It didn’t take too much to convince my pale-faced sister to go with me on my supposed ‘cool off’ which was at a clubhouse. I always have a way of getting to her so this time around was relatively easy.

My best guess about her being easy to be convinced was because she was too scared to let me out by myself. How thoughtful of her! She did mention my bad behaviors during such situations like this as to why she never wants me to go for any of my so-called cool offs but I have it in mind not to portray such tonight. Only if I wasn’t messed with. And that’s why I chose an entirely different clubhouse from the ones I used to frequent.

Cassie and I didn’t come alone to be surrounded with heavy noises from jukeboxes, the reek of erotism coupled with that of alcohol, and the stench of sweats leaking from the pores of the overworked humans. Wolves, likewise, as I already perceived my kind since I got in here. We were here with my best friend, Mark.

It was a usual routine for him to be everywhere I go even when I do not need him to, and it mainly makes me forget what he is supposed to be to me. My best friend, or just my beta?

I do not find myself addressing him as my beta, ever. And it is because he has been my closest acquaintance even before I took up the mantle of an Alpha.

Surprised, right? That’s just how I was when I found out I was going to be leading the pack I was born into. It was confusing and at the same time strange because I was a woman about to lead a group of wolves that I was uncertain if they would want to follow my lead. Sure there had been scuffles here and there but now I am convinced of the say I have over the Blood Crescent pack.

“I think you need to slow down, Soma. You’ve already had too much to drink,”

Lazily, I turn my head to the left side of where I was seated after hitting the wineglass of liquor on the booth. Just the very spot I chose to have my drinks as I wanted to be close to the source and I can’t lie that it has helped in many ways.

Mark was there by the side seated on a barstool, with his hand gripping his cup of wineglass on the booth. Despite how rowdy and everything the club was — a reason LED lights do not sit well with me — I could see the features of his face. Did I tell you how chiseled his face was? Well, I am saying that now.

“Does this look like I have had anything yet?” I almost belch after responding to his allegation of my liquor drinking. Damn it, my eyes were getting drowsy already.

“If fifteen shots aren’t already more than enough for you to consume, then I don’t know what else is,”

“I’m immune to it, remember?”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that it would end up messing your head in some way. Immunity doesn’t stop a possible hangover.”

“I know what I came here for, Mark. Stop being a pussy and let me do what I want without your dictation,” instantly I take my wineglass and then down the whole content. “Now for the next one,” I say after wiping my mouth with the back of my palm.

Instead of attempting to call the bartender to serve me another shot, I go for the nearest I could see. And it was Mark’s.

“What do you think you are doing?” he asks as he gives me a frown while ensuring that his grip on the wineglass was firm. And yeah, my hand was on his as well as I try to take his hand off the glass.

“What does it look like?” and that was when I start to squeeze on one of his fingers so hard that it was bringing out a reaction on his face. “Just let it go,” I tell him but he has no intention of doing so.

“You think I’m going to let you have mine? Never,”

“Mark... let the goddamn glass go,”

“Why not have your sister’s? Why must it be mine?”

When he says that, I decide to look from across him to see my sister sitting comfortably without any reaction to the fact that I was attempting to get Mark’s drink. By the look of things, she hasn’t touched her glass yet.

“Hey, redhead,”

I take my hand off Mark’s the instant I hear that. Apparently, someone was standing behind me, or should I say by my right? And by the scent, I could tell which identity the person fell under. And yeah, the person practically shouted into my ears, something someone my kind wouldn’t hear as we had the sharpest of hearings.

‘Pfft, humans,’ I sneer and then turn my head around to come in contact with who it was. Why was I offended? Because I was called a redhead which I know was to seem I was a slut.

My sight falls on three hefty men standing side by side, with one in a green shirt being the nearest to where I was. I accessed them from head to toe and I was able to tell they were here for trouble. It brewed all over them.

