Alpha Everett of the Shadow Blood pack has no idea how he wound up with a human for a mate, but here she is—eighteen-year-old, clumsy af Rory. Adopted by an Omega wolf, Rory has lived most of her life in the Red Moon pack, but she can’t go back after the pack’s leaders try to kill her. It looks like she and the protective Alpha are stuck together. Can love grow between them? And if so, is it strong enough to withstand Rory’s many secrets?
Age Rating: 18+
Alpha and Aurora by Delta Winters is now available to read on the Galatea app! Read the first two chapters below, or download Galatea for the full experience.
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1
Alpha Everett of the Shadow Blood pack has no idea how he wound up with a human for a mate, but here she is—eighteen-year-old, clumsy af Rory. Adopted by an Omega wolf, Rory has lived most of her life in the Red Moon pack, but she can’t go back after the pack’s leaders try to kill her. It looks like she and the protective Alpha are stuck together. Can love grow between them? And if so, is it strong enough to withstand Rory’s many secrets?
Age Rating: 18+
Original Author: Delta Winters
“Rory!”
A middle-aged woman barrels into my room as if she expected me to be asleep on a school day.
She collects herself when she notices my dressed figure; I’m brushing through my hair in front of my mirror.
“Morning, Mama,” I respond with a sweet cheerful smile, hoping to uplift her spirits with my own.
But her dreary face remains, the frown permanently plastered on her face along with the lines and wrinkles of age and harassment.
Her mousy brown locks with the split ends fly free from its neglect. Her near-onyx eyes glaze over as they drift around the room, finding it spotless, bed neatly made.
“Morning, Rory,” she greets with a small dazed smile that conveys the exhaustion of her life.
She takes the brush from my grip and begins to braid my dark auburn brown hair with her calloused hands.
“How’s school been? I know I haven’t been around a lot this week, but you can talk to me about anything. What is that bruise on your arm?”
“I fell out of bed this morning. Nothing out of the ordinary. I stay away from the others as usual.”
Through the mirror, she watches the elegant smile adorn my face, portraying the thankfulness I have toward her.
My mama found me at three years old, freezing and abandoned in the haunting rogue woods a few miles from Red Moon’s territory.
She is an Omega wolf herself, and I’ve always known I was never her blood daughter, however she treated me as such. But I’m a human. In a high-ranking pack.
I’ve always been the outsider: weaker, lesser, unworthy.
As a child, the pups of the pack would take turns bullying me, stealing my possessions, throwing me around between them because they desired to show-off their strength, teasing me with harsh words.
As we all got older, my mama decided it would be best for me to attend a human high school, outside the pack, where I would be relatively normal.
Of course, I am still weaker than kids at the high school, as I’m smaller, less muscled, wanting to be friendly with everyone.
But I love school—my friends and teachers and lessons.
As I stroll down the bustling halls, the sounds of cliques of girls giggling and jocks throwing footballs around with a relaxed easiness all around me, Freya skips up to me, bubbling with excitement.
I trip over my own feet. A few chuckles are sent my way as I regain my balance, and I proceed to bow my head with a light blush.
“Girl, you’re really clumsy,” Freya exclaims with a giggle, interlocking her arm with mine as she guides me down the hall whilst also helping my coordination.
I have been a clumsy child for as long as I have known, as long as Mama has known me. Which only adds to the torments I get from the teenage wolves of my pack.
“Rory, babe, hey, and Freya, hey,” Eddie greets with an adorably wide grin. Because he’s a member of the lacrosse team and an avid book reader, I developed a crush on this well-read athlete.
What surprised me was when he had claimed to like me back, then asked me out.
Feeling elated, as any girl would in learning a crush is not one-sided, I agreed, and we’ve been dating for a month, since the start of senior year.
He presses a light kiss to my lips and drapes his arm over my shoulder.
Still attempting to understand my uncontrollable and inevitable clumsiness, I accidentally jab him in the torso as I reach into my bag, and this creates havoc in the halls.
