JOURNEY: Alpha Female

JOURNEY: Alpha Female 12

-12-

The day was finally here. Training began at seven AM, my father was waiting for me behind the house that held the entire Silver Creek Pack. Lukas and I walked towards the clearing where my father stood with a line of weapons in front of him. 

“What are we doing today?” 

“It is just as important to know how to fight in human form as it is in wolf form - which I will teach you later on. We will be working with weaponry. These are common items found in most homes; it is important to be resourceful.” 

He picks up some kitchen knives and all three of them hit a tree that is almost twenty feet away like darts on a dart board. “Accuracy. You need to have a steady hand. Every second counts.”

He hands me the knives. I use the first one to test distance. The second hits the tree, but doesn’t stick. The third knife just barely penetrates the tree bark. I spend an hour working on my knife throwing. Lukas ends up joining me and turns out to be a lot better than I am. However, I don’t let that discourage me, I challenge him, and it helps me perfect my throwing accuracy. 

Afterwards, my father shows me some weights, “I want you to throw these at least twenty feet away. You need to build up muscle strength. Remember brute force.” 

I start at about thirty pounds and work my way up. We eventually take a lunch break, and my arms feel like jelly. I rest on Lukas’s shoulder, “If I can’t feel my arms does that mean that they will fall off?”

Lukas snorts, “Yes.” 

“Really?” 

“Totally.” 

“Okay.” I put my head down on the table next to my sandwich. 

“Eat, Lindsey. If you pass out, I won’t help you.” 

“Yes you will.” He glares at me. “Fine.” 

I take a mouthful of my sandwich and force myself to swallow it down. I have been freaking out about the actual confrontation with my mother all day. 

We are back outside training. The sun has began to set, but my father, Lukas, and I are still very focused. I go away from the two to pick up the weights that I had just thrown past the large maple trees. 

When I turn to bring the weights back, Lukas and my father have disappeared. 

“LUKAS?”

No reply. 

“DAD?”

Again. No one answered. 

“Anyone?” 

The wind blew, but it felt like someone was laughing at me. “Where are you? Why are you doing this?” 

The silence was driving me insane. 

I heard a crash and as I turned around there was a large box that I hadn’t noticed before. It was wrapped in silver paper and there was a large index card stuck to the paper that had “For: Lindsey Stevens” written in cursive handwriting. 

Cautiously, I tore off the silver paper scared to break the silence. It was a large cardboard box; I broke the tape seal and a putrid odor permeated the air immediately. Pinching my nose between my thumb and middle finger, I opened the box. There lied the corpse of John. 

His skin was charred like my mother had done to me. I back away... into another box. 

I opened it already guessing the contents. Inside this box was Lukas, his skull dented and a fifty pound weight next to him. Tears began to well up in my eyes, “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” 

There was a strong gust of wind and as I turned around I saw all the trees were covered in paper. I was able to read some of them “DIE”, “MUTT”, “YOU DON’T DESERVE TO EXIST”, and “I WILL KILL YOU”.  The messages were written in red... ink.

“Lindsey,” A sharp voice yelled. 

I turned around to see her, my mother, Carol Stevens. 

She was standing next to the box that held Lukas’s corpse. Her head and neck still mangled from my previous attack, the dried blood still on her clothes, a shard of glass stuck in her forehead and a few others in her arms and neck. In her right hand she held the weight from inside the box. 

“It’s time to return the favor, sweetie. Come here, mother won’t harm you. Mother just wants what is best for her darling Lindsey.”

I woke up in hysterics. It was still dark, but the dream didn’t wake me up. Lukas was hovering over me and pulled me up into his arms. “Lindsey, shhh, Lindsey, please relax. You are awake; I am here. Everything is fine.” 

I turn into his chest and begin to cry. I almost hyperventilate as I tell him my dream. I explain that my mother keeps on coming into my dreams, and looks exactly the same every time.

He places a kiss on my forehead, keeping his arms tightly around me, “Lindsey, you know you can always talk to me if you are feeling stressed out. It worries me that you are having such stressful dreams... I-I don’t like seeing you hurt.” 

“I know, I... want this to all be over. I want to be with you and for everything to be perfect-”

“Well nothing can ever be perfect...”

“Okay, then I don’t want a psychopathic mother trying to wipe out all of our kind.”

“We only have a few more days of training...” 

“I know, but what if she kills me?” 

I could feel Lukas stiffen, “No.”

“But Lukas, if that does happen, I want you to continue your life. I’m not saying forget me, but I will tell you to not dwell on the past.” 

“You will not die.”

“Neither of us can be certain. Trust me, I want to come back to you. I want to be your mate, but I don’t want to die and for you to not know what I was thinking. We just have to accept that it is a possibility. If I die and you go insane I will be kind of pissed off.” 

“Alright, then for me, when you go out there - have faith in yourself. You have the ability to defeat your mother. I believe in you.”