The Cruel Alpha

01

It was days like this that made me relish in the moments spent with mother. She often told me that my nose would get me into troubles, that a woman should not be out in the field, that I should not become a tracker. She was wrong of course, I was the best, I could sniff a wolf out within 30 miles, and that was something none of these men could do. No matter how hard they trained.

Mother had always taught me that a lady should be polite, have manners, cook, clean, have a shoulder for a man could lean on. She was simple. That is the only thing I could describe her as without hurting her feelings.

"Mother, please stop yanking on my clothes!" I pulled away from her manicured fingers, "I told you I must be in uniform for my training today," she never understood these things. It was like talking to a wall.

She huffed, "well, brown certainly isn't your color. How will any man find you attractive in that!" She pointed her painted nail at me.

"You told me that my mate would find me attractive no matter what, besides I already know he isn't in this pack, so there's no point in trying to look like a whore," I smirked towards the red haired woman. Her eyes went wide before I slammed the door on my way out.

I could never understand how my father kept up with my mothers hysterics. He was a tracker like me. He was a stern man, fair and honest. He wasn't the most affectionate, but mother always had too much affection to give, so I always seem to forget that a father should try to bond with his children. Though, I guess our training together was bonding enough.

I remember the first time my father brought me out to be trained. My eldest brother Orion had mentioned it to father. He had noticed my keen sense of smell, and my childish attempts at playing spy when I was a pup. Trackers didn't rely only on smell, it was footprints, tiny fibers of clothing that could only be seen to a wolf with a sharp eye, tracks in the ground; I seemed to be a natural at it all.

My second eldest brother, Bellamy, had trained to be a pack doctor. This threw my fathers plan into a loop, he assumed Bellamy would follow in his steps as Orion and Jasper did. Jasper was my twin, we shared the same raven hair and grey eyes; but that's where the similarities stopped.

He was kind and caring. He talked to everyone in the pack, and made it known that if they needed a shoulder to cry on, he had two. I envied how easily it came to him; being nice, being compassionate. He was the little girl my mother wanted, so I let her keep him as I followed in my fathers footsteps.

"Pandora! Get your head out of your ass and come huddle up," Jargon yelled. I dreamed many nights of twisting that thick neck of his, but I simply threw a smile and nodded.

I stepped beside Orion as the others began to quiet down their chattering, "alright. Everyone knows what today is," Jargon looked around our circle, "Today is your chance to beat Pandora, whoever finds the target gets to move into A-rank. You all know the rules, no killing of your comrades, and no shifting," his black eyes find mine. "Pandora, don't go easy on these lumps. Remember, if you find the target, you will be in the running for gamma."

"I understand," my voice came out confident. I was ready to be gamma, this is what I've been training for. My only real threat here is my father as my brother. They both had the same deal I did, if they won, they would be in the race for gamma.

"Also, the Crescent Pack has allowed of free reign of their pack. Alpha Linos didn't want to make this to easy on you dogs. Keep in mind this is a test of tracking, no one from the Crescent Pack are to be harmed. We would not want to ruin our alliance with our biggest neighboring pack, would we?," Jargon smirked as his hand played with a piece of fabric.

His hand moved, "give it a sniff and return with our target".

Luckily, I hadn't needed to stick my head into the blue fabric, my nose caught the smell of burning wood. As soon as I registered it, my feet were moving towards Orion. I would need his help if I wanted to beat father. If we worked together, I could beat my father and lose Orion before finding the target.