Eddie stumbles into another girl, who begins to scream as he tumbles on top of her and groans as he rolls on the floor.
I don’t possess a lot of strength, but Eddie being skinny and not muscular, he’s easily pushed.
I stagger over his foot and almost fall, if not for the arms of my friend Bethany, the most popular girl in school.
Her boyfriend chuckles a little next to her at the scene, and then helps Eddie up off the ground.
“Hey, Rory, Eddie,” Oliver says with an amused smirk, his jock friends joining his side as usual.
Freya hurries off to her locker before homeroom, a little shy when faced with the boys who used to bully her.
They used to bully me too when we met, but they soon backed off, the reason still unknown to me. But we get along.
It’s at least better than the hostile behaviour directed toward me by the wolves in the pack.
“Rory, it’s my birthday tomorrow and Bethany’s throwing a party. Want to come?”
“Oh, I can’t, sorry. I’m helping my mom. But happy birthday!” I exclaim with a wide smile. The guys beside him snigger under their breath while Bethany appears to scowl at her boyfriend.
As oblivious as I appear to them, I know there was some ulterior motive to his question.
But I love high school. It is the only place where I feel I can belong in my world full of wolves.
“That’s too bad,” he replies, acting disappointed. “I’d hoped you would actually be a little less goody-goody this year.”
“Stop it,” Eddie scolds him, stepping in front of me as an act of shielding, and pushing his chest up against Oliver.
With a laugh, Oliver refuses to back down, believing he has the upper hand.
They normally don’t bother me unless provoked. But I’ve been pushed around by wolves—their verbal tormenting almost flies right past me.
It’s gone over my head numerous times; however, Bethany has always backed me up, her scowl also an indicator to me that they’re messing with me.
But school is an escape from the pack, from the wolf world, and that’s why I treasure it more.
“It was nice seeing you,” I declare, steering Eddie away from them, with their distant chuckles taunting us.
I find that meeting tormenting with anything but calmness and composure means the bullying is destined to continue. Although, that doesn’t work too well with the wolves.
As lunch rolls around, Freya, Skye, Eddie and I take a seat at our usual table, immersed in conversation.
Sometimes Bethany would invite us over to her table, but Freya avoids it at all costs.
Me, I’ll eat food wherever.
At the pack—with my mama being an Omega, the weakest wolves of the pack, and me a human—we get the scraps.
Ever since Alpha Nickolas took the reins from his father, the weaker members have been neglected. But not due to his ignorance, but due to his “survival of the fittest” mentality.
“How about I take you out after school? Or walk you back home?” Eddie questions me, willing a positive response.
Being a member of a pack results in the inability to spend time outside of it other than for school. Which consequently makes dating from school, and not the pack, a difficult feat.
I’m surprised that Eddie is so patient with me. I’ve only been on a real date out of school once, and I cancelled every other time.
I figure that instead of outright refusing every offer, I’d have to accept some and then tell him something came up. But that only creates more guilt.
“I can’t, sorry. I have to get back as quickly as possible and my mom doesn’t know we’re dating so you can’t walk me,” I tell him, even though the lies create a burning feeling in my stomach.
My mama does indeed know Eddie and I are dating, but to keep him away from the werewolf community, it’s better that he doesn’t meet her—yet.
We’ve only been together a month, so I couldn’t subject him to that. I will if I love him and I want to be with him.
After all, I’m not a werewolf, so we could still leave that life behind. Eddie believes that my mama prohibits me from dating, that she’s overprotective of her child.
He’s yet to learn that I’m adopted, in a fashion.
When my mama found me in rogue territory, I was badly wounded, and she thought I would die.
Any parent who would abandon a child in these woods should never be able to find the child again, she says.
And honestly, although I’ve wondered what my birth parents are really like, I couldn’t have been blessed with a more caring mom.