“What do you want?” I groan as I direct the question to the one closest to me, obviously unwilling to hold a conversation with him. And to make matters worse for me, the jukeboxes began to play a track under the bop category. A category I kind of hated as I was more into rap.

“Would you like some nice time with us?”

“Go away,” I waste no time in saying as I turn my head back around. The fact that he had to go straight to the point with his ugly ass beard shows how much trouble he is going to be. The audacity!

“Is it because of your boyfriend? C’mon, ditch the loser and follow us,”

I look in the direction of Mark as they were talking about him and I was able to see that he was getting furious with their choice of words. And they just even got here.

When I look back at all three of them, I size them all up with a sort of a once-over. “Go... away...” I utter the words slowly this time around so they would know how serious I was being. I do hope they all got the memo because I was nearing my limit already.

With another once-over at them, I turn around to look back in the direction of Mark and my sister, and this time Cassie was looking in this direction. Guess the supposed scuffle has gotten her attention already.

I suddenly feel a grip on my shoulder and this irritates me to the core. 

“Get your filthy hand off me!” I growl while trying to control myself. With a shrug, I get the grip off of me.

First I was called a redhead. And now the pony human was trying to force me to go down with him and his friends. I think this situation was getting out of hand.

His grip comes back on my shoulder and I think I have had enough of it. “What is wrong with people?” after lamenting, I pick up my wineglass. And with a swift movement, not without catching Mark’s expression telling me not to do what I intend doing, I smash the glass on the side of the human’s head.

It all happened so fast that even his companions had no idea how to react to the new development. It made it seem like I just destroyed a man’s existence but I cared not. I just needed to get him away from me.

Eventually, his companions realized what has happened and that was when they rush in to hit me but before they could do anything of such, I have hit them both in their faces which I’m sure has led to broken lips.

The hits on their faces were not enough to put them to the ground as they end up coming at me again. I was on my feet already this time around, but before I could do anything to fend myself off them, a figure stands in my way but backs me.

Instantly I knew it was Mark who has began shielding me from the human’s companions and so I watch the scuffle from there even though I know I should be leaving. I even go as far as adjusting my black dress so it could at least get down to my kneecaps.

I might say I was intrigued with what is going on in front of me until a flash of my eyes sights a man somewhere far off...

There was something unique about the stranger from afar. Just something I cannot place my hands on. With the intensifying feeling and all that radiating from where he is to my side, I could at least tell it was something like a pull that wanted to call me toward him. I think it was already.

My vision suddenly gets blocked due to the ongoing brawl happening right in front of me. Crazy enough, my mind has completely nullified such an event out of my mind as what I wanted to focus on now more than anything was that stranger ahead. If possible, get a much closer look at him. Mark would have to deal with this nonsense here without me as his spectator again.

Instantly, I mix with the crowd by the side so I could escape from the booth. My speed was an advantage in disabling others from seeing me move away. Especially those bastards that thought they could ruin my night.

Through the crowd, I let my eyes stay on the prize ahead. What the heck am I even saying? I sounded like I was on drugs or something and that was pretty annoying to the core. In a good way, though.

It didn’t take me much to get closer to the stranger despite the ruffles and shuffles of the crowd. And there he was, seated alone in a corner with bodies around him. However, he looked disinterested in the happenings as he has his focus on a wineglass of liquor on the table in front of him.

I’m trying to make a perfect understanding of his facial feature, and no lies, it was pretty hard due to the number of bodies on the way. His face was not even the problem. No, it wasn’t. The problem now was why I was actually having this strong admiration for a total stranger. It’s something that has never happened before even with my number if body counts.

He was my kind. The scent exuding from him told he was one. If I could sense his scent, then couldn’t he as well? He should. He definitely should. Then why isn’t he looking up at me? His expression wasn’t letting me know if he was in any way.

Just when I decided to take a step further to the unique stranger, I realize someone is standing in my way. Or let me say someone suddenly has blocked my path.

