The New Alpha Stole My Heart

Running in my wolf form was the only thing that reminded me of my former self.

Just like when I was still in our pack, running had been my source of release. If there was one thing that I think would never pass on me, that would be my love of sprinting. I feel connected with my wolf every time I allow her to run freely in the woods. This was my way of bonding with her. This was my way of connecting to the wolf spirit within me named Bella.

But now, running was more than just a hobby. It would become my constant companion from now on.

We were in the middle of scampering through the forest when suddenly, I felt weird. My wolf recognized the feeling and decided to stop for a while.

Moments later an earthy aroma filled the air. The spicy, aromatic wood-like smell has a warm, exotic profile to it. It was Sandalwood, the most intoxicating I had ever smelled!

The scent created a warm feeling inside. It increased the awareness of my well-being bursting with inner desires. It was until my wolf Bella emerged from my thoughts jumping up and down that I finally understood what was going on.

"Mate!" she shouted at the back of my head.

"You must be mistaken, Bella. You know very well that what you're saying is highly unlikely because we haven't come off our age yet. This isn't our mate! I'm only sixteen," I uttered, trying to make a logical explanation about the mysterious scent that had overtaken us.

“We can't be wrong, Aria. You smelled him too. He was heavenly! I can't wait to meet him and let him mark us in bed.”

“You and your filthy mouth!” I shouted inside my head. “This wasn't the time to be joking like this. We just got away from that promiscuous alpha and almost got violated by him. How could you even say this?”

Bella disagreed with me. She was hellbent on making us feel fine. “No, let's find him, or I'll take over this body and find him myself.”

“This must be a trap, Bella! We're out of the pack. This could be witchcraft or have something to do with rouges? Let's not….”

Bella was not kidding when she said she would take over my body without my consent. And so, we shifted back to my wolf form. Only this time, she was the one n charge. Using her black and delicate paws, she ran after a shadow that she quickly noticed from one of the large old trees. Her shining grey fur danced with the wind and the possible danger awaiting before our eyes.

She doubled our speed and followed the intoxicating scent.

“This moron… why does he have to make his mate chase after him? Isn't he excited to meet and pound the hell out of us?!” Bella exclaimed.

Bella let out loud growls, calling our alleged mate. However, the shadow didn't stop. He fastened his movement, and I felt more exhausted than Bella as she tripled her speed to follow him.

I didn't know how far we had run away from our pack with our speed. There was no turning back now. Remembering it again, I felt the pain kick in. However, I couldn't fully feel sad when Bella was excited to know who that shadow was. We shared the same emotions and felt what others exactly felt like we were twins.

Bella was restless. She kept running when I heard her loud howl of joy.

“Aria! Our mate has stopped! That's him! That's him, right, Aria?” She excitedly chirped. I was silent, but deep inside, I was excited to know if the shadow was really our mate.

The shadow stopped just in front of a big old tree.

Bella sprinted forward and jumped up in the air to excitedly lunge at the shadow. However, the shadow moved from the side without us seeing his face. He lunged an attack again and knocked us out close to a deep hole in the mountain ground.

“What the hell! That's rude! We are mates! Why did you do that?!” Bella growled. The shadow had become a wolf and took a step forward to us before he quickly changed into his human form.

The figure sported a proud and serious face, but that wasn't why we were surprised.

He was not a male. He wasn't our mate because she was a woman. What was more surprising was it was Maggie! Maggie Whittaker! She was my long-lost cousin who disappeared from our pack one year ago. Rumors said she abandoned our pack because she yearned for more life adventure since Maggie was one of the strongest, she-wolf warriors in our pack. Others said she turned crazy chasing after her mate and abandoned her own family.

Regardless, me and Uncle Stan believed that she would still come back. But now, I finally knew where she was. She was my closest cousin and friend, my partner in crime. I was so lost when she went missing.

