Alpha's Second Chance Nymph

Adelie

I was always taught by my mother to keep my profile low. Hide under my massive black cape that covered half of my face as much as possible, look up as little as I could.

Always obey rules and don’t be reckless, never talk back, don’t make friends. And lastly, keep your secret safe.

And this all was to not draw attention to me. If people knew what I was, it would bring danger to me and to the people that are around me, and it would make me do horrible things.

The people that are looking for me want to use me as a war weapon and to create more like me. Powerful fighting machines. At least that’s what she always told me.

The cape was mostly there because my mother said that my beauty was dangerous for me, that others would try to use it. People judge others by their looks—if they saw me, they would instantly want to be friends with me.

Nymphs are usually born with very friendly and welcoming faces. They are also very beautiful, at least that’s what all the books that I have read say. My mother also said to me that I am gifted with the most precious gifts, but what good does it do when I live my life in the shadows? It wasn’t a gift, it was a curse. My life was a tragedy.

I am a nymph. A nymph is a nature spirit who maintains nature. My purpose is to maintain the forests and plants in my pack, the Silver Moon Pack. Every full moon, I go out to do a ritual, thanking Mother Nature for her gifts to us. I need to keep my forest clean and alive as long as I am in this place. Not because my mother taught me to, but because that’s what nymphs do. It’s in our nature, we do it subconsciously.

No one knew I was a nymph, only my mother and father. Nymphs are on good terms with werewolves, but I needed to keep it a secret so there are fewer chances I am caught on what else I was capable of. That’s why my mother kept it a secret as well. I didn’t care so much that they would hurt me. I cared that they would hurt others.

I have never met other nymphs besides my mother. She was half wolf, half water nymph. The main word being ‘was’...

My mother passed away when we were attacked at our old pack, the Dark Moon Pack. She died because of me, and she died protecting me. One warrior got scared of me and tried to kill me. He killed her instead.

My father has made it clear that my mother doesn’t blame me, and he keeps telling me that it wasn’t my fault. But I can never shake the guilt out of me. My mother was a nymph and nymphs forgive easily. It was in her nature to not blame me.

I have three parts of me. Firstly, I am a forest nymph. Secondly, a small part of me is a wolf. This part is so small that I can’t even shift. I have a wolf in my soul but not my body.

It made me sad to think that my wolf, Madeline, didn’t have a wolf form. She has made it clear countless times that she is okay with the way she lives. If I could do anything to give her a wolf form, I would.

The third part of me is from my father. I don’t see my father often because his job requires traveling. I meet him only when someone around me dies.

My father is Death.

His job is to collect souls from passed away bodies. He stores those souls each in a glass container and puts each one according to the family tree and the color of the souls. If a person has been bad in his life, their soul is black; if they were good, it's white. But in life, there isn’t just good or bad. Mostly, there are a hundred shades of gray.

Death has two forms.

His first form is a skeleton with a black cape. The one that everyone is familiar with from the books. His second form is humanlike. He looks like any other normal person would.

No one can see Death on a normal daily basis, but since I am his daughter, I can see him when he is around. He always walks up to me when he is near, asks about how I have been. I know that he truly loves me.

My mother was an exception, and she also saw Death. My father and mother didn’t know how it was possible. But that’s what made them fall in love. Death is immortal, and finally, he found someone in a million years who could see him. Finally, he found love.

Other people saw Death when they were dying. To good people, my dad gives a death wish.

A death wish is a wish that Death fulfills out of a dying person's request. My father gave me the wish when I last saw him. Since I can see him, I can use the wish anytime he’s near.

A death wish can do almost anything but make you immortal or bring you back to life. I was told to use it wisely because even if I am Death's daughter, I still get only one.

From my father, I inherited dark magic powers.

These powers make me invincible, but my mother forbade me from using them. She said to me to use them only when there are trusted people around, but it had never happened. The one thing she did let me use was a healing power. I can heal human flesh wounds, but in order to do so, I must feel the same pain the injured one is feeling. Sick plants and trees I heal with no pain. I still don’t know how far my healing power goes.

