Alpha Xander: His Contracted Luna

He was brought back from an alternate reality. He faltered with the images in his head.

“With your eyes, you can see can’t you?” the old witch snickered. “The path will still go on if you choose to recede your steps.”

“This is not supposed to happen,” he turned to the old witch. “I said I will find a way. To put to this, all of this can’t happen. It won’t,” he held on to Catherine.

His palm on her hand he felt her temperature run high. He pulled the sheets to cover Catherine’s body to her neck.

He leaned back to Catherine’s side. He felt the heat emanating from her body.

“You said she will be fine!” he roared at the old witch. “I trusted you. You gave me your word and now she-”

“She is waking up Marion,” the old witch kneaded her slouch shoulders and palmed her throat in sudden relief. “You mislay your trust Alpha.”

Xander heard the resonance of her breaths. No longer weak and underlying. He was gladdened, not to the witch, not to him but to Catherine’s perfect timing.

“She is awake,” Xander smiled and jerked out a laugh of ease to his troubled mind.

He rose from Catherine’s side and sped into the bathroom. The rushing of the running cold water in the tub was the turbulence that lightened up Catherine from her deep wake.

“Xander,” Catherine yawned.

“You have quite the sleep,” the old lady said.

Catherine looked around the room to see who spoke. The room was clean and silent. Xander came out of the bathroom and came to Catherine.

“Oh Catherine… you are-you are here now,” he held her in his arms and kissed her forehead.

“Was there someone here? Someone else?” Catherine leaned back raising her head to the ceiling.

Xander realized the old woman would strike a fear in Catherine. That must be the reason why she was cloaked. He was wrong. He blinked and the old woman was still visible to him.

“You are still here?” his breaths shuddered.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“I think I will have to put her to sleep myself now,” the old woman hollowed into the ceiling.

Catherine slowly closed her eyes and went back to rest.

“What the hell?” Xander scowled.

“I have done what it is I came to do. And upon a time when you see these dark eyes…,” her eyes narrowed at the Alpha.

“I don’t wish to,” Xander scoffed.

“I may not spare your life as I did before.” Her wings clasped around her. The atmosphere of the room was heavy on the skin and the walls began to shake. The old witch stepped towards the Alpha, he made a gasp of fright.

“You can decide what happens to you from here on out. It is your fate and be wise in your decisions,” she hollowed out in the form of a figure sheathed in black feathers.

The Alpha reverted to the soundless blowing of the wind. The pack was a few miles away from here. He had all the time to transport Catherine to a new location. Would never be too safe.

“Taking her away from here… it is not safe.” He pointed to the window, “Taking her back to the human world is where all the greatest threats lie.” He lowered his hand and shook his head lightly, “The creatures with the most grudges-the vampires, are always on my tails in the human city, and now they have targeted her,” his eyes drooped to Catherine on the bed.

The old witch vanished again. Her physical presence had faded into thin air and left the Alpha with many lines on his face. Puzzled.

This wasn’t a first. Her voice came back into the four walls of the Alpha’s quarters and made his skin crinkle. “An Alpha can die from a brave action and live from a silly action,” the old witch said. “It is all in the circumstance… and right now the circumstance is one only you can put your finger on.”

“Her home is not an oasis,” Xander rubbed his eyes. “It’s not like I can convince the whole pack to protect her, all I can do is form a human shield-scratch that… a werewolf shield,” he opened his palms and crouched to sit on a pillow on the carpet. ***AT THE LAKE SHORE***

She stepped back every time the waves came to her feet. She wasn’t scared of the water, nor disturbed by the wet sand that would stick to her feet, she just enjoyed the fun of it. In the moment she smiled at the outstretched length of the dark waters.

She was happy to see him when he showed up with Manny. Her face glistened. Finally.

“The lone wolf returns,” she pulled her shawl off her shoulders.

“Come on, it’s like I never left,” he laughed opening his arms wide for a hug.

“You must have grown a little fight in you, hanging around the like of him,” nudging towards Manny.

“They learn from the best,” Manny snuck behind Joni.

Joni felt the air blowing on his head. It was no longer concealed with the thick-cottoned beanie. He turned around to see Manny running into the dark waters with a grey cloth fisted in his palm.

