4 – Challenged Accepted

RUNNING in her wolf always calms Jill. It was also the best time for her and the beast inside her to converse openly.

Jumping from one log to another, their legs stretched up to their limits until they ended up lying on their belly with their tongue dangling as they pant for breath.

“This is nice.”

Jill smiled.

The cool breeze in the grassy part of the forest fanned the thick fur of her wolf. It helped with the humidity at this time of the year.

“I am so glad that we found her, too.” Hadiah, her wolf, said with a sigh. There was longing and exhilaration in her voice.

Every werewolf shifter has a living wolf being inside their head. The best part of being a shifter is having to talk to that being. The worst part is, a person will never be alone with her own thoughts.

Being a werewolf shifter, aside from the ability to speak with the wolf inside her, they can also communicate through their minds with other werewolves. As long as they belong in one pack.

Normally, a werewolf shifter belongs in a pack. It was an identity. A werewolf in a pack is also governed by a certain leader called an alpha. Every alpha has a territory where every member of the pack can be themselves. Suffice it to say, they can strut in their wolf form without the fear of being exposed to the human eyes where their life can be endangered.

Like every normal werewolf shifter, Jill got her wolf when she turned seventeen. Instead of celebrating with her family and friends in her best dress, she was writing in pain on the night of her birthday.

Shifting into her wolf for the time was very painful. Her body has to realign her bones to accommodate the huge body of her beast. However, the second and the succeeding shifts will not be as painful. It was as easy as breathing.

It was magical to watch a human shift into her wolf. It was sublime to witness a human being shift into another being. It was a testament to how impressive and mystical the world is.

“Me, too. You know, despite the circumstances.” Jill responded to her wolf.

“Yes. Father will stop pushing us to find another.”

She chuckled at the hint of annoyance in her wolf’s tone in the last statement. She and her wolf did not like it whenever their parents opened the idea of them choosing a mate. Not the one made for them by the Moon Goddess.

She was twenty-one years old and fresh out of college when she was integrated into the pack as the new alpha. Not meeting her mate when she shifted at seventeen was never an issue to her parents but when she turned twenty-one and was still mateless, her father told her that a pack is viewed as a strong one when the leader is mated.

That was the first of many conversations she had with her father concerning her being not mated. It was annoying sometimes but she was flabbergasted one time when she was given an ultimatum. She has to find her fated mate on or before her twenty-fifth birthday. If she does not find her mate, she has to choose one or her father will find a man for her.

“We won against father.”

Jill can almost imagine the smug look on her wolf’s face.

“We have to convince our mate that we will become part of her life,” Hadiah added.

“Of course. I wonder what’s the circumstance of her being a rogue.”

“We can ask her. Her wolf is not speaking to me though.”

She frowned at Hadiah’s words.

Thinking back, if she was not an alpha, Jill would not be able to notice the hidden wolf of her mate. Or may not be able to know that there was a wolf if they were not mates.

“Why is she hiding her wolf? Why does her wolf allow it?” Her wolf asked, too.

“I am thinking the same thing, Hadiah.”

“Whatever the circumstance, we accept her, right?”

“Of course.”

They stayed for ten more minutes lying on the grass before they made a run for the territorial border of the pack.

They often run through the borders of the territory to end their route. It was one way of roving through the boundaries of the pack’s land.

It was after ten in the morning when the former alpha of the pack, Oz Maloney, entered her office in the pack house. The Zoom meeting with another alpha has been concluded just in time when he knocks.

“Yes, Dad?” She stated before gesturing to the seat in front of her table.

“How was the conference?”

Her father was talking about the Werewolf Union conference that transpired four days ago in the city.

It was a two-day seminar with the other alphas of the pack who were members of the Union. Some alphas were with their mate or with the beta. She, on the other, came alone.

It became her father’s usual question whenever she attended conferences outside the territory. It was his way of knowing if she learned something or if there was something new in the union.

“It was great, Dad. Three new packs were added to the union. Two were removed for not following the protocol. They were given two weeks to make amends.” She disclosed.

