Alpha’s Second Choice

Jo looked around as all the participants were getting riled up for the hunt. Big built commanders, warriors and officials were stretching and looked at ease with their chosen maidens by their side. Caleb chose Gina’s sister, Evelyn. She was a shy she-wolf with the similar signature blonde hair except she was smart unlike her air head mother and big sister. Jo had spoken to Evelyn on some occasions before and she was impressed at how well articulate and kind she was compared to her family. Gina was still clinging on to Alpha Jayden and it seemed like she was going to be his chosen maiden for this hunt which was not a surprise. Gina was always by Jayden’s side no matter where it was, Jo wondered if she was that desperate to be the next Luna of the Dark Slayer pack.

Dante obviously was still holding Jo’s hand tightly and she was getting more annoyed at this dark haired general who had the audacity to assume she was willing to be his partner. If she was not hiding in this pack, she would kicked him in his balls and made sure he never even dared to look in her direction ever again.

Oh well

‘Is everyone ready?’, Alpha Warren’s voice thundered with excitement which matched the crowd’s bustling energy to hunt the demons. ‘Please remember again, no SHAPE-SHIFTING. As soon as you enter the grounds, you will be stripped of all powers and abilities’. With that a large thud sound echoed in the sky as this signalled the start of the hunt.

A big dome appeared to enclose the hunting ground and everyone started stepping inside the dome, one by one. Jo took a deep breath as she nervously played with her free hand. She knew what she had to do as soon as they were inside the dome, she had no other choice.

When it was Dante and Jo’s turn, they stepped in slowly inside the doom. True to the former Alpha’s words, Jo felt her powers slowly draining. She had limited time and she had to distance herself before Alpha Jayden could sniff her true scent and realise she was her true mate, not Lucy.

‘Hey General’, Jo sweetly called Dante who was still firmly holding on to her hands as if his life depended on it.

‘Boop’, Jo said as she touched Dante’s nose. In the tiniest of second, Dante’s eyes got clouded making him let go of Jo’s hands. Using this chance, Jo started running as fast as she could in the opposite direction to where Dante was standing. Her distraction powers would only last for a few seconds on a powerful general like Dante but it still gave her enough time to escape.

‘Ughhhh’, Jo groaned as she felt the dome sucking more and more of her powers. She could already feel her true scent coming to the surface. She knew the dome was enclosed and so her true scent would not alert her enemies outside. But she needed to keep up the parade with Lucy and if Alpha Jayden found out that she was his true mate, she doubted he would ever let her go.

Jo’s thoughts darted back to Dante. Though she was pissed at him for the forced contact, she could not deny that his warm hands were also calming to her and that she felt safe even for the tiniest second with him.

‘NO! Safe?’, Jo questioned herself. She could trust no one except herself. She made the mistake once trusting people and this lead to multiple catastrophe disasters. Having been on the run for a couple of years now, she had learnt to rely on herself and her strength. She should not be worried about Dante, all she needed to look out for was her freedom and maybe Lucy’s too.

Just as she neared a small stream, she heard the loudest growl tearing the air.

‘Who was that?’, Jo wondered. She knew Alpha Jayden’s growl and it was never this ferocious. This was bad for her.

Jo crossed the small stream and sprinted in the opposite direction, just when she heard a rustle of leaves behind the bush.

‘Who’s there?’, Jo asked instantly alerted. Her powers were almost drained and her true scent was now lingering in the air. Even though she had covered a fair distance from the start of the dome entrace, Jayden was an Alpha and so had higher senses. He could easily sniff her true scent from miles away and still find her.

Two petite looking girls emerged from the bushes and were about to attack Jo when one of the them stopped mid air.

‘Wait!’, she told her accomplice. ‘She does not smell like them at all’.

Her accomplice sniffed the air trying to confirm what her friend had just said and quickly nodded her head.

‘Who are you? You smell like a …’

‘Shhh. Please keep it quiet. I know what I am. If the werewolves find out I was living amongst them, they would kill me instantly’, Jo pleaded as she also sniffed the air and knew those two girls were fairies.

The two girls instantly understood Jo as they were also in a similar situation.

‘Are they hunting you as well?’, the fairy with green hair asked Jo as she had a calmer smile on her face now.

‘Well, I am hiding amongst them as an omega. But to answer your question, no. I was forced to enter the dome as a chosen maiden to one of the royal generals’, Jo rolled her eyes.

