Bloodbound [Alpha-series (II)]

Chapter 1

Eight months later

What are the odds of a plane crash? Would it be a quick death? Would it be painful? Would my parents get a body to bury, or would the ocean become my grave?

Asking yourself these morbid questions while flying was probably something a lot of people did – especially when it was their first time on a plane. But while others most likely prayed for their dark thoughts to stay in the realm of fantasy I, on the other hand, found solace in the prospect of such a gruesome scenario.

Promise me you’ll live.

And I had made that promise. Now I was stuck, unable to end this empty existence of mine that I despised more than anything else. Breathing. Eating. Talking. Everything had become a duty now, a burden that was harder to carry each passing day. I was so tired, so sick of it all.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will prepare for landing soon. It is twenty-one degrees right now in Paris and …”, the announcement of a stewardess echoed through the cabin.

Every year the Alphas of the ten biggest packs would gather to talk politics. This year it was Alpha Jacque’s turn to host the meeting. His pack lived in the Forest of Orléans, not far from the countries capital Paris. I was neither a warrior nor a Luna, just a lowly mate of a farmer. So how come I was sitting on this plane in the first place, you might wonder. This whole madness started a week ago.

“Aren’t you tired of this ridiculous farce by now?”, I asked.

Caleb innocently took a sip of his tea.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Oh, please. Do you think I am stupid?”

My friend sighed.

“So, you knew all along?”

A snort escaped me.

“Every day someone would pass by the farm with a snack and some time on their hands, reminding me we haven’t had a nice chat in a while. Every. Freaking. Day. And it would happen only once each day, always at a different time. Can it get any more obvious than that?”

He cleared his throat.

“You are concerned, I get that”, I added. “Making such an effort for me and organizing a baby-sitting-schedule even though as Alpha you already have more than enough on your plate … I am thankful, I truly am. But this can’t go on forever.”

Caleb locked eyes with me, his features turning from soft to stern.

“Exactly. This can’t go on forever”, he repeated. “Do you think that’s what John would have wanted? For you to seclude yourself like this? To not take part in any festivities, not meet any friends, … Even with the people working on the farm you only talk the bare minimum. That’s existing, not living.”

I clenched my hands to fists.

“John wanted me to raise our pup, he wanted a part of him to stay with me even if he himself couldn’t. If not for our son, John would have never … He would have never been so coldhearted to force this promise upon me.”

Out of habit, I lay a hand on my painfully flat tummy. At least our pup didn’t suffer like his father. Instead, he had entered this world in a deep sleep he never woke up from, bathed in my blood. Goddess, there had been so much blood …

“You are wrong”, Caleb brought me back to the present, no doubt in his tone. He let his gaze wander over the flower beds and fields in front of the farmhouse.