The Secrets That Lie

Nina

I couldn't stop the shaking of my leg as the teacher droned on about quadratic equations. It was the last class of the day, and I hated math.It was my least favorite subject in school. My favorite thing is english. It didn’t help that today was Friday, and I had shopping to do for tomorrow. I actually hated shopping almost as much as math, but tomorrow was a special occasion. Tomorrow would be the first day in history a female would take the alpha tite. That female would be me. I’m slightly a badass, despite being overly shy.

I actually come from a long line of alphas, but I am and always will be the only child of Alpha Lowell of the Valley Pack. Despite the long history of the pack it still remains one of The 12 Great Packs. 12 of the largest packs in the world that run North America. The Alphas of the packs also make up the council.

The teacher mentions something that makes me snap out of my daze just long enough to jot down some words, and look at my watch. Twenty minutes to go, and I can feel my heart rate spike again. I feel as if it could burst with the speed it is beating at, but I think again to the ceremony.

All of the alphas and future alphas of the 12 packs will be there. The Blue Shadows is the closest pack, and the pack most against my ceremony. They don’t feel a female should be alpha no matter the circumstance. Alpha Leroy is a very sexist man who is bent on tradition. The other packs allowed it because of my wolf. Despite my shy nature, I can be quite awkward in person, because when I speak the words always get mixed up, and I give the wrong impression. That is why I prefer to speak through the mind link. It helps that I can speak to many people at once. Most can only speak one on one, but because of my wolf I am stronger, and able to reach more people at once.

My wolf is the white wolf of history. The wolf is said to be closest to the moon goddess. Blessed with a coat so white as to show her purity, and green eyes that glow when I get angry to show her power. Valarie is the name of my wolf. She is considered the daughter of the goddess.

The only wolf in history that is comparable to the white wolf is the black wolf. There hasn’t been a black wolf in almost 500 years. The last black wolf seen died shortly after the last white wolf. That makes me the first white wolf in over 500 years, and a black wolf has yet to appear since then. While the white wolf was considered the moon goddess’s daughter the black wolf was considered her son. It is said these two wolves when born together always bring a new era into the wolf community.

The bell rings, and snaps me out of my daze. I begin to stuff things into my bag as a familiar scent fills my nose. Without looking up I finish putting my things away quickly, and stand up giving Darek a brief smile before I stand up. When we head to the door I see Grey standing in the doorway with his eyes scanning the area. I see Derek’s eyes gloss over, and know he is mind linking him probably asking if the coast is clear before walking out with me following him. They were both very overprotective of me due to the fact that the three of us grew up together like family.

They were always like this even before we found out I would be alpha, so when they learned that they readily accepted, and even became more overprotective. To the point they wouldn't even let me go shopping on my own. Even when it was for ‘female’ things, which for a shy and awkward girl was very hard to accept at first.

We walked in silence with Derek on my right, and grey on my left until we reached Grey’s white 2017 Hummer. We all ride to school together most days to save gas, time, and miles. As Grey walks to the driver’s side to start the engine, Darek opens the back door and looks in before holding out his hand to help me up. I take his hand to use as leverage as I vault myself up to the hummer which sits at my waist. Despite my wolf being one of the largest in history I am rather short at only 5’2”. Most other wolves tower over me in human form. After I climb in Derek shuts the door before climbing in the passenger seat with ease. We back out of the school parking lot that is now filled with teenagers, wolves and humans alike. As we back out I take in the view around me which is almost picturesque with the clear blue sky, cars lined in rows, and teenagers chatting happily in the afternoon sunlight. Once we get on our way past the school gates Grey is the first to break the silence glancing at me in his rearview mirror.

“Can you please stop freaking out about tomorrow?” he sighs out.

“Yeah you are going to do great” Darek chimes in.

“Who says I'm freaking out?” I ask, making my voice sound more arrogant than nervous attempting to convince them otherwise. I speak to them with ease most of the time, only having rare occasions where I fumble with my words. I have known them since childhood.

“Uh, the leg shaking”

“Finger tapping”

“And let's not forget being more scatterbrained than usual.” They both bounce back and forth picking different qualities I have been showing this past week. I sigh in exasperation rolling my eyes wondering why I can never hide anything from these two.