“Soma, where the hell are you going?”

To be honest, I thought at first that it was one of the bastards that I fought with not too long ago. It wasn’t until I snapped out of my senses, and by deciphering the tone of the voice, did I realize that it was Mark standing in my way. And yes, it felt like he was shouting into my ears because he literally was.

“Get out of my way!” I yell at him as I try to shove him aside. Why did he have to come at this time?

He doesn’t even budge from my push and this was infuriating me. I was even beginning to clench my fist so I could give him the punch he deserves at this moment for wanting to ruin my plan.

“What are you trying to do, Soma? Are you drunk?” he asks me, calmly this time around.

“I’m trying to get to him.”

“Get to who?”

“Him!” I then gesture toward the back of him with my head, and this prompts him to turn around so he could have a look at what I was referring to. However, I use that to my advantage as I push his body aside which sends him colliding with people but I cared less about that.

Unfortunately, it was a waste of time as the stranger that I have my eyes on before was now nowhere to be found. Even his wineglass wasn’t there anymore. It made it seem like he was never there before.

“Where’s the ‘him’ then?” I hear Mark’s voice behind me and I have to shake my head because I was sort of disappointed.

“He’s gone...” I whisper, still trying to see if I would at least trace him to someplace with my eyes. But there was nothing at all. Nothing. Made me feel like I was making a fool of myself.

“What are you even talking about?” Mark asks in a much too confused voice.

“Nevermind,” was the only thing I could say as I turn around to get back to where I came from.

“You’re drunk already, Soma. We need to get you out of here,”

When he grabs my arm and starts to pull me away from there, I do not fight it. Not that I do want to, but I was too downcast to even try. Why does this feel so much like a heartbreak?

I need to get my head around this whole thing. It was just some kinky feeling, so I do not have to take it up as something that important. But why does it feel so intense like this?

‘It wasn’t just any feeling,’ I hear a voice right inside my head but I do not startle or anything because I have a good idea who it is.

‘You felt it too?’ I respond to the voice in my head without even saying anything. Let’s just call it something akin to telepathic communication.

‘Maybe even more than you,’

“Where did you find her?” Cassie’s snappy voice suddenly grabs my attention and I have to focus on the reality happening around me now.

Yeah, I was now outside the clubhouse, which I apparently did not realize in time, but the music was still booming into my ears. Geez, it was kind of cold out here. For me to feel it, then it was that bad.

“She was wandering off while looking for some man or whatever it was. I clearly have no idea what she was talking about,”

“So, she’s drunk already?”

“Perhaps she is,”

And that was how I found myself in the backseat of Mark’s automobile. The very one we had used to arrive here. Felt kind of stuffy in here even if it was cold outside.

I thought I felt someone staring at me. And this caused me to turn around immediately to see if I would get a glimpse of something of a person. But I could sight nothing through the side window. Even when I looked behind through the back window, there was nothing still.

I have to shrug off the feeling because I know it could just be me acting up. I mostly feel insecure about a lot of things so this was not an exception.

The music from the clubhouse starts to fade away slowly when Mark’s car starts to get on the run. Before we knew it, we were out of the driveway and onto the road in the dark of the night.

Nothing of importance happens for a while as there was shared silence between all of us. Until Mark, perhaps unknowingly, rides onto a bump roughly.

“Ow!” I almost yelp when my hand hits the door after the impact of the car on the bump. And it obviously caught the attention of the other two.

“What is it?” Mark actually asks me.

“Didn’t you see where you were going through, you dummy? Now you made me hit my hand on the door,” I snap at him.

“Oh, sorry about that,”

I might have overreacted again. When I decide to touch the part of the hand that pain was excruciating from, I felt liquid dripping out of it. Obviously, it was blood as it felt thicker than necessary.

“Damn, I’m bleeding!” I hiss.

