Alpha of the Shadows (The Rare Wolf Series Book #2)

Lucianna’s POV

It was impossible to contain the overwhelming joy I felt. I felt like dancing, though there was no music. I wanted to sing but couldn't find the right song, which left me humming and giggling every other second! If someone had seen me like this, they might have thought I'd lost my sanity.

And I felt like I might have soon!

"Let's run, Ash!"

I talked with my best girl over the phone, Ashira. It had been days since the mapping and I finally knew where my mate was! He was from the Shadow pack! Mapping was a pack tradition. Every pack in every region did it once a year for She-Wolves to locate where their mate resided.

The mate bond for females would be activated at the age of eighteen. The Mapping served as a guide for us to find our mates, then we would travel to that pack to attend the Mapping Ball.

The only party I had ever dreamed of attending!

Ahhhh! Finally!

"I can't. I need to do some things."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on! I'll leave the pack tomorrow! Don't tell me we won't bond before we go? And! You haven't told me why you ran off after the mapping! From which pack is your mate? You didn't say a thing!"

"I don't want to go out. Just come here if you want and I'll tell you."

I snorted. "Fine. I'll train for a bit then I'll stop by your house."

"Okay."

I hung up the call with a wrinkled nose. Ashira was no fun! But then, she had always been like that since I met her. I was the noisy type, the extrovert, and she was the silent one.

Hmm, maybe that was why I befriended her when I saw her at training. She was easy to be with, and she was okay with my noisiness.

I shrugged to myself.

I was an orphan. My parents had been killed in a war with the rogues when I was eight years old and the pack had taken care of my needs since then. I had continued living alone without any guardian, but the pack consistently visited to check on me.

I headed out with my training equipment. I was one of the best fighters of the North Region, having won various exhibitions with Prime pack and Trivian pack in the She-Wolf Fighters Game.

Ever since my parents died, I had resolved to become strong. To improve, to protect myself, and to fight for my pack.

"Hey, Lucy."

I stopped and looked at who called my name. It was Gamma Sol, the Alpha's third-in-command.

"Good morning, Gamma." I bowed slightly, showing respect.

"So you found your mate? Is he from the North?" I nodded. "Which pack?"

I smiled sheepishly, excited and proud of the person I'm yet to know, but I'm sure is worthy of my praises.

"He's from the Shadow pack." I grinned and Gamma Sol laughed at my reaction.

"I can tell you're happy," he laughed once more when I scratched the back of my head. "Well, I can see you're out here to train. Don't build some muscles or you'll scare your mate, okay?." he grinned.

"Oh, I won't! I'll give him the beauty he can't resist, Gamma."

We laughed before parting ways. Gamma Sol was always like that to me. He was old and would stoop down from his position as third-in-command when his son turned twenty-one. I had become close with him because he was the one who visited me often when I was young and alone.

After my daily training, I went straight to Ashira's house and found her sulking in the living room. I couldn't sense anyone in the house, so she was probably alone.

"Hey, where's your brother?"

Cruz wasn't her real brother. She had been a lone wolf before Beta Eric found and kept her, but they treated her like their own blood.

"I don't know. I woke up and everyone's not home."

"Hmmm." I slumped on their couch and looked at my phone. Ah. I couldn't stop looking at the time and date. "So! Where is your prince charming?"

I could tell that my eyes were sparkling as I waited for her response. I hadn't had the chance to know the result of her mapping because she had run away, shifting in the air and showing off her white wolf.

Ah! I envied how beautiful her wolf was.

Mine was the same color as my hair, a shiny golden-brown wolf, but taller than Ashira because of my long-legged gift. I had gotten that height from my father. Oh, damn. I hoped my mate was taller than me.

Well, as if I could choose, right? Whatever he looked like, he would still appear perfect in my eyes once I met him.

How I loved the way mate bonds worked!

"Prime pack," she said with a bored expression. Ugh! This girl was killing my vibe of enthusiasm!

I decided to ignore her lack of interest in the mate bond and focused on the news I just heard.

"Wow! Ash! That's the strongest pack of the North!"

The continent was divided into four Regions: The East, the West, the South, and the North. Each region had groups of packs, and our North held five.

First was the Prime pack, the strongest. The Shadow pack came second, where my future baby daddy lived. Oh, yes! The third was the Trivian pack, then my pack, Regal, came fourth. The fifth and last on the list was the Ravenous pack.

They had strength in numbers and skills, and that's how they rated which was the strongest, same with the Alpha.

As of that time, Alpha Aiden of the Prime pack was the strongest of the North. The Alpha's strength came from the members of its pack, which meant the larger they grew, the stronger the Alpha became.

"I'm not interested in this mate thing."

I rolled my eyes.

"Wait until you meet your mate, I'll bet you'll fall on your knees." I stuck my tongue out and she just sighed. "When will you depart?"

"The day after tomorrow. You?"

"Tomorrow is when they scheduled me. Shadow pack is farther, huh?"

Ashira nodded. Oh, sweet Lord. My energy was reduced by Ashira's absentmindedly behavior. What's wrong with this girl?

I decided to shut my mouth. Maybe she was lonely because she would leave the pack?

Hmm…

Just when I was lost in deep thought, Cruz entered through the front door, catching our attention.

"Where have you been?" Ash asked in a low voice.

"At the Hall. Ahhh! What a busy day," he slumped tiredly onto the couch beside me. "Hey, Luce," he greeted, but he wasn't looking my way, just closing his eyes.

"Hi. What's up at the Hall?"

He exhaled. "Well, the Alpha of the Shadow pack was supposed to visit for a meeting but he canceled at the last minute."

"That's weird," Ashira commented. Oh, so she was here, huh? I had thought she was still in her own world. "Dad mentioned that it was an important meeting."

"It is, and he is weird. I heard Alpha Jacob was about to cross the border when he backed off."

"I don't think that's weird." I needed to defend the pack where I would soon belong! "Maybe they got something important to do."

Cruz shrugged. "Still. That's inappropriate."

I pouted. Why was I even defending that pack when I wasn't yet a member of it? Would I see my mate at the mapping ball? What if he was out on a mission? Nooo! Then I would need to wait for another year to rejoin another mapping ball?!

Oh, damn! What if he had died on the mission?!

No!!!

"I need to go and pack."

"This early? You'll leave the next day, pack tomorrow and stay." Ashira insisted.

"I can't! I'm too excited!" I stoop up and stopped when Cruz laughed.

"You sure can't wait to meet your mate, Luce," he said.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"What I can't wait for is to have my own family. Duh."

I walked out and shouted my goodbyes when I reached the door.

It was sad but it was true.

To have my children with a loving husband, to be able to feel living in what I could call my home.

I had managed to live alone all these years, but that didn't mean I wasn't longing for a family. And since I knew it was impossible to bring back my parents' lives, I had started dreaming of building my own family to experience the warmth of what I seemed to have forgotten.

That's what I was after with this mate thing.

Oh, and the sex, of course.