Alpha’s Second Choice

‘My king, you called for me’, Belial appeared in dark clouds. He was the demon king’s right hand.

Belial could make the un-death dance on his fingertips if he wanted to, his powers second only to King Victor.

‘Follow the Aamons at the no-man’s border. We are so close to finding Jolene, I can feel it. Make sure there are no loose ends Belial’, the king commanded from his dark throne, his chin rested on his right hand.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Belial simply nodded, in consensus of his king’s order and vanished in thin air.

‘There is no escape this time, my little siren’, the king mumbled, only for him to hear.

*

‘Evelyn! Did you spill tea on someone again? Olivia will not be happy about it’, the same elderly maid from earlier disrupted Jo’s train of thoughts.

Jo was curious now. She had heard about Olivia three times already, who was she?

‘It was a mistake, Lidija. Soweyy’, Evelyn apologised, her head down.

The old maid only frowned more.

‘Who is Olivia?’, Jo finally asked making the old lady gasp.

‘Do not say her name so loudly’, the maid hushed her as she collected Evelyn from the playroom and rushed the little girl outside with her. ‘You must have a death wish’.

‘But’, Jo pushed on more but the maid really had no business with her, as an apologetic Evelyn threw her a ‘I am sorry’ look.

Finally, Jo was by herself again. As her eyes darted around in the spacious playroom, a book caught her attention. It was a weird place for a book to be amongst the millions of toys Evelyn seemed to have.

She picked the book up from the sea of bratz dolls.

History of the werewolf world. It read.

Jo sat down on a little pink plastic char as she started flipping through the pages. The book started with how the moon goddess created the four brothers and gifted them each with elemental powers. Intrigued, she kept reading as she found out that the Fire Warrior Pack was merged into the Royal Kingdom under Dante’s rule. Apparently, the silver haired general was also actually an Alpha of his own pack, Ice Warrior Pack. The other two packs with elemental power were: Wind Warrior and Sand Warrior. The rest of the packs had normal Alphas like Jayden who did not possess any special powers.

One name that interested her greatly in the history book was Sarah. It said that she was originally known to be a rogue but later on was found to be moon goddess’s daughter.

‘That’s shocking’, Jo commented blatantly but she did not stop reading. She was a classic reader after all.

‘Sarah was crowned as the first Luna Queen of the Royal kingdom’, Jo murmured softly, completely engrossed in the book. ‘She gave birth to two children, Dante and Evelyn Vanslord’.

‘That pri. ck is moon goddess’s direct descendant, wow. What a bad luck to have gotten me as mate’, Jo sympathetically said.

There was a page missing in the book which was weird. The flow of the book was completely ruined as Jo tried to read the next page and fill in the gaps. But nothing seemed to fit.

The next page continued as: doomsday. This will cause deaths of thousands of werewolves. Never meant to be.

‘You know that’s a forbidden book to read, unless you are from the royal family’, Jo was startled by a deep voice. She instantly slammed the book close and tried standing up. But the plastic chair only meant for tiny little girls, was still stuck on her b. um when she stood up.

As she struggled to free herself from the deadly tight plastic chair, she threw a few glances to the stranger before her.

The strange man had a scar on his right eyebrow and had a very rough but masculine look to him. Wearing a medieval like brown trousers and a white tunic, he looked very casual and attractive.

‘I have never seen you here before, miss? My name is Don’, he introduced himself as he waited for Jo to do the same.

Jo unleased her scent a little to use spells and loosen the chair on her bum which was now sucking the life out of her a. ss. She knew she was going to have marks from this traumatic experience.

Don watched in amazement as the strange girl suddenly smelled different for the tiniest of second. But it was gone too fast.

‘I am Jo. Here to stay only for a couple of weeks until I get some stuff sorted out’, she finished as she finally got the chair out. Never was she going to ever be near children’s play stuff again, they were all disasters waiting for happen. ‘Also, I was just looking around. Did not mean to pry on private royal stuff’.

Don laughed at her response. ‘Don’t worry, I am not here to police you and your actions. Just a guest myself. I am the current Alpha of the Wind Warrior Pack. Needed to see the king for some pack matters. And what affairs are you here for, miss, if you don’t mind me asking?’.

‘I am here to protest the ban on Vampire novels’, Jo joked with the friendly stranger who looked speechless.