Reluctantly, Eddie nods in response, his head hung with disappointment. I kiss his cheek in hopes of cheering his spirits, which it does.
Even though lying is a necessity in my life, it doesn’t make it any easier to do so to the people I care about.
My friends, Eddie, my teachers.
When my homework has mysteriously disappeared before I can hand it in—the pack tormenting me yet again—I’m forced to lie and take the punishment.
Of course, I beg for those to take place at lunches, which cost me time spent with Eddie.
As much as I can complain about high school, at least I feel like I belong here.
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2
“Alpha Nickolas is holding a pack meeting. He’s declaring who his mate is,” Mama tells me.
I’m fixing my appearance as I glide through the door. I trip a little on the step, having returned from an exhausting day.
Mates.
Maybe the most advantageous factor of being a wolf: the fact that they can know who they truly belong with, their soulmate.
We humans have to go through life, through different relationships, in the hope that we’ll be right this time, that this man or woman is who we’re meant to be with.
Or, maybe, because we don’t have mates, maybe we don’t have “the one,” maybe we’re destined to look for many types of love.
But I adore the mate idea: the feeling of truly belonging with someone, feeling safe in their arms, their wish to make you happy and vice versa.
But I’m human. The chance of a werewolf mated to a human is rare, mainly because compatibility of soulmates should at least be based on the same species.
I could never imagine telling Eddie about wolves and him not freaking out. I wouldn’t even be with him if I were a wolf.
Mama drags me out the door, quite literally, as she frantically tugs on my arm in order for us not to arrive late.
At pack meetings, we stay at the sidelines, hoping we are invisible and willing ourselves to shrink into nothingness.
Of course, being human, my scent is wildly different to others, making it impossible for me to stay completely in the shadows.
The previous Alpha welcomed me into his pack when my mama brought me home; however, the new management, Alpha Nick, hates me, detests all humans.
“Today is a momentous occasion for me,” Alpha Nick begins, his voice echoing throughout the hall. “I have found my mate, right here in our pack.”
Wolves can only smell their mate when they turn of age, eighteen.
Alpha Nick has been waiting a few years, so his mate must be just of age, or maybe they’ve known for a few months if she belongs to this pack.
“Here she is,” he declares. A tall, beautiful girl joins her mate and Alpha, her glossy hair cascading over her shoulders and hazel eyes glistening in the lights.
Victoria.
A girl, a wolf, who has bullied me every day of my life.
We’re the same age, making her and her friends my tormentors in my childhood. Although with school, I see them less.
But that doesn’t change the fact that she will become the Luna, the female leader of this pack, as she is mated to the Alpha.
And, like her Alpha, she has a detestation toward humans.
***
I fall asleep with my thoughts in turmoil, images swimming in my head uncontrollably. What usually plagues my dreams ceases to exist in this picture swirl.
Wolves appear, a particular wolf emerging, piercing blue eyes with black fur. Those eyes capturing me like a spell, entrancing me in an endless sea of blue and green and yellow.
Then they leave just as they came. Those eyes burned into my mind.
I dress for school, kiss my mama goodbye, and walk through the streets of pack territory.
It’s a medium-sized pack, with a fair amount of land separating us from the humans by chunks of forest in which they have guard wolves. I pass them every day in order to leave.
However, this time, the new couple seems to be at the borders on patrol today, milling with the Gamma of the pack, the third in command.
“Look who it is,” Victoria says, throwing a stone at me.
Why? I have no clue.
I whimper a little at the impact of the rough object, however, instead of standing my ground like the rebel inside of me is willing me to, the responsible side deems it wiser to take their abuse on the chin.
I weigh the probability of which method would make them stop.
“Are you going to cry?”
“Luna Victoria, may I pass?” I ask politely as she blocks the way. She drags Alpha Nick to her side to obstruct my exit even more, just out of spite.
What a bitch. I just want to get to school.
