The afternoon flew by and so did training. Ele did not manage to land me in the clinic this time, so I would count that as a win—as much a win as I ever get with Ele. Clay was off trying to pound some sense into his brother, who had not been veiled in his intents towards me. Ele was not doing anything, or saying anything about the younger Wells alpha male. I knew Ele though, she would defend me, if she felt it was necessary.

Sometimes, being the second highest ranking she-wolf in the pack was frustrating, because Ele would not protect me. She would make me prove that I am second, least someone undermine her through me.

I decided to pay Ruby a visit, she deserved the warning I was to deliver. She was sitting in the back garden. There were summer roses blooming in red and yellow. Ele and I were not much for "girly" stuff, but we both loved a little bit of gardening, when we were not killing stubborn males.

She was sitting in the neatly manicured law, our gammas of lower ranks tended to do a lot of menial pack chores, so our law was always well groomed. We did not force lower ranks into such things, we protected them from all comers, so they did it as a pack curtesy. Ele and I spent our fair share of time helping the lower gammas pull weeds last month, as with cooking, no member was above the needs of the pack.

Ruby looked up at me, she seemed to be expecting me, or so the look on her stormy face told me. I waved, trying and failing, to be as casual as possible. I finally blurted out, "Ruby, I am going to have to kill your son, if he does not relent on his insanity."

She looked up, still weary and dark, but she nodded and pat the grass, so I took a seat on the soft late Spring lawn. She sighed and shook her head slightly and said, "I'm sorry, we were warned that he would have to keep himself in line, but he has never been this bad before. He is fine with our pack females, but we don't have any alpha females, besides myself."

I nodded and said, "Well, I admit that it has to be troublesome for an alpha male to keep his head on straight, especially around so many possible alpha females, but we are not sides of beef either."

She let out a gusty breath and said, "I know, I remember being your age and bothered by alpha males. They will not relent, not until they find a mate, die or you pick a mate. I know that Angela could stay single for over three hundred years, but she was the exception, not the example."

I sighed and said, "I am getting sick of the attention and it has not even been a year since I became an alpha, or well, re-became I guess. I am not backing off, but it is tiring. Ele is constantly worried for me and for Cam. Hell, Cam is only thirteen and old ass guys talk about wanting her all the time now. It is fucking disgusting."

Ruby gave a weak smile and said, "Welcome to the real world of lycans. There is little that can be done, part of it is their animal instinct. They want the choicest mate, so they can have strong pups, not uncommon."

I groaned and said, "Well, I would love to have a damn candy bar every time I go to the store, but you don't see me pillaging the store to "claim" what I perceive as mine."

She chuckled darkly and nodded, conceding that point.

"So, you think that it is just a matter of control for them?"

I gave her a petulant look and I snorted, "I KNOW, it is a matter of control. They just think with their dicks, not their heads."

She sighed again and seemed to be trapped in deep thought. I stood to my full height, not that it was an impressive height, but I crossed my arms over my chest and said, "I thought you deserved a formal warning, so as not to be perceived as riling up trouble for you and yours."

She looked at me and said, "Promise not to kill him, unless it cannot be avoided and he turns it into a challenge."

I gave her a weak smile and said, "I will do my best, but my temper is not exactly a very tame thing, you know?"

She nodded and I turned on my heels. I needed to clear my head and I needed to go get some fancy ass human coffee. Coffee was always a godsend for, even my worst moods. Thankfully, I still had the keys to the 68 Camaro, so I burnt out of the pack parking, Clay was running behind the car, he must have wanted to take it. For a split second, I felt sorry for him, his mate and one of his seconds were always driving him up a tree. I soon remembered that it was his fault, technically, that Jamie was even here, so I got over it fast!

****

I was sitting outside of the one Starbucks in our one-horse town. The deck was packed at the back of the coffee store, many humans, young, old, and worse—teenagers. The squealing sounds the cheerleader types made, nearly pierced my eardrums. I cringed each time one of them made that annoyingly human sound. I pondered how that did not hurt their heads, or how these sounds seemed more "girly" and I was supposedly the odd duck.

