Arric kissed her on the forehead and sat down next to her. “I’ve really enjoyed these nights together, Sienna. I wish we didn’t always have to part ways afterward.”
“Me too. I think about us running away sometimes. Just leaving and never looking back.”
He nodded. “So do I, but unfortunately I have obligations in my pack. If I were to disappear now, my alpha would hunt me down.”
Sienna sighed. “I hope one day we can find a way to be together.”
“It might be sooner than you think. Preparations have ramped up, and I’m certain my pack will make their move sometime soon. We may not have many more chances to meet like this. Are you prepared to do what needs to be done?”
“I am,” she said. “Although I’m not sure I like it.”
“Think of your friends in the pack,” he said, rubbing her back softly. “Think of the old wolves and young pups. If we work together, we can spare the innocent.”
“That’s what’s keeping me going right now,” she said. “It’s later than usual; I should really get back.”
“Me too. Be safe, Sienna.”
“I always am,” she teased.
The kissed one last time and parted ways. Sienna felt a sadness overtake her as she ran back towards her cabin. Despite her feelings towards those who mocked her or mistreated her in her pack, she wasn’t entirely sure they deserved to die at the hands of the Silverlakes. Her mind worked overtime as she tried to think of a way to change the seemingly inevitable.
CHAPTER SIX
Arric whimpered in submission and Sienna eased off of him and shifted to her human form, standing over him with a ridiculous grin on her face. She’d had to work hard to take him down, and for the first time since they’d begun training together, she was certain she’d outwitted him and managed to take advantage of the briefest of openings to take him down.
“Tell me you were holding back that time,” she said. “I dare you to even pretend.”
“No,” he chuckled. “You beat me fair and square that time. For someone without the alpha gene, you’re unbelievably adept.”
“How do you know I don’t have the alpha gene?” she asked, raising her eyebrow in an exaggerated fashion.
“Your pack would treat you a lot differently if you did. You probably wouldn’t even be here with me now if you had the gene.”
“To tell the truth, I’ve never been tested for it.”
“What?” Genuine shock was visible on Arric’s face. “Why would you never test for such an important thing? In my pack, all young wolves are tested when they come of age. There’s no opting out of it.”
Sienna shrugged. “I was always a bit of a runt, and I avoided fighting and hunting. I figured everyone would just laugh at me if I tested for it. All of the males in our pack are tested when they’re young, but it’s rare that they ever bother letting us females test.”
“This is serious,” he said, taking hold of her upper arms. “Promise me you’ll find a way to test in secret. I’ve had a feeling about you since we first met, and this news makes it imperative that you learn if you have the alpha gene or not.”
“What if I do have it?” she asked. “What will that change?”
“It’s not worth discussing until we know for sure. Just tell me you’ll take the test. Your position as healer should make it easy for you to get your sample to the one who tests your pack. Is that something you can do without alerting suspicion?”
“I know a way, yes.”
“What we’re doing here,” he said, his voice taking on an anxious undercurrent, “you do remember why we’re meeting in secret?”
Sienna hugged herself against the growing chill. Normally they worked up a lot of heat from their training and then continued to stay warm through the exertion of making love, but standing there naked in the late fall air left her close to shivering. “I remember. It’s hard for me to forget that your pack is plotting to attack my village to take over the Blackstone territory. Every day I have to live with the secret of our meetings and what I now is coming down on the people I have live and work with.”
“It can’t be easy for you, I know.” Arric stepped in to wrap her in his arms. “We’re both just pawns in this game, Sienna. I’m at the mercy of my alpha, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I’m loyal to my pack, but that doesn’t mean I always agree with everything I’m ordered to do.”
“Couldn’t there be some way to stop this?”
“All we can do is try to minimize the damage. We’re just two wolves in the middle of two large packs. Neither one of us has the power to turn the will of our people against our pack masters.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I just wish we could be together without all of this danger and drama. I feel so happy and free when I’m here with you learning how to be a better wolf. These lessons and being with you are all I think about. Knowing that you’ll be waiting here for me is how I get through my day.”
“Unfortunately, I’m really not sure I have anything left to teach you. You’ve met every challenge I’ve set for you, and I’m blown away by how easily you bested me today.”
“Good,” she said with a growl. Sienna raked her nails loosely down his chest. “Then it’s time for us to play.”
Arric laughed and scooped her up into his arms. Whatever danger they might be facing, they still had this time to be together, and both of them intended to make the most of it. Arric showered her body with kisses and lay her in a soft patch of dense moss where he made love to her and held her until the sky lightened in the east to signal the arrival of morning.
After running home and falling into an exhausted sleep, the first thing Sienna did the next day was hunt down Esther. Although her friend didn’t do the testing herself, she was the one who brought the samples into the lab in town to have them tested by a trusted technician. There were werewolf allies who lived in the cities and aided in small ways, and Esther was the pack’s main point of contact with these people. She only went into town once every couple of weeks, and from what Sienna could remember, today was that day. She hurried through the village, worrying that her intentions were visible to everyone she saw.