“Did that happen from hitting your hand on the door or you got that from the clubhouse?”

“I think it’s from the clubhouse. This doesn’t look like something a door would do,”

“That’s what you get for picking up fights with strangers,” Cassie suddenly says, much to my annoyance.

“Don’t start with me, Cassie. You know what happened in there so don’t blame me for defending myself,”

“The dude didn’t even do anything to you before you hit him with a wineglass,”

“He grabbed my shoulder... roughly! Didn’t you see all of that?”

“Maybe I would if you learn to keep your hands to yourself,”

“What about I keep it in your face!” I rebuff, already infuriated to the core.

“Stop, the two of you! This is insane!” Mark yells to put us to order and I think that worked because we were both hushed instantly.

I relax my back on the seat while holding tight the part that was bleeding. It was just a scratch so I know it was not something I should be bothered with. I just need some time and it would be like nothing of such happened.

“I knew we should have brought the guards with us...” was Cassie’s words before everything became quiet in the car throughout the rest of the journey back to the packhouse.

It’s been me, myself, and I trapped in my room all morning. Normally I would call me not heading out yet as a result of a mood swing but the reason was nothing like that. It was more as a result of a hangover which wasn’t that bad but was entirely my fault.

I wasn’t even drunk in any way last night. Perhaps a little but not to the extent of feeling sober. Just do not know why I was reacting opposite to how I always feel after having a lot to drink. Oh, I forgot that having that much was still synonymous with getting myself badly drunk to stupor.

‘You still haven’t told me why we felt that way yesterday,’ I decide to do something to keep myself busy so I chose to speak with my spirit wolf in my head. There were a few things I needed to consider.

She responds instantly. ‘Because I have not figured out the reason...’

‘Why does it seem so hard to understand? Isn’t it something that would have been familiar to you already? Like a mate pull or so?’

‘That’s what I thought at first. But, I never got a reaction from him during the process. I couldn’t even generate an exciting feeling in me. He never showed the slightest interest when you started to approach him which is why I shrugged off the feeling. Still, I am not ruling out the possibility of him being the one destined for you. The mate pull has to be something between the two individuals involved and the occurrence of no reaction from one of them during the process should be because one of them is underage,’

‘I’m not underage. And he clearly cannot be as well. Did you see the shape of his body? He clearly looks like someone maybe even older than I am. I even managed to perceive his scent from far-off. Besides, how will an underage gain access into a clubhouse?’

‘It’s the human’s abode, Soma. Anything can pass through them easily,’

‘Let’s talk later. I can hear someone approaching the door,’

And truly, I could. I was in a lotus position on my bed which directly faced the entrance in the spacious room. Something that Mark calls unnecessarily spacious.

The footsteps stop and it increased my curiosity in knowing who it was following a knock on the door. Not that the scent wouldn’t exude in but I wanted to guess who it would be.

Aish, I forgot I was not myself this morning so there was no way I would get who it is by taking a guess. Damn the hangover. So, I ask, “Who’s there?”

“Honey, it’s me,” a feminine tone comes from outside the room.

That voice. It could only mean one thing. My mother was here!

I take a quick scan of my room to see if everything was in order. Seeing I have nothing to be worried about, I sigh in relief. Thankfully I was out of my PJ already.

“Come in, mom,” I call out back to her and then adjust my positioning on the bed so I could put my feet down to the floor because of the numbness on them.

The door opens without a single noise to show that it was being handled and from the side, my mom’s feature is first revealed.

The glow on her porcelain face still has me wondering how she manages to maintain it. She could easily pass for my sister instead of a mother with such a look.

Her dress was a green fitted gown which got to her feet, that, I could clearly see as she approached my bed with a smile on her face. And yeah, she has her hair done to complement how stunning she looks today.

“Sweetheart, how have you been?” she asks me as she reaches out for a hug with her hands spread wide. I do not waste time pulling myself into the hug while still sitting down.

