The Alpha Choice

The Silverpine compound was more subdued than usual, the anticipation masking its characteristic bustle. Tonight was the Moon Banquet, a celebration of life, loyalty, and lineage. To many, it was an opportunity to socialize, flirt, and establish powerful connections, but to Mia Thompson, it meant retreating to the corners and hoping she went unnoticed.

Her pulse began to race with anticipation, even before the dinner had commenced, as she looked around the field filled with alphas and betas sporting their best outfits. This was a time when her mother’s words about how the Moon Banquet brought change began to ring a bell, one she did not particularly like. Especially when that change came adorned in expectations.

Mia was the lowest-ranked omega in the family, and an obedient one at that. Her gentle wolf ensured her place within the family. And that place was always hidden.

She all but sprinted to her cabin after she caught sight of a group of old villagers, stowing their hefty belongings next to the bonfire. The women, with their age-spotted, silver hair, were dressed elegantly in lineage robes while the men were adorned in formal regalia. They quietly agreed to something while stirring up some silent deliberation. At the nearest age, Lucas Graywind, who stood at the center of the group, caught her eye.

It was just three weeks ago when everyone learned of his father's passing. Ever since then and even before, Lucas has worn the emblem of an Alpha, and all have said that the mantle was molded to fit him - after all, he inherited his father’s strength and mother’s craftiness while possessing an ability to paralyze any beta with a single glare. In his father's stead, he advanced his way to the brutal chores fated for defensive men, surprisingly managing the transpiring warfare to cut through his youth-stamped anatomy at 23 years old.

When Mia had the chance to meet him, she vaguely remembered his elongated skeleton and how it was snug around the stiff musculature. There was a distant yet formidable aura around him, what with him having a body that bordered rage and danger, powerful eyes that attacked with ferocity as if a blizzard assailed one, and an indisputable expression that hinted menacingly at never succumbing to uncertainty - he was undeniably proud and confident.

With an ungraceful flick to the side, she intended to turn her head. A tactic she always resorted to. Yet this time, as she turned, the only thing she could see was Lucas, and when his head nudged towards her, their eyes opened wide, and literal sole contact of their eyes was made for the fleeting, most astounding part of the day.

Her breath went missing. Everything around her slowly faded out of existence, the growl of wolves, the smell of pine trees, the snapping of twigs in the background, all wrapped in memory - a tight pull bound her to him. It felt like a string attached to her very own soul had yanked straight towards him. Lucas moved, taking a step; his next movement gave way to a range of possibilities.

No. No, No, No.

Her heart was pounding as she stood almost a full turn. She couldn’t comprehend what she searched for, but the body's unexplainable intuition cried out: run. The place where Lucas began remained where his body was, as he felt breathless from some inexplicable feeling. A hum beneath his dermis, a tingle of the bones, as if on top of a new layer. He felt like someone had to constantly say his name.

Garran has always spoken Naut Mates with calmness infused along with monologues of strategic approach towards relationships and leadership.

As their uncertain pupils formed, burnt skin would feed his wolf-falling. He perceived it. They urged him to follow Ella, which his body commanded, and remaining unchanged, overwhelmed him.

Bone rattled under the flesh.

The pulse shot like violence through me. It’s like everything that made sense turned my world upside down. The accompaniment of everything I believed to exist was slowly being altered by the moon.

“Mia Thompson,” one of the younger elders commented, following Lucas’s line of sight. “An omega.”

Lucas frowned, almost missing the distasteful gossip that encircled him. Even now, disapproval was starting to take shape in the elders' eyes, and the neighboring pack leaders’ sharp intake of breath suggested they had brought their daughters here to show them off.

But, without a doubt, she is ours, his wolf howled defiantly.

Mia shook in the laundry hut that was situated behind the main lodge, gripping a shelf with tidy, freshly ironed linen as it seemed to thrust her to the ground. Agitated and confused, her wolf was pacing inside of her. The familiar pull that always immobilized her the moment it was activated had never overwhelmed her senses to that degree.

“Lucas Grey Wind. Alpha. Heir,” Europa’s eyes cast down, her heart raced. “Everything I am not.”

Mia fought the urge to retake hold of the fabric beside her. It was wrong, beyond delusional. An error of instincts. If those very instincts were true, if she was indeed his mate, then it would warrant a reality where, with a single breath, she would feel simultaneously shattered and euphorically rebirthed.

With the booming footsteps blaring outside and the internal tension rising, it was evident that the world had taken notice.

People were indeed gathered around the bonfire, for there were strange whispers surging within the crowd. The bond had been drawn out. The shocking friction that existed between Mia and Lucas had been noticed. Even people who lacked supernatural abilities were able to sense it: the ferocity, the absurdity.

“Marsellus was right when he said, ‘she is no matriarch’,” Beta Marcellus defiantly stated toward the council. “Her bloodlines are non-existent. She lacks any dominion over her wolf. She is... damaged.”

Every single word was heard loudly by Lucas. His hands stood still.

“They’ll pay for this,” were the only words he uttered.

Just Not Yet.

All his instincts drove him to mark her, to chase after her and claim her for everyone to witness, but that wasn’t the case. He was aware of his pack. They understood the inner workings of politics. The reality in which the borders of Silverpine enveloped was dangerous. Domestically, choosing Mia meant unleashing war internally and perhaps even externally.

The discomforting truth was that walking away from her did feel like trying to remove his heart.

He proceeded to vanish into the thick trees until he was completely couch, hiding himself until people could no longer see the torment he endured.