Alpha Kael

~Jada

I shouldn’t agree to this.

Jake is a strange kid, and I know that. Like me, he has discovered he wants more from this competition than to win it. He wants to know about the Alpha he could potentially be serving, like me. However, I’ve never gone about sneaking into his estate. I’ve been very obvious about what I’ve been doing.

Problem is, I promised Kael I wouldn’t no longer pursue anything but this competition. He hasn’t written back, and I cannot be sure he even got it and read it, but I can’t possibly go back on it…

“Listen, this is bad,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I can’t agree to that.”

Jake’s eyes instantly widened behind his thick rimmed glasses. If I go and tell something to Blue, he will have him immediately taken from this competition. Not only that, but he will most likely be prosecuted in a court of law. And sneaking into an Alpha’s home is inexcusable.

“Come Jada, you can’t tell anyone. They will kill me,” he insists. He gets out of bed, standing over me. He is unnervingly tall and lanky, but I doubt he would strike out at me. Not if he wants me to keep my mouth shut.

I shake my head at him. “I can’t explain it, but I can’t have any further relation to the Alpha.”

Jake looks visibly confused, but doesn’t question it.

For a moment, he doesn’t say anything brushing past me. Catching a glance of myself in his wall mirror, I feel stupid dressed up like this, so I tug my face cloth off, and pull the hood off my head. Jake knew who I was the moment he put his glasses on, which completely foiled my entire plan.

Turning around, I watch Jake rustle through his draws before he picks up a screwed up piece of paper that has now been smoothed out. The writing on it is messy and scrawled on quickly.

“I found this when I snuck in. I didn’t grab much because I was in and out for the most part,” Jake explains to me. “I found this screwed up on the floor, so I grabbed it, assuming it had fallen out of Kael’s pocket, or one of his Silent’s. And let me tell you, I’m glad I grabbed it.”

Staring at it skeptically, I shake my head. “That’s contraband.”

If Jake gets caught with that, he will have no hope of getting out of trouble. It makes me shy away, not even wanting to get my fingerprints on it.

“Trust me, you want to see this,” he tempts.

I stare at it, debating what could be so interesting about it. Kael doesn’t need to know if I did read it, and I doubt it will make much of a difference in his life. Hell, he could send his Silent’s to kill us in the middle of the night to ensure we never spoke another word again. Either way, my goal is still to learn about the Alpha. Something about him intrigues me more than it should…

“What’s it about?” I ask warily, taking in between my fingers. Whatever he was writing, he wasn’t wasting any time doing so.

“Read,” Jake prompts.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Mother,

I can’t send this. I can’t.

You’ve never gotten any of my letters before, so why would you get his one? But maybe you have, and you just send them right back without reading them. Because you don’t even care about your son anymore.

Regardless, I have to write down how I feel. I have to wish you would see this. I just want you to know I’m never going to stop looking for you. Ever.

Dad is gone now. You don’t have to worry about him. It’s safe here.

Please come home. You know it isn’t in me to give up on someone I love. Just please, at least tell me where you are, or that you’re safe. None of my Silent’s have gotten a trace of you. It’s breaking my heart.

Please mama, come home.

I set the letter down, unsure of what to think of this. Part of me wants to think it was framed by Jake as some kind of propaganda he would sell to the media for an exuberant price. A rumour like that would surely destroy the dominance of the Alpha family. Even if it is real, I wouldn’t like something like that coming out about my Alpha. Even if he put my family in jail.

“You have to get rid of this,” I say quickly, screwing it back up in my hand. “Burn it, or do something.”

Jake frowns. “Don’t you get what this means? He can’t find his mother, which means our original Luna is missing. And I believe we are going to be trained up, if we were to win the competition, to find his mother.”

My head is spinning, as I try wrap my head around the idea. I thought his mother had been killed, or as the media said, died of natural causes, leaving Kael to the throne. It makes sense though, after what he said to me when I was called to his place. I feel great sympathy for him, but my mind is also whirling at the fact that this was hidden from us.

What else do we not know about Kael?

Jake takes the paper from my hands. “You know how we can win this? We should find her.”

My eyes widen at the foolishness of his idea. How could him and I possibly have a chance at finding his mother? I assume that immortal he was meeting with had something to do with it, which means if he doesn’t know, no one will know. It just doesn’t seem possible we would stand a chance.

“If Silent’s can’t find her, we can’t,” I tell him firmly, deciding to keep Sinful, the Immortal from him. He would only ask more questions and I don’t want him to know about his cabin tucked into the forest.

“We can at least figure out whether she is alive or not, at least,” Jake says. “Tell me you don’t think there’s clue’s in Kael’s home that he has not yet deduced?”

I know exactly what he’s suggesting.

“This is crazy. We can’t get mixed up in the Alpha’s business. We could get prosecuted, or even killed,” I tell him firmly, knowing there is no other option. ”

He shakes his head at me. Under the dim light of the room, this boy looks almost crazy. But in that, I see myself. I’ve tried so hard to get ahead in this competition, and as much as I won’t admit it, I know within me there’s something drawing me to Kael. Something dark and terrible, about to get me in all sorts of trouble.

This is dangerous. And I hate myself for wanting to explore it.

***

“This is a bad idea.”

My glare only intensifies at Jake’s obvious deduction. This is a terrible idea, and he knows I’m fully aware. This is just as much his idea as it is mine. I feel so foolish for doing this, knowing I will most likely get caught, but at least Kael might believe me on the grounds that we are trying to do something in his favour.

If we find his mother, we would surely win the competition. And Kael would get back what he has been looking for. However, as much as I say this, the less it seems to be a rational answer.

It isn’t.

And quite frankly, I can’t believe Jake convinced me to do this.

We had decided that I would be the distraction while Jake steals his way in. He is clearly superior at it, and I would sure ruin his current success. So, without another idea my head, two days after I first burst into Jake’s room, I baked some cupcakes, wrapped them up and made my escape out of the facility.

As I had snuck out with Jake, having crossed the wall, I was constantly rationalising in my mind. If Jake finds anything, I don’t have to go along with it. I can leave him be and try win this competition myself.

So when Jake went his separate way, and I approached Kael’s front door, I tried not to feel frightened.

Kael could easily call his Silent’s on me for sneaking out late at night. And with cupcakes? He could either slam the door in my face, or assume I’m attempting to poison him. As I stroll up to the front door, getting ready to knock, my stomach churns. He could assume anything.

No, I have to do this. I might not know yet what will happen, or if this is even worth it, but regardless, I reach up, and knock on Alpha Kael’s door.