Eclipse Child

Whoever said

the small things

don’t matter

has never seen

a match start a

wildfire.

~BeauTaplin|WILDFIRE

It’s a long drive.

Almost six hours.

Six hours on the road, until I finally reach my goal.

I pull up to the training camp and slowly close my eyes, allowing the smell to wash over me.

Males.

The stench of testosterone and dominance.

Of power and glory, desire for more and bloodthirsty drive to possess.

Alphas.

It’s not until I take in the scent, that my hands start to shake.

“No. No, don’t do that.”

I hurriedly command my limbs to work. They couldn’t fail me now. Not now.

I had purposely not taken a shower after my run for this.

So they could also smell the scent of sweat and work from me.

Instead of the fragrance of soaps and clean clothes.

That was not what I needed. I didn’t need to be clean or look nice.

I needed to fit into their world if I was going to make it.

I hear them before I see them. The sound of fighting. It’s afternoon, but the coming of the cool months has the wind bringing an icy chill that causes my flesh to rise.

I’m able to take them in the exact time they spy me.

Fighting stops.

Their training ceases.

Hungry eyes watch my movements.

Some ignore my presence and continue their actions.

But the majority follow me.

Like a pack of wolves going in for the kill.

“What are you doing here little pup?”

I feel a hand possess my wrist.

Before the male can react, I twist my arm, breaking his hold and grabbing his own limb as I turn it around.

A painful snarl fills the air, but it’s met with my own.

“Bitch,” he hisses eyeing the twisted hand that I had deadlocked in my own.

The males make a ring around us, but before I can step closer a voice rings out-

“stop!”

Every head turns to take in the source.

And every head lowers silently as another male approach.

“What is your business here female?”

“I’m here to see General Flint.”

The males glance at one another, eyeing me curiously as I slowly let go and take a step back.

“Does he know-”

“I know, Daxton.”

I turn at the new voice. It takes all my self-control to not take a step back from the overwhelming presence that is felt as the newcomer approaches.

“Soraya?”

I nod silently.

“I’m General Flint. Follow me.”

I meet the other males glare, catching sight of some of their smiles as they watch me walk away.

Someone from the crowd wolf whistles, causing a few scattered sounds of laughter.

My hands roll into fists. But I don’t turn around, knowing that are seeing now and taking in the uneven edges of my hips with calculating eyes.

“In here,” the General opens a door to one of the grey buildings, showing me inside and leading me down several halls before we reach a door that is located at the end.

Words are engraved on a small wooden name plate, GENERAL FLINT R. TORRES.

He motions to the chair that is across from the large black one- looking over from the view of the desk- as the door closes behind and he takes his seat of power.

“Soraya,” he mumbles my name and pulls out a thin file.

I wait patiently, not even realizing I had been perched on the edge of my seat until I teeter forward slightly.

He doesn’t notice though.

He is too busy reading whatever was within the folder.

“Granddaughter to former Alpha of the Alba Rosa pack, Jay and former Luna Daisy. Daughter of current Alpha, Atlas and current Luna, Lexie. Your brothers are Vincent and Leonardo. You are the second born.”

He closes the file and stares at me, letting silence fill around us until he shakes his head.

“You have a very...impressive heritage.”

“Thank you.” It comes out short and curtly. I didn’t come here for information that I already knew to be thrown at me.

“Soraya...you called me for this interview, but I want to ask why.”

I almost fall out of my chair at the question.

“Shouldn’t that be obvious?”

The look the General is giving me makes it clear it’s not.

“If you are here to find a mate then-,”

“What? No,” I quickly wave my hands in front of me, dismissing the idea, “Of course I’m not here for that. I’m here to train.”

A shattering silence fills the office once more.

Until it’s rebroken by the General’s laughter.

A slow, sinking feeling, starts to form within my chest.

“Tr-train?” He can barely get the word out through his mirth.

“Yes, train,” I said through gritted teeth, the words inaudible to my ears as they slip past my anger.

“Soraya,” he stops suddenly but scattered chuckles still escape him, “please eh...tell me how you came to this decision?”

“What do you mean?”

He points to the file, “your family already has an Alpha, doesn’t it?”

I stare at him in confusion, “well...yes but my dad-,”

“No, not your father. I mean Vincent.”

I still at the sentence, my whole body freezing up at the spoken words.