Esther was packing the last few bundles of animal hides in the back of the truck. Although most of their money came from age old hoards of gold and other valuable items that had long ago been converted into stocks and digital investments, they still sold off their excess skins and furs to a local craftsman. The money they got for the items wasn’t nearly as important as the cover it provided them. Signs around the boundary of the forest marked their land as belonging to a native American tribe, and in a way, their people were just as old as those who’d been here before the Europeans had landed in America. The trading of skins, furs, and other hand crafted items was a way to keep some of the female pack wolves busy, and to ensure that they weren’t bothered by outsiders wondering exactly how this little known community was surviving in the woods.
“I’m glad I caught you before you left,” said Sienna. “I have a favor to ask of you when you go into town.”
“Sure thing. What can I do for you?”
“Maybe I can ride with you part of the way?”
The two women hopped into the cab of the truck, and Esther drove slowly down the only rutted dirt road that went in or out of Blackstone territory. Sienna waited until they were well clear of the last cabins and asked her friend to pull over.
“What’s with all the secrecy?”
Sienna removed a small vial of blood from her pocket and held it out towards Esther. “I need you to test this for the alpha gene.”
“Whose blood is this?”
“It’s mine.”
“Sienna! Are you insane? Why are you doing this now?” asked Esther. “Does this have something to do with that wolf from the other pack?”
“I can’t explain,” said Sienna. “All I can tell you is that I need to know this about myself. I’m tired of taking crap from Kane and all the other evil bitches i
n this pack, and some things have happened lately that have made me wonder if maybe I’m not the weak and useless woman everyone thinks I am.”
“I don’t think that,” said Esther, taking the small vial of blood despite the obvious reservations visible in her eyes. “But I’ll do this for you just the same. You know what will happen if Kane finds out, right?”
“Yes, Esther, and I’m prepared to deal with that if it comes down to it. Just make up a name for the lab and let me know the results as soon as you can. If I’m right about this, then it won’t matter who finds out by the time anyone realizes I’ve had myself tested.”
“Okay,” said Esther. “I’m going into town today anyway, so I’ll ask them to rush the test and give me an answer before I return. I’ll find you tonight.”
“Thank you,” said Sienna, embracing her friend. “Soon you’ll know how important this is.”
Esther gave her a look that said I hope you know what you’re doing, and hopped up into her truck. She gunned the engine and drove off towards town, Sienna’s future resting in a glass vial in her purse.
The day passed by with agonizing slowness. Sienna had to visit the home of one of Kane’s top warriors because his wife had taken ill with a fever, and she felt herself sweating with nerves the entire time she was around him. Testing herself for alpha at this age would be a direct challenge to Kane’s leadership, and she felt like her betrayal was written clearly across her forehead. Of course, no one else noticed how uneasy she was, because as usual, no one payed much attention to her.
By the end of the day, she was exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than sleep for a few hours before waking to go to her nightly rendezvous with Arric. She was in the middle of preparing a calming herbal tea when a light knock on her door made her jump with surprise and nearly knock the kettle to the floor. Sienna took a deep breath and went to see who it was.
“You’re back,” she said when she saw that it was Esther at the door. “Come in, come in.”
Esther looked at her with what looked like a mixture of fear and hesitation. She fidgeted with a slim envelope in her hand and finally thrust it out without saying a word.
Sienna ripped the envelope open and looked at the computer printed words covering the page. Her mind skimmed quickly, ignoring most of the medical jargon, until she saw one word printed in bold green letters:
POSITIVE
“Is this completely accurate?” she asked.
Esther nodded her head. “It’s never been wrong since they started using the test. You’re got the alpha gene alright. First female in longer than I know when.”
“You can’t tell anyone about this.”
“Are you kidding me? I’d be in just as much trouble as you if anyone found out. What are you going to do, Sienna? Why did you want to know about this?”
“I wish I could tell you more, but stay alert for danger in the coming days. I’m doing everything in my power to minimize who gets hurt, but bad things are about to happen to our pack, and I had to know this about myself before going any further to protect us.”
“I trust you,” said Esther. “Be careful, okay?”
“You too,” she replied.
Esther left her alone then, and Sienna looked at the piece of paper, confirming that she had indeed tested positive for the alpha gene. It was rare enough in a male wolf, and only Kane’s first in command had tested positive for it since she’d been alive, but the fact that she was a female alpha was nearly unheard of.
Sienna dropped the envelope and the letter into the fire. The technical proof of her alpha status meant nothing if she didn’t challenge Kane for her right to become pack master. Now that she knew what her real potential was, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep before it was time to go out to meet with Arric.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was clear that something was wrong the second Sienna emerged from the woods and saw Arric waiting for her in the clearing. He seemed agitated and restless, and was constantly glancing around him as if expecting someone to jump out at them any second.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I can’t stay tonight, but I snuck out to warn you. My pack will be raiding yours within the next forty-eight hours. If you’re going to run, now is the time. I can try to find you when it’s all over but—”
“Arric, wait,” she said, cutting him off. “I had myself tested. I’m alpha. In fact, I’m the first female alpha in as long as anyone can remember.”
