The Alpha Can’t Sense His Mate

ZADOK

“She can’t survive the dark forest,” I muttered, gritting my teeth as I watched Athaliah beat Ithra to a pulp. “She’s too weak.”

“Exactly why she is training.” Shilhi said beside me, “She will do fine with enough training.”

I got frustrated. “Can’t you see? It will take years before she becomes good enough to survive the dark forest. We don’t have much time.”

“What do you propose we do?” Shilhi turned to me, “Last I checked, she is our only hope of getting into the dark forest. We don’t have options.”

Athaliah delivers a spin kick, and Ithra is on the floor, Almost lifeless. I could tell she was still alive by the faint high and low of her chest.

She was breathing, thank God.

For some reason, it sucked to watch her get beat up. Despite knowing it was for her good. I knew she would be attended to afterwards, but it didn’t go well with me.

“What is she doing?” Shilhi’s inquisitive tone jolted me from my thoughts. “What did she say?”

I looked to the field and spotted Athaliah squatting over Ithra with a winning smile. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Athaliah was enjoying this much more than she should be.

Refusing to be bitter, I shut off my thoughts and tried to listen to what she was saying, but only caught the tail end of her words. So far, she had been brutal in teaching several lessons in their training.

I knew firsthand how effective her methods were. Because Athaliah was a product of that method – When she joined my pack, I’d taken it upon myself to ensure she was strong enough to defend herself.

Experience was always the best teacher. I made it a point to deal bitterly with her so that no one else would have to do it.

“What in the world?”

Shilhi froze, and we watched Ithra get up with the agility of a lion. Her eyes were suddenly furious, and from Athaliah’s lack of confidence, I knew something was wrong.

Azriel got closer to them, wanting to see the dramatic change of events firsthand.

I watched in shock as Ithra delivered a powerful hit – nearly bringing Athaliah to her knees. Azriel’s eyes went wide, shocked at the sheer amount of power her punch carried.

A series of blows followed the hit and delivered with such precision – that I could see Athaliah struggle to ward them off.

Something was wrong. Gone was the weak and beaten-toa-pulp Ithra. Where did she get such strength? What triggered such anger?

I was full of questions when Shilhi finally spoke. “I think you need to get closer.” The worry in her tone confused me.

I looked at her and noticed her eyes fixed on Athaliah. With a renewed understanding, I realised she wasn’t worried for Ithra.

Shilhi was worried about Athaliah!

“Athaliah can hold her own.” I tried to make sense of her needless worry. “Powerful or not, Ithra is not seasoned enough to defeat-”

I ate my words when I saw Athaliah on the floor and Ithra with an evil glint on her face.

She wanted to kill her. I could sense the intent to kill oozing from Ithra. I looked around and saw Azriel standing there with a slack jaw, unable to believe his eyes.

While Athaliah struggled to dodge her hits, my legs moved on instinct. Athaliah relentlessly tried to turn the fight in her favour.

No such luck because there was no way she could win against a person possessed by God knows what.

Athaliah hadn’t caught on to the fact that Ithra had disappeared. What was left was a vindictive beast – aiming to end her for good.

I caught on to the plan to kill Athaliah first and ran to the training ground, full of purpose.

When Ithra was about to end it all, I held her tightly by the waist, and her hands seized in the air.

She stilled for a few seconds as our bodies connected. A sizzling hot feeling zapped into my body from where our bodies met, and my grip slackened around her.

An inexplicable warmth overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t get enough of her lavender scent. She was suddenly more appealing, and my wolf stirred awake to see her.

I shook my head, refusing to let Kir interrupt our moment. While I embattled my mind, she struggled to get out of my hold, and I almost lost hold of her.

“Athaliah! Get up!” I roared, exerting my alpha strength to hold her down.

Athaliah did not get the memo. If she did, she wouldn’t attempt another hit on Ithra.

Within seconds, Ithra broke free and attacked Athaliah – who had her back to us.

Pow!!!

A powerful spin kick from Athaliah went straight to her head, and Ithra lost consciousness. I watched in horror as the light went out of her eyes, and she slumped into a puddle on the floor – just a few meters away from me.

Athaliah squatted in front of her, breathing heavily and delivered a line about how she got beat up, but I didn’t care.

Ithra was in dire need of attention, and nothing was forthcoming. I turned around in search of Azriel, who immediately noticed my gaze – and brought out a little bottle from his pockets.

He hurries to an unconscious Ithra and feeds it to her while we watch with ceased breath.

After three gruelling seconds, the potion took effect, and she stirred in her sleep. Her breathing pattern changed. I knew she would be fine. Peace clouded her features as the seconds trickled by.

“Take her to the pack doctor,” I said, but Shilhi cut me off.

“No, Alpha.” She said, “I need to check something about her. I will take care of her.”

My tone changed, “she is unconscious.”

“She wouldn’t let me if she was conscious.” Shilhi looked at her form, “I won’t be long. She already took the potion, so she’s out of danger.”

Everyone looked at me, expecting a reply, but I gave none, which gave them the go-ahead to take Ithra to the greenhouse.

“The Rise of the Phoenix,” Shilhi said, catching my attention.

“What do you mean?”

“When she is at her weakest, anger stimulates her strength.” She explained, “Congratulations, Alpha. We just found out something about your chosen one.” She smirked, “Something she isn’t quite aware of and could be used during your journey to the forest.”