My wolf is the one that makes me have a mate. And the mate was the one that completely broke me and still is hurting me with horrible pain to this day.

Dark Moon pack members always called me names because they thought I was strange. I didn’t talk much, always wore capes, and they thought I was weak because I couldn’t shift. I thought that all would change when I would find my mate, and on my eighteenth birthday, I found my mate, Alpha Hans.

***

He was standing in front of my house. The most amazing smell filled my nose, and the most gorgeous man stood in front of me. My wolf went crazy in my head, passing back and forth.

Mate! Mate! My wolf Madeline chanted while my mother put her hands on my shoulders behind me. She must have known what was happening; it was my birthday, she knew this was going to be happening.

“Alpha Hans...” I said in disbelief, raising my head up from the ground. How can I be his mate? Maybe I am dreaming.

He too is one of the people that called me names, but I am ready to forgive him. After all, he is my mate. It’s not like I can fight the bond. He is meant for me. And only me.

“We need to talk, Adelie. Let’s go somewhere quieter,” he said and started walking towards the forest, not even glancing at me if I was following, but I did.

I didn’t want to talk with my mate the first time in front of my mother either. I gave my mother a last glance and smiled like crazy. She always talked about how happy she was with my father, and I too wanted that kind of love.

We walked in the clearing in the forest; he didn’t say anything the whole time. But I was as happy as I could be, my mate was here, with me. They said that the mate was the one that will love you even after death. Not even death can come between mate bonds.

Alpha Hans turned towards me, but with not the expression I hoped for. I wanted him to run towards me, take me in his arms, but he looked cold in his stare, like I was any other pack member or even less.

“I can’t have you as my mate, Adelie. I am sorry, you are weak, and you don’t even have a wolf form. What kind of Luna would you be?” He spat at me, disgusted, which sent a thousand sharp needles in my chest.

He continued. “You are hated in this pack. And the pack needs someone they can look up to, and you are not one of them.” My heart shattered into a million pieces. Wasn’t it hurting for him to say those words?

“What?...’’ I asked, not believing his words. “I can change, Alpha.” I fell to my knees. “I can be whatever you want me to be, I promise,” I cried out.

Of course I couldn’t shift, but I needed him. I couldn’t let go of my savior. He is the one made for me, to understand me, to love me no matter what.

“I, Alpha Hans Lightwood, reject you, Adelie Murrell, as my mate and Luna of Dark Moon Pack,” he said those words and all my vision went blurry for a second.

My heart felt gone. All I felt was pain. The most horrible pain I have ever felt.

“No!” I screamed in anger, sadness, and heartbreak. And I couldn’t control my powers. Black smoke came from my fingertips, which made Alpha Hans step back in terror, and from corners other wolves came closer to me.

One lunged right at me, but I knocked him out with a blast of black smoke. I never knew I could do that. The wolf howled, and others stepped back in fright. I was afraid myself, afraid of what I might do.

My mother ran up to me. “Mom!” I screamed at her as she was held down by Alpha Hans. He looked as if I could hurt my own mother.

“Run!” Was all she said. I was always obedient to my mother. But this time it took time for me to listen. They were going to hurt her. “Run, Adelie!”

I was still in place, but Alpha Hans walked up to see me leaving my mother. He walked slowly and raised up his arms in surrender. His expression was almost guilty.

“Freak!” said one warrior from beside me. He was still in his human form and threw a knife towards me, but something stopped it. My mother blocked it by jumping in front of me. The knife was resting in her chest as she fell to the ground.

I saw death in front of me. No! That meant that she’s gone. “Don’t take her.” I almost pleaded to him like he could do anything.

Father looked at me. “Run!” He screamed, making the ground shake. No one else saw him but me and my mother. He had never screamed at me in my whole life.

I let out a smoke bomb that kept me shielded. I didn’t think of doing that, it just happened.

