HER ALPHA'S CARESS

ZEUS' POV

One look at her and I could tell that She Is The One.

The one the Moon Goddess had in mind for me while creating me.

I could tell that she is my mate and she was...the perfection to my flawed existence...MY Mate.

My wolf howled happily inside of me and sought to get closer to its mate.

Our eyes locked at this very defining moment of our lives. Those grey eyes of hers that I have always been fascinated with, had me enthralled and needy.

Like we were being compelled, we walked towards each other despite the chaos around us. What pulled us in was beyond any compelling power or force, it was the strength of our newly activated mate bond and I ached for Zera with every damn wolf-human fibre within me. My bones were torn in between shifting and remaining the way I was. The imbalance within me was sweetly maddening and I knew without being taught or told that it would take a touch from her to soothe me completely.

Like it was a show, like it had been rehearsed sometime before, we lifted our hands simultaneously to each other's faces – like lovers who had spent centuries without each other. I leaned into her hand on my face and closed my eyes for a second as I relished in the soft zap of fire and electricity in my blood. It wasn't repelling in any way and I knew it was just what I have been wanting, just all I have ever needed.

I opened my eyes the moment her eyes fluttered open and the daze in her gaze made me aware that she was feeling everything I was. Maybe not as bad and hard as I was feeling but definitely the measure that was on her broke the defences she had always built around me.

''Zera..'' I said, her name falling off my lips and her presence rising strongly in my heart and in the bearings of my soul.

''Zeus..'' She responded in a low voice that was coated with the essence of her gentleness and that was all it took for my lips to come down on hers.

Knowing she is the one I have to worship and hold dear for the rest of my life, I kissed her in the opposite form of how my beast wanted me to take things. We have truly waited for so long for this moment and I needed to savour it. Her lips opened up to me like a flower and I took her lower and upper lips in adored turns but then the heat of our bodies changed the course of direction my silent heart-made vow had intended.

I tugged her closer to me and she obliged willingly and wrapped her hands around my neck. Due to our height difference, I knew she would have a strain in her neck as we kissed and I lifted her up from the floor as her legs wrapped around me lovingly.

My sudden action earned me a moan from her and I etched the sound of her moan in my memory. I turned her to the nearest wall – her back against it and I between her legs and the moment felt surreal. Her hands found my hair and slightly tugged at it, sending sweet sensations from my scalp to my spine and the sensation spread to other parts of my body.

'How can one woman elicit such a response from a person like me? How can one touch, torch me so badly and make me an unrecoverable mush? The simple answer is... she is the one. My One! My Own!

Suddenly I heard a loud shout of rage from behind me and my pure raw instinct took over and I placed her on the ground and hid her behind me. My eyes moved to and fro trying to accommodate who could have yelled in that manner and then I saw him.

He was bathed in blood and looked very weak...extremely weak but yet he pulled himself as he leaped towards us. I made sure my body was protecting Zera from the gory sight before me but her curiosity got the better of her and she sneaked her head out from my back and took a look at what had caused the extra commotion.

''Jacob!'' Zera said in complete disbelief at the person before her and she moved my hand that was shielding her.

''No Zera, he isn't stable for now and you can't..'' I started but Zera cut him off totally.

''That is my brother and my Alpha and I cannot...'' Zera said but I pulled her back to myself before she could go to him.

''I am your mate and automatically, I am your Alpha'' I said. I almost forgot that I was speaking to Zera and she isn't one to easily take words from anyone in particular.

Then I realized that we were still in a war. I came up because my wolf had felt so antsy and had led me here. The moment I opened the door that led to the Grand Hall, Zera was also opening the second door. Her gardine and sea breeze scent had filled my senses and made me forget the fact that my pack was at war with her Pack.

My dad had made sure to create a misconception that led to this war and I wasn't in support of it at all but there is a level to what I could have done to prevent it. He made Jacob Sheriff- Zera's brother, to sign a document that would make the both Packs to be merged because he had lost a lot of resources for our pack in illegal deals. Cobalt Stone Pack – her brother's pack and White Woods – my pack were to be merged as one but when Alpha Jacob found out that he had been tricked, he refused to give the rights of his Pack to someone as unstable as my father and from there, this war broke out.

I doubt Zera knows the full story though.

''I, Zera Sheriff refuse to be your mate Zeus Raphael, and I renounce the bond that might have been connected this day'' Zera said stunning me to my core and just before I could move closer to her, I heard the sound of a gun being fired and then a sharp burning pain on my shoulder.

I couldn't be bothered. I am a werewolf and it would take a rain of bullets to have me on one knee but as I was about to shift, my body fell to my side.

I instantly knew I was not shot with an ordinary bullet but with a damn silver bullet and I could feel the effect of wolfsbane coated in it. He was already by her side and he held her hand and took her away...away from me.