‘A royal werewolf is here and they know about the hunt?’, it was the pink haired fairy asking this time.

‘Yes, they do know about the hunt. But I doubt they know the full story. Apparently they all think that only trouble causing demons are being hunted in this dome’, Jo replied shaking her head in disgust.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

‘Well we were separated from our group while crossing the no-man’s border. And then captured by some werewolves, when we woke up we found out that we were going to be hunt down. Anyways, my name is Mina and she is Daya’, the green haired fairy introduced herself and her friend.

Jo gave them a quick smile, ‘I am Jolene. Everyone calls me Jo’. Suddenly an idea popped in her head.

‘Mina and Daya, I need your help girls. Can you help me cover my scent please?’, Jo asked with hope in her eyes.

Mina scratched her long green hair. ‘Jo, this dome drains all energy but fairies have energy reservoirs that we can access…’.

‘Yes, please help me!’

‘But what do we get from helping you?’, Daya asked speaking her friend’s mind.

Jo inhaled a long breath, there was no such thing as free lunch in this world. ‘I will help you escape this dome once the hunt is over’.

Both the fairies looked delighted with her answer.

‘Okay, we have a deal then’, Daya replied as she took closer steps to Jo.

Placing one hand on Jo’s shoulder, she started mumbling some spells that was beyond Jo’s comprehension. Mina joined in from behind as she placed a hand on the other shoulder and imitated Daya. Jo looked at the fairies who were so much shorter than her. They barely reached her shoulders and Jo was not really a tall person herself standing at 5′ 4”.

Slowly, Jo felt her true scent fading away being replaced by an artifical one that smelt nothing like her. Her tensed muscles started easing off as she felt her scent get completely hidden. She heard another ferocious growl, the same like before. What was happening in the hunting ground. More importantly, why did the growl sounded like it was getting closer?

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Dante stood dazed for a couple of seconds as his mind went blank. When he regained his senses, Jo was already gone. He was pissed that she played this silly trick on him. He would find out her true scent sooner or later anyways.

As he sniffed the air, he got confused a little. Jo’s scent was all over the place and he knew she was definitely hiding something. He easily found out the direction she had ran into, so following the same path, he made his way towards her.

His wolf, Theo was stirring inside him again. Dante stopped for a second and raised his hands. He could still feel his powers and wolf inside him, he was from the royal kingdom after all. The dome would take hours and hours to drain his full powers. He resumed walking, growing more and more eager to find Jo’s true scent. Dante did not really care about the hunt or winning. All he wanted was closure. Was Jo really his mate?

Just when the most beautiful scent tingled his nostrils. It was smelt like vanilla and fresh pine, an odd mixture but delightfully addictive. Theo was fighting for control now and growled ferociously shaking the trees nearby.

‘MATE IS HERE’, Theo repeated himself again and again.

Wasting no time, Dante quickly sprinted in to the direction the scent was coming from. But before he could reach to his true mate, the sweet scent got covered completely. Frustrated, Dante let another growl out as he slammed a big tree with his fist. A large thud sound echoed as the tree fell to the ground.

‘YOU SHOULD HAVE SHIFTED. YOU LOST OUR MATE!’, Theo growled at Dante who was already frustrated himself.

‘Theo, you mutt. Shifting is not allowed, the last thing I need is for everyone to discover who I truly am. We need to lay low until we solve the mission and find the mystery killer first. The killer could be anyone and we cannot risk alerting them of our true presence’, Dante angrily replied to his wolf, sending Theo to his back mind.

Dante tried sniffing the air trying to see if he could track it again. But it was futile. He heard someone walking to where he was standing.

It was Alpha Jayden.

‘What are you doing here?’, Dante asked quizzically to the Alpha who was wondering by himself, his chosen maid no where in sight.

‘I.. I just sniffed.. I lost my chosen maid, nothing else’, the Alpha responded turning back and heading to another direction.

‘What’s the deal with this Alpha?’, Dante thought to himself.

Dante continued walking in the direction the smell was coming from previously. Maybe if he walked straight, he could still find out who it was coming from? But the scent was completely covered which made him more confused.

Just as he crossed a small stream, he heard Jo’s familar voice talking to someone. As he neared to the voice, he saw Jo standing next to two petite looking creatures. Instantly he knew they were fairies, the royal’s senses and powers were no joke after all.

‘Hi Jo’, Dante called out startling Jo and the two fairies. ‘Care to explain, what’s going on here?’.