1 The Invitation

The snow fell heavily from the sky this day, the giant flakes almost the size of her fist. Alexis Darling laid low, her stomach flat against the sheet of ice covering the frozen ground, and willed herself to blend into the white hills. The scent of a nearby buck had her nose sniffing the air. Still, she waited. It was too alert, and if she neared him now, he would be gone before she even had time to blink. She needed to be patient and steel her racing heart as it beat too loudly in her small chest. The call of a vulture sung in the air, overhead it flew as if to signal her whereabouts to his friends. The forest was too nosy this time of the year, every animal around peering their beady eyes to trespassers that entered their sacred woods. Alex knew she should not have been there; She knew it was wrong to hunt in the forest of the Alpha's, but times were getting harder, and she had no choice. It was either risk getting caught hunting on these lands or let her family starve. Alex would rather die first than to have to go home empty-handed and see their disappointed faces. Over the course of the last few months, she had taken to hunting in the sacred forest. It was the only place left that still had any life to it. Everywhere else, the animals had been hunted to extinction. Her village was under the control of the Northern Alpha Lord. Centuries ago, the strongest four Alphas seized power over the country and split it into four regions; North, East, West, and South. Each was taken over by one of the four Lords. Those Lords then broke down their lands into stations. The lesser Alpha's took over the fertile areas, while the Beta's were left in the outskirts to scavenge. It was rumored that each of the Alpha Lords possessed unique gifts bestowed upon them from ancient druids.

The Northern Alpha named his region Tartarean. It fit well, for this place was the abyss of hell. A calm silence came over the forest, and Alex narrowed her eyes against the flurry of snow. If she did not hurry, it would become too difficult to see, even with her sharp vision. Small puffs of air could be seen coming from her nostrils, as a chill raking down her spine; still, she waited. The buck's ears were straight in the air, they twitched slightly, and he did a double-take at his surroundings. Smart. She thought to herself but not smart enough. Quite…Quite…Quiet. At last, the time had come. Alex shot out, quick, her speed the quickest out of any other Beta's she knew. She pounced on the deer, and with horror in his eyes, she tore out his throat. Alex felt the warmth of the blood pour down her throat, and she groaned from the contact. Doing quick work, she hefted it over her slender shoulders and made her way home. She needed to get out of the woods quickly; the sun was starting to set. The swirl of white was steadily flowing around her, and she had to rely purely on instinct to get herself on the right path to her small little hovel. None the less she was smiling slightly. This buck would be enough to feed her family for a least a week, if not longer, if they rationed it right. They would last a little while longer, the skin she might be able to trade in town for some of the essential household items they needed.

Walking through the threshold, she grimaced, looking at the run-down state of her once beautiful home. Over the course of nearly ten years now, there had been no hired help, no one to assist them in maintenance, and in a place like this, upkeep was vital. The harsh winter storms rotted roofs within no time, but repairs like that could not be taken care of without coin. The world revolved around it, and at present, they had none. There was no smoke from the chimney, which meant that no one had seen fit to chop any wood. As Alex walked through the door, she shivered; why must she do everything?

"Alex?" came a soft voice from the chair next to the hearth.

Alex set the deer onto the little wooden table and winced as its weight made the surface creak. "Virginia, where is everyone, and why has the fire not been kept up?" she snapped.

Her sister was wrapped in a light shawl gazing at the dying embers in the firepit. Alex was taken back by just how truly frail her sister looked at that moment. Her usually luscious golden hair was brittle and lacked its vitality. Her body was sunken in from lack of nourishment, not too unlike Alex's own, the fire in her topaz eyes gone. Extinguished by the harsh circumstances that had now become their reality.

"Jamie went into the village to beg for work, and Claire is no doubt out with the baker's son." She said loftily.

"Mother?" she asked bitterly.

Virginia tisked gently, "In the bed, of course."

Alex cursed under her breath as she hurried to stack up what logs were left. She built back up the fire and turned towards her sister. Grabbing Virginia's hands, Alex gently started rubbing them. Unease at how cold she was started to set in. If they had been human, she would have died long ago from the cold, but as it were, her inner wolf kept her just warm enough to stay alive. Virginia was the youngest of the Darlings, only twelve years of age, then came Jamie, the only boy and was now fourteen. Claire was sixteen, and then there was Alexis, who had just had her eighteenth year. "Pitiful, that wretched woman." She fumed.