A lone tear dropped from my eye as the image of her leaving was imprinted in my brain just before they left the Hall and my eyes surrendered to pain.

CHAPTER TWO

ZERA'S POV

''Go upstairs Zera, I'll come get you'' My brother who is also my Alpha said to me. He had used his Alpha tone on me and I knew it was not a time for me to whine and refute his command. It wasn't like I couldn't but I knew when to stop being sassy and now was one of those times.

My heart thrummed in my chest as I lifted my ball gown in my hands and ran up the stairs. My brother had blocked the entrance of the stairs I just passed and he had shifted to his grey and brown wolf and just before I took the second flight of stairs, I saw him bare his angry fangs at a warrior from White Woods Pack.

As I rested the whole of my body on the huge door, the Grand Hall opened up and from the other door came Zeus Coleman Raphael – the person that held the highest points in making me angry, flushed and aroused. The door automatically closed behind me and as I looked at him to inquire the reason for his being here, it was like my mind and reasoning were taken from me and replaced with the presence of what I have not noticed before.

I was more aware of him and the features that made him up.

His brown hair that curled at the ends, his baby brown eye colour, his Armenic shaped nose and his lips...those lips!

I swallowed an invisible lump in my throat and placed a hand on my neck like I was experiencing some discomfort and then all at once, I began to walk towards him and him, towards me. My wolf sang within me and craved his hands on me and it wasn't like I wasn't dying to know what his hands would feel like on me.

I lifted my hand to touch his face and he lifted his to touch mine and we did this in a synchronization that cannot be explained or fathomed. My eyes flickered to his lips like I have been possessed by a wanton spirit and for the first time in my life, the word 'decency' seemed to carry an abstract meaning for me. I was always known as the prude, the girl who is concerned about her reputation, family name and family over her very self and would do nothing to bring shame to her Pack and family but in this compelling moment, a part of me was certain that if this room is to be filled with the most important persons from the top Packs of the world and my family members inclusive, I would still hold the man before me very dear and accept his lips that he offered me.

He tasted so good.. so divine and my lips melted in his lips and I moaned.

Zera Sheriff of old would have been so embarrassed that she would have bolted out from his arms, from the Hall at such but it was like I just knew that this is where I am supposed to be. That in his arms is where I am to get all the protection and love to carry me for a lifetime.

He lifted me from the floor and involuntarily, my legs strapped on his waist. He turned and pressed my back to the wall and I inclined my waist closer to his groin. 'F**k!'

But all of a sudden, I heard a loud yell and I could feel the wrath that coated the yell. Zeus placed me down and stood before me protectively. I heard the heavy but slow steps of someone approaching but I had no idea who it was. Being someone who cannot willingly be placed in the dark for too long, I brought out my head from behind Zeus and there was my brother, bathed in blood and from his eyes, I could tell he was weak and barely trying to hold onto his last bit of strength.

Unable to stay still and play the damsel in distress, I wove myself out from Zeus' protection.

It was like the jinx of irresistible tension that was between Zeus and I had eased off into the atmosphere and could not be held unto.

''Jacob..'' I called out to my brother as I tried to hike my gown to walk faster towards him.

''No Zera, he isn't stable for now and you can't...'' Zeus said but I cut him off before he could complete his statement. My brother had countlessly warned me about him – though my brother had trusted him but he and his dad are the ones responsible for the calamity befalling my pack.

''That is my brother and my Alpha and you cannot...'' I said sternly but he decided to stop me also.

''I am your mate and automatically, I am your Alpha'' Zeus said, his Alpha tone rolling off him and my blood almost ran dry in anger. He is still the same narcissistic fellow he has been and nothing about him has changed. Nothing!

'How did the Moon Goddess see it fit to make him mine?'

''I, Zera Sheriff, refuse to be your mate Zeus Raphael and I renounce the bond that might have been connected this day'' I said and the searing pain I felt in my chest was splitting but I held on and held through.

I clutched my gown tighter, not ready to give him the satisfaction of seeing me in pain- the pain I created myself. I turned to look at my brother and his hand was lifted, a gun in hand and his index finger on the trigger. Before I could say a word or stop him, the trigger was squeezed and the shot fired.

The bullet hit him but he tried to take a step towards me. He swerved uncoordinatedly, falling to the floor. He is a werewolf and one of the strongest I have ever seen and known but one bullet had brought him to the ground.

It definitely isn't any ordinary bullet and I knew that it had to be a silver bullet – deadly and terrific to werewolves.

The way he had fallen was instant and I couldn't bear to think that it wasn't just a silver bullet that had hit him, the bullet could have been poisoned, almost knocking him out.

The concern I had always shown him beyond the hatred I possessed of him kicked in and I wanted to turn to him but my brother's blood stained hand clasped mine and pulled me out of the Grand Hall.

I took one last look towards him just before we exited the door and I saw his eyes looking straight at my direction and I felt his pain.

