The Rogue Alpha’s Claim

Ariel laid the books on the bed, and she sat in front of them, staring at them, yet she couldn’t help the feeling of nervousness that clung to her.

She wasn’t sure she was ready to learn the whole truth.

A little part of her-the part that was still clinging to the fact that she loved Kane-had refused to believe he had a hand in her parents deaths.

She was afraid to confirm it now if it was really true.

“You can do this.” She gave herself a little pep talk as she picked up the first book. She had recognized it as the book she had seen in Kane’s pack that had been torn.

But this pack had the complete version.

She flipped the page to the needed page; the page number was already stuck in her head. And this time, the content was there, staring right back at her.

Ariel took a deep breath in a bid to calm her nerves, and she began to read, her pupils moving from left to right as she scanned through the page.

She absorbed each piece of information like a sponge, clinging to it and holding on to it, as this was the most she had learned about her pack and her family.

The book was a treasure trove of secrets-secrets Kane had been trying to bury. The text had been accompanied by pictorial representation, and her fingers caressed the picture of her pack building, feeling an instant connection in her bones.

The rest of the pages talked about her parents; they had been the leaders before they met their awful demise, and Ariel choked on a sob as she saw the picture of her parents standing side by side.

Her eyes welled up with tears as she gazed at the picture of her parents, her heart heavy with feelings of sadness and longing.

She studied the images, her eyes lingering on the faces of her parents, their smiles and laughter frozen in time, and her breath caught in her throat.

She was a splitting image of her father, with the same facial features and eyes, but her statue was all her mother’s. They had the same slim, thick features, although her mother’s were more broader with wider hips.

She had no doubt she had been a head-turner when she was younger.

Ariel turned the next page, and a sob burst forth, the tap pouring down. The tears streamed down her eye and fell into the pages, and she panicked, cleaning them off before she would incur the wrath of the librarian.

The picture before her was that of a younger version of herself, atop her father’s neck, wearing a big smile on her face.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Her mother was sporting similar smiles, and they looked so happy and content.

Ariel pushed the book to the side, and she laid on the bed, too emotional to continue; instead, she let her mind wander. She imagined a life with her parents, a life where she never had to meet Kane. She was happy in her pack as a full-fledged werewolf.

It seems like the perfect life.

But it was just a dream; she woke up to reality and continued reading through the books.

Ariel spent the rest of the day holed up in the room, going through all the books provided, but she was only sinking lower and lower with each item she consumed.

Until she finally stumbled on the article she had been looking for, she thought she was going to feel anger as she confirmed that it was indeed Kane who had committed such a horrible thing.

But she was numb.

The weight of it all came crashing down on her like a tidal wave, threatening to engulf her. The secrets, the lies, the truth about her pack, her family, and her very identity-it was all too much to bear. The revelation that she might never find a place to call her own was the final blow, and she collapsed onto her bed, overwhelmed.

Ariel stared blankly at the ceiling, her eyes unfocused and her mind numb.

She had already cried when she found out the truth the first time, and now there were no tears for her to cry; instead, she sank lower, her thoughts a scattered mess.

She had lost the will to fight and to survive, and even when she heard the knock on the door, she didn’t make a move to answer it; instead, she shifted on the bed, covering herself with the blanket, and tried to sleep.

Only the sleep didn’t come; instead, she spent the rest of the day in bed doing nothing, ignoring the calls to eat.

Somehow, in her slump, the night had come and it was another new day, but she still laid on the bed, becoming one with her mattress, when she heard the knock on the door.

She ignored it as usual, not finding the strength to do anything, but the person behind the door continued, his persistence annoying her.

“Miss Ariel, you have to open the door. I will be forced to break the door if you don’t.” She heard the voice of her guard, surprised at the emotion she could hear in his voice.

But she knew very well that he wouldn’t hesitate to carry out his threat, and she reluctantly dragged her weary self out of bed, and she opened the door slightly, poking her head outside.

His recoil as he saw her hadn’t gone unnoticed, but she couldn’t care. “What do you want?” The sound that escaped her lips was foreign, but none of them paid any heed to it.

“You haven’t come down for any of your meals.” He replied, and she shook her head.

The last thing on her mind was a meal.

“Could you help me ask the alpha if I could make use of a laptop? I promise I am not going to use it to do anything illegal. I just want to talk to my friend, I promise.” She was so close to breaking down, and she needed to talk to someone.

“I will inform the alpha.”

“Thank you.” Satisfied with his response, Ariel shut the door and went back to the bed, listening for any activity on the door.

She was almost sure he had forgotten all about it or that she had been denied her request when she heard a knock on the door, and she was flying out of bed to answer it.

She threw the door wide open, and there he stood, holding two bags in his hand. He simply dropped it in her hands with no words, and he shut the door.

Ariel stood transfixed for a while, wondering about his behavior. She carried the bags to her bed and peeped into the first one, excited that it had been what she wanted.

She brought out the laptop and checked the other bag. He had been kind enough to pack her lunch, and her heart warmed at the gesture.

She picked up the apple he had packed and bit into it, her stomach doing the happy dance at being fed, and she opened the laptop.

The goddess must be in her favor because it wasn’t locked and it was automatically connected to Wi-Fi, and she did the first thing she would think of.

It was a little difficult logging into her social media, but after several minutes had passed, she was successful, and she messaged her friend.

She couldn’t even fight the smile on her face as she saw her typing, but it stopped, and almost immediately she had an incoming video call.

The call startled her, as she hadn’t expected it, but she knew if she didn’t answer it, Claudia would be even more suspicious.

“Girlll?! Where have you been? I have been trying to reach you.” Claudia began berating her immediately after the call connected, but a loud gasp escaped her lips as she looked at her friend. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Hmmm.” Ariel exhaled a deep, relieved sigh, feeling the weight of her burden lift as she heard the concern in her voice. She stared at Claudia, at the way her lips had turned up in a frown, her hair cascading in waves down her back, and her lips twitched in amusement. “You’ve gotten a new man, right?” There was no way she would get wavy curls if she wasn’t trying to impress someone.

“Don’t try to change the topic. What the hell happened to you? I have been trying to reach out to you for weeks, and it was almost impossible. I have already made up my mind that I was going to take a trip down to look for you if it comes to that. Why are your eyes red? Were you crying? Was it Kane, because I swear he would be 6 feet under if he thought he could mess up with you?” Her words were flowing like a broken pipe, and Ariel let out a chuckle, happy that she still had someone standing up for her.

“It is fine.”

“The hell do you mean by fine? You looked like a walking corpse, no offense.”

“I know.”

“Then spill.”

“It is a long story.”

“You have to start somewhere because I am not letting you go until you tell me everything.” There was a defiant look on her face, and Ariel knew she was more than capable of seeing through her threat.

“What do you know about werewolves?”