Nessa

Nessa sobbed soundlessly as the bus trundled slowly down the road. Her tears poured hot down her cold cheeks as she hugged her arms around her chest shaking.

She was the only person on the bus except for the old driver. She noticed him constantly checking on her in his rear-view mirror, his kind eyes were full of concern.

She didn’t fear this man, he was elderly and kind. He had allowed her on his bus, in the middle of the night, with no money, no shoes and in an awful state. She was wearing, what had once been a gorgeous white dress, now reduced to a dirty and stained disgrace. The bottom reached her knee and was torn and ripped from catching on the forest undergrowth as she had fled.

She appeared before the old bus driver in this state, when he looked at her she expected him to scrunch his nose in disgust and demand she leave his bus immediately. She wouldn’t have blamed him, she looked awful. But he didn’t, he looked her in the face and smiled kindly and explained very gently that his bus was heading somewhere very far away. He then asked if she would like to board and get as far away as she could. She nodded vigorously and he had gestured for her to board.

She walked up the few steps and stood in front of him, trembling from the cold and for other reasons. She opened her mouth, about to explain how she could not pay him for the bus ride, but again he surprised her by holding up his hand and smiling kindly at her.

“This one is on me.” He said. “I don’t know what’s happened and you don’t need to tell me, but I’ve got a feeling you need to get out of here fast!” He guessed, almost completely accurately.

“Yes.” Nessa whispered desperately, her eyes pleading with the man not to ask her anything.

He didn’t and as soon as she took a seat half way up the bus, he closed the bus door and she felt the rumble of the engine come to life before he pulled away from the bus stop and out of town.

And now, here she was sitting miserably, staring down at the stains on the fabric of her dress, unable to lift her face up to even stare out the dark windows. The moment they exited the town lines the kind driver noticed her shivering and turned the heat up. She was thankful for she was no longer cold, but there was nothing he could do about the emptiness and misery she felt deep inside.

Her mind kept playing the events of earlier that evening over and over again, racking her brain for what she could have possibly done wrong, to deserve such awful treatment.

She had been so happy that day when Alpha Noah had come to her home and invited her to his son’s ceremony. Alpha Noah was the only one who knew who she really was and what she really was, and so the fact that he wished to include her in such an important tradition made her feel so special and like she really belonged.

She had been so excited and her best friend Fidelia even came round so they could get ready together. This made Nessa feel even more special, as Fidelia was Alpha Noah’s daughter and she chose to get ready with her friend instead of with her family. She even leant Nessa the gorgeous white dress to wear to the ceremony; she felt herself tear up as she looked at the state of it now and silently apologised to her friend for ruining such a lovely dress.

While they had gotten ready Fidelia explained the ceremony to her, how it was important to the pack. It was a ceremony for Alpha Noah to step down from his title as Alpha and leader, to pass the mantle over to his eldest and only son, Axel. Nessa had been nervous, for despite having lived within the pack grounds for over a year she had never once met Axel. He had been away studying in University she learned from Fidelia and he had only arrived back earlier that day.

Nonetheless, Nessa had been so sure she would get along fine with Axel. Especially if he were anything like his sister and father, she couldn’t even have begun to realise how wrong she was.

She mulled over her head whether Alpha Noah would pass along her very special circumstances to Axel before or after the ceremony, or whether he would want her to explain everything herself. She decided she would wait until after the ceremony and discuss it with Alpha Noah; of course he would no longer be Alpha after that.

When they arrived outside the pack house everyone was so excited. A small wooden stage had been quickly erected in front of the house and the pack had gone all out with decorating the outside to make the whole scene breath taking. The stars were out and the moon shone brightly upon them, as the moon goddess blessed them all. Nessa even made sure to silently pray her thanks for such a kind and loving pack before the ceremony started. That’s when everything started to go wrong.

Fidelia left her to join her mother, Luna Selima, sitting on the stage. They were identical in looks, except where Luna had dark brown locks of flowing hair, Fidelia’s was red-brown like her fathers. Nessa didn’t want to impose too much and so decided a seat near the back would be best, after all she wasn’t a wolf and didn’t want to block any of the packs view.

Alpha Noah appeared and the pack cheered at his arrival, he lovingly hugged his daughter and eagerly kissed his Luna; as though they hadn’t just been in each other’s company. Fidelia rolled her eyes and Nessa giggled at the little family scene.

‘Must be nice.’ She thought as she watched them.