I ran away. I ran till my feet gave up, and I was sure I left the Dark Moon grounds. I ran away like a coward. My mom protected me, but I just left her to die, not even saying goodbye. She was the only one for me, and now she was gone.

***

One year later, and I am still a member of the Silver Moon pack. Alpha Archibald took me in his pack within a second when he found me wandering around his pack.

He is the most kindhearted alpha I have ever met. None of his pack members called me weird or weak for not having a wolf. They just stared because of my coat.

Even Alpha Archibald didn’t know who I was. When he asked about my mate, I told him he is dead. That is easier than admitting that I was rejected.

I am so ashamed that my own mate, the one that I am destined to be together, rejected me. If I wasn’t good enough for him, I am not good enough for anyone.

Today was a full moon, and I needed to thank Mother Nature. It was already dark, and I made sure that my roommates were sleeping. I lived in one of the pack houses with werewolves that were without mates.

I made some potion from plants around the forest and put it in their drinks to make them sleep tighter. They can’t know that I was sneaking out, and besides, it doesn’t hurt them. If anything, they always wonder why they have such deep sleep in full moons.

I walked out of the pack house in my long black cape with hood and ankle-length white dress. I always wore long dresses. My mother always did too, and I wanted to keep doing it.

My mom said long, beautiful dresses were nymph traits. Nymph style was more medieval than modern. I tried to wear what’s considered normal clothes, but I always felt out of place.

Everyone was sleeping, and no one was outside the pack house because who would leave at this time? Guards were patrolling on the borders of our pack, and I wasn’t going to go that far either way. I have successfully been sneaking around for about a year now, never been caught.

I walked deep into the forest to my usual ritual spot. When I arrived, I took off my cape and let my brown hair fall to my back. I always made sure to look extra nice on full moons to let Mother Nature know that I was worthy of being a nymph.

I sat down next to a huge tree that was surrounded by purple flowers. This tree was the biggest of them all; it was powerful in its spirit and had seen a lot.

I have learned so much from just listening to him and other trees. Trees are the ones that made me understand my duties as a forest nymph. They could talk to me and they taught me how to look after them all.

I closed my eyes and thanked for everything around me. I made sure to ask trees if anything out of the ordinary has happened. They didn’t only tell me about the well-being of the forest but also about whoever is entering the forest. Today, it was just someone nearby our forest territory.

As I said thank you, my body started filling with energy from the roots.

I always looked after the forest so there were no sad trees and weak plants. That was my purpose. I was a servant to the forest goods.

I felt like I was born anew. Full moons were the reason I was willing to live. I didn’t have anyone in my life except nature.

I wandered back to my mate Hans; he never left my mind. I wanted to do something to stop the pain, but I couldn’t and I wouldn’t want him gone.

Even if the only thing left from my mate is pain, I still want it. Even if I felt the unbearable pain of him marking and mating some she-wolf. The pain reminds me of something I almost had.

I walked around the forest finally free from my cape. I breathed in the fresh air with my head held high. I swirled around and let the wind flow beside me. The forest was my favorite place, my favorite fantasy of happiness.

When it was finally time to leave, I picked up my heavy cape, but as I did, I heard footsteps coming towards me. Instantly, I looked up to see the person walking.

It was a man; he was big in size, and I could see his muscles even behind all the clothing he was wearing.

He was a werewolf, and not being muscular would just be weird because of all the training wolves usually did.

His hair was the darkest of brown, curly and long enough just to almost be in his eyes. It was longer on the top and shorter on the sides, and his hair was swept to the right side. His eyes were a perfect hazel; I even forgot about my cape.

I turned around and put on the cape and hood, cowering my face. I knew that he saw enough of me because we made direct eye contact.

Something was off with him, something was different about him—strange but attracting. His presence seemed calming, yet so weird.

I heard him step closer, and it was that smell. It was a gentle pine needle mixed with bergamot and a little hint of peppermint. I had never smelled it before, but only one smell had made me feel like that. And that is when I let my wolf talk to me.

Mate!