Alpha and the Master

Chapter 1

Veronica Marshall, where did you go? I stared at the mirror, bleary eyed and beyond tired as my mind wondered what happened to the vibrant woman from a year ago. Veronica Marshall was gone now I was Veronica Haliwell, wife, mother, leader. My husband Sid still owned the club downstairs that was for vampires to rest easy and dance the night away. Since becoming a coven master and a pack alpha, my wolves sometimes turned up of a night time too. Though the majority of the time they arrived here during the day. We now had two children, Dylan and Kayla. Both had brown hair and brown eyes although in certain light you could see the auburn of Sid's hair shining through Dylan's mess. He looked like his father, he was the cutest kid. Dylan was our eldest and was walking and talking, even though he was only eighteen months old. The werewolf and vampire in him created a faster developing child. He could do a lot for himself, though there were times where he was still very much like a toddler. Dylan could walk yet he preferred to run. He could dress himself though lacked the dexterity for buttons. He turned at every full moon to run with my beta Phil. I was still hesitant to turn, not only because it still hurt but because the male wolves in my pack liked to rub their scent all over me to annoy Sid. Sid the vampire. It wasn't out of spite that they did it, it was all in good humour but he didn't like it. Our most recent addition was our daughter, Kayla. She was crawling now and causing all sorts of problems by getting into things. My world had been baby proofed.

Everything was well with the coven and the pack, they got on well together and there was no nastiness. They came and met, talked about their lives, complained about the price of the blood bags and enjoyed good company. I was yet to deal with the human-vampire council in my coven area. They were the ones that were causing the most problems out of all the coven areas. I was just grateful that werewolves were an unknown species, I didn't relish the thought of having to deal with restrictions for them too. My problems were likely to be with one man, Martin Dalton. He was the head of the human side of the human-vampire council, he was also the father of my ex-boyfriend Linus. Linus still worked in the blood clinic where I used to, where I had met him, where he and I started our relationship. A relationship that turned out to be rather adulterous. Linus is married. Linus is a father. Linus is a werewolf who happens to run with my uncle's pack, his beta who also happens to be his daughter, my cousin and wife of Linus. Complicated. I knew that Linus was likely to be my way to deal with his father, although we hadn't parted on the best of terms, Linus and I were still friends. I had forgiven him for trying to frame me for the blood farm and he had forgiven me for stealing his documents and blood stock and then zapping him with a stun gun.

Phil was still my beta, he loved his job even though I drove him nuts with my antics, always trying to cause some sort of mischief and generally being a thorn in his side. He and his wife Lucinda were going to be grandparents any day now, eagerly awaiting their first grandchild. The grandchild that had saved my butt without even knowing it. My grandfather, a man I had never met had promised one of his more auspicious pack members his first born granddaughter to create a child together, thus giving the man a born wolf that would get a pack of their own. He had no desire to have a pack of his own but preferred to reach the nobility of being the father of a leader. It was true, being a leader's father had its benefits. Katy, their daughter was over the moon at the thought of the opportunity of creating a child with Cody. Not so much the child part but more the part where Cody was incredibly handsome and she couldn't wait for all that trying to conceive. They were still together, obviously getting on well enough to develop a relationship. When the child is twenty-five, he or she will get a pack of their own and I got to walk away from the nightmare without having to give Cody a child.

My uncle Stuart was still his usual self, anxious and always worrying about something. In recent weeks he's been a little more at ease, I am beginning to suspect it has something to do with a woman. Not so long ago I had noticed a lounge turn up in his office, I didn't care what he put in his office, I just thought it was odd. He worked long hours even though it wasn't necessary and seemed to always be around. It turns out, after much investigation on my part, there was indeed a female interest. What's the lounge got to do with it or do you not dare ask? It's not so sordid, he was resting there from time to time. He would lock the door and pretend that he had gone for the day or night and catch a bit of sleep. I couldn't figure out why he would do that but there was more to it. I watched in the shadows, watching him as he lurked around the staff areas before the club opened and again when it was closing, in between those times he was always somewhere nearby. The pattern emerged as one little blonde that was the sweetest woman with her giggles and terrible jokes that Stuart always laughed at.