Alpha Bond
Chapter 2

Ella’s POV

Standing in front of the window, I stare outside, watching the moon playing hide and seek with me. Sometimes it hides behind the dark clouds, and then it peeks out of them, caressing the ground with its calming radiance.

Dad’s presence beside me causes me to tear my gaze away from the sky to glance at him.

My lips tilt into an involuntarily smile when I look at him. Lifting his hand, he caresses my head, looking at me with affection, filling my heart with warmth as a blanket of safety covers my being.

Whenever I am with dad, I feel nothing can happen to me. I feel brave... I feel invincible... I feel safe. His presence is enough assurance that nothing can go wrong in my life as long as he is with me.

“Sometimes, we are not there for you as much as we are there for your sisters, and you may think that we don’t care about you. But this is not true.” Placing an arm around my shoulder, dad pulls me into his side, “Ivory and I love all of you evenly, but you hold a special place in our hearts. You are our perfect child; even Elena and Thea are perfect in their own ways, but you don’t need us as they do.”

It is true; I miss dad. I know it is impossible because he is always with me. But still, there are some moments when I truly miss him... I miss being with him.

“You are a perfect balance of Ivory and me in every way. You are not only a part of us, but you have a part of our souls with you. You are the one who truly defines Donovon and Ivory.” Glancing down at me, he presses his lips against my forehead as tears brim in my eyes.

“You are the reason why I am alive because you gave me the strength to fight against that curse that snatched everything from me.” Swallowing, he attempts to hold back his emotions, “You saved me, Ella; you are your dad’s savior.”

Wrapping my arms tightly around him, I hug him as tears slip from my eyes.

“I love you, Dad,” I whisper while tightening my hold on him.

“I love you, too, pup.” He kisses my hair and places his chin on my head.

“Come on, Dad, let’s go on a stroll.” Linking my arm through his, I start pulling him outside.

I can sense something bothering him, but he will not talk to me here where Elena or Thea can hear us. He often shares his problems with me, but we try to keep Elena and Thea away from worries.

Elena has a different way of solving issues which often involves breaking bones, while Thea is too young to think about any such things.

“So, now tell me, what is wrong?” Turning on my heels, I start walking backward as soon as we are away from home.

“Nothing can stay hidden from you, right?” Dad chuckles in amusement.

“Absolutely, right,” I reply with a smirk. “I am a part of your soul, right? So it means you can never hide your emotions from me.”

We both walk for a while then sit on a wooden bench in the pack ground.

“Your mom and I are worried about Thea.” He locks his hands in front of him and rests his elbows on his knees.

“Worried, why? What’s wrong with Thea?” Worry laces my heart, thinking about something happening to my Thea.

“We feel she doesn’t have a wolf.” Dad looks at me then shifts his gaze to stare ahead.

“She is just twelve. Usually, we shift into our wolves when we are sixteen.” I shrug, not understanding their concern.

“This applies to normal werewolves, not you all.” Dad shakes his head with a sigh, “You shifted into your wolf when you were just a few days old, Elena got her wolf when she was six, but we haven’t sensed Thea’s wolf presence.”

“She has discovered her blessing at the same age as you and Elena did. So the absence of her wolf is worrying us.” He runs his hand through his hair.

“Dad, you are missing one point here. Elena and I faced similar situations that triggered us to shift. But luckily, Thea hasn’t faced any such thing. Maybe that’s why her wolf will appear when she will come to an age.” Shaking my head, I shrug.

Death had touched me while Elena defeated death when the rogues attacked her and Thea. Somewhere these experiences had triggered our shifts.

I can see my words don’t comfort dad, as his grave expression remains the same. He is worried about Thea’s life because every blessing is a curse in its own way.

I can understand his and mom’s worries, because just like us, even if she uses her powers, it will affect her. And without the support of her wolf, her recovery will become difficult when she fully gains her power.

“We will keep her safe and will never let any harm touch her.” Placing my hand over dad’s hand, I look at him, “Nothing will ever happen to her; because even without her wolf, she is strong. Because she is Ivory and Donovon’s daughter.” I smile at him reassuringly and lean against his shoulder.

He drops a kiss on my head and nods his head, and I can sense determination brewing inside him—determination to keep us all safe.

The sound of excited chatter and laughter fills the air of the pack ground. Almost every pack member is present in the pack ground, enjoying the bonfire night, which happens every month to celebrate successful shifts of new wolves.

I love these gatherings because the entire pack comes together to share the happiness of the newly shifted wolves as a big family.

Later in the night, we will shift into our wolves to go on a pack run to let these new wolves live the joy of being in a pack. It is a way of bonding with the newly shifted wolves to create a sense of loyalty in them.

However, tonight is a little special as we celebrate the first shift of Gavin and his mate Linda’s twins Brandon and Bryan, who have turned sixteen this month.

Both Brandon and Bryan are troublemakers of the pack. And their leader is my own sister Elena. It is like they have selected her as their Alpha. And the mission of this little pack is to annoy the hell out of Derik, Uncle Cole’s son. Derik is turning nineteen in a few months, and he is my best friend.

