What if this is part of our destiny? What if this was how we become strong? You keep telling yourself that you are not fit for being alpha, but that is not what your brother thought.
You never knew my brother or his thoughts.
Sarge was silent for some time. I thought he had ended the conversation, and I sat there looking out over the blooming forest. It was rather odd that I had not seen any other wolf in these woods. Not like I recognized what forest I lived in at the moment or what lived in it with me.
That’s not true.
Before I could answer him, I heard snarls around me. Wolves surrounded me; I didn’t know if they happened to be Dolostone wolves or a different pack. I sat there observing them, counting them. If I could not defeat one Alpha, how would I defeat the wolves in front of me?
You defeated two wolves when you were thirteen. You may have lost against that alpha, but you can still come back and take what is ours back.
And how do you think we will take back the pack when most of them didn’t like me? Sawyer would never let Amora be by my side.
If you don’t stand your stubborn, sulking ass up and protect yourself. I will make you.
I glanced around at the wolves who had not moved from their position. Standing, I started to shed my clothes, shifting within seconds. The wolves snarled and growled, showing their teeth to me. Sarge stood there snarling back, ears laid upon our head, challenging them to charge.
Some of them glanced at each other; one wolf crawled forward on his belly, showing me respect. He shifted while on the ground and knelt, baring his neck to us. He stared back up into our golden eyes with his green ones. “We have been waiting for you, Alpha Nolen.”
Chapter Seventeen: A New Way
“What do you mean you were waiting for me? Hell, you came up to me about to tear me apart,” I asked, glancing around at the now-shifted wolves after I had shifted back to my human form. They weren’t familiar to me, which didn’t mean much. Not everyone came to my Alpha ceremony.
The male who came up to me glanced up at me, then around to the other wolves in his company. “We didn’t realize who you were till you shifted. The Goddess didn’t inform us what you looked like in human form. We’re sorry about the almost attack.”
Goddess? Is this male for real?
I believe he is, Nolen.
“What do you mean, the Goddess?” I wasn’t stupid; I understood who he was talking about, but no one I was friends with ever spoke with her, and yet this male said that he had talked with her.
The male gave me a concerned glance before he shook his head. “Boy, do you have some kind of condition? Or are you just plain stupid?”
“I’m not stupid, and I don’t know who you are, but I will not be spoken to like that!” Sarge made his way to the surface, letting the older male understand he still outranked him. He gazed at me with a stoic expression, as if my rank meant little to him.
“You could’ve fooled me. Want to fill me in on why you are here and not with your pack?”
My heart sank to my stomach as I tore my eyes from him. This was still a sore subject, even though it had been weeks. “I lost an alpha challenge. Now I have to figure out how to get it back, if they still want me.”
Nodding his head, he began to busy himself with building a fire. Glancing at him and the rest of the wolves, I fiddled with a stick I had found before throwing it into the now blazing flames. “So, will I learn your names anytime soon?”
The older wolf smiled at me, turning his gaze to mine. “My name’s Olli. The others are Hannah, Fin, Markus, and Harley. We’ve all been summoned to help you.”
“Help me what? There’s no way the six of us can defeat the Dolostone pack.” Doubt laced my voice. This wolf thought I was stupid, but he acted like we could take down the now biggest pack in the territory.
Olli laughed at me. Evidently, he thought I was funny, so I stood up and walked away. I wasn’t about to start a fight I knew would end up killing me. But there was no way I could stay near that group of wolves while they laughed at me.
Ambling away from the weird pack of wolves, I started to notice footsteps. Rounding on the person behind me, I saw it was the wolf they called Fin. “What do you want? You come to laugh at me too?”
Fin crossed his arms while he stood there inspecting me. His hazel eyes never left me as we stared at each other. “Listen, I understand what you are going through. I lost my pack a long time ago, and then a few months ago, I was guided here to them. I don’t know what the Goddess has in store for you, but I do know I’m here to make a difference for you, and so are they. You need help, and we are here to do that.”
“And what are you and they going to teach me that I haven’t already been taught?” I asked, glaring back at this male, waiting for his reply.
“We can teach you a lot and guide you to be able to obtain your pack back.” Fin came up to me, face to face; he was just as big as I was. And the way he talked he must have been an Alpha as well. “You have too much strength to be letting this old Alpha take what is yours. It’s time Alpha Wade is taken out before he decides he wants to be king over all of the werewolves.”
“So, what are you all wanting me to do? Why would the Goddess care if I lost my pack? Alphas lose their packs all the time. What makes me special?”
“Have you heard the prophecy?”