Alpha Alexander

Chapter Twenty-One

I woke to an unsurprisingly empty bed. The space Alpha Alexander had vacated was still warm, which meant he had only left a few minutes ago.

I carefully slid out of bed, my back flaring up in sharp waves of pain. I slowly gathered the loosest outfit I could find: a graphic t-shirt dress that fell a couple inches above my knees and had an 80s band logo printed on the front, paired with knee-high socks.

I changed as quickly as my stiff limbs and sore muscles allowed before I stepped into the bathroom to put my hair into two braids and wash my face. I found a first-aid kit under the sink and took out a piece of gauze and tape to wrap around my pitifully damaged hands. I lathered the cuts in Neosporin and wrapped both hands from wrist to knuckles, trying to mimic how they were bandaged before my episode in the shower.

I stared at my reflection, debating with myself whether I wanted to take a peek at my back, but decided against it.

The mark on my neck was displayed easily with the wide collar of my dress and the pigtails closely braided to my scalp. I looked as normal as possible with cuts and bruises sprinkled all over the skin exposed. After a short pep talk to my reflection, I left the bedroom.

My destination wasn't apparent to me until I reached a familiar set of doors, beyond which held the library. As if on autopilot, I stepped into the library, closing the doors behind me and bee-lining it to the shelf that held the book I had stumbled upon less than 48 hours ago.

I quickly pulled Mating Rituals of Werewolves from the shelf and brought it to one of the study tables near one of the tall open windows. The afternoon sun beamed through and a soft breeze filtered into the library. I inhaled a breath of fresh air before sitting on the desk, crossing my legs, and opening the book. I thumbed through the contents pages before finding the section that went over the topic I wanted to comprehend. I hastily flipped to the page listed and started reading:

-

Transference of Abilities from a Werewolf to Their Human Mate

Introduction

The transference of a werewolf's abilities to their human mate is uncommon, but not so much that it is completely unheard of. The possibility of transferring certain abilities—such as healing at a faster rate than the average human, or a fraction of a werewolf's physical strength—depends on the dominance of the werewolf. If a human were to mate with a werewolf with no significant rank in the pack, the possibility of transference is unlikely. If a human mated a Beta or—even more unlikely—an Alpha of any given pack, transference is more likely to occur with specific abilities that are attributed to the werewolf in question (i.e. their ability to run faster than other werewolves) because those abilities are more dominant than others (i.e. sense of smell or healing). However, this is not always the case. There are few, if any, reports to indicate that a human can receive nearly all the abilities of their Alpha mates without the aspect of shifting. A human cannot obtain a werewolf's abilities without causing physical harm to themselves. Because the werewolf species is so advanced, both physically and mentally, it would be nearly impossible for the human mate to control the abilities gifted to them by their Alphas. Transference is a more unfamiliar topic among werewolf specialists—a topic that many wish to understand, but few werewolves are willing to explain. The following section covers the minimal data that researchers and specialists were able to obtain about this topic of transference.

-

I closed the book after skimming through the section, which barely covered an entire page, front and back. I felt a balloon of hope deflate inside of me—all that the textbook revealed to me was that my theory was correct: I was drawing strength and, apparently, violent emotions and tendencies from Alpha Alexander. The book just couldn't properly explain why it was happening. I deduced it to the fact that I was the mate to an extremely powerful Alpha and if my adrenaline reached a certain point—like in the high school or when Ava showed up—his claim on me allowed transference to occur. I also had speculations that his mark made the process of transference possible; it wasn't until he claimed me that I started showing signs of superhuman strength and anger.