My eyes move to mom and dad as they look relaxed in each other embrace. Mom is sitting on dad’s lap as he talks with Uncle Cole and Luca.

Mom is immersed in some conversation with Luca’s mate Maya. Maya is not a typical werewolf, as she was a guardian. I don’t know much about the guardian other than they are the most powerful and deadly kind of werewolves, and they are sort of protectors. Their duty is to keep the peace between the packs similarly to Elders and eliminate any threat to our kind. They are almost like royalty because of their position in our world.

Luca and Maya moved permanently into the pack when I was ten years old. Maya left her clan because she was tired of the way most of the other guardians treat her. The guardians are often not welcoming towards female guardians, and mainly they treat them as objects.

Guardians don’t follow the mating rituals; they mate for convenience and for the benefit of their clan. Moreover, most of the mating is decided by their leader. Since Maya went against her leader and chose to stay with her mate, she is looked down upon by most of her previous clan members other than her group of friends.

Mom told me that apart from Maya, there were another two guardians, Andrew and Sienna, who went against their laws and accepted their mate bond.

It is rare for two guardians to be mates because of their powerful personalities; the clashes are bound to happen, which can be destructive for them and others.

When they were pregnant, the clan leader order to kill them and their unborn child because their baby would have been one of the few purebred guardians, someone stronger than the rest of the guardians. He was afraid that he would lose his position since that baby would be more powerful than him.

Unfortunately, after years of hiding and becoming rogues, Andrew and Sienna were killed by their leader with the help of other rogues. But their son survived.

However, when the group of guardians who were loyal to Andrew and Sienna found what their leaders did with them, they avenged their death by killing their leader.

They came to our pack looking for their son because they could sense he is alive. Maya was one of the members of that group who came to replace their eight-year-old son.

Oliver. This name seems familiar yet foreign.

Grandpa saved him, and he brought him to the pack. Mom says that Oliver never used to leave my side and wanted to be with me all the time. He never cared that I couldn't understand him; still, he used to share his every thought with me.

He had even protected me with his life when some people tried to attack me when I was a baby.

I wish I could remember him.

A small sigh passes through my lips as I miss the person whom I don't even remember.

Sadly, even though dad asked guardians to bring Oliver back to the pack after his training, they never fulfilled their promise. More like the new leader, he never fulfilled the promise. Maya said that their leader separated Oliver from their group after few years of initial training and send him away to some unknown place against their will. Since they never question the authority so they couldn't do anything about that.

She left the clan after this since Oliver was the only one because of whom Luca and she were staying in the clan.

Mom and dad tried everything in their power to replace him, but it just seemed like he disappeared from the face of the earth. Both mom and dad hate guardians with passion since they went back on their word, and now we don't have any information about Oliver.

Even when I think of their leader, a burning sensation engulfs my chest, as my wolf wants to punish him severely. Because of him, Oliver is not with us.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, trying to reign my anger because, for some reason, the thought of him not being here with us makes me furious.

After a while, when I feel like not murdering someone, I mingle with other pack members. My eyes wander to look for Elena as I haven't seen her since afternoon, but soon my gaze replaces her as she walks towards the pack ground with a smug look on her face while Bryan and Brandon are flanking on her each side like the team they are.

Twins might be troublemakers, but they are fiercely loyal to the pack, especially Elena.

“Whenever they are together, I smell trouble.” Derik slips his hands in his pockets as he stands beside me, staring at the trio with a calculative gaze.

Derik is Uncle Cole's and his mate Maria's son and my closest friends. At one point, almost everyone in the pack used to think we would be mates because of how close we are.

However, we both were appalled with the idea of us being mates because it was almost like kissing your sibling. We had already decided that we would have mutually broken the bond if this had turned out to be true. But thankfully, we are not mates.

Honestly, I am not even eager to replace my mate. I believe when the time will be right, I will meet him. There is no need to focus my life around my mate or trying to replace him.

“But they are together most of the time.” I frown in confusion.

“Yeah, that’s why I always sense trouble... because these three are trouble.” He shakes his head, still eying them warily.

“But you love them.” I nudge his shoulder with a teasing smile.

Instead of answering, he rolls his eyes, but there is a faint smile on his lips.

More than friends, we are all like siblings. Once Derik broke Eddie's arm because he called Elena a freak while twins thrashed his car.

It’s simple if you mess with one, you mess with all.

He fake growls at me when I continue to smile.

A loud bang is heard, followed by the screams of some she-wolves. Derik and I scan the area noticing other warriors are also alert, ready to wipe any threat.

Not even a moment has passed when three figures pass us, at a blinding speed disappearing into the forest.

Surprise gasps and some muffled waves of laughter cause me to look around to replace everyone glancing at the sky. My eyes widen in horror when I witness the sky fills with fireworks that loosely resemble a penis.

“Elena!” Mom growls angrily while dad’s laughter resonates throughout the ground. Even Grandpa seems amused while Grandma presses her hand against her forehead while shaking her head probably planning to bathe Elena in holy water.

Mom's eyes flash as she takes off in the direction where Elena has gone.

It seems like tonight; mom will be hunting my dear sister.

Thanks for reading. The next update will be on Sunday. :)