“What the hell man?” Joni ran to him with arms over his head.

“Who would have thought… a delta and a beta can get along just fine,” Sandra chuckled softly.

She wasn’t void of the dark waters this time. It washed to her feet, leaving her with a cold shrill. The rut feeling it was. She had no other choice than to join the two young wolves in the water. A step after the other, it got steeper. She was up to the point where the water was waist-high.

“I don’t want to swim against my wishes,” she snickered. “I see the deltas are getting close to where we are… and right now, I don’t want that energy,” she held up her palms, raising her shawl in the air.

“You are gonna get that in the water now, careful,” Manny warned. “The shawl is gonna have a funky smell when it’s dipped in these waters, Sandra.”

Manny evaded Joni coming up from behind him. The delta’s movements in the water were slow. Unlike Joni, Manny moved with ease. Unfortunately, he got over-confident and threw the beanie in the air with the hopes of catching it in his other hand. It dropped right into the lake.

Joni grabbed it from the surface before it got fully immersed in the water.

“Man you got it all wet,” Joni furrowed his brows.

“Well if you hadn’t-

“If I hadn’t what?” Joni confronted.

The delta was about to through a fit in defense of his half-soaked beanie.

“Who do you think you are sounding all serious?” Sandra splashed water on the Delta’s face.

They all burst into laughter.

***

The other wolves were roaming the banks and a few were privileged in their walks. Most of the deltas had taken off their shirts and leaped off the banks into the lake. Alongside the females. The whole bunch were free-spirited and were exploring the depths of the dark waters.

They would swim back up to the surface and spit out water from their mouth. After a few of them got restless and tired they picked up another activity and swam to the shore.

“Let’s make a fire!” Shawn carried a delta on his shoulders and threw him into the lake.

“Yeah!” The delta cheered coming out of the water.

“We will go fetch the sticks,” Ruben suggested.

“Don’t be long,” Shawn said. “The full moon won’t wait.”

“It’s just 12 pm… I think we still have half the day,” Ruben grinned. “Alright let’s go,” he turned to two deltas behind him.

He went with a bald guy and a female with a scarf tied around her head. They didn’t pick their shirts off the ground. Still wet with soaked jeans and shorts they went near the woods to snap branches.

Shawn let the rest wander around till they came back. The guys still in the water swam to shore.

“What are you doing?” Shawn asked a delta putting on his shirt. “This is the night to be wild and free,” he snatched the shirt from the Delta’s grip.

“I just thought-”

“Don’t think, just be open like the rest of us,” Shawn took him by the shoulder for a walk close to the waves. “We are not just wolves of the Alpha pack, we are the Deltas of the Alpha pack. We are not the usual ‘keep your clothes on, don’t get wet and all that stay in your rank’ kinda wolves, you wanna know who we are?” he opened his palm for the Delta.

“Who are we?” the Delta looked up to Shawn and took his hand.

Shawn pulled him close and hoisted him on his shoulders. He whirled and threw the young freckled-faced Delta into the lake.

“The freaking Deltas!” Shawn arched his back and flexed his arm muscles. “Whoo!”

Ruben and the others came by with the sticks. The other Deltas began to gather around.

“You can start a fire right?” the bald guy dropped a bundle of sticks next to Ruben.

“Don’t look at me man,” Ruben raised his palms in the air and walked away.

“I guess you are all talk then,” the scarfed lady kicked sand at Ruben’s feet.

Ruben turned back with a grim face, “Just because I don’t want to light a fire?”

“Just because you can’t,” she walked up to his face.

Shawn noticed the scuffle and came in in-between them.

“I like this,” Shawn clapped in the air. “Why don’t we have a face-off? What do you think Deltas?”

“Yeah,” they all cheered in cacophony.

“Eve and Ruben,” Shawn took them both by their hand to his side. “We shall see the stronger Delta!” he raised their hands in the air.

“No way I am fighting a girl man,” Ruben scoffed dropping his hand.

“Prove yourself Delta,” Eve sneered. “It’s all talk then,” she spat on the wet sand to his feet.