Alpha's Fallen Angel

Chapter 1-Amara (Present day-20 years old)

A brightness shines through my closed eyes, signaling I've probably slept too late. I open my eyes and groggily reach for my phone to check the time. 10:04, great. Felix, my mate and the beta of our pack, probably turned off my alarm again. I could just stay in bed; besides, it's not like I have anything to do besides being my mate's housewife. I had hoped that by turning out to be mated to the beta, I would be able to do more than simply waste away as his eye candy. But alas, my only privileges as the beta female were an occasional training session and getting to plan the big lavish parties for the alpha. Woo-hoo. Other than that, I only got to accompany Felix to pack meetings, parties off territory the allied packs would throw, and again, basically be his eye candy wherever he went. One positive was that Sophie had turned out to be mated to the gamma, so she was there whenever I was forced to be with all the ranked females. It didn't come as a surprise that she was mated to Gamma Colton; she had eyes for him ever since we were kids. She even saved herself for her mate. She was so happy when she turned 18 and realized the Goddess Selene answered her prayers. A pang of pain hit my chest at my thoughts.

It's not that I did not love my mate, but I just wanted more than this. But this is what I've been stuck with, disappointment. My mother always spoke of the mate bond like it was magical, that your heart beats for that person alone; she told me the bond can heal your broken soul, and you never want to be away from them. She also talked about the sparks, like someone took an open live wire to your skin everywhere they touched. I guess she and my dad had just been together for so long that their love intensified everything, I don't know. It certainly was not like that for me, I enjoyed my time away from Felix, and the sparks were present, but I would describe it more like a quick zap when he touched me. He was good to me, though; he seemed to take an interest in me when my parents died. When I reported what I saw to him and the alpha the following day, he made it a point to be there for me. We spent all the days before my 18th birthday together, and even though I felt like I was drowning in grief, he only left my side for his beta duties. He was there for my shift, along with my brother, Seth. That's when I met my wolf, Tamisra, and she identified him as our mate. She didn't seem wildly in love with him either, which always confused me. I thought the wolf part of us went absolutely bonkers for their mates. Guess I have a faulty wolf.

'You know we're literally the same person, and I can hear everything you think, right?' Tamisra says, making sure I know she's rolling her eyes.

'Yeah, that's why I made sure to think it extra loud,' I responded with a laugh while she started grumbling to herself, asking something about why the goddess cursed her with me as a human. I laughed again, but she knows she's actually my favorite part of myself. I may have been disappointed with most things in my life, but my wolf was not one of them.

Having finally had my fill of my morning self-pity, I threw the covers off of me and stripped while heading for the shower. Ah, my favorite part of the day. I started the water while brushing my teeth, waiting for it to warm.

Rinsing my mouth and stepping in, I let the hot water loosen up all my muscles and just stood there, so lost in my head that I didn't even hear Felix arriving home until the shower door opened, and he stepped in with me.

"Hi, baby," he said while wrapping his arms around me and kissing my shoulder. 

His vanilla and cinnamon scent swirled around me, along with the smell of dirt and blood from morning training. I turned around to face him and made a face when I saw him covered head to toe in mud and blood. I pushed him into his side of the water to rinse him off while he laughed at me.

"How was training?" I asked while taking the shower head and helping him get rinsed off

"It was good; there are a couple new warriors who are really showing some potential. I offered them an extra training session in the afternoon just to get an idea of what they're capable of," he said while reaching for his loofah and scrubbing himself.