Darek being the son of my father’s beta was born to be second in command. This means we spent a lot of time together growing up in the pack house, and even going to school together he was my first friend. Grey and I met a few years later when we were four. When I had my first shift many years earlier than expected my parents discovered the type of wolf I was, so my father ordered his third in command, the gamma, and also Grey’s father, to move his family to the house for more protection. Grey and I weren’t always close, with my fear of people keeping me from talking to him too much in the beginning. This led to him not liking me much, but he and Darek immediately became best friends. After some pleading from Darek we began to talk a little more. It was hard at first, but after a while it became easier. We three have been inseparable since then. Our parents even referred to us as “The Valley Three” being the three strongest, and the future leaders of the pack.

“Look sis,” Grey says with a sigh as he uses their old nickname for me, which they only use when they're really worried. “we know you’re worried-”

“But you can’t let your nerves get to you.” Darek finishes the sentence for Grey taking over the big brother role. While Grey has always been more like a younger brother Derek has always acted like a big brother to both of us, His calm demeanour, and ‘logic before action’ personality being perfect for the role. Silence settles over the car as they wait for my response, and I know I have no chance of winning this argument.

“Ok,” I cave. They had a point. I was letting my nerves get to me too much.

“Let's just focus on getting you the perfect dress for tomorrow.” Darek says in a calming tone as I sigh, and look out the window to see a mixture of trees and buildings pass by in a blur.

“I’m sure you are going to look stunning.” Grey coos with a hint of pride, and I roll my eyes. Just as the car pulls to a stop in front of a small tan building with a big sign that reads “Sara’s Boutique.” You could see the dresses through the windows that surrounded the building on three of the four sides. With the evening sun beginning to set in the background I wish I had a camera with me to capture the view. Grey turns the engine off, and slides out with ease. Being 6’2” his tall, but built frame slid out with a grace I would never have. Even with his muscular frame he has always had a sense of ease with the way he moves, unlike me who looks like a fish out of water most of the time. Darek slides out in a similar way with minor differences. He was an even 6’ with a more slender build, and I sigh wondering how these two lethal giants have more grace and elegance in their pinky fingers than I have in my whole body. Darek opens my door, and takes my hand to help me down. As I jump down I land wrong and stumble while Darek has to pull me to him just before I lose all control and fall face first. Point proven, because once I'm stable he releases my hand chuckling at me, and stays on my left side while Grey joins me on my right as we walk in. When we enter my eyes go wide, and I feel a small gasp escape my mouth at the amount of dresses in this small shop.

“Wow” Grey whispers still beside me wide eyed and dazed as he looks around.

“So where should we start?” Darek inquires, fingering the fabric to a dress next to him looking calm as always. Just as he says that a woman enters the room, and all of our eyes snap to her.

“Hi! I’m Sara!” she says in an overly chipper tone, and puts an award winning fake smile on. “How can I help you today?” Darek steps forward taking the lead before any of us have a chance to.

“Hi,” he replies in a cool voice flashing a smile to the woman. “We were just looking for a dress for a special event tomorrow evening.” The woman nods thoughtfully, and her eyes find me mostly hidden behind the guys, and her eyes scan up and down without showing anything.

“Am I to presume this young lady will be wearing the gown?” She questions while still looking at me with a polite smile on her face. At her words I hesitantly step forward away from the protection of Grey who was partially hiding my small figure, and in front of Derek who was hiding the rest of me.

“Y-yes ma’am” I force the words out, still unsure of myself. She nods and smiles kindly at me before reaching out her hand offering me to take it, so she can lead me where she needs to go.

“Well then we have much to do.” She chirps as she gives the guys a reassuring smile. I hesitate for a moment before taking her hand, and let her lead me to the back while she tells the boys to sit in the waiting room. Once back there she gives me another warm smile that is genuine, and asks me to strip to my underwear so she could measure me. As if I wasn’t already uncomfortable. I thought as I began to strip. Once I only had my bra and underwear left she asked me to step up to a small round island where her eyes went wide in surprise before she quickly hid it, and got to work pulling out a small measuring tape. It only took a few moments till she had finished. As she took a step back and eyed me quizzically asking if I had any idea of a type of dress I wanted.

I had actually put a lot of thought into the dress that I would wear, so I began to describe the dress and how I wanted it to fit. I wanted to get something that complimented my slim figure and showed off my arms and back which you can clearly see the definition in without me having to flex, but I didn't want it to be too revealing in the front.As I wasn’t exactly “blessed” in the bust area like most girls, partly due to how much I worked out, but I had an okay waist that I wanted to accent. What surprised her the most when she made me strip were the abbs that visibly show without flexing, and my natural curves that I always hid with baggy jackets in school. I wanted a dark color that would make my one good feature (my green eyes) pop, but will show my arms and back. I wanted floor length, as I was a naturally short person, and form fitting To show my curves that I normally hide. Taking all of this into consideration I saw her eyes widen, and I could tell she had one in mind. She quickly smiled, and held up a finger gesturing for me to wait there before she quickly turned around ready to leave, then as if remembering something stopped and turned around.