“Humans and wolves don’t mix. I don’t even know why you’re still here,” Victoria hisses. “They especially don’t mix with weak little bitches like you.”
I should say “you’re the bitch,” and that would be obvious because she is a wolf, but I remain silent, my eyes begging for her to let me be on my merry way.
“Alpha…” I appeal to Nick, who holds the same stance as his other half. He raises his eyebrow in question, as if he’s clueless as to why I’m pleading with him.
“We can kick her out, right? Since you’re the Alpha,” Victoria suggests wickedly, a sly smirk plastered on her face.
“My parents allowed her to stay. They wouldn’t like it if I reversed a definitive decision they made. But then again, do I care?”
Nick acts as though he’s contemplating it, although it’s obvious he wants me gone.
My mama always advises me to keep my distance from any of the titled wolves, all wanting to revert to the old ways of killing humans who are on their land.
Though by wolf law, it appears legal.
Humans and wolves don’t mix, that’s their mantra.
“Go,” the Alpha allows.
I zip past them, speed-walking carefully so as not to trip over my own shoes until I’m out of their sight line, and I breathe a sigh of relief once I’m away from the pack.
I don’t think I’m safe there anymore. They want me gone. And Nick is the Alpha, and Victoria is the Luna.
They can do anything they want, no matter what anyone says. My mama can’t protect me from them, which is why she always tried her best to keep me away.
***
Having gotten through the whole day with a couple of slips at school, an achievement for me, I’m almost celebrating. However I barrel through the front door and fall flat on my face.
The sniggers I hear in front of me informs me we have company. I compose myself before I push off the floor and back up onto my feet.
“Alpha, Luna,” I greet as my eyes widen upon seeing their faces. They stand beside my terrified mom, her expression aching with desperation and sorrow.
I give her a look, but I can’t understand what’s going on.
“We’re banishing you from the pack. Since you’re human, you don’t have any real ties that will break when you leave, but your mom won’t be going with you.
“You can say your goodbyes because you’re leaving tonight,” Alpha Nick declares stoically, as if he isn’t telling me I have to leave my mom, and I’ll be forced from my home.
Where will I go? As isolated as I felt in this pack, it was still my family, my home. And they’re kicking me out?
“What?” I ask, astounded. They were discussing it this morning. I just hadn’t thought they would go through with it so soon.
“Rory,” Mama calls out, taking my hands in hers with tears streaming down her cheeks.
I can’t even bring myself to cry, knowing that feeling pain is just the reaction they want, but those are my emotions inside.
She slips me an envelope without them noticing, and I pocket it, wondering what it is about. I guess perhaps a goodbye letter, or maybe she has a plan.
The pack stands, watching as I’m banished from pack territory, driven out across the borders with the Alpha, Luna and Beta pushing me along.
They didn’t even allow me to take anything, and my mama couldn’t stop this. A wolf getting banished from their pack is actually painful, the pack ties having been severed.
Once we’re across the borders, we enter rogue territory, and I question why I have to be left out here.
They remain silent, an amused expression on all three faces as they notice my frightened one.
These three are evil and sadistic.
A sharp knock to my head and I tumble to the ground, my vision blurred and the throb in the back of my head mind-numbing.
I cry out as I’m turned onto my front, pinned down by the Alpha’s large hands at my shoulders.
His full body weight crushes me, his knife trailing along my jaw. His still-amused face wears a devious smirk, which my lower lip trembles at the sight of.
“What are you doing?” I ask in an almost inaudible whisper.
“Why, little Rory, we’re getting rid of you permanently,” Nick tells me in a cunning tone. “I can’t have your pretty little mouth telling someone about wolves, about the pack.
“Humans can’t be banished, humans have to die.”
With no more warning and no seconds left, the metal digs right into the skin of my neck and slits it open.
I feel the need to cling to my neck, to try to get breath, to stop the blood spewing all over my hands.
Before everything goes black, their smug faces are painted into my mind.
They killed me…
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