‘I- sorry?’.

She sighed heavily, everyone here was so uptight. ‘It was a joke. I am also sorting some stuff with the king and once that’s done, I am good to go. Its private matter so I can’t tell you what stuff I need sorting out’.

Don shook his head understandably. ‘Well, let me show you around the gardens. The royal kingdom has beautiful gar-‘.

‘Already seen it with my friends’, Jo cut him off.

‘What about the training grounds? The royal kingdom has the only female warriors in the werewolf world’, Don interjected hoping this could interest her and he was not wrong.

Jo never heard of female warriors before, just the sound of it was legendary. ‘Yes please!’.

She was not wrong, watching the female warriors train was not disappointing at all. They were all lined up in rows and rows of groups. All synchronised and performing their training regimes. After a while, some of them started sparring as Jo watched in awe from the bench with Don.

Maybe all hope was not lost for these werewolves, seeing strong females getting trained from all age group was very refreshing. She saw focus, will power and passion radiating from the dedicated female warriors, nothing less than the male.

‘Be right back’, Don excused himself as Jo only waved a little in his direction and shifted her full attention back to the training.

Only if she had access to training when she was young as well, she would have felt a little more confident in combat. All her life, she was only expected to look pretty and act like a porcelain doll. She would read spells and magical books in her free time, away from all the strict eyes observing her constantly. She only ever felt free from their watch, when she was engrossed in her wonderland of books, her true escapism.

‘Please let me join as well’, a very young and skinny girl was pleading the trainer who then whistled and stopped all the female warriors from combating. All eyes were on the girl now, some of them threw disgusted looks at the poor girl while some were giggling amongst themselves.

‘Leticia, you know the rules. If you don’t pass the strength endurance test, you can’t join this training. Becoming a female warrior is not easy’, the trainer strictly reminded her again as the girl was close to tears and on her knees.

‘But.. my score increased by 37 points this year. My endurance is getting stronger. Please I want to serve the kingdom to the best of my capabilities’, Leticia wiped her tears away on a white, dirt-stained long shirt.

‘Doesn’t matter, you still did not meet the requirement’, the trainer threw a pathetic look.

‘What does it mean to become a warrior?’, Jo could not help herself asking, perhaps because the young girl reminded her of her past self. Always being told she was not good enough.

‘Who are you?’, all pairs of eyes were now on Jo as the trainer waited for the answer.

‘Doesn’t matter. What does becoming a warrior mean?’, Jo continued, rage building up in her. ‘Is it not the warrior’s oath to protect the royal family within the best of their capacity which this girl clearly is promising to do’.

‘The rule applies for all. Everyone has to pass the endurance test if they want to make it. Leticia is simply not physically strong enough or fit to be a Warrior’, the trainer’s harsh reply came.

‘Being strong does not always have to come physically, damn it. Someone with an unflattering will and drive is strong. Someone with an abused past who is willing to embrace their scars and move on is strong. Someone who dares to face their fears and confront their worst nightmares is strong. Someone who can mentally withstand every rejection and ridicule of others is strong!’, Jo painfully looked at kneeling poor girl as she finished the last sentence.

But the siren was not done yet. ‘If the warriors were only built on physical strength alone, I would be concerned. Because warriors are not born, they are made. They are created through trial and error, torment and suffering. And a true warrior is someone who has the ability to conquer all their flaws. Afterall, no one is perfect. Is this not the sole purpose of this training in the first place?’.

Everyone gasped at the heavy speech Jo had slapped on their face, there was a pin drop silence. Not even the trainer dared say anything this time.

‘Very well said’, a gentle voice grabbed the crowd’s attention as an attractive woman walked towards them. She had dark chestnut hair, almost the colour of chocolate. Her hair was tied in a royal hairdo, and she had an elegant teal gown on. The way she carried herself was very ladylike but there was a very visible intimidating aura to her.

Everyone started bowing before her as Jo stood confused, not having a clue to who she was.

‘I have never met you before, what’s your name?’, the pretty lady questioned her as Jo shifted uncomfortably, side to side. This woman was definitely important as everyone had their head down and was bowing to her.

‘Jolene, I am just a short stay guest. I had some matters to resolve with the king’, Jo replied. ‘And who are you?’.

‘I am Olivia, the current Queen of the werewolf world’.