"Don't speak ill of Mother Alex. You know she has had it rough the last few years; she needs time." Her sister spoke softly, always the defender.

Alex stood, "The last ten years, Gin? Time has come and gone. This place is falling apart, and we have little food. The well has long dried up…there are literal holes in the ceiling." she could have gone on forever listing the reasons why they needed help now.

"The Alpha will provide." She said with a small smile.

Alex walked over to the table and start skinning the deer, "Your childish naivety will be your undoing. If the Alpha Lord cared at all, do you think we would still be living like this?" she stated, "The only people that we can count on are each other, and I do not have much stock in the others."

"You will see Alex." That was all she said.

There was a thump as the front door opened, and Claire and Jamie stepped through, "Alex! You got a deer." Jamie rushed with excitement.

Alex smiled fondly at her younger brother. Out of them all, he was her favorite, and she cared not to admit it. "Yes, we will survive another week or so if we ration right."

Clair snorted, walking over to take a seat beside Virginia. Alex vaguely wondered how on her earth her sister had remained so haughty through this all, yet there she was dressed in her prettiest day dress with the air of a princess surrounding her. "I hate rationing. It would help if you caught us more than one animal at a time and then we could eat without worry. Deer are getting so old; there are only so many ways to cook it. How about a rabbit for a change or squirrel?"

"How about you get a job or go hunting yourself and help out? You are plenty old enough to pull your own weight." Alex could not help but bristle.

"I am pulling my weight," she lit up suddenly, holding a hand to her chest dramatically, "I think George is going to propose soon."

Alex focused on her job cutting up the deer, "Well, you have been whoring yourself out for a while now; I guess he can't find anyone better."

There was a shriek of outrage, and her sister stomped over to where Alex stood, "You are just jealous that I found a man that can stand touching me."

"Yes, so jealous that you have had to sleep with half the village, just to have one boy coming back for seconds." She hissed, "George's family is little better off than our own; you would be just another mouth to feed. We have no dowry to offer them; you come with nothing, Claire. Is George aware of that?"

"We do not care about any of that. We are in love; money means nothing!" She cried out.

The bedroom door opened, and a ghost of a woman stepped into the kitchen area, "What are you two fighting about now?" her mother's cold voice broke through.

"Your daughter being a Trollip," Alex answered coldly.

"Oh, that's good, whatever you need to do to get some coins. Make sure you take no less than five; you are too pretty for less." Her mother stated as she fished for something above the cabinet. Alex blinked when she saw her pull out a bottle of brandy.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Merriam looked at the bottle then to her eldest daughter, "Oh this, I went and bought it with the shillings I found on your nightstand."

Alex let the knife she had been using slip, and she sliced her finger open. Cursing, she brought the digit to her mouth while starring daggers at her mother. "You mean to tell me that you used the last of the shillings I had to buy liquor?" she asked. Her voice had dropped a degree, and she put both hands against her sides.

"You will get more; what is the big deal?" Merriam asked, taking a nice long swig of the brown liquid.

"What is the big deal?" Alex mirrored her Mother's question; she was sickened. Sickened by what her mother had become since the years her father had died. The woman before her was just a shell of her former self, reed-thin, hair a mess, and her eyes sunk into her skull. Add being a drunk on top of the list, and it made for a pretty good example of what not to become. "The big deal, Merriam," Alex snarled, "Is that your children are starving, the house is crumbling down on top of us, and you go and use the last bit of shillings we had left to buy liquor. You are a pathetic excuse for a person. What kind of mother would willingly let her children starve while she got drunk?"

The bottle was thrown so quickly at her face that Alex barely dodged it. It shattered against the wall beside her; glass caught the side of her cheek, slicing it open. Alex put a hand to the wound and glared at the woman in front of her. A knock sounded at the door, making them all stiffen. Visitors never came here, especially this late in the day. Alex walked to the door and opened it slightly, peeking out. Relief flooded her bones when she spied the familiar face of her friend Samuel. "Sam, what are you doing here so late?" she questioned.

The smile died on his face as he took in her appearance. Alex flushed, slightly embarrassed, "Alex, what happened to you?" he asked in return, looking genuinely concerned. Letting himself inside, he turned to cup her chin, inspecting her wound.

