patch of grass just off the driveway, where metal spike poles stuck up out of the ground. Sticking through the tops of each are skulls and decomposing heads. My father was right. What a sick and twisted man this Alpha Brooks is.
“ That is just disgusting,” I said.
I pulled my car to a stop parking behind Alpha’s car.
“Well, here we go,” I said to Ally.
“ Remember Ally if he hurts you, tell me.”
Ally nods, shaking. She is so scared. I have never seen my best friend this scared before. I reached over and pulled her in for a hug.
“ I am here with you, Ally, and remember you are a beta’s daughter; you have strength.”
“Your right, Payton,” she says,
“ I am strong, smart, and take no guff from anyone. I and my mate are equals”
“That’s my girl,” I said.
” Plus, you have me; we have each other; we will get through this together.”
We look out the window and see the beta and Alpha standing by their car looking at us.
We stepped out of the car and stepped to the trunk to get the bags.
“Leave the bags. The omegas will bring them in.” Says Beta Caleb
Caleb gives us a small tour of the mansion with the Beast following us, not saying a word.
“The rooms down here are the omega’s rooms. The first floor is the guest floor, the 2nd floor is the Gamma floor, the 3rd is mine, and is now also Alison’s floor, the Beta floor. 4TH Floor belongs to the Alpha and his Luna, and the 5th floor is the offices.” Caleb tells us.
“And me?” I asked
” What floor will I be on?”
Beta Caleb looked at me weirdly and then looked over my shoulder to the Alpha.
“You are on the Alpha floor, Luna”, Caleb says.
“I am NOT the Luna.”
I heard a growl behind me and turned around to look the Beast in the face.
“Come on, Ally, I will show you to our room,” Caleb says to her, taking her hand.
The Beast raised his arm towards the stairs. I followed him up to the 4th floor. He passes 2 doors and continues down to the end of the hall to two more doors across the hall from one another. The Beast opens the door on the left and lifts his hand, telling me to go in. It was a huge bedroom. It was black and red in color. With a big king-sized bed on one side of the room, large glass doors leading out to a balcony, a private bath, and a walk-in closet.
“Is this my room?” I asked.
“It is our room,” I heard his deep voice say.
“No not happening, Alpha”, I said.
“I refuse to share a room with the Beast.”
I saw his eyes dark over as he growled.
“You can growl at me all you want, but I am not staying in this room with you.”
“FINE”
He walks across the hall and opens the other door.
“Stay in here then, for now,” he snarls.
I pushed past him and slammed the door in his face.
This room was white and teal in color. It has a king-sized bed, a glass door to a balcony. Private bath and closets. This room has a sitting area with a TV by the balcony door.
“Good, I will not have to leave this much then,” I said to myself.
There was a knock on my door, and I went to answer it.
“Greetings Luna, My name is Kim; I am your personal maid.” She tells me,
“ I have brought up your bags from your car.”
“My name is Payton, please.” I tell her
“ I am not the Luna.”
“ As you wish, Payton,” she says.
“Shall I put your things away?”
“Let us do it together,” I said to her.
I found my pj’s putting them on the bed after Kim left. I pick them up and put them on crawling into the bed. I have not heard a word from Ally. I hope she is alright.
I turned and looked at the clock on the nightstand. 1 am I turned over, shut my eyes, and dozed off.
The Beast Alpha Brooks:
When I smelled her intoxicating smell of coconut vanilla, I was intrigued. Then, when I saw the girl, the smell was coming from. I felt a flutter in my heart. My wolf, Akela, howled Mate and wanted to run and mark her right there and then.
She was the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. But I do not want a mate. Mates make you weak and vulnerable to attacks. I was going to reject her on the spot in the living room. But when she got close to me, I froze, then hearing her call me the Beast along with her mother, it stung me. Hearing my mate call me that hurt more, I thought it would. But when her brother and father asked me to reject her, I could not do it. Now she is here, and she refuses to share my bed with me.
She is not even afraid of me. She has guts, but now what do I do with her? I have heard her telling the others she was not the Luna. Again, it stung, but at the same time, I still did not want a mate either. And she doesn’t want me. I will keep my distance from her and continue on as if I never found her. I listened at her door. I could tell from her breathing that she was sleeping. I turned and entered my room. I knew I never should have let Caleb talk me into going to that ball.
Payton:
I wake up at 4:15 am, head to my closet and dress in my black sports bra and black tight yoga leggings, tie my hair up in a tight bun and head out of my room and down the stairs hoping to follow someone out to where they train. Through the window by the front door, I saw a bunch of people gathering in the field, so I headed out and headed towards them.
“Can I help you..? A tall, blonde-haired blue-eyed man asked me.
“I am here to train,” I answered.
“I see,” says the man.
“Would you mind telling me your name?”
“My name is Payton,” I told him.
“Well, nice to meet you, Payton,” he says, holding out his hand
“ I am Gamma Austin Matthew’s”
I took his hand and shook it. He’s staring at me with a smile on his face.
“Are you new to the pack?” Austin asks.
“I guess you could say that,” I told him.
“I am forced to be here.”
