From Alpha to Outcast

Prologue

Seated against the tree with my eyes closed, there was little that escaped my attention. My ears focused on the slightest sound that would give away someone was following us in the middle of the night.

But the only thing I heard was the wind as it whispered past, rustling through the grass and making the branches above groan in protest.

As I opened my eyes to a moonlit sky, I let out a sigh of relief. The sounds around us were that of a slumbering world, with only animals of the night roaming around.

Not a single sign that pointed to anyone pursuing our tracks. Just the calm whispering of the wind, the occasional distant hoot of an owl on the hunt and the puffs of air escaping from the sleeping girl in my lap.

I allowed my gaze to wander, shuffling my weight slightly to find a more comfortable position against the rough bark. The slight cold in the wind or sleeping under the cover of thousands of stars wasn't new to me.

Living life as a rogue meant you had to lower your limits in regards to comfort and quality of life. Though I'd rather refer to myself as a Nomadic wolf.

Or rather, an Outcast. I never volunteered to this nomadic lifestyle, to being mistaken for a mindless rogue wolf by most packs.

My brothers apparently had other plans in mind.

Thinking of my brothers only brought forth unwanted memories. Flashbacks of an easier life, before everything became a mess.

The first memory was simple yet shocking; my parents announcing the inheritance of the Alpha role. Surprising both myself and my two brothers by pointing out that the gene had skipped them in favor of me.

An Alpha female wasn't unheard of but wasn't exactly a common occurrence, especially so with male littermates. After all, Alpha genetics favored males above females.

Obviously, the gene should've been within one of them instead of me.

The scowl of anger, of bitter resentment and jealously had been clear on my oldest brothers' face. He had made it obvious how he felt about not being the chosen Alpha, instead having to make way to his younger, female sibling.

It had been a bitter pill to swallow, to experience my siblings distancing themselves from me. Simply because I was born with what they had desired all along.

But I had figured that we were making progress. That overtime, they would accept me for what I was, because there wasn't anything I could do to change that.

And for a time, all was well.

Until I found the mutilated bodies of my deceased parents. Murdered in cold blood, left out in the open for scavengers to feast upon.

It was a moment that was etched in my brain. The pain... heart-wrenching pain and disbelief that they were gone. Horror that sank its claws in my body as I realized they had been slaughtered.

And then, the bone-deep betrayal I felt when my oldest brother declared himself Alpha and cast me out when I refused to bow down to him.

They weren't pleasant memories and even now, my emotions still got the better of me. But as an Outcast, I couldn't stay in the past. I had to live in the present, or I would soon join my parents in the afterlife.

A little huff escaped from the sleeping girl before she turned and twisted in my lap. I sighed, covering her as best as I could against the night's cold, still disbelieving of my own actions.

Of all the stupid things you've done, Lyra...

Each year I had made it a point to return to my former pack's borders. A twisted celebration of my exile, meant to remind myself that I shouldn't, couldn't trust pack.