“Sienna, that’s amazing,” he pulled her into a fierce embrace. “I knew there was something special about you. I sensed it from the first time I looked into your eyes.”
“You’re the only one who ever saw that in me,” she said, wondering if it was okay for an alpha wolf to cry in front of someone. “You’re the only one who ever believed in me.”
“There’s no time for pity.” He held her out at arm’s length. “I have to go now, but will you promise me that you won’t do anything rash? When the fighting begins, you’ll need to convince as many wolves as possible to surrender instead of fighting. I’ll then do my best to convince my alpha to let them live.”
“Wait a second.” She couldn’t believe she was hearing this. “What do you mean convince them? Even if some of us surrender, there’s a chance we might not live through it?”
“Our packs have been at war for so long that I can’t promise anything. My alpha is strong-willed and has not been known to show mercy, but it’s my hope that if we both stand together and show him that your pack mates are willing to join us, then he’ll allow you to live as lesser Silverlakes.”
“Arric… I don’t know if I can do that to my fellow wolves,” she said. Anger flushed through her. “I want to be with you, and I’m willing to run with you now, but I don’t know if I can give up my friends to become slaves in your pack.”
“I hope it won’t be like that,” he replied. “I’m sorry, Sienna. I have to go now. Be safe.”
Arric shifted into the great white wolf and ran off towards his pack with a speed she’d not yet seen him move. He’d never been completely honest with her about her pack’s chances of survival even if they did give themselves up, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be wrong for her to betray her family.
By the time she arrived back at camp, she knew what she had to do. She loved Arric, that much she knew in her heart, but he was wrong to think his pack had any right to take Blackstone territory and enslave the weak and the young. As much as she hated the idea of helping Kane, she decided that she had no option but to warn him. She would do it for Esther, and the young, and all the other wolves who’d ever shown her a bit of kindness.
Several of her pack were still sitting around the fire when she arrived back at the camp. She saw some of the women who’d teased her for years, and she realized that even these wolves didn’t deserve to die just because they were self-conscious and worried about their own places in the pack. Should the be taught a little humility at some point? Most definitely, but that didn’t mean they should be slaughtered in the night.
Sienna went off to find Kane and located him near his outdoor den. He was alone this time, and Sienna was glad she wouldn’t have to do this in front of Pelmay again.
“What do you want now, kitten?” he asked with an exaggerated sigh.
She gritted her teeth at his insult and reminded herself why she was doing this.
“I have news that the Silverlakes are going to raid our village in the next forty-eight hours. We have to prepare for their attack and get ready to defend ourselves.”
“Nonsense,” Kane scoffed. “What makes you think you know better than my scouts and spies? I sincerely doubt that anything you heard around your gossip circles carries any truth. Find someone else to bother with your nattering or maybe put that mouth to use doing something I’ll enjoy.”
He grabbed his crotch in a suggestive manner and Sienna felt her cheeks flush red with anger. She was sick of him always demeaning her in private and
in front of others.
“We should prepare ourselves even if I’m wrong,” she said. “It’s the wise thing to do.”
“I don’t take orders from a lowly bitch like you,” he spat. “Tirrin! Haul this whore out of here. Round up some of the other boys and teach her a lesson about her place at the bottom of the pack.”
The wolf called Tirrin stepped out of the nearby trees, followed by two more of Kane’s warrior hunters. She turned to look at the approaching wolves, and saw the curious eyes of one or two females lurking in the background as well. It seemed they were drawing a crowd.
“You’re nothing but a pathetic coward,” she said. “I’m beginning to wonder if you should even be alpha.”
Kane held his hand up, ordering Tirrin to halt his approach. “And I suppose you want to take my place? Sienna the herbalist is going to unseat me and become pack master?” He laughed loudly and several of the onlookers picked up the laughter.
Sienna didn’t let it get to her, instead using it to fuel her rage. “Yes. I challenge you here and now for alpha of the Blackstone pack.”
“Your challenge is as worthless as that chunky round ass of yours,” he sneered. “Without the alpha gene, you’ll never be able to rule this pack.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Esther, stepping forth from the crowd. “I saw the result myself. She has the alpha gene.”
“How was I not made aware of this? I’m to be informed of every alpha gene test conducted in this pack.”
“I had her do it in secret just yesterday,” said Sienna. She added a small lie to keep her friend from harm should worse come to worst. “I threatened her to keep her quiet.”
“A challenge to alpha is a serious thing,” said Kane. His eyes narrowed to angry slits, and he spoke through clenched teeth. “Once you make it, there’s no backing out.”
“I have no intention of backing down,” said Sienna, holding her chin high and balling her fists as if ready to fight then and there. “I formally challenge you.”
Rise of the Female Alpha Page 5