“I see, well, Payton welcome. I am also head of training along with our head warrior Maverick Walker,” Austin tells me.
“ He takes care of our advanced wolves.”
“Oh, and where would they be?” I asked him.
“See that group gathering down there?” I looked in the direction he was pointing.
“Well, I guess I had better get down there then,” I said.
“ Whoa, whoa there now, Missy? Austin says,
“I say when you go down there. You are new here. I was not even told we had any new members, so I need to see you fight first.”
“ Fair. Fair enough. ” I said
” Let’s spare.”
“ OK,” he says,
“ The rest of you stretch a little longer; this will not take long.”
We get into a sparring stance and begin. Move after move, I block and counter, taking him down every time. I see him getting frustrated. He steps up his game, and again, he can not get one over on me.
“OK OK, you win.” Austin says “
“You are good.”
“Thank you”, I smiled at him.
I started to walk off towards the advanced class when my wolf feels and hears the vibration of someone advancing on us from behind. At the last second, I ducked counter-attacking, taking Austin out before he could get one on me.
“ Wow, ok, ok, go. I am looking bad in front of my class” he says
“We will talk later.”
When I got down the hill, I introduced myself to the big guy upfront.
“ Glad to have you join us, Payton. I am Maverick, this pack’s head warrior.”
There were only about 20 people in this group.
“ Is this the whole advanced group?” I asked.
“ Afraid so,” says Maverick.
“The other warriors are out on patrol. These are the new recruits in training. “
“ I see pretty sad,” I say.
There should be at least 2 hundred wolves training here and more in each category.
I saw Maverick look at me weird.
“ Where’s the weapons training, one-on-one combat, and all? I ask.
“ Because of our Alpha’s reputation, we do not get attacked, so the Alpha and Beta decided on just the two classes,” Maverick told me.
“ That is unacceptable. A wolf should always be prepared for anything,” I said.
The warriors in the group square off and begin their training. Are they kidding me? This is taught in a basic training class at age 6 in my pack. How is this pack known as a ruthless, strong pack when it is weak?
“ Maverick,” I said, then asked him the question.
He tells me that the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and himself do 98% of the fighting. They have lost wolves in each attack because of a lack of training.
“It has been over a year since their pack was last attacked. With the heads out front in the yard, even the rogues are scared to attack.
“ They will not always be afraid, Maverick,” I told him.
I decided to spare off with Maverick, and just like with Austin, I kicked his a*s. Maverick felt embarrassed a little and had 3 guys try to jump me. Again, I beat all of their asses without a scratch on me.
“ You Four”, I pointed to four big guys.
“Shift to your wolves and come at me. I will stay in human form.”
The four guys give each other a high five laugh, then shift and attack me. Loud yelps echoed through the air as I beat all four like they were paper.
“That was amazing, Payton,” Maverick says, shocked.
“ Who the hell are you?”
“I am Payton Black, daughter of Alpha James Black and Alpha Luna Nancy Black”
“ You’re a pureblood, Alpha,” Maverick says.
“ What are you doing here?”
“ Your Alpha Attended our Mating Ball last night,” I told him.
“ It was my bad luck. I ended up being his mate.”
“What? You are our Luna?” Maverick asked.
“NO” I snapped
“ I am not the Luna; your Alpha doesn’t want me, and I do not want him. I am only here because I promised to come here if he sparred my brother’s life.”
Maverick asked me to help him train the group. So, after a few hours, we called it and headed in for breakfast.
“Again at 3 pm?” I asked.
“No, we only train once a day,” Maverick answers.
“Not anymore,” I said.
“ I want you all back here by 3 pm for more training.”
Maverick was shocked to hear the happy cheers of the group. They want to be trained more and harder.
We all filed into the dining hall and took a seat to eat. I noticed Ally sitting beside Caleb near the head of the table and went over to see her.
“Hey Ally, how is it going?” I asked her.
“ I didn’t see you at training.”
“ CHICKY” SHE shrieked when she saw me getting up and hugging me. She looks happy this morning.
“I am good, a lot better than last night,” she says.
“ Caleb and I talked, and he apologized for his behavior.”
“ Good, I am happy for you, Ally,” I told her.
“Just remember I am here if you need me.”
“ Umm, Luna,” says Caleb
“ I am sorry about my behavior towards you as well. The Alpha just pissed me off, and I took it out on you two, and for that I’m sorry.”
“ Forgiven, just see it does not happen again,” I said.
“ And Caleb, I am not the Luna.”
I heard a growl as I said I was not Luna. I looked up to see Alpha Brooks in the room.
He takes his seat at the head of the table , looks at me, and points to the chair to the right of him.
“ That is your seat at the table,” Caleb tells me.
I move over to the other side of Ally and take my seat next to the Beast. When the Alpha nods his head, everyone digs into their food.
After the training, I was hungry, so I started to eat. I felt a hand on my leg, and tingles shot through my body. The Beast was touching me. I snapped my head at him and saw him looking at me with a disgusting look on his face. So why was he touching me? I reached down and removed his hand off me. He let out a small growl, but I did not care. I stood up. And I walked out. I was no longer hungry. I headed upstairs and showered. I will just sit in my room till the next set of training.
