The Shadow Alpha

"Welcome to the Blue Moon pack, I am Alpha Allison Trust Wells. We hope your stay with us will be fruitful and comfortable, so please; make yourselves at home.” I greeted the group of warriors sent by Alpha Jeston of the Crescent Moon pack.

It was he who had called up and asked that I train a group of his warriors; they were one of the packs who were badly affected by the Rogue attacks.

Alpha Jeston himself suffered the loss of both his sons and his Beta's son, the pack was not only grieving the loss of their future leaders, but also needed to start picking up the pieces of their broken pack. Alpha Jeston explained that since he had no other heir, they had taken the decision as a pack to hand over the Alpha position to his Beta's daughter, who was their last hope. He specifically requested that she be trained in Alpha capacity by the “Prodigal Alpha Female’ as he so keenly put it and I could not refuse his request.

“Thank you for having us Alpha Allison. My name is Yasmin Hamoudi, daughter of Beta Amar Hamoudi.” She stated somewhat mechanically and offered her hand for me to shake.

She had a good grip and by the fire in her eyes, I knew I would enjoy having her around.

She turned and gestured for her group to step forward, “This is; Harry, Lucas, Max and Hera-lee.” She pointed out as each one shook my hand and bowed slightly at my authority.

“It is a pleasure to have you all with us. My sincerest condolences on your loss, as I always say; the spirit of all heroes lost in battle, lives on in those left behind. I see the fire in your eyes, you will be victorious, You just have to believe in yourselves.” I watched closely, gauging their reactions to my words and was not at all surprised when they remained emotionless apart from the curt nods they sent my way.

“Jacob and Roseanna; my Beta and Beta female, will show you to your rooms and help you settle in. Should you need anything, do not hesitate to ask either of them or any pack member for that matter if you are unable to find me.” I advised and was once again rewarded with a curt nod.

“They seem awfully stiff.” Oliver commented, wrapping an arm around my shoulder once they had left with Jake and Rosie. With a lingering look in their direction, I leaned into his embrace.

“They've been through a lot; it's a defence mechanism I suppose.” I said and he got a knowing look in his eyes, he too knew the power of loss. “They're from Welsh, the Crescent Moon pack. You must have heard of them, surely?” he nodded distractedly.

"Alpha Jeston Jones. I've met him, back when I was searching for Rosie and Lilly.” He informed me, I forgot for a moment that he’s met practically every Alpha in Europe.

"Of course you have. You're on a first name basis with practically every Alpha in Europe.” I teased and he rolled his eyes.

"Quit exaggerating. Now, what is it you're planning for them?” he wondered out loud. I had thought of a few ways to kick start their training and by their behaviour I knew just which one to start with. “Trust.” He frowned not understanding what I was getting at.

“The most important part of working as a team is trusting each other. They might have trained together for years and might even be friends, but it's clear as day that they're each fighting their own inner battles.” He considered it for a moment and nodded for me to continue, “While it's okay to deal with your weaknesses on your own, your team can't have your back when they don't know what those weaknesses are. Furthermore, you can't fully trust someone you don't know.” I elaborated.

“That's true. I don't know if I ever told you this before, but you're a really good Alpha, the rest of us can only wish to be half as good as you are.” he commented earnestly, making me smile.

"You haven't, but thanks, though I can't take all the credit. The people around me make me a good Alpha because they believe and trust in me, plus it's also kind of my destiny.” I said and he gaped at me.

“You're kidding right!” he stopped and pulled away to stand in front of me. With his hands on my shoulders he stared me deep in the eye, “Allison, you're not an amazing Alpha because it's what your destiny expected of you. You're a great Alpha, because you care. You go above and beyond what is expected of you. You're forever putting everyone before yourself. You're more than an Alpha, you're a Luna too and that makes it all the more special. When will you see that?” I couldn't stop the tears that welled up in my eyes; no one had ever made me feel this special. It was something about the way he said it that made the difference.

“Thank you Oliver, you dont know how much that means to me.” I choked up slightly and pulled him in for a hug before he could see the tears fall.

I am such a girl. I laughed inwardly.

"You're going to do great, beautiful, you are going to make the best warriors of them.” he solidified and placed a lingering kiss on my forehead.

“The goal of this exercise is simple. Don't die.” I stopped pacing and shrugged. Of course I knew that they have trained with blindfolds before, but never together; their training journal said so. Yasmin handed it to me when they arrived; it was a record of all the training exercises that they performed at the Crescent Moon pack and states who underwent what forms of training.

“You will each have a chance to be the “eyes’ of your team, to lead the blind through the obstacles and ensure that they all get to the end without getting marked. Anyone who removes their blindfold prematurely will be considered marked, a.k.a. “dead’ and will negatively affect their own score. There will be no time limit for now, but you will be competing against each other for the quickest time and highest score. Winner gets bragging rights and the evening off while the others enjoy making us dinner.” I chirped.

It was almost amusing watching them stand stiffly in a straight line, not reacting to my words. All but Max had blindfolds on, he was the lucky one who got to lead his team through the course first. Poor guy.

“Everyone understand?” they nodded curtly and I gestured for him to get them in place.

"May, it is your duty to lead your team through the obstacle course. The key to this exercise is to trust your leader and believe that he will not lead you astray. Good luck.” They were a determined bunch, I'd give them that.

“Now let's see how long that lasts.” Shadows inner smirk was mirrored on my face as I counted them down.

“Three, two, one... Go!" I screamed and tapped the screen to start the timer.

“Twenty bucks says that the Alpha chick blows her top first.” Dristan bargained amusedly as we watched Yasmin's face turn red when Max mixed up his directions sending them toppling like dominos over a stray log kept to the side.

"You sexist pig! Twenty bucks and a new pair of heels says she will have the fastest time with the highest score.” Peyton exclaimed and I shook my head at Max's flustered face when Lucas clumsily tumbled through the tire run.

The peanut gallery continued placing bets and insulting each other while I flinched at the bright red paint marks on three of them.

The aim of the game was to not touch certain areas of the course which were painted with red paint; the amount of paint on the team members would be scored out of ten and added to the final score.

I made notes on every mistake Max made, I would have to work on each person separately and address their weaknesses. Taking a peek at the time I realised that they were closing in on thirty minutes; far too long for such a course.

Thus far, Max was not only terrible at direction, but also didn’t do well under pressure and seemed intimidated by some of his team members.

"What do you think?” Oliver shuffled up next to me.

“They're dead.” I stated plainly and he cringed.

“That bad, huh? Didn't you travel around the world training packs a few years ago, what about them?” he inquired and I sighed.

"Yeah, but they were a very small pack, so instead of going to their pack and training everyone, Alpha Jeston arranged for his warriors to travel to a nearby pack and be trained there. From what I'd heard, a large group of movers settled with them after the rogue threat increased. I don't have the details, but I am very sure that they were not well equipped to protect themselves. A large number of untrained wolves to protect will increase the number of fatalities in any attack.” I speculated regretfully.

Much to my relief they all made it to the platform a minute later. With a grimace I walked up to them, “Congratulations, you all managed to get killed.” Sarcasm dripped from my voice as I eyed the red dots on each and every one of them, Max included.

Neither of them spoke, instead they all looked pissed at each other. I narrowed my eyes at their behaviour, but no one budged. With a huff I ordered them back to the starting point.

This is going to be a long day. I groaned inwardly.