8

~Arian Storm~

I've been boxing against that shitty punching bag all day, but I still couldn't let myself go. Why did I rule like that when I saw Sebastian and Anna or Alex and Zara? They were all manipulated by this poop mate connection, I shouldn't care, but instead I threw tantrums and couldn't properly vent myself. What was wrong with me?

"What's the matter with you, son?" My father suddenly grabbed the punching bag and looked at me in confusion.

Yes, I would also like to answer this question.

"Nothing," I hissed and pulled my boxing gloves off my hands. I actually wanted to turn around to leave, but my father stopped me.

"Arian! Tomorrow night you will be the next alpha. So whatever's going on with you, get a grip on it. I don't want to regret trusting you with my pack." He said in a stern tone.

I turned back to him and with a swallow I looked into his green eyes, which were studying me sternly.

"I'll be fine, Dad." I tried, but he didn't believe me, I could tell by the way he raised one eyebrow.

"Come on, tell me. What's on your mind?"

"II can't Dad." As much as I wanted to tell him and vent my frustrations, I just couldn't. My parents wouldn't look at me the same way anymore. They would try to talk me into finding my mate and to make things right again. But I was only doing it to protect her. I didn't want to lose her.

Maybe... maybe will... no, that's a stupid idea. I will never take Lou and expose her to any danger, even after I have achieved my goal and the Silverstorm pack has risen to be the strongest pack in the world.

My father looked at me with a disappointed look on his face before he left the training room again.

"You're old enough to make your own decisions. Do what you have to do, Arian.", I heard him from the hallway.

With a sudden flare-up of anger, I turned around and hit the punching bag with a full can, so that a cracking noise was heard in my hand.

"That didn't sound good." My little 16-year-old brother Jason's voice suddenly appeared next to me.

"It must have broken," my other brother Jasper said this time, who was standing on the other side and I eyed myself with a raised eyebrow.

The twins' green eyes looked at me in amusement. They too had noticed that something was wrong with me. But I didn't tell anyone. I didn't really want to admit to myself that something has changed since I met Lou.

"What's up? If you don't want to talk to Dad, at least talk to us." Then my brother Steven, who is three years younger, came along and stood in the doorway my father just walked out of.

"IT'S NOTHING DAMN. EVERYONE LEAVE ME ALONE!" I suddenly burst out.

I went to the door, bumped Steven roughly in the shoulder again and then disappeared. You could all times me. There's nothing wrong with me. Everything is fine. Everything as always.

I was about to run out into the woods when my mother's soft voice stopped me.

„Arian?!"

Slightly annoyed that everyone just wanted something from me, I turn to my human mother and look straight into her worried ocean-colored eyes, which I inherited from her.

When I caught her gaze, my angry expression turned to a more loving one. She just worried, like a mother used to do.

I walked up to her and hugged her lovingly. I wanted to let her know that I'm fine.

"It's fine mom. I'm just a little distracted," I whispered in her ear. "I just need to go for a little run now and find myself." With that I broke away from her and ran back to the forest.

"Take care, big one.", I heard her call after her. She was still worried that something could happen to me in the forest, although I know the forest like the back of my hand. Since I was 6 years old and that I walk around here almost every day. Even then, my mom was always afraid that something could happen, and my father was always there at the beginning. But who blamed her? She was probably still influenced by the werewolf Hunter hybrid war 17 years ago.

After transforming, I immediately felt the wet moss under my paws. I just loved running and being free. Here I had the feeling that I could tear myself away from all the ropes in this world.

The forest where my pack lived was large and untouched by humans. The nearest town was only hours away. That means you had enough freedom to run until you couldn't anymore.

Suddenly I became aware of another presence next to me, but when I moved my head there as I ran, I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

I put my head forward again, but suddenly a thick tree trunk pushed me in the way, which I just barely managed to avoid. By dodging, however, I started to slide and a moment later I was rolling across the wet forest floor.

"So for the next Alpha, you're far too careless." , someone suddenly interfered in the Mindlink.

Looking up, I saw a small black wolf standing over me, made even smaller after I got my big one up.

"Did you follow me?" I asked a little sourly. When I went for a run, I usually wanted to be left alone. But I couldn't really blame my sister.

"Just a little." The little wolf walked up to me and snuggled her head against my body. "I was bored and no one wanted to run with me, so when you left I just took my chance."

That was a special thing about my little sister. She wasn't allowed to run alone like me or my brothers. In terms of her, my father was one of the helicopter parents. She was his only daughter and that made him more worried that something might happen to his only daughter. Luckily we sons were allowed to go out on our own, but that was also due to the fact that male wolves were simply a lot bigger by nature than female ones. So Felia wouldn't stand a chance against either of us. This is also the reason why there were no women among the warriors. It might sound sexist now, but we're only protecting the females with it. It's bad enough that some males still lose their mates, like Luan lost his mate in a minor fight between us and another pack.

Actually nothing dramatic, but Ella just got between the fronts at the wrong time. And what's left? A broken wolf who has never smiled since that day.

Speaking of Luan, where is it actually? I haven't seen him for a few days. Hopefully he won't miss the Great Hunt, which is my first time leading our men and women, and they will follow me, accepting me as the new Alpha. Let's hope he's back in time.

"Come! We should go back. It's already dark and I need to be fit tomorrow night." I turned to my sister before heading home.

By this time tomorrow night I'll finally be alpha.