Fidelia spotted her in the crowd as Alpha Noah spoke to the crowd. She grinned over at Nessa and Nessa grinned back and shot her a small wave. But her smile soon dropped from her small face as a shiver ran down her spine and she felt an aura she had never sensed before.

Alpha Noah welcomed his son to the small stage. As he walked on, Nessa sucked in a small gasp and felt something in her stomach squirm. Axel was tall, just as tall as his father. He had messy dark hair; just like Luna Selima and he was well built, even under his formal clothes Nessa could see his muscles. His eyes were bright, emerald green and she was shocked to notice that they were staring right at her, pinning her to her seat.

She squirmed under his gaze and the funny sensation in her stomach doubled. What was happening? At first she thought maybe he was looking at someone else in the crowd? But no, he was looking directly at her and she was even more shocked to notice, he looked furious!

What had she done? They’d never met, why was he so angry at her already? She racked her brain as quickly as she could under his intense eyes, but nothing came to mind. He had absolutely no reason to be mad at her!

She wanted to stare back just as intensely but soon lost her nerve and felt too uncomfortable getting lost in his emerald eyes, especially when they were so angry. She tore her blue eyes away from him and looked down at her hands folded neatly in her lap. She was so sure she heard a low growl after this movement; it made her tense up even more. What was happening?

No one seemed to notice the growl or even comment on it.

‘Must be a wolf thing.’ She thought to herself as she wished for Alpha Noah to hurry up with the ceremony, even when she was looking away she could still feel Axel's eyes burning into her, never moving. It made her brain scramble, because she both hated it and liked it? See, confusing!

She thanked the moon goddess when the ceremony finally finished and Alpha Noah officially introduced him as Alpha Axel, the new leader of Orion Valley. They all clapped and cheered and a lot the wolves rushed forward to congratulate their new leader.

Under better circumstances she would have done the same, but considering the looks she was getting from the new Alpha she thought it better to make herself as invisible as possible and then scampering out of there and back home as soon as possible.

So, Nessa had busied herself helping some of the others shift the chairs away so they could start the real celebration; also trying to show how helpful she was and why she shouldn’t be detested or judged too quickly.

She risked a quick glance up at the stage, although it felt more like her eyes were drawn to it by some invisible force. She noticed Ex-Alpha Noah and Luna Selima had vanished, ‘probably off in the woods enjoying some couple time, now that responsibilities have shifted!’ She thought playfully, giggling to herself.

She then saw Fidelia was still there, looking extremely irritated by the crowd surrounding the stage. It was surrounded mostly by she-wolfs, obviously trying to grab their new Alpha’s attention and vying for the now open position of Luna. For some reason, the thought of all those women doing their utmost to flirt and show off their bodies to Axel made Nessa angry, but she couldn’t understand why!? What did it matter to her if a bunch of she-wolfs wanted to whore themselves out to their new alpha, that was their business and had nothing to do with her. But, it still stung for some unknown reason.

When her eyes fell upon Alpha Axel, she instantly regretted her glance. He was still throwing daggers in her direction and never breaking eye contact, despite all of the beautiful she-wolfs displaying themselves to him. She panicked and instantly spun round so her back was too him, too afraid of his gaze and this time she definitely heard a growl coming from his direction, it made her quiver.

She would ignore him! That was the best plan, avoid him for the rest of the evening and run home as soon as she could! Tomorrow she would speak to Noah and ask why his son had such a hatred for her and also discuss the information about herself that the new Alpha should probably know.

With this plan, she hoisted the pile chairs she had stacked together and lifted them with much difficulty to the side where they were being abandoned. As she huffed and heaved from the exertion, she silently wished she could just levitate the whole lot and make the job much easier for all. But she knew that was a no! She couldn’t risk being caught and exposed, she liked it here and it would be a shame to have to haul ass and leave Orion Valley behind her, especially with how much she’d miss Fidelia. No she would continue the human act, which unfortunately meant manual labour.

She sighed after releasing her grasp on the chairs; it was irritating sometimes when she knew she could make life so much easier for those around her.

She was so lost in this thought, that she didn’t feel the presence behind her until it was too late.

She felt murderous intent radiating from behind and spun around to face it. Alpha Axel towered over her, his handsome face pulled into an awful scowl as he glared down at her. She could feel her legs quaking in fear as he loomed over her menacingly.

“Who are you!?” He growled down at her.