Page 55 of Mate to the Alpha Predator

He fixed her with a glare.

Shit, that's scary. "Nope, don't worry about me. You can go about it however way you want, don't mind me at all." She raised her hands in surrender.

He faced his path again.

In the silence that followed, Ismena lagged behind a bit, so that she can stare at this man to her full without being noticed by him. That long silver-gold hair has made her warm all evening, her fingers practically itched to touch it.

She fisted her hands, determined to keep resisting that urge. Her companion isnothappy at all. As usual.

She wanted him. Badly.

An urge she doesn't understand—she'd never liked uptight men with a stick up their ass at all—but it's there. Insistent. Persistent.

Every time she spends with him, her breasts are burning to be touched, her nipples hardened to tight sensitive nubs, and a throbbing in her womanhood that only increases the longer she spends with him.

Is this evening walk really a good idea? She found herself questioning herself as they passed several beautiful homes.

Almost immediately, her mind was answering... Of course, it is, she needed to see around town, she can't go alone or risk being chased for dinner again.

Her heart has been beating badly in her chest since that run. She needs her meds.

"Woah, this place is beautiful...!" She gasped all of a sudden as her eyes caught the sight of a wooden enclosed decorated with all sorts of flowers. "What is that place?" She asked in awe, pointing at it.

"That's a manor house built for the Omegas. They like hanging out there in their free time." Wolfariane found himself replying at the sheer excitement on her face.

"Wow, that must be refreshing. But who are the Omegas?" She spared him a confused glance, but her eyes wandered off again towards her surrounding.

"The females. The females from the high species like wolves, cougar, tiger, or leopard. We are in the werewolf Clan, you see. There's really nothing much separating the werewolf Clan with the mountain lion Clan."

"In the werewolf Clan? Does it mean that all these people are...wolves?" There are a few women, children, and older men going about their way around them. Every one of them bows to their Alpha King on sight, the respect they have for him apparent and unhidden in their eyes.

"Yes." The Alpha King found himself freeing up from his bad mood as he allowed himself to see the world around him from Ismena's eyes. His world.

All these people are his people. His family. "The heart of Naturiah is the wild space of area where the werewolf clan’s and the cougar clan’s borders meet. That is the place we arrived in three days ago. There, you see a lot of changelings from different species hanging out together."

"Like a family..." She can still remember the sight of it. "Eline mentioned in her house that we are in the cougar clan."

"Yes. Eline is a cougar. The clans don't matter anymore, we mix up pretty well these days." He found himself explaining to her as they walked, "Before the Dominant War, Changelings didn’t mix up very well, you know. Everyone stuck to his or her clan. That was two centuries ago, But after the war between Cougar and Wolves, there was a peaceful settlement."

Ismena was so enthralled by his tale, "What was the peaceful settlement? Also, what's the Dominant War? I know what war means, don't get me wrong," she rushed to add, "but it seems to be more than just war from the name."

Wolfariane took a deep breath, letting the evening air caress his body, lifting strands of his hair from his nap, "We have thirty-six clans in Naturiah, and all these clans have a leader. Mostly, the leaders come from the strongest in the clan... it's always an Alpha. Before the Dominant War, there was always a problem with the general leadership."

He continued, "Which clan will the King of Kings come from? The overall leader of the land? Which clan will the owner of the Towers come from?" He paused, "Which clan will the Alpha King come from?

"Aaah," Ismena was starting to understand. "That is your present position right?"

He nodded once, leading her through another lane. Out of the corner of his eyes, he can see the surprised glances and jaw-dropping gazes of his people as they stare at the human walking excitedly beside their Alpha King. "As you can already deduct, it is the highest position in Naturiah, led by the strongest of the strongest. It comes with a lot of responsibilities too."

The way she was looking at him in that enthralled, fascinated way forced him to continue. "So, clans kill themselves to be the general leader of all the clans. That was the Dominant War. It went on for years and years until other clans either lost the war or they gave up on it, because of their innocent blood that has died from the war. It continued until the werewolves and the cougars were remaining. Two strong clans fighting each other for the throne."

He took a deep breath, "Ares and Dogota. Ares was the Alpha leader of the cougar clan then, and Dogota led the werewolf Clan...." he paused, "He was my grandfather."

"Woah. Dogota..." Ismena rolled the name on her lips, "He sounds like a strong man."

"He was. The strongest." The tiniest smile curved his lip to the left side of his cheek at the memories of his grandfather. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much of that. "Ares and Dogota warred each other for years on end until a circumstance forced them to make peace with each other."

"What circumstance?" She kicked a stone on her path, then, winced when it hurt her toe.

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