Destined for the Alpha (4 page)

"This is our omega, John" Peter gestured towards the skinny scared man who's clothing seemed ready to fall apart at any minute "and our beta Ivan. They were supposed to take care of you if you awoke while I was missing"

"I tri-" Peter cut off the omega with a guttural growl.

"You're one of us now, you're part of the clan."

"The clan?" Catherine looked up to study his face but Peter was staring off into the fire

"You're a werewolf, or you will be soon, your first changing will be in a month."

"A…a what? Is this some kind of joke?"

He brushed over her shoulder almost lovingly where he had bit her before, her shirt was still bloody but her shoulder was clean, small red marks were left from where the teeth had entered her. "No, we've needed you for a very long time. You're my mate Catherine."

"M-mate? Like wife?" She stuttered out and backed away from him, did she have a boyfriend? Was she married? Her head began to throb.

"No, no, stop please!" Peter grabbed his head and grabbed her waist pulling her closer to him her body becoming flush with his. Peter was so warm, and he smelled so good "I can feel that each and every time, and it's fucking painful, so stop." His voice was low and threatening she closed her eyes expecting him to hurt her but a blow never came. The pain in her head ebbed again, she opened her eyes to see that Ivan had come near her; he was sitting at the edge of the nest of blankets on his knees, looking at her hopefully.

"I'm Ivan, your beta." his voice was quiet, and nervous, for being such a strong and imposing figure, he looked scared of her reaction. "I'm sorry that I hurt you before."

"You hurt me?" Catherine reached her hand out and grabbed his hand. He inhaled sharply at the contact and laced his fingers with hers, quickly leaning forward onto his knees and bringing his lips to hers, it was chaste, and gentle, and completely contradictory to what she had expected.

"I scared you, and I was at fault." He whispered against her lips before sitting down next to Peter. Her lips tingled with the kiss, she felt her fingers fly up and touch where his lips once were. She looked up at Peter who smiled down at her. Wasn't he jealous? Did he not like her after all?

John sat on the other end of the fire, his face half hidden in shadows, his black hair shone in the flickering light, he looked defeated and Catherine's heart hurt looking at him. "Um, John?" she ventured, hoping that she was allowed to talk to him "I'm sorry I was scared of you. You just…grabbed me."

He looked over at her "I didn't mean to grab you, I'm sorry alpha."

Peter nodded above her, rubbing her arm with his thumb and she felt oddly at peace with where she was, regardless of whether she was supposed to be there or not. Peter leaned down and licked the wound on her shoulder, sending a wave of pleasure through her body, she moaned softly and felt Ivan stiffen next to her. "We've waited so long for you, Catherine." Peter sighed into her skin, his arms coming around her waist and hugging her back against him.

"Waited?" She asked quietly, feeling him pull her tighter against his body

Ivan moved in front of her, glittering blue eyes matched her own, a soft hand cupped her face and kissed her again, his tongue tracing her lips before gently entering her mouth, his tongue was warm and eager, entangling with her own and causing her to gasp into his mouth. She whimpered when she felt Peter lick her wounds again, she was rewarded by a growl from both men at her small noise and Ivan kissed he harder, his clawed hand tilting her head up towards him. When the large man finally broke the kiss with her, he was breathing heavily, his face flush. Catherine's whole body was hot, was it Peter's body making her so warm, or the fire?

Someone clearing their throat off to the side caused Ivan to sit back away from her. It was the old man from earlier "This is Frederick, he is an elder alpha, he rules over this region and the clans within it." Peter's voice sounded strained, his breathing labored as he reluctantly moved away from the small blonde girl in the nest of blankets. Ivan did the same and she looked over at them panicked that they were all leaving her side so quickly. She moved to join them when Frederick gently grabbed her arm she turned and smiled nervously. "You helped me earlier," Catherine held still afraid to have Peter so far away from her. Ivan moved to comfort her but was held back by Peter.

Frederick was gentle with her, like she was made of glass, began checking her wounds, the scrapes she suffered in the cave, the small nicks and cuts she had gotten through the forest, the painful yet pleasurable wound on her shoulder. "Do you feel okay?" He asked after a long bout of silence that he had spent examining her body.

