The Captured Alpha

Chapter Two

The rest of the afternoon was a whirl of activity as the Shifter clan prepared for the traditional feast celebrating another successful hunt.  The werewolf was not the only prize that my father's hunting party had brought back; there were deer carcasses, turkeys, and even a squirrel or two.  Some would be prepared for the feast, and others would be dried and salted before being added to the clan's stockpile for the winter months when game was scarce.

The clan split naturally into groups: the hunters who had returned were allowed to rest, while the rest of us were tasked with different jobs to prepare for the feast.  Some were sent to cook, some to butcher the animals that had been brought back from the hunt, and the rest were sent to the hall to prepare it for the feast.

I was a terrible butcher and an even worse cook, so I found myself in the main hall, helping drag heavy tables to and fro in an attempt to squeeze in a place for every Shifter in the clan.

"I don't see why we can't just eat on the floor as usual," Verenice, one of the girls only a few years younger than me, complained as she helped me drag one of the tables across the wooden floor.  The legs of the table scraped the floor and let out a wooden squeal as though in protest, but we pulled it into position nonetheless.

"It's a feast, Ver," I replied with a smile.  "And a celebration.  Besides, even if we all ate on the floor, we wouldn't all fit in at once."

She wiped her hand across her brow and smiled mischievously back at me.  "Capturing an alpha is something worth celebrating," she agreed.  "They said that you spoke to it.  What's it like?"

I sighed and feigned interest in the removing the dust that had accumulated on my dress, but her bright yellow eyes were fixed on me.  Verenice was a mountain lion in her shifted form, sure to be joining the hunting party once she was old enough.  Her eyes missed nothing.

"It... He.  He's very tall," I answered, though even I knew the answer was not the one Ver was looking for.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, flicking her braided red hair over one shoulder.  "You know full well that's not what I mean."

"Oh, fine," I sighed.  "He is very tall.  And huge, really.  Taller than father.  He had a black eye and a cut lip, so I'm guessing he didn't go down without a fight.  I really don't even know how they managed to capture him."

And he licked his lips while he looked me up and down, I thought.  But that was not the sort of thing one said to a fifteen-year-old girl, and definitely not the sort of thing one said about a captured werewolf.

"Hmmm."  Ver let out a long, soft sigh.  "Was he scary?"

"No more than any other fighter," I scoffed, pushing a stray lock of blonde hair behind my ears.  "He has an... An air about him, though.  Very noble, very sure of himself."  Very cocky.

"Isn't that what alpha werewolves are supposed to be like?" the younger girl asked me with a laugh.  "Everyone knows they're used to getting their way and bossing their packs around.  That's why they're so dangerous.

"And you... You should be careful, Yesina," she added, her voice dropping to a low whisper.  "You know what they say happens to werewolves on the full moon."

I rolled my eyes at her concern, though the simple truth was that the thought of it made my stomach twist into knots.  "You shouldn't believe everything that you hear, Ver.  He didn't seem all that different from Shifters.  And trust me, that man is used to being in control of everything, including his own actions.  I don't think he'd be able to let loose on a full moon even if he tried."

Verenice did not reply, only raised her eyebrows as though she doubted the truth of my words.  And she was right to doubt.  The truth was that the thought of Alistair "letting loose" or running wild during a full moon made me want to run to my bedroom and lock the door.  The chains that bound his hands and feet would hardly keep him under control, and the stories of what alphas did to the females in their packs on a full moon...