I shifted back to my human form in hope of getting sense out of her. “Wait, Maggie! It's me, Aria! Your cousin! Can you still remember me?” A look of shock and recognition flashed on Maggie's face. It was more like an affirmation.

“Damn! Is that really you, Aria?! I was right! Oh, my dear cousin!” She extended her hands and offered me a hug. A tearful reunion indeed!

“I’m sorry, Aria. I didn’t mean to knock you. I am just saving you from the trap I made for some rogues by disguising my smell. Good thing that I recognized your wolf form before I lured you further to my trap.”

My eyes widened. So that was why we smelled a divine scent and thought it was our mate. It was just a trap. I ignored most of Maggie's queries and closed our distance to tightly hug her. I really missed her.

“I'm really sorry, Aria. Let's get back to business. Answer me, please. What are you doing here? It's too dangerous in the wild,” Maggie asked again.

It took me seconds to reply, so she spoke again. “Come on, I'll help you go back to the pack. You shouldn't be here.”

“Thank you for the offer, Maggie. But I can’t go back to the pack. The alpha attempted to rape me and in order to escape, I blinded him using the sap of the Nightcrawler plant. At this very moment, his men might have started to hunt me already.”

We both fell silent, thinking of the reasons why we were pushed to abandon our pack. As if on cue, my eyes began to water again, and Maggie quickly noticed it.

She swiftly went to one of the large trees and put on clothes before she handed me another piece of clothing. But I struggled to put it on. She helped me wear it and silently guided me to a hidden cave.

When we entered the cave, I saw a small hut looking like her home; she said she had lived here for a year. The things inside seemed to be all made of materials from the mountain. At the side

of the hut were spears and bows that perhaps she used for hunting. However, I could not fathom why she would use it if we had our claws and sharp canines to hunt our prey.

Despite crying for what seemed like an eternity, I managed to swallow my cries and asked her, “What's this for, Maggie?”

“I used those for hunting and training, Aria. Not at all times, you can rely on Bella to fight for you. You must learn to protect yourself even with your human form,” Maggie explained.

She handed me some water placed on a leaf-made cup before she walked to one of the spears and threw me one.

“I don't know how to use this, Maggie,” I complained.

“If you want to learn how to use it and some of my other ways here in the mountain, I will let you live with me. And remember, if you are going to choose to stay with me… from now on, you have to train until your body is sore and cry in pain. Besides, you don't know how dangerous it is to live without the protection of our pack. There were lots of cunning creatures you hadn't met yet. In case we have to go through the worst, you have to protect yourself.”

“Thank you, Maggie!”

“Don't thank me yet. Didn't you hear what I said? My favorite cousin isn't exempted from receiving a good beating. I meant, ammm... as my good training partner. It's been a long time since I had somebody to spar with. I remember how most of our pack she-wolves fear training with me.”

My smile turned to a grimace when Maggie said it. It looked like I was wrong to sign up with this. Maggie noticed it and said, “You need to be stronger Aria. In case you see that mutt again, let's make sure he'll regret doing that to you.”

A newfound determination and strength surged in my veins with Maggie's words. I wanted to be stronger, psychologically and physically.

From then, I trained with Maggie. Every day, I felt my body was going to tear because of the hellish training I had been doing with her. Maggie became stronger than the last time she was in the pack. She could be a female beta with her strength. Moreover, I could immediately use our training because sometimes we were left with no choice but to fight some rouges who wandered onto the mountain. Not a week passed that our life wasn't put in danger. Some creatures always came for our heads.

A year had passed.

With the help of Maggie, I was now adapted to our life as a rogue. And as part of our daily routine, we went out to hunt for food.

We were marching toward the traps we made when we noticed something odd. Some of the bushes were bowed down as if someone had run over them.

We move stealthily, holding our spears and bows. We followed the trail until we reach a large sycamore tree. We are almost positive that the mysterious creature was hiding behind the tree’s massive trunk.

And we weren’t mistaken.