Taken by the Alpha Spin-off: An Alpha's Thorne

Artemis Thorne

“My Goddess,” I greeted her as tears filled my eyes. I gave another deep bow. She gestured for me to walk with her.

“May I ask you a question?”

“You may,” she replied.

“Why… am I here? Shouldn’t I be--”

“Release your worry, Artemis. I have summoned you to give you my message personally. You’re not dead, and you’re not in trouble,” she said, a sweet smile on her lips.

I nodded my head respectfully. She continued.

“You have been blessed with a wolf that possesses much more power than any other.”

My heart began to swell; love and fear dancing together inside me.

“This means, however, that it will be much more difficult to navigate, and it will be a great challenge. Your Inner Wolf could threaten your wellbeing, your livelihood, and that of your Kingdom if you do not learn how to control it, to master it.”

I understood what she meant. I was feeling more and more out of touch with myself lately. I lowered my head, ashamed.

“You need not fear, Artemis. A Queen needs a most-powerful wolf inside her. You are the Alpha of all Wolfborn… and with great power comes great responsibility.”

I met her gaze again, held in its soft and unjudging beauty.

“I just… What if I’m not strong enough? Sometimes I feel so out of control…” I asked.

—You have the power and the grace to rise to this. It is your duty. I see your power and your gifts. I know you can achieve this,” she replied.

“Moon Goddess, I—”

Before I could continue, she nodded her head and held up her hand, once again covering me in a bright, white light. I thought I was still in the void, but after blinking my eyes, I recognized this space.

I was in the infirmary.

I stretched my arms and legs, rolled my neck, and let out a deep exhale. I felt more in my body than I had in years; more powerful. I leaped from the bed with ease, every muscle and bone in my body feeling strong and perfectly in tune with one another.

Testing my strength, I lifted the hospital bed, which felt light as paper.

I scoped out my reflection in the hospital room mirror one more time as I suddenly recalled what the Moon Goddess had just told me, and recoiled.

Your Inner Wolf could threaten your wellbeing, your livelihood, and that of your Kingdom if you do not learn how to control it, to master it.

I sat, silently, trying to process what this meant for me. What it meant for my future.

I’d wished I had asked her more questions; better questions with specifics that would maybe give me more clarity. Why me?

I wanted to heed her warning, and to beware its implications. I sat back on the infirmary bed and wished I had asked her about my mate… and where they were, who they were…

Or if he even existed.

Orion Brute

—NINE YEARS LATER—

Nervous, and a little excited, I walked toward Pack House for the mating ceremony my father had organized for the younger Wolfborn of our Pack. Since I had just turned eighteen, he was fixated on the idea of me finding the person I’d be bonded to.

I wished my Mother would have been able to be there; to see me find my mate. I hadn’t seen her since she died, nearly a decade ago during the great war. But I liked to think she’d have been proud of me for coming this far and finding the one I’d spend the rest of my life with.

Walking across the campus, I felt hopeful and anxious at the same time. My mind wondered about the type of mate I would have, and what qualities she would possess.

I entered the building, a little embarrassed to be so vulnerable, so publicly, but more than anything I felt honored that my father had orchestrated something just to help me.

Loud orchestral music boomed through the hall. I looked around, taking in the way the familiar space had been decorated. There was a grandeur: Borderlands flags soared across the dark wooden beams on the ceiling. Banners and placards with our insignia, the Wolf Fang, garnished every wall.

I began to feel the pressure.

My father stood there to greet me. He straightened my tie and pulled a small comb from his pocket to touch up my hair. I admitted to him that I was a little nervous.

“Nervous? About what? This is every wolf’s right of passage!” he clapped my back.

“Yeah… you’re right,” I agreed, trying to shake off the last of my worry.

A string of young women walked by me, giggling and elbowing one another as they passed me. My father nudged my shoulder, having seen this.

“Seems like you’re the favorable selection, no?” He smirked.

A wave of embarrassment washed over me as we made our way across the wide, open floor.

I wanted to make him proud of me today. Our relationship had been pretty rocky and volatile since my Mother had passed, and I knew my finding a mate might help to heal it.

“Alpha Slade!” my father’s Beta hurried up to him, holding a stack of records. “Looks like everyone is ready to go, shall I begin with announcements?”

“Yes, Beta Knox,” he replied.

Beta Knox approached the podium as the trumpets crescendoed and eventually calmed. He beamed with pride at the crowd, addressing our Pack.

“Everyone, I welcome you to the Mating Ceremony. Today will be a very important day for us all,” he spoke.

“It is our next generation of Wolfborn who will continue to carry out the Borderlands duty, honor, and right. Some of our greatest minds, warriors, and leaders are standing in this room right now. But this means nothing without our most sacred tradition; finding and bonding with our one true mate. It is in mating that a Wolfborn finds their purpose, and it is this purpose that drives us to be great,” he boomed.

I thought about my own purpose, some calling greater than me, and the prospect of making my mate the center of my world.

“Now! Let us give a round of applause for our honorable Alpha Slade Brute for so perfectly arranging this.”

Everyone erupted into applause, and my father looked proud and pleased with himself. He gave me a wink; rare for him. He didn’t often show me signs of affection, but I felt very reassured when he did.

I looked around at all of the participants, wondering which one of them I was going to spend the rest of my life with. So many other Wolfborn my age had already found their mates. I was thrilled that my father had organized something so streamlined, because truthfully, I had started to worry I wasn’t doing something right.

What would she look like? What would she laugh at? What would she like to do? I let myself wonder.

My eyes locked with a few of my peers, each of us curious to find out who would be paired with whom.

“Without further ado, I’d like for all of our followers to come to the center of the floor and show everyone what you’ve been training for; how you handle your inner wolf’s intuition. Let it guide you as you approach your mate,” Beta Knox instructed.

