The Rogue Alpha’s Claim

Ariel listened to the woman’s footsteps as she busied herself around while she waited for her. In her wait, her eyes wandered around, taking up the entire room.

Outside, she may be calm, but inside, she is a panicking mess.

If this actually works, she would be leaving here a werewolf, and she didn’t know how to feel.

Was she going to change, or would a wolf come and be bound to her? How did the change even work?

All these thoughts plagued her mind, and they weren’t leaving anytime soon.

“It will be fine.”

“Uhh?” Ariel shifted her head to see her better, where she was still bent over the table, doing what she had no idea of.

“I can literally see your head swimming with different ideas, but you don’t have to worry. Being a werewolf is the same thing as being a human. You don’t have to learn it; it just comes naturally.”

“How did you know I was thinking about it?”

The woman gave her a little smile and made a show by zipping her lips, but Ariel could only shake her head. She was convinced she could read her mind somehow.

The woman came closer to her, holding a syringe in her hands, and Ariel stared at it, her eyes widening with every second she made contact with it. “What are you trying to do?” She hoped the fear wasn’t so obvious in my head.

She had a particular aversion to needles, and if it were possible, she would totally do without them.

“This,” the woman began, raising the syringe in her hand, “is just going to juggle your memory. There are bits and pieces of your memories scattered about, but this would help bring everything together, and that will be the start of your recovery.”

“Okay.” Her voice shook as she replied, but she braced herself as she saw the glint of the needle as it caught the light, and she shivered involuntarily. It was coming close, but she couldn’t take it any longer. “Can I hold your hand?” She blurted out, needing something to focus on.

“Of course.” Ariel held her arm, and almost swiftly, the needle entered her arm, not giving her any time to prepare.

“Ouuu.” Ariel whined more out of shock than out of pain.

Then the waiting game started.

She had expected it to be immediate and swift, but nothing happened. More than five minutes had passed, and all she could still feel was the little sting of the needle.

“I am not feeling anything.” Ariel reminded her, raising her head to look at her when more time had elapsed and nothing seemed to happen.

“Just give it time. It should start any moment from now.” The woman replied, and she continued with her work.

“Alright.” Ariel murmured, but she laid her head to rest, humming the tune of some song she had caught. But more minutes trickled in, and she was still as ever. “I don’t think this is-ahhhh.” Her words were abruptly cut short as her body was seized by a sudden and intense tremor. She began to shake violently, her entire frame vibrating with an uncontrollable ferocity. “What is happening to me?” She asked, but her words were reduced to a mere mumble as her body convulsed.

“Shhhh.” The woman was by her side, holding her hands, while the free one stroked Ariel’s hair. “It would be alright; just relax and let go.”

“What have you done to me?!” She tightened her hold, refusing to let go.

“Shhh. Just close your eyes and let go. It will soon be over.” But Ariel was adamant, determined to see it to the end. “Close your eyes!” The woman snapped, her anger getting kindled with each passing minute Ariel wasted.

Ariel found her eyes closing despite her efforts to keep them open. There was something in her voice that prevented her from going against her will.

“Now let it go. Forget all your worries and focus on finding your wolf.”

Ariel did as she was told, letting the wind blow her worries away.

And this time she did see.

Ariel found herself whisked away through the sands of time, and she was transported back into the carefree world of her childhood. She was no more than five years old, running across the landscape as she chased after her parents in a game of hide and seek.

Their laughter rang through the meadow, and their joy was loud for all to see.

She found herself this time by her father’s side, a constant shadow as he attended his meetings. She had refused to leave his side, content to observe from a distance. And this was soon to become a ritual, following him to any event he had until the day he took his final breath.

She was once again transported to another memory, and she drew a ragged breath as it played in front of her. She could remember this scene vividly. It was the day her parents had died.

One minute later, she was in her mother’s arms, and the next, she was beside her father, watching him as he whispered to her young self.

She saw when he pulled out the syringe, but it was too late; it was too late when he had stabbed her, and definitely too late when she saw the glimpse of her wolf leaving her.

And Ariel screamed, “Nooooo… Come back.” She cried as she ran toward the other part of herself that had been buried for so long, but the more steps she took, the more it got away from her until it was almost impossible to catch up.

And Ariel was left alone in the dark.

She was all alone, as always.

Ariel woke up to a bright light shining down on her face, but she was too consumed by her emotions to notice; instead, tears streamed down from her face.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“You are back?” The old nurse asked as she came to her view. “Were you able to reach her?”

Ariel shook her head, unable to say more lest her voice betray her.

“You will have to try harder, Ariel; you can’t give up.”

“I have tried, but it didn’t work. I don’t even know what I am looking for; I don’t even know what she looks like.”

The kind nurse laid a hand on her head, stroking her hair with tenderness. “You will know when you see it. You have to look into the depths of your heart.”

“I don’t know.” Ariel whispered, but she was already convinced. She closed her eyes in wait, focusing on the love flowing from where the nurse was still touching her.

She could still hear her voice in her head, telling her to seek it, and she did as she was told.

She searched the depths of her heart, going deeper, reaching out to every part of her that had been locked, and opening it.

And she was right.

Ariel stood before the final threshold, a gate shrouded in an unholy darkness that seemed to devour the very light around it. Yet she stepped forward, her heart pounding in her chest like a drumbeat in the stillness.

Surprisingly, the gate opened without any hesitance, and she stepped inside, her fear dissolving in thin air.

The woman was right, because she could tell that this was who she had been searching for. “Hey, I have been looking for you.” Ariel’s lips curled upward in a small smile, but the response she got was a far cry from the gentle warmth she had anticipated.

“Get out!” The voice boomed like the sound of thunder.

“W-what?” Ariel felt like a bucket of ice had been poured on her head. “You are my wolf; I have come for you.”

“You left me, you abandoned me, and after all these years, you have decided you want me?”

“That is a lie. I have been searching for you all this time. I knew I was never complete, and I have been searching for that part that completes me, and now I have seen it.”

“You don’t get to decide that so suddenly. You prevented me from seeing my mate; you left me for years, dumped at the back of your mind, and now you come here.”

“I had no idea about you.” Ariel was surprised at how steady her voice was when all she wanted to do was break down.

“You have been living all this year without one; you can spend the rest of your life like that.”

“Please, I-”

“I don’t want you. Get out!” Ariel was hurled backward with a force that seemed to shatter everything.

As she crashed into the familiar softness of her bed, the sudden shift in surroundings jolted her back to reality. Yet she lay there, her eyelids refusing to budge, even as the tears continued to slip from her eyelids.

She had thought Kane’s betrayal had hurt her, but now she knew better.

Nothing was going to top this.