She pulled the nightshirt down over her pink striped pants that had holes in them now. "I feel achy all over, like I'm sick." She admitted, as he tilted up her face, her eyes meeting his again.

"Do you feel feverish?" he placed his palm on her forehead "A small one maybe, we need to move you back to the compound soon if you get any sicker. We've never dealt with someone like you before." He looked over at Peter disapprovingly before standing up, and helping her up with him. "Can you walk?"

"I think so yes, just a little tired." Catherine nodded and looked over at the other two males, Peter and Ivan who were staying their distance, John had left sometime while Frederick had been checking her over. "Where are we going?"

"The Compound," the older man replied and laced his fingers with hers "We're werewolves but not savages. Do you think we live in caves?"

"I don't know where werewolves live…" She tried to think back to reading anything about it but found her memory just out of reach, her head began to hurt, where did she live if not in this cave? Where was home?

A strangled cry came from one side of her and she looked to see Ivan holding his head. Strong hands grabbed both of her arms and squeezed until it hurt. She yelped and looked up to see an angry Frederick. "Don't ever, under any condition hurt yourself like that again. You hurt everyone when you do that. Fuck Catherine."

"I can't remember anything, my whole past is gone!" She screamed and her ears began to ring as she painfully felt her body give up from underneath her, she felt sick, she was going to throw up from the excruciating pain in her head and suddenly a searing pain followed by wetness and her body went slack.

It was Peter; his teeth were buried deep in her shoulder. Two arms came around her midsection and held her up, Peter's saliva running down her back as he cradled her against him. "There is nothing to remember, please understand us, we are all here to protect you. Just accept things for now Catherine, you're hurting Peter and Ivan, your whole clan can feel your pain, as you will be able to feel theirs. Let the paste go, just for god sakes, let it go."

Peter let go and licked up the excess blood from the wound he had just reopened, causing Catherine to whimper in his arms. "There is something in the transmission of lycanthropy, that suppresses memories from before the attack. It allows you to become one with your wolf side. The pain you feel is the detachment from it. When it happens, even temporarily, we all feel the loss. You are important to everyone Cat, please stop hurting us."

She stood up shakily and looked over at Ivan who seemed worried. Peter grabbed her hand and tugged her forward to meet Ivan. Frederick trailed behind the trio. Ivan kissed her on the head and grabbed her other hand "You're a scary little pup, you know that?"

"I don't mean to be."

"I know, we're headed home though, so maybe you'll feel better once we get there."

"I'm just tired, Ivan." She looked up at him who watched her concerned.

"It'll be better soon" Peter said on the other side of her, squeezing her hand reassuringly, "but it'll be quite the walk to get back to the compound."

"What is it?" She said and saw finally the cool night outside of the cave, and she shivered as the cold autumn air hit her skin. Frederick put his battered flannel shirt around her shoulders and she drew it closer around her. John was waiting with some wolves and a man and a woman who were discussing quietly between themselves while two silver wolves sat eagerly by their side. "Is this her?" the woman asked eagerly coming over to Catherine who shrunk back away from her, running into Frederick.

She had wild red hair that went down to her rear, she was wearing a black dress that looked relatively new but was barefoot. She was well endowed even more than Catherine was, while she was maybe an E cup, Catherine only sported two full Cs. This woman was taller by almost a foot and very athletic, she noted, and when she talked to the small blonde she had to bend over slightly as if she was a child, which was irritating.

"Oh, I don't mean to offend." The woman said suddenly and stood up straight. Did she hear what Catherine was thinking? "I'm Gwen and this is Shawn, and we're your deltas!" Shawn, walked over and joined Gwen, he was tall and lanky with short red hair. He offered his hand and Catherine eventually placed her hand in his, he kissed it gently and smiled but said nothing and stepped back. The two wolves eagerly pranced around the group and nudged Catherine's scraped up legs "and these are Finn and Bailey"

"Are they…um, like us?" Catherine asked petting one gently on the head.

"No they're just wolves, pets." Gwen pet one on the head and the wolf swished his tail up against Catherine. "We're all so glad you're here, Peter has been wait-"

"That's enough Gwen" Peter cut her off and she swore she could feel how tense he was, what was she about to say? Catherine looked up at him to see him glaring at Gwen who backed away from them

"It's nice to have you here," Shawn finally said his voice was almost musical and Catherine smiled, but her mind was still on what Gwen said. Peter had waited for her?

