The Shadow Alpha
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

~Dream-~

I was once again in the familiar meadow, seated on the bench under the willow tree. Soon enoughthe beautiful woman I expected to see appeared before me with a small smile on her face.

“Good evening my dear Alpha Shadow.” She smiled wider when I stood up to hug her.

"Good evening Mother.” I greeted graciously and we took a seat on the bench.

"How are you my child?” she inquired in her soothing motherly voice and I sighed knowing betterthan to say I was fine when it was me who requested her presence.

“I am in need of your guidance mother.” She sent me a knowing look and nodded encouragingly.

“I am confused mother, by right my mate bond with Devin should have been restored the momenthe accepted me, but I don't know why I still feel the pain of his rejection, it feels as if our bond issomehow weaker than what it had been before and despite the passion and attraction we both feelwhen we are physically connected, when we are apart I feel nothing but pain. I don't know what todo anymore Mother, please I need your help.” She listened closely and took my hands into hers witha smile marring her face.

“My dear Allison, in the past there have been Shewolves such as yourself, bestowed with the giftand the responsibility of maintaining peace among your kind, but unlike you they were notfortunate enough to have a soul mate as other wolves do.” She revealed with an earnest look andmy confusion sky rocketed, “In the time of the Gods, Werewolves had one soul and one body withfour arms and four legs. They were an incredibly powerful race, but as we know, in the world wherethere is good there is evil. One day a powerful leader gathered his army and threatened to conquerthe Gods, but they were defeated by Zeus and as a punishment the entire race suffered. He splittheir bodies into two halves and took away their power; power akin to that which you possess.” Shesent me a meaningful look.

“That means that I am of the kind of the original werewolves?” my thoughts were cut short as shecontinued.

“From that day forward, the Werewolf race was tasked with replaceing their missing half before theycould live in peace. The task proved to be near impossible, many succumbed to loneliness and diedwithout having found their mates and reproducing. When the Goddess Aphrodite saw their kinddying off, she took pity on them and gave them the ability to recognise their mates by a mere scentand touch. Soon after, wolves in each area grouped together to form packs while the strongestmembers led the pack, that way it became easier to identify mates.” I listened intently as she spokeentranced by the story of our ancestors, this isn't something you can read about in any book orscroll

“When the Shadow wolf was created, she was born with a complete soul, only two arms and twolegs, she yielded the power of an original werewolf as well as the ones you know of today, but shewas never given a mate since she had a complete soul. With each generation that passed I noticedmy dear Shadow grow lonelier and lonelier and so with the help of Goddess Aphrodite and Maa KaliDevi we created another being that is made for you, but in order to create the Shadow wolf with amate, we had to share your soul with him and his with you for the bond to be created, that is howhe is connected to me too.

“The other Gods were rather unhappy with our creation, but were unable to stop us and insteadplaced a barrier between the two of you. They wanted assurance that you along with your matewould not procreate and create a whole new werewolf race that is stronger and more agile than theexisting ones. You and your mate must prove yourselves as true leaders and honest protectors ofthe Were kind, then only will your bond be fulfilled. The pain that you feel is not that of your mate'srejection, but rather the restriction of the Gods on your mate bond.” It was a lot of information totake in. It made a lot of sense and I could understand some of it now, but something was stillunclear to me.

"How do we prove ourselves mother? What should we do to gain the trust of the Gods?" I inquiredwith keen interest.

She beamed and responded, “You both hold a unique power, a power that can only be unleashedtogether. Find your soul within him and become one, but do not mistake completing the matingprocess as becoming one. Use your power for good, the choices you make will determine whetheryou are together or apart.”

I was rather puzzled by her words; I had no idea what power she spoke of and how to become onewithout completing the mate bond. I knew better than to ask questions though, if she were to giveme the answer I would have had it already, she wanted us to figure it out on our own and that'swhat 1 will do.

I looked up at her and smiled gratefully, “Thank you Mother, I will fight with everything within me tofulfil my duty to you and my mate.” She returned my smile and placed her hand on my arm.

“I trust you Allison, it's time you trusted yourself and your mate. You evoke your own inner turmoil,when you learn to forgive yourself is when you will realise why things happened the way they did.”she advised one last time before she stood up and walked back in the direction she came from, butbefore she could fully disappear she turned and spoke once more.

“To be apart in love is to be together in spirit, no evil can conquer that which cannot be seen.” Andjust like that she vanished into the darkness; the calming light that always surrounded her engulfedby the night.

~End of Dream~

My eyes snapped open as I was dragged from my dream world and thrust back into reality. Myheart was pounding; I could feel sweat dripping from my body which I soon realised was due toDevin's body heat. I carefully pried myself from his arms without waking him and placed the pillow Iused with my scent on it between his arms which he immediately clutched tightly.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was 2:30am and I groaned internally.

When am I ever going to get a proper night's rest? I thought to myself.

With a resigned sigh I grabbed a sticky note from his desk and wrote a quick note for my mate sothat he wouldn't think I ran away. I stuck the note on the bedside lamp on his side before I walkedout of his room and closed the door lightly behind me.

In the dead of the night I could hear the faint breaths of everyone in the pack house, suddenly amuffled voice caught my attention and I froze. I took a few steps back towards the direction of thevoice and found myself in front of Austin and April's door. I concentrated on their voices as I leanedagainst the wall beside their door.

“I know that he is dead Austin! Stop lying to me, I felt it, I felt him die!” April's frantic voice sobbedangrily.

Who in the world is he? The unmistakable sound of his hand coming down on her face travelled tome followed by a sharp cry from her, I stifled a gasp.

“Shut up mutt! I don't care what you feel, if you don't keep your mouth shut and finish what wecame here for I'll make sure you and that good for nothing son of mine pays for it!” Austin sneeredand I could just picture her cowering in the corner of the room as he towered over her, the way hehad done to me countless times.

My hands balled up into fists, I had to fight my urge to go in there and break his jaw for laying ahand on a woman. I heard his footsteps nearing the door, on impulse I ducked into Hunter's roomwhich was directly opposite theirs. The sight I was met with made me gag, both Hunter and Jolenewere sprawled across his bed stark naked. Thankfully all their precious jewels were covered or Imight just have needed to wash my eyes out with salt water; I guess it was my fault for barging intotheir room anyway. My cheeks flamed bright red as I listened to Austin’s footsteps grow softer as hewalked further away.

I stepped out of the room quietly when I heard his footsteps disappear downstairs, I could hearApril's muffled sobs and I once again had to hold myself back from walking in there to comfort her.I hurried down the stairs as quietly as possible, trying my hardest to ignore the quiet sobbing andrather focussed on Austin closing the front door behind him. A part of me wanted to follow him, butthe more rational part of me argued that regardless of whether I was the shadow wolf or not, therogues have become a whole lot stronger and I was very certain that the neutral land outside ourborders was prowling with them. My chances of going undetected were slim out there.