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...”

“Aren’t you done with it?” I almost snap after taking a look at my reflection in the mirror for the umpteenth time. And my statement was directed to my sister who has been working on my hair for so long now.

She was presently brushing it down just so I could look more flashy... her words. And I know I should have fought against it due to how time-consuming it would be, which it presently is, but I already know better than not to go against her when she has set her mind to something.

“Hold still,” she says as she pulls on my hair a little, which gets a slight whimper from me. What did she do that for?

“And how many more minutes do I have to wait?”

“Let’s say about thirty,”

What she says makes me focus my gaze on her reflection through the mirror. And just like every other time, it was blank. No emotions to it. Not even one to tell if she was kidding or not. Why the hell would I want to be seated here for thirty more minutes?

“Did you just say thirty?” I ask for clarification with my gaze still on her reflection.

A brief stare was thrown back at me before she stares back at the hair that she has in her hand. “Did I say thirty? I meant to say three...” she says in contrast to her previous statement, and no lies, that got me a little annoyed because she had me thinking already. The more annoying thing about it is the fact that she maintained her neutral expression even after that.

“Don’t be pulling my legs like that again. You know how much I hate it,” the cautioning spills out of my mouth, with my annoyance apparent laced through it. “Besides I still am pissed with you after finding out you told on me to mother.”

Silence followed up after that with me staying put and her doing what she had to do. It was rather uncomfortable for me already because even the moon goddess knows that I hate staying in one place for too long while working on myself. You know, the usual things ladies do. I’m never keen on those kinds of things.

Eventually, she lets go of my hair which gives me the chance to admire the way I look through the mirror. Cassie was right. I have to look more flashy, and that was how I was now. Guess it wasn’t bad after all to allow her to work on it.

“I had to tell her, Soma,” I hear Cassie say. And it was at that time that I was slyly touching my now glowy hair. “You acted out of conduct so what other thing did you expect me to do so you could at least get back in order? I was thinking about you and the rest of us,”

“That’s the same thing mom said. And I consider it bull,” I admit, turning around on the seat so I could directly face her. And because she was on her feet, I have to gaze up. “You all should understand that this is the lifestyle I choose to live. I don’t want my role as a leader to be the reason I won’t do what I please,”

“Not when it affects the lives of those under you,” Cassie interjects instantly. “What do you think their reaction would be when they find out that you are acting wild? Not something they would want to emulate,”

“If you’re that perfect, maybe you should take up the role of Alpha instead. I can always pass on the mantle to you so I could at least live my life the way I please. I was never meant to be the leader in the first place, anyway,”

Cassie frowns at my statement. And not just any frown, it was deep enough to tell she was displeased. “I do not want the role. If I ever did, I would have made my intentions known all along. So I do not. But it does not mean I do not want something else. And it is to be on standby while I watch you run on the pack in the right way. And I will definitely be here to help you the best way I can so you could stay on the right path,”

“Urrgh,” I grunt as I stand up to my feet. “I can’t wait for you to get a mate,” I say as I start to approach the doorway while adjusting my long leather robe.

“Why?” she asks.

“So you can leave me the fuck alone!”

And as I open the door to get out of the room, I sight Mark in the doorway with his hand raised.

He was clothed in a similar robe to mine which was adorned with symbols representing the heritage of our pack. And since today has sort of a special occasion, it was basically the right thing to wear.

“Hey,” he says, giving me a lazy grin as he puts his hand down. “I was just about to knock,”

I nod. “Let us go now,” I tell him, and before I finally step out of the room, I turn around to give my sister a look. She was staring directly at me when I do so. After a sigh, which was because I was about to pass on temporary responsibilities to her, I eventually walk away with Mark already leading the way.

He leads me through the hallway out of the building. Right outside, beside three automobiles, were a certain number of warriors. Practically, they were going to be our escorts to our destination which was in another territory.

“I thought I told you I only wanted a few,” I say as I turn my head to look at Matthew who was right beside me.

“I know you did, but I have to be more cautious of likely disasters that could happen along the way. It is basically for our safety,”

“Not like we can’t take care of ourselves on our own,” A scoff follows my statement before I walk up to one of the automobiles and then get into it through the backseat with the aid of a warrior

Mark gets into the backseat with me through the other side, and a few moments later the car was on the run out of this territory. About twenty minutes later, we were completely out of the Blood Crescent pack territory.

As the ride wasn’t intended to be fun, not much was said between Mark and me on the way. Not because I did not want to talk with him — he has not offended me in any way — but because I have little desire to converse with him. Especially when I know I was going for business.

I’m glad he did not push with it and just brought up brief talks for us to deliberate on. Pecks of having a best friend that knows a lot about you.

I believe it took like an hour but we eventually arrived at the Dark Moon pack which was located up east to the Blood Crescent pack — my pack.

We were granted quick entrance into the territory after the guards confirmed our identities. Glad it wasn’t something that caused rancor as I was worried I would not be recognized, knowing that I might not be recognizable due to being a new alpha.

The territory of the Dark Moon was much similar to ours. Except for the strictures of most of the residential quarters, there was no reason why this place would not be referred to as the Blood Crescent pack as well. And being that it was my first time here, I wanted to get familiar with it a little so I was fascinated with the things around.

The car I was in came to a halt in front of a building, which like others, was similar to the structure of my pack. Through the front window, I could see beings standing in front of the building, and two of them stood out among all of them due to their choice of clothing.

“This is it,” Mark says and I am prompted to nod before I get out of the car after it gets opened on my behalf by a warrior of mine outside.

The air over here feels a lot different that I have to take it in when it hits my face. I briefly close my eyes at the impact and later on, I was on my way up to the building with Mark tagging along.

“Alpha Soma...” one of the two men that stood out says, with his hand held toward me which I take into mine instantly. He is actually huge and that is sort of exposed because he chose to put on a fitting button-down shirt that had its sleeves raised to his elbows.

“Alpha Tyrone, I presume?” I say in return.

“Yes,” he nods with a slight smile tugging at the side of his lips. And after the confirmation of his identity, I take my hand out of his. “And here’s my brother, Leonard, who is also my beta.”

I look to the other man beside him but I am instantly affected by the creepiness he has on him. And it all has to do with the smirk he has on his face.

“Hi,” he says, licking his lips as he holds his hand out for a shake.