Peter pulled her forward roughly and Ivan laced his fingers back in hers. "It's just a full night's walk home, but we need to move quickly" Ivan said watching the two wolves run out ahead of the group, John trailed behind them, holding two bags of stuff. She yawned, exhausted already before they even began their journey.

The forest was so alive at night, she could hear all the animals that had been sleeping during the daylight hours come out and scavenge for food. The two wolves were running around and ahead of the travelling group, scouting out for any possible danger or fun, causing the animals to scurry away at the sight of such a dangerous animal. The moon was mostly full and the leaves were mostly gone on the trees, the light from the clear sky cast long shadows on the littered forest floor, each step held a satisfying crunch of dead leaves. Her bare feet was poked and prodded by branches on the floor. They were mostly silent, and Catherine wondered if they were trying to be quiet or if everyone truly had nothing to say. When the moon was at the highest point in the sky she asked if they could sit down, her body ached all over, and she was beginning to get too hot from the exercise. "I just need to rest a little bit," She reassured the group and they all stood around the girl who was sitting on a fallen tree "just hot."

Ivan looked over at Peter who was focused on something off in the distance, little lights at the base of the mountain, flickering through the trees

"What is it?" Ivan asked his alpha and was given a growl in response, a few seconds later, a piercing howl from one of the wolves.

"Peter?" Catherine asked, most of her voice was drowned out by the howl

Ivan suddenly understood and grabbed Catherine by her waist, hoisting her up on his shoulder, she saw the lights pointing up towards them now. Another howl echoed throughout the valley, and Frederick looked concerned "We knew this would happen, I knew they'd come looking for her!" John stammered out.

"Ivan, take Catherine." Peter's voice was low, "Gwen, Sean, split up and surround them. John, quit being useless for once in your fucking life and protect Ivan and Catherine."

Catherine saw, as Ivan ran up the mountainside with her in tow at an inhuman rate, a beautiful fluidity in Peter as he transformed into the golden wolf that she vaguely remembered. It was something so terrifying and alluring that she wanted to go back. "Fuck, fuck, are you feeling okay Catherine? I can tell…"

Truth be told, she did not feel okay, her body was hot and she felt nauseous, bouncing up and down on his shoulder was not helping. "Ivan, I don't feel so good."

She was feeling even worse when suddenly a wave of fear washed over her, it was overwhelming, and it wasn't her own. "Ivan please, something is wrong. We need to go back"

Her sentence was punctuated by another howl, this one was louder than the ones she had heard before and suddenly loud bangs echoed up the mountainside "Shit shit shit" Ivan set her down on the ground and Catherine fell to her hands and knees and threw up on the ground. Her body was wracked with pain and fear and sickness. What was wrong with her? Was she poisoned? Did she have some kind of flu? Tears filled up her eyes as she stumbled to her feet; she looked around and didn't see Ivan anywhere. Catherine looked around frantically and didn't even see John.

"Ivan?" she called out shakily, her midsection hurt, was it from vomiting? Was she sick? Ivan was gone, he had abandoned her.

A bright light shone from behind her and she turned, unable to see who was holding it "Are you Catherine?" the light asked

"Am I? Yes, that's my name, who are you?"

An arm reached out and grabbed her and the light was pointed to the ground, a portly man in an orange vest had been holding it and smiled gently at her "I'm here to help you, we're going to take you back to your family now"

She shook her head, which had begun to hurt "Ivan?"

"No your parents," the man reassured and pulled her into a hug but her head erupted in a searing pain. Catherine screamed and felt sick, her head was splitting itself in two she tried to shake the feeling knowing she was hurting Peter and Ivan but her whole body was rebelling, her parents? Where were they? Did they miss her? Was she missing?

He jumped back and let her fall to the forest floor with a sickening thud. "Are you okay? Can you hear me? Did I hurt you?" He sounded concerned but her screaming didn't stop, she felt like someone had cut through a nerve. Catherine curled up into a ball on the forest floor.