I stay in her arms for seconds more than expected before letting her go. Even though it hasn’t been too long since I last saw her, I miss her.

“Hi, mom,” I say as I shift on the bed to make space for her to sit which she does instantly. “What are you doing here?”

The strong scent of whatever body spray she has on invades my nostrils. It amazes me how she knows which best to use every time, knowing how much she spends on making herself look good.

“I came to say hi to you and your sister. You know it’s been a little while since I last saw the two of you,” she says with her grey eyes boring into mine as I focus on her. I was actually trying to get an alternative reaction from her by doing that.

“In a space of two weeks?” I shrug. “Not that bad,” I then decided to ask, “So what about dad? How is the old man doing?”

“I told you to stop calling him old. He’s still agile enough for me,”

“Yet, he decided to leave his position of Alpha when I only turned nineteen. Doesn’t sound like someone agile to me,”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that he is not old,”

“Okay,” I agree with her. But even she knows that I did not... And I never will.

We both become silent after that. When she shifts her gaze away from me, I could tell that she was looking slightly hesitant as it was written all over her face that she has something to say. Maybe I was over-imagining it but it seemed like that to me.

I would have saved her the stress, but do I want to? Nah. So I shift my gaze from her to the ceiling above to pass away the time until she is ready.

“Can I talk to you about something, Soma?” she suddenly says about a minute later and I swiftly look at her again.

“Of course,” I tell her.

She firstly lets out a huge sigh and it only makes me wonder why she is finding it hard to comport herself. “So I heard you went to a clubhouse..” the first reveal, and then, “and you got into a fight again,”

A frown reveals on my face. “Cassie reported me to you, didn’t she?”

“Does it matter?”

“It does for me,”

“She did,”

“That snitch!” I hiss.

“Don’t call your sister that. She has every right to tell me or your father what you have been up to. Especially if she feels it’s wrong,”

I swear to the moon goddess, if Cassie were here, I would hit her so hard for not knowing how to mind her business. Why does my sister have to be such a screwup?

“Mom, you realize I'm an adult, right?” I start to say.

“Yes?”

“And that I am free to do whatever I like?”

“I do know all of that. But don’t you think you are going overboard with your lifestyle? For heaven’s sake, Soma, you are the Alpha of this pack. How do you expect the people to react knowing they have someone that gets into random fights as a leader?”

“That is left for me to be worried about. Don’t I get to live my life again just because I became an Alpha?”

“No one is stopping you from living your life. But there are protocols you have to adhere to,”

“None of which applies to me,” I counter with a slight snap. I do need to keep it cool. “Those random fights, as you call them, you know full well that none of them is my fault. If those humans know how to keep their distance away from me, I’m sure none of that would have happened. And I’m being honest when I say this,”

“Sweetheart, I understand everything you’re saying. But please, try as much as possible to do away from such acts. It’s not just for your own good, but the good of everyone else. I know what I’m saying when I say you should do that,” she then touches my hand and caresses it.

I look down at the hand on mine and it gives me mixed feelings because I know it has a manipulative vice to it. That’s basically what mothers do to get you to do their bidding when they cannot take the forceful approach anymore.

“Promise me you’ll stop with acts like that,” she says, expectedly, and I try not to roll my eyes at the fact that I know that was what was coming next already.

“I’ll try,” I force the words out of my mouth but I could see that she was pleased with my likely promise that I know I won’t adhere to.

“Good. So how much are you prepared to meet with the Alpha of Dark Moon pack? Do you have everything all set?”

“Not everything. There are a few things left to do but I’ll handle them later.”

“Good. Figure out the rest in time. I know you’ll do well,” she says and then immediately stands up to her feet. “I’ve got to go now. Your dad and I are supposed to meet at someplace,”

“Where are you two old lovebirds heading to?” I ask out of curiosity as she starts to sway away.

“Somewhere that would interest you if you had a man to yourself...”