“Good. Alpha Roman has not disclosed who will be his heir to the position?”

Alpha Roman was the high alpha that led the members of the Werewolf Union on the continent. He has been in the position for the last thirty years.

He is a fair man. He never looked at the leaders of the pack by the gender of its leader. Rather, through the capability of the leader to handle the pack.

“It was not included in the agenda, Dad. No one raised the topic either. Besides, he was capable. He is doing a great job.”

“But he has been in power for almost four decades.”

“He is a great leader, dad. Different packs have been united under his leadership. Why are you asking this?”

“Alpha Roman has no known mate nor heir. There is a possibility that the next high alpha will be from any alpha members of the Werewolf Union.”

Jill viewed her father.

Oz Maloney was a great alpha. Under his management, the Black Paw pack has prospered. The well-made structures in the territory have been built while he was in the position. No successful attacks against them had ever occurred.

Yet, the former alpha is also known for being impatient.

Her father was nineteen when he met his mate, Rita. He was new to the position as an alpha. However, before his mate, he was already eyeing another member of the pack to become his chosen mate when he stepped into the position.

It was no secret in their household. Her mother knew about it but she found no offense in it since the former alpha still chose his destined mate after all.

“In case that the high alpha stepped down from the position, there are a lot of capable alphas who can relieve him.” She expressed.

Her old man glanced at her.

“Who do you see as the possible new high alpha?”

Instead of answering his question, she asked her own. “What are you planning, dad?”

“I heard that Alpha Twain is promising.”

“So is his sister, Alpha Thirdy.”

“And they were both unmated.”

Jill breathed out. She focused her eyes on her father.

The people that they mentioned were both great leaders of their own pack. They were sibling with different territories.

Her father was right. Both alphas were not mated nor met their destined mate. Both also were allied packs.

The older man met her eyes. He made sure that his daughter knew what he was trying to say.

“You can speak to these alphas. You can propose an alliance. We have something to offer. We have a huge territory.”

“You want me to offer the pack in exchange for mating?”

Her jaw tightened when her father nodded.

“The Strange was a good catch. They have a great security business. They have great warriors, too. The newly established pack of Alpha Twain is promising. He has accepted and given second chances to rogues and half-breeds.”

Oz Maloney did his own research.

“I’ll see what I can do.” She uttered after a while.

A smile painted her father’s lips.

“Good. I knew that you would see it my way. A mated alpha shows a stronger pack.”

She nodded.

Oz Maloney is by the door when he speaks again.

“A chosen mate is better than having a one, true mate that cannot aid you in managing the pack.”

“What do you mean?”

Jill knew that a frown was visible on her face when she asked that. She thought, that not making a statement against his words would stop him. She thought wrong.

“You know what I mean, Jill.”

Her father was out the door after he said that.

She exhaled loudly.

She knew that her father always wanted power but she did not know that he can sell his own daughter in the quest for power.

Growing up, he was never really a pushover. He only wanted the best for the pack, and for everyone, but she did not know that he is capable of sacrificing his own daughter’s fate for supremacy.

“I will not allow Father to choose a mate for us. We have a mate.”

“I know. I will stand by our mate. I knew that our mate was capable of something. She was not even afraid to say no in our face.” Jill answered her wolf.

To her surprise, Hadiah barked in glee. She thought her wolf would react negatively to their mate’s initial rejection of their mating.

“Our mate has guts. She can hold her own, too.” There was pride in her wolf’s demeanor of their mate’s attitude.

‘I know what you mean. If she could take down Tony who was a trained sentinel, she must be good at self-defense.”

“Should we tell Father that we found our mate?”

“No. Let him think that he won the argument. I hope he has not been in touch with the other alphas who are still unmated just to sell his own daughter.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Make sure that our mate accepts our mating bond. She has to step foot in the territory.”

“I like that. Which car are we going to trash?”

Jill’s laugh resonated in the confinement of her office. Her wolf has a great sense of humor. Or is she even joking?