“Take off your bra please” she said as she turned back around, and almost ran to an unknown place. “It must be destiny because this dress is in your size, I would have to fix the length, but that shouldn't take too long.” She said coming back to where I was standing carrying a dress I almost fainted at the sight of. She helped me put it on, but wouldn't let me look in a mirror as she took a step back, and her eyes widened in awe.

“Wait Right there, and don't look, '' she added as a warning before running off again, and returning with a pair of heels. She again helped me into them, and gently took my hand leading me out to the boys who stood up as soon as I entered, but neither of them spoke as I stood there feeling uncomfortable.

Grey was the first to speak, “Beautiful” he whispered nearly inaudibly, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Magnificent” Darek who was normally so calm breathed the word out. Which made me even more curious as to how I looked. Almost sensing this Sara lead me to a mirror, and I gasped in amazement. My normally shy slender person was draped in a beautiful floor length black skin tight dress with small jewels that created two thin straps. And formed a plunging neckline that slowly faded as they went down. While the back was covered in a see through material laced in pearls that stopped right above my hips, and just as the pearls stopped the small jewels began framing my hip, and meeting in the middle where they went down slowly fading in a single thin line. I lifted the dress to see the heels she had let me borrow were black as well with small jewels decorating the two straps around my ankles which tied in the back. While the toe was left open with a single strap that ran across my foot. It only took about thirty minutes for her to trim the dress. While I searched for the heals she had let me borrow in my size. She put the dress in a black zip up dress bag with ‘Sara’s Boutique’ on it in big letters for us to take home, and by the time we left it was already dark.With it being so late we decided to grab something to eat on the way home. Darek and Grey both got two meals while I got one. Being wolfs we naturally ate more, yet again this is where I was different though. I ate like a fat human while the others ate like two or three. We ate on the way home not really talking. Realizing how tired we all were when we got home we went straight to our rooms, and said goodnight to one another. When I closed the door to my room I placed the dress, and shoes in my closet before I crashed on my bed without even bothering to change.

My alarm went off that morning at 6:00am like always causing me to groan, and roll out of bed. getting dressed in a sports bra and leggings ready to go down for training I couldn’t shake the nervous feeling I had. I brushed it off as it was just making me nervous for the ceremony today, but something kept nagging me that it was more than that. My lessons were a blur and I don’t really remember breakfast. When I snapped out of my daze it was 8:00am, and I was headed to the shower. The ceremony would be all day for me, because I had professionals coming to do my hair and makeup. They wouldn't get here till 9:00am though. As I walked out of my bathroom in a robe with my hair tied in a towel from my shower I heard a knock on the door alerting me the hair and makeup team were here. That was yet another blur that lasted through lunch where I got warned not to mess up any progress as we all took a break. They finished at 6:00pm looking me up and down, finally satisfied with their work they helped me into the dress carefully so as to not mess anything up. They smiled at the final product in awe, and left me to put my shoes on. When I was ready I stood in front of the mirror, and didn’t recognise the person staring back at me. Where there was once that shy slender awkward girl now stood a beautiful woman who held confidence, grace, and who looked almost regal. I let out a slow breath calming my nerves before I turned and opened the door to head downstairs. As I head downstairs I find Darek and Grey waiting at the end of the stairs with their backs to me. When they hear me coming down they both turn around to look at me. Both of their eyes go wide causing me to blush and look down when I hear them both gasp a little. When I reached the bottom they each took an arm and led me out of the house to my car thankfully, as it was the only car of the three of ours that sat low enough for me to get into with ease. My mother and father left early to make the preparation announcements, so the guys decided to take me. After we get in the car I can feel the anxiety and excitement radiating off of both of them. Nobody speaks the whole time which made the twenty minute ride feel like an eternity. When we finally arrived the sun was just beginning to set, and even before any of the car doors opened I wanted to run away. as all the scents of so many wolves filled my nose. I felt my anxiety spike, when suddenly a scent stood out, and I felt my heart leap into my throat, and my anxiety tripled. He was here. “Mate” Valarie whispered before she tried to force her way out. Holding her in immediately gave me a migraine so bad I thought I might faint. Just then Derek opened my door for me, and held out a hand to help me out.