I was running out of my quad-shot mocha, when Jamie came up to my table. I glared at him with the heat of the hottest hell fire. He did not wither under my gaze and I kept my eyes lock on him.

"If you want to keep your head, I suggest you move along pup, I am not in the mood."

He sent sub-human level growls, warning me and I just looked at him, my icy gaze seemed to finally freeze his confidence. I stood and I began walking around the side of the building.

"Wait, Jenifer..."

I snapped my head at him and I growled out, "Never call me by that name you cunt!"

He blinked, possibly in disbelief and I gave him one last glance, and then I turned and walked towards the main shopping strip of town. This was the human zone—the neutral zone. This was an area I would prefer not to kill someone in, but I was becoming less and less picky by the second now. I felt his gaze on me and I was growing angrier by the second.

"Jenna, look, why don't we talk about this."

I did not look at him, I kept on walking. We passed the fancy dress and designer clothes shops, there are only two of them, but the area outside was packed today. It looked like they were having sales on the whole strip, some sort of Spring sales.

I twitched with my anger now and Jamie kept talking.

"Look, taking a mate does not have to be bad. I don't see why you won't give it a chance, besides, you are an alpha female, you must take a mate."

I spun on him, faster than he could blink, much faster than the humans could perceive and I glared at him with my glowing icy blue eyes and I bit out.

"I will not do anything I don't want to, matting at the very damn top of that list. I am seventeen, you may look close to my age, but you are older than Ele. You have lived more than twice as long as I have. How have you not matured more in this time? It is not a family thing, because I saw Clay with Ele and he did not push her like this. Hell, Clay would be dead if he had."

He shrugged and said, "I'm not my brother and I don't take no for an answer."

Smirking wickedly, I said, "I am not Ele, so don't expect to survive my fury for much longer. I already informed your mother, in case you do not grow a brain."

"Why do you have to be so fucking difficult?"

"Why do you have to act like such a stalking rapist!?"

Storming towards my car, I heard screams, it was dark now, but I could see the ally across the street clearly. A large pale man pressed a young woman against the side of a building. You could barely see their forms from the road, but I saw him bite into her neck. My blood went nova with energy and rage. This might be the neutral zone, but this is still MY land!

I was already a white-blonde streak in motion now. I rushed across the street in a blur of rage. I roared and I slammed the man off the girl and he went flying into a building farther back on the opposite end of the alleyway. He put a hefty dent into the stone of the faded grey building.

I felt Jamie behind me now, he was not going to mess with me now, because we were now two lycans confronted with another problem. I had never seen one before, but once my nose locked on the scent of grave musk, I knew this deathly smell.

Vampires...

I juked, barely thinking the word and two more attacked me now. In a whirl of motion, I spun, kicked and pivoted in one very fluid action. This resulted in another vampire flying into the back of the same far south building and putting another dent in the stone wall.

Ok Jenna, you survive this and Ele is still going to kill you!

"Fucking mutt," A guttural and raspy voice snarled out through fanged mouth. His black eyes completely losing all white in them now. He was trying—and failing—to push his glamour into my mind. I backhanded him, the split-second loss of physical concentration had been a calculated risk on his part. He did not have any way of knowing I was an alpha, so he would not know that I would be immune to his "charms."

I cursed vividly and I saw Jamie's clawed hand rip through the ribcage of his single vamp and I felt my own claws appear on my fingers, as if summoned on instinct. I tore open the throat of the one vampire still close to me and I sank my other hand into his chest and tore free the black, beating heart from his chest.

His two friends launched themselves at me again, but they were cut short with the arrival of another. Despite all my beatings, abuse, trauma and now my training; this man scared me to the bone.

"Such a naughty little wolf, but so delicious, mmmm..."

I shivered in fear, his words were soft and dripped with a kind of poisonous honey. He was sickly sweet and slightly high pitched for a man, but I felt the power rolling off him now. He was a true master class vampire—something very old. His aura was like the vacuum of space, it seemed rob you of all warmth and all air at the same time.

I did not know who this vampire was, but I knew that I would die if I did not manage to escape this situation.