Control

Chapter Three

I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.

He was nothing like the way I had imagined.

Of course, he was powerful, he looked strong, but after all he was young, as if he hadn't been in his position for a long time. Regardless of his age, nobody would make the mistake of underestimating him.

But despite his youthful features, there was something else surprising about him: his beauty.

After hearing all these stories over the years, there was no doubt about the cruelty of this pack's Alpha. When I had imagined the man behind all of these legends, he had been a monster inside and out, a living nightmare.

There were a lot of words one could use to describe this man, nightmare would probably be the last that came to mind.

I have never been around a lot of people, especially males, and I always thought I would be immune to something so unimportant as outer appearance, but as I stared at the man in front of me, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by him.

It had nothing to do with his perfectly carved face, nothing with the smooth skin that seemed to glow in the darkness; the reason I was intrigued by him was because of the scar that ran from his forehead through his right eyebrow and stopped at the bottom of his cheek.

In those bedtime stories he sounded like some kind of god who ruled over the dark ways, but the scar showed something else.

The same as all of us he has fought battles and even though he was so powerful, so many legends created about him, somebody was able to hurt him.

I got shaken out of my trance when I felt his eyes on me. Even with perfect sight, I was unable to figure out the color of his iris. Two dark orbs pierced into my eyes.

Somebody once had told me that the eyes are the window to your soul; if that's true, the man standing before me had no soul. His eyes seemed empty and yet so full of something else. Whatever it was, it meant no good.

✳

I have received many stares in my life, met countless gazes and stared into many eyes, but never have I felt such a fear and hopelessness as in this moment. There was no doubt about the truth of all these stories.

They were told by men and women alike, bedtime stories to their kids, told in hushed voices to warn them about the danger of a pack, a man, hidden by mountains, living in a valley.

As I stared into his eyes, I was lost. The things to fight for, memories, thoughts, it all vanished and got replaced by an emptiness that filled me completely. And then I fell back, crashing on the ground, one thought suddenly back in my head.

"Always show respect to one of power." My eyes widened as I realized my mistake. I stood not in the place to stare at him the way I had. Cold dread filled my body. It was too late to redeem my folly. 

 There were Alphas who didn't care, who let things such as this slide. Yet being so close to him, feeling the power radiating off him, I realized this had probably been my last mistake.

The change in him was small, yet it was enough to make me tremble in fear.

Unlike other wolves I've seen, his face didn't transform into an ugly mask of anger. One could see the way his jawline became visible, how his hands clenched and unclenched, but during it all his face stayed the same; unmoved, cold and emotionless.