“Vincent by all rights is the Alpha of-,”

“It doesn’t work like that in Alba Rosa.”

He stares at me, his eyes narrowed at the brisk tone. The anger on my face. The words that had been said through a clenched mouth in an effort to hide the canines that were elongating.

“Really?”

“Whoever challenges the Alpha and defeats the Alpha, claims the title.”

“I know.”

I stop short at his grin.

“You know?”

He nods and opens the file again, his eyes darting around the page as he reads information that is hidden from me.

Until he closes it and looks back up.

“What about your mate.”

“What about him.”

“He is bound to be an Alpha.”

I stare at the General, “I.... that’s not for sure.”

A skeptical eyebrow rises from him, but he says no more, “so you want to be accepted here. You want to start the training to become an Alpha.”

I lean forward. Yes. Yes, this was why I had come here. This was what I had been working towards.

“Yes,” I breathe, trying so hard to not show the excitement on my face.

“No.”

I jerk back, like a bucket of cold water had been suddenly dumped on top of me.

“No?”

General Flint points outside, “what happened out there tells me exactly that you shouldn’t be allowed here.”

“The fact that one of the males challenged me-”

“The fact that one of the males was about to hurt you,” he said eyes flicking down my body before traveling back up.

“But I...I was handling it!”

“And then what?” He smiles at me, a look in his face that I know well and hate.

A look that so many had given me.

That told me I was naive.

Young.

Reckless and -

Stupid.

“And if you defeated him?”

“Then...I defeated him,” I nod my head, trying to connect to the point that was being made, and failing to see the bad side.

“You would humiliate that male. And he would become so enraged. He would never accept it.”

“If you are teaching these Alpha’s that they cannot accept a loss, then that is a lesson they are sorely missing.”

“Alpha’s should win.”

“Well yes, but they have to suffer a few los-”

“Enough,” he waves his hand dismissively away.

I pause. This was not going how I planned.

“Please. Please, I need to train here. All Alpha’s train here.”

General Flint is silent. Watchful. Taking me in.

I edge my chair closer, small hope entering me as I read his silence towards his growing acceptance to the idea of letting me train here.

“I can fight, despite what-,”

I stop suddenly, the words dying away from my lips as I lean my head to the side, my eyes narrowing and watching the movement that had suddenly started, with General Flint’s left hand.

“What are you doing.”

I’m gripping the edge of the chair, white, burning anger consuming me as I feel claws elongate from my nails.

“Stop that.”

“Why?” He’s back to smiling, as he leans back within his chair, “It’s not hurting you is it?”

I can’t answer him. The anger is choking my voice.

I feel tears coming. They always, frustratingly came, whenever I was angry about something that I cared to much about.

“I’ve been thinking, Soraya. There is a way you can enter the camp.”

“And what’s that,” I hiss.

His hand is still slowly moving up and down within his lap. The desk hiding the full sight from my view, but I’m not naive like they thought. I wasn’t stupid like they assumed.

I knew what he was doing.

“I can offer you support. Say you do, miraculously, become Alpha. You do beat your father and maybe Vincent, from what I hear, never comes back. Say that happens. You’ll need help.”

He doesn’t give me time to respond, as he leans even further back, “And you’ll certainly need an ally for when you’re...in an, even more, weakened condition. If your mate should appear. We wouldn’t want what happened to your Great Aunt Jewels, to happen to you also.”

I can’t take it anymore.

The arms to the chair break.

Splinters digging into my flesh as the handles shatter from my anger.

The General’s smile only widens.

“It’s very hard to find a strong female warrior. You would make an outstanding Luna.”

“Stop.”

“I can help you. Give you connections to various Packs and leaders that other Alphas can only dream of. But you have to help me. Come on. You know what to do. A pretty face like you.”

And then I’m standing.

“I should rip your fucking hands off and shove them down your throat.”

His eyes widen in shock at the sudden change in my demeanor.

I throw the broken pieces of the chair down, letting them crash in front of him on the desk.

Letting my emotions that I had tried so hard to contain, spill out.

“Forget it. I don’t want to train at a place like this anyway.”

I turn back and pull the handle to the door, but his voice stops me.

“You know you won’t make it. You know you can’t do it. Stop trying to impress everyone and just fit in where you’re needed. Do what you were born to do.”

Without a word I raise my fist and flip one middle clawed finger up, slamming the door to close my eyes off from the disgusting sight.