He is nineteen and I am eighteen and in the end, we are just teenagers who still need to know a lot about the world and the people in it and some of my decisions aren't valid.

'That line of thought has to be one of my biggest mistakes in life!'

CHAPTER THREE

ONE YEAR AGO

''Do you think pups of age five to seven should be allowed to hunt freely without supervision in the wild?'' Mrs Katherine asked the final year students of Howl High School.

She balanced her glasses on the bridge of her nose as she looked left then right to see if there was any student willing to answer her question. The students have always been known for their ever present unwilling nature and lackadaisical behaviours. She knew that a huge majority of them were waiting for the bell to ring and they would swiftly push their ways out of the classroom, going nowhere in particular.

None of the children were blamed for their narcissistic behaviours as they were from the highest echelon of their society. Most of them are children of either some alphas or betas or gammas or high warriors and the percentage that belonged to school without being in that category either got a favour from an Alpha or they were related to elites and outstanding men or they were in the school by their thorough hard work and were granted scholarships.

Mrs Katherine looked left and then right again and surprisingly, the hands of two hot headed Alpha related individuals were raised. She was happy that there were persons who were interested in the topic of the day but she was scared of choosing one over the other.

The hands lifted were of Zera Sheriff of Cobalt Stone Pack and unexpected hand of Zeus Raphael.

Zeus never speaks in class and that is a known fact, it wasn't even something to bring up by mistake. But here he was, his hand lifted and not lifted as if he was second guessing but with the very confidence of a Raphael. The eyes of everyone in the class quickly turned to them and the once boring class was possessed with another kind of energy.

Mrs Katherine swallowed again as she looked at the two individuals. Zera had her eye brow arched questioningly while Zeus had that evil lop sided smile of his accompanied with that dropped maniac gaze.

''Alright, whoever is ready to speak should just speak'' Mrs Katherine said, throwing the floor open and avoiding getting crushed in their flames.

''People don't get better, life doesn't get easier and if possible a child should be send to the wild immediately it is born..'' Zeus quickly said before Zera could say a word and the class erupted in laughter. Most girls had their jaws on top of their palms as they stared at Howl High's most wanted bad boy coupled with his intelligence on their side. Most persons wonder what his secret might be because he is present in any party that goes on and does what most kids of their age do but yet he is very different from them.

Girls drooled at that sweetly hoarse voice of his that filled the class and painted the walls of the classroom.

Maybe not the walls of the classroom, but their walls..

There was a tag in the school that was quickly moving around. 'Spend a night with Zeus Raphael and be considered QUEEN for a week'

Girls schemed, clamoured and sharpened their claws to out-do each other. Well, most girls except Zera and Sarah – the ever bubbly best friends. They just didn't see the craze with all the girls around or... they saw but decided to close their eyes to it.

''But since that isn't really realistic, a child of sixty to seventy two months on this wicked earth, should be allowed into a portion of the wild that is still considered safe...'' Zeus said and he rested back on his chair, very proud of his words.

The class began to clap for him even before Mrs Katherine could say anything and Zera gritted her teeth. She needed those extra points to be given to her in her class assessment for always participating in her lessons and the popularity of some boy isn't going to take that from her.

Raising her voice rather than normal and above the subsidising giggles, cheers and claps, she began to make her point. ''Children will always be children and one characteristic of children is 'foolishness'. No one expects a child to be all knowing and wise when the child is just five or six years of age''

If the child is allowed, the child could get into more danger and the motive for sending this child out in the first place, will be defeated''

Zeus knew what she said made more sense and he had said what he said just to have her riled up because she was definitely the goody two shoes that was going to try to answer such lame question.

Seeing that his action had sprouted what he wanted, he decided to fan the flames of fire.

''Thinking of it, what you said actually made sense, especially when the child in question has your qualities and features'' Zeus said, his eyes flashing with mischief.

Zera bit her lower lip – an action she does whenever she is very angry. ''You would keep your words to yourself Mr Raphael and refrain from speaking like you know anything about my goddamn personality'' Zera said as she stood up from her seat and pointed the index finger of her right hand at him defiantly.

''Why so formal, baby? You know I know you..'' Zeus said, his voice dropping low and dripping with extra meaning to the hearing of everyone. Zera knew the game he was trying to play and she was not bothered by the eye-daggers that were being shot at her from around the classroom.

''You know nothing about me Zeus and don't you ever freaking call me your baby again. I have never been something like that to you. Never was, not is and never will be..'' Zera said.

''You all should quieten down. I think we have derailed from the question at...'' Mrs Katherine said, trying to restore a piece of serenity to the class.

As much as she wanted life in her class, she didn't seek verbal aggression.

The bell rang and everyone picked their backpacks and thronged towards the entrance and exit doors of the class.

However, as they moved, two persons were still having a stare down.