Declan
On the outside Declan looks like your average America Teenage boy except for his surreal look.
With his coal black hair and golden eyes that glowed if the sun got caught it 'in the words of Amelia is classmate, "There's no way that guy is human" she would always say and boy was she not so close to the truth.
Declan's presence had a way of commanding respect and after he turned 15 he had become almost unrecognizable, now at 18 and rounding up with high school he stood taller than most of his peers and he had to quit football because anyone he crashed into was left with at least one broken bone.
He had started noticing the changes in his body when he was 15 years old' One night while he was washing his hair, the power was interrupted and the room went dark and as he looked up into the mirror his eyes literally glowed and it scared him.
The few days that followed were hell, he had to be careful around everything. He accidentally pulled out the shower head while taking a shower.
He argued with his mom and as he shut the door, the entire door fell out. His mother had gasped in shock but did not get angry at him instead her initial anger had resolved and she had quietly sat down with him and asked him how long he