"Oh, you know the usual drunkard for a mother, whore for a sister." She shrugged.

Sam shook his head though he could not hide the amusement in his dark brown eyes. Alex sighed wistfully as she gazed into them. Alex absently wondered if her crush was written plainly on her face.

"Let's get you cleaned up, love." He whispered gently and made her sit down as he whetted a rag from a nearby barrel. The last remaining bit of clean water they possessed added that to her imaginary list of things she would need to attend to.

"You did not say why you are here so late, Sam?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, right." He said as if remembering the reason for why he had come to their door, "My house received a letter today from one of the Alpha's." he pulled out a piece of parchment.

Alex took it in her hands and was surprised at the weight of the paper, heavy stationary, with the Lord Alpha's seal across the bottom.

"You are cordially invited to the Mating Festivity's hosted by Alpha Lord of Tartarean.

Once a year, by right, the Alpha's of Tartarean take partners for the season.

Due to the lack of Alpha females, all Beta females are requested to attend.

The invitation applies only to Beta females over the age of maturity and unmated.

-Your Alpha Lord Ryker"

"So, we are being summonsed for a breeding party?" she questioned in disgust.

Sam shook his head, "Think of it as an opportunity."

"Let me see!" Claire cried, yanking the letter out of Alex's hands and started to read out loud its content.

"An opportunity to be fucked by an Alpha pig?" she spat.

"You can not go." Came Merriam's voice in a rush. Alex looked over at her mother to see her face had paled beyond its normal contour.

"Why ever not?" she asked. Alex had already made up her mind that she would not attend, but now that her mother told her not to, it brought forth a reckless rebellious streak she was none too proud of.

"You foolish girl, there is a reason that your father and I worked so hard to keep you away from the prying eyes of the Alphas—a reason why we moved way out here into the backwoods of nowhere. If you go to that festival, you would be undoing everything we did to protect you. You can not go." She stated on a ramble.

"You moved us out here to let us rot," Alex stated, chopping her mother's words up to the drunken rambles of a madwoman. "An opportunity for what, Sam?" she ignored her mother completely.

Sam chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second before stating, "To make a case for our village to the Lord Alpha himself." At Alex's snort, Sam pressed on, "Hear me out. It would be a perfect time. No Beta has been able to step foot on his territory before; that gives you an edge. It will be a party, so I doubt he will be expecting it. We can get you all dressed up, and you would be the village's own secrete weapon. Go in, plead our case, save the village from utter ruin, and the village would owe you."

Alex contemplated the idea. It did not sound half bad if she could, in fact, get the Alpha's ear for even half a second. What could it hurt? Either he agreed to help, Alex came home a hero, and her family would be set for life, or he would reject the proposal, and things remained the same. There was nothing to lose but everything to gain. "I don't own a dress, Sam, or a way to get there."

Sam smiled, "My sister would be thrilled to loan you a dress and to let you ride in the carriage with her. Come to my house tomorrow eve and our housekeeper will prim you up."

Frowning a little, she looked at him, "If your sister is going, than why do you need me to go?"

Leaning in a little Sam whispered in her ear, "Because you are far more attractive than Cynthia."

Alex's face heated at the comment. Did Sam really think her attractive or was this his way of trying to manipulate her into his bidding. They had been friends ever since childhood, he had helped her family on more than one occasion. Looking at the handsome lines of his olive skin, the way his brown hair slightly shagged over his forehead boyishly, and the warmth in his dark eyes; Alex decided that he was being genuine in his compliment. The assessment did little to calm her racing heart at the thought that he had admitted to finding her pleasing to the eye though. If anything, it made her even more aware of her grim appearance, in comparison to all the other village girls that had not fallen on hard times.

"Please Alex, do not do this, let Cynthia do it. You do not know the consequences of what will happen." Her mother's slurring voice pushed Alex over the edge.

Standing up she faced her mother and siblings, lifting her chin defiantly, "I will do this for us."

Claire pouted in the corner, sulkily she muttered, "This is totally not fair."

Alex took a deep breath and showed Sam out. Tomorrow she would put on her bravest face and walk into the wolf's den, she had a mission to accomplish, and she would be damned if she came home empty handed. Like every hunt she went on, she would come back with her prize, no matter what.

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