Each of us came to the center, separated into two rows which faced one another.

Like a ballroom dance, we bowed to one another.

“As the Moon Goddess wills,” the row of male wolfborn spoke.

“May it be revealed,” the row of female wolfborn spoke.

I watched as my fellow participants gently touched one anothers’ forearms, chests, or shoulders. Instantly, some found their mate, embracing them.

How did they know? What did they do?

I looked over to my father, whose hand rested firmly under his chin, his eyes fixed on me. He nodded, as if to tell me to focus. I snapped back into the process, trying to focus my inner wolf.

The cloudy scent of multiple pheromones made it difficult to find the one that truly called to me. It seemed so easy for everyone else, as if each person were a magnet, and I was some sort of repellent. I had felt like an oddball for my whole life, and I was really hoping this would be different.

I cast my gaze upward, feeling a bit detached. I tried to readjust my energy away from the onlookers on the floor who I found to be distracting. I was met with hundreds of stares from the balcony above me as they hung over the banner-clad railings. There had been whispers all week about who the Alpha’s Son would be mated with, and they anxiously spectated.

I hadn’t had any trouble with female attention in my teen years, but finding a real connection was a different story. I wanted something real, I wanted to find my mate.

I brought my attention back to the floor and watched as some of my fellow participants slowly trickled out. I frantically searched and observed the remaining people, until there was no one left.

This had to be some mistake?

How did everyone else find their mate so quickly?

Was it really that difficult?

I turned to face my father to try to gauge his reaction, but he was no longer there. I ran toward the back exit, knowing I’d disappointed and embarrassed him in front of everyone.

It was all my fault.

Hearing the distant sounds of the ceremony closing, I ran in search of him, hoping no one had seen my embarrassment.

I finally saw him sitting by the lake; he frequently came here to clear his head when he was frustrated. His head in his hands. My heart shattered.

Approaching him cautiously, I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Dad, I’m so so--”

“Don’t fucking touch me!” he yelled, standing up. He no longer towered over me like he did when I was a kid, but his rage was still as terrifying.

“How pathetic can you be?!” he continued. “Finding a mate is the most essential part of a Wolfborn’s life!” he demanded.

“Dad, I will find my mate, I just-- if she’s not in there, I don’t want to force it…” I replied.

I could no longer only tell my dad what he wanted to hear. All my life, I had thoughtlessly agreed with him. But I knew a big step in becoming my own man was to make honest choices, and I honestly did not find my mate in that ceremony.

“If you’re going to lead my Pack someday, you need to grow up and find your damn mate. Stop acting like a child.”

“I know you’re upset with me, Dad, and I’m sorry. I promise I’ll find my mate eventually.”

“What is your promise supposed to mean to me? Huh? You let your own Mother die!” he bellowed.

I looked around us to see if anyone had heard him say that, but people were only just now starting to trickle out of the Pack House.

Witnessing my Mother die when I was eight years old had been the biggest wound of my life. I was just a child. But my father was sure to never let me forget it was still my fault. I should have been able to protect her, in his eyes.

“I will find my mate. I will. You’re not the only one who wants this--”

Before I could finish, he was already done with our conversation, storming off. I hated letting him down, and my entire life, it felt like that was all I did. No matter how hard I trained or wanted to do right by him.

Something had to change and I knew a different approach was in order. If I couldn’t find my mate, someone else would.

***

Walking across the campus, I headed straight for Majara, the Borderlands Fortune Teller. I had never visited her personally because I never had a reason to. Majara didn’t take on frivolous inquiries, and I hoped she would take me seriously.

Approaching her deep purple tent, I felt a pang in my stomach, and my intrusive thoughts came flooding in.

What if she tells me that I don’t have a mate?

What if I’m just not fit for a real bond with someone?

I guessed it was better to know than to live in the perpetual confusion I’d been feeling lately, so bravely, I pushed her curtain open, jingling the small set of bells that hung just above it.

Majara hobbled toward the front, and when she saw me, she began to bow.

Majara was one of the oldest in the Borderlands, and she was not as nimble as she once was.

“No need to bow, Majara. I should be bowing to you.”

“Why is that, Son?” she asked.

“Well… It’s just. I respect your abilities and your time, and I don’t want to waste it,” I replied honestly.

“What questions do you have for me, Son?”

“I don’t know if I have a mate. My father organized this mating ceremony today, and I couldn’t find mine,” I answered, trying to get to the point.

“And you want to know where she is?”

“Or… yeah. I guess. Or if I even have one,” I replied.

With a long-nailed finger, she gestured for me to follow her, and I did. We walked through two rooms lined with jewel-colored curtains and arrived in a dark back den lit with candles. It smelled of frankincense and sage.

“Sit,” she invited me. I sat on a pillow on the ground across from her as she shut her eyes and hummed lowly, focusing her energy. Without looking, she lit a small fire of incense and leaves between the two of us, and whirred the smoke into her own face.

She inhaled deeply and exhaled with a huge moan. She repeated this process for several minutes, and I began to feel insecure. Maybe she was searching for something that wasn’t there.

Then her eyes shot open.

She leaned in toward me, grabbing both of my hands, seemingly still halfway in a trance-like state.

“Your mate and her wolf possess great power. Greater power than I’ve seen in a vision yet… greater power than has been seen in the history of Wolfborn…”

My eyes widened, but I remained speechless. I was not expecting this response from Majara whatsoever.

She continued, “Her wolf has recently become more powerful. Her location is difficult to trace. She has many defenses, both in the physical and spiritual realms. You must find her, however, as you will be the only one who can stop her from becoming a monster…”

I began to speak, but Majara’s voice grew urgent.

“You must find your mate. Go!”

I rose from my pillow and thanked her, but she had re-entered her trance.