Alpha King's Mate

1. Runaway

      It is said that the law will bring prosperity and new life to our kind. For me, it will bring nothing but misery.

     Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday, also known as the day I will go to the palace to be "sorted". The sorting will supposedly be painless, but I don't see how a spell that permanently denies a person their soul mate could be painless. All of my friend get to find their mates, grow old, live happily, meanwhile I will be forced to marry a stranger, pop out some babies and live the rest of my life wondering what I could have had.

     My parents are against it, but they are a bit hypocritical. My father, an Alpha, had a say in wether the law would be passed or not, he voted for it to be passed. However, a year later, his first born turned out to be a girl, and he constantly tells me how much he regretted signing that Bill. I believe him, and do not hold anything against him for it. It is the King whom I do not forgive.

     Twenty years ago, werewolf hunters created a disease that could potentially wipe out the entire species. Almost a quarter of the werewolves on Earth were killed. The rest of our kind decided that in this time of need we required leadership, so a King was chosen. He drafted a law declaring that every daughter of an Alpha must present herself to the palace on the morning of her eighteenth birthday to be matched with a rising Alpha for the reproduction of genetically advanced pups.

     Tomorrow morning two palace guards will arrive at my pack to escort me to the palace. My entire pack will watch as they enter the pack house, talk with my father and mother and load my bags into the car. They will then make their way up to my bedroom to retrieve me, but I will not be there. I am leaving tonight.

     This is not a decision I have made on impulse, I have been in the process of deciding since the day I turned fifteen. Sure, running away is illegal and considered treason, but the chance of being happy, I have decided,  is worth the possibility of the monarchy's punishment for my crime.

     I have packed all of my clothes and belongings into my suitcases so I can keep the guards stalled for a bit longer before they realize that I am gone, it isn't like I will need them. If I am truly going to commit treason, I need to stay far away from here and travel light. Perhaps I will find my mate and we will run away together.

     I hear a knock at my door and I look up from my pale knees, which I am hugging to my chest, as I mutter a, "Come in."

     My mother enters my pastel colored bedroom with a sad smile. She looks around like she has never seen the room before. "It looks so different."

     I nod and don't say anything, my sight going back to my knees. She sits beside me, following a moment of silence, and places her thin cool hand on my shoulder, comfortingly. "Are you nervous?"

     "Yes." I tell her sadly. It isn't a lie.

     "I'm sure the boy will be very nice, the King wouldn't set you up with anyone monstrous." She tries to assure me, I suck in a deep breath.

     "Yet, somehow the King has no problem denying me the one person I am destined to be with." I scoff at the cruel humor behind the truth in my words.

     My mother doesn't try to assure me anymore, she knows that I am right, she knows that parting a person from their mate goes against nature. She only pulls me close to her as I lie my head on her shoulder and squeeze her body tightly to mine. 

     "I love you, Olivia, so so much." She whispers to me.

     "I love you, Mommy." I whisper into her shoulder.

     The moment is cut off too soon, I never want to leave her arms. I love my mother more than I care for my own life and to know that this is the last time I will hug her breaks- no, shatters- my heart.

     She exits quietly, leaving me lonely once more, only to wait for the pack house to go silent.

***

     My earbuds play an alarm in my ears and my eyes flash open. I turn my head to glance at the digital clock on my bedside table and see that it is just about 3 am. I pull myself from the bed that has belonged to me since I was a child, slip my shoes on, and leave my bedroom. I make my way down the long hallway silently, holding my breath as I pass each door, doing my best to keep light on my feet.

     The stairs are harder to overcome, they are over a decade old and have endured hundreds of pack members running them up and down, I find that stepping as close to the wall as possible is usually a good way to avoid any creaks.

     The front door is always left unlocked, we believe that if a force is strong enough to get through our layers and layers of patrol, then a locked door won't halt them. The thick patrol isn't hard to escape either, mostly because I made sure to memorize the patterns, but also because the guards are looking for intruders, not escapees. I don't know what would have happened if I had been caught, it's not like they want me to be forced into this marriage, but they also could have been in trouble if they allowed me to go. 

     I run for hours, in no particular direction, I dart in different directions every ten minutes or so because it is almost impossible to tell when you have crossed on to another pack's territory until the patrol guards get to you. So far, I haven't encountered any other wolves.

     In the past hour the forests have thickened greatly and I have come across more of a mountainous landscape. The air has also become a bit colder, I must be heading North of my pack. 

     My feet are sore and probably have cuts and scrapes on them from running so vigorously for this amount of time. Maybe I could stop for a little while and rest? I push the thought of stopping from my mind when a not so distant howl echoes behind me. I have entered another pack's territory. Well, shit.

     I kick off the ground as hard as possible, pushing myself forward in an attempt to get farther, faster. If they catch me I will be punished for my crimes, I heard that they hang you in front of the King's pack, they set an example of you. Maybe this was a bad idea, I should have just allowed them to match me.

     It is too late for second thoughts, I have already gotten myself into this mess, there is no getting out now. All I can do is run-

     My thoughts are interrupted as I am tackled to the ground by a much larger wolf.

---

Make sure to follow me on Wattpad and Instagram at:
@everybodyneedslov