9. Necessary Measures

We arrived at the pack house, with the alpha still holding me up bridal style, and that definitely attracted stares. I blushed while Alexander kept on walking nonchalantly, like the pure alpha man he was.

I wished they’d stop staring… but then again, why wouldn’t they?

I was but the new addition to the pack, and he was alpha Alexander Bad. He had a reputation to uphold. That of a ruthless heartthrob among many.

I didn’t even qualify to apply for the role of a plaything… and yet, I was in his arms. It was hard to remain impassible while the man I had a crush on held me with utmost care.

The beta, whose name was Luc, and whose demeanor was that of a goofball most of the time, waited for us at the threshold, with a pout on his face that made him look younger than he actually was.

“Why the face?” The alpha asked him in a joking tone.

“I wanted to take care of those leeches myself,” he said petulantly.

“I am quicker and more efficient than you,” was the response he received.

The exchange was absurdly normal, even though I was still in the alpha’s arms.

Didn’t that raise questions?

“Call for the Falls,” he then said in a no-nonsense tone.

I stiffened at once, fearing the worst. The alpha only looked down at me, his eyes unbelievably soft.

“Eli, Tyler, not a word about what you know,” he then instructed.

“Yes, alpha,” the guys responded in unison.

A few strides, and we were in the alpha’s office. He placed me softly on the couch and then started pacing the room.

Luc watched his alpha with puzzlement on his face. “What’s wrong?” He asked when he could no longer stand the tension, it would seem.

“Jade is a born healer,” Alexander said grimly.

Luc let out a stunned “Oh” at that.

“Why does it sound like I am a disaster waiting to happen?” I asked, partly hurt, partly confused.

Every werewolf had heard the stories. Born healers were powerful and rare…

“We need to keep it a secret, alpha,” Luc said, not minding me at all.

“Why?” I cried out in exasperation.

Why must we keep the fact that I was not truly an abnormality – wolfless – a secret? All I had longed for in the past year was acceptance…

“Born healers are extremely coveted, Jade,” Luc tried to make me see reason while the alpha kept on pacing the office. “The peace between the packs is already hanging on by a thread. I assure you that many greedy for power alphas wouldn’t hesitate to go to war with us for you.”

I was about to retort something, even as I did my best to hold back my tears, when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Alexander said in an impassible tone.

My parents looked at tired tearful me on the couch and stiffened at once, not knowing what to expect.

Luc closed the door and remained standing near it.

“I’ll go straight to the point. Jade is a born healer,” Alpha Alexander announced without preamble. “Did you know that?”

“No,” my dad told him at once, no hesitation whatsoever.

My mom, on the other hand, didn’t say anything.

“Mom?” I asked in a wavering voice.

“I had my suspicions,” she let out on a sigh, making me and dad both gasp.

“Carry on,” he instructed, his voice detached, his face impassible… which, honestly, was a frightening sight.

“My ancestor, five generations ago, was a born healer,” she said almost timidly. “The archives should have the records.”

“I believe the one you’re speaking of is one of the four pillar founders of the pack, Annabelle Cars,” Alpha Alexander heaved a sigh of his own.

“The one,” she said with a little bit of a grimace. “I didn’t mean to keep information from you, alpha. I just didn’t know for certain. All I knew was that Jade hadn’t shifted on her sixteenth birthday…”

“Born healers shift on their nineteenth birthday.”

“But since born healers are so rare, I couldn’t possibly say she might be one without any proof. She never manifested any power that might indicate that she, indeed, was one. I did entertain the hope that she might be one though…”

“The heart of a mother would rather her daughter be a rare coveted species than her being a wolfless pack member,” he finished for her with a nod.

My mom shed a few tears at that.

“I’m ready to accept my punishment, alpha. Please don’t ban my family.”

“We are ready to accept our punishment,” my dad corrected her in a proud tone. “Kindly protect Jade.”

Alpha Alexander waved a hand in a dismissive manner. “You’ve heard too many rumors about me.”

I smiled at that.

“If you had known for a fact she was a born healer, and hid that from me, there would have been consequences… but you only had suspicions,” he said in a firm tone of voice. “That being said, there are repercussions to this revelation.”

My dad nodded, seemingly approving of anything the alpha might decide. My mom, on the other hand, sniffled.

“Jade will have to be home-schooled,” he announced.

“What?” I cried out in anguish.

“It’s for the best,” he said, without even a glare my way for my blatant disrespect. “And we’ll have to keep this a secret until Jade is able to control her powers.”

“If I may,” mom began, “What happened in the forest alpha?”

“She healed a fellow pack member,” he said grimly, “using so much of her energy, she passed out.”

My parents nodded again, understanding how dire the situation was.

I knew how delicate it was of a situation, but I couldn’t bring myself to accept the measures that were taken.

Call me egoistical, but I wanted to experience all high school life had to offer. I wanted to live my teens like a normal teenager – as normal as it was for a werewolf anyway.

It was now my turn to cry. And it only took a few seconds before my silent crying turned into sobs.

Mom rushed towards me and tried to soothe me while dad listened with rapt attention to everything the alpha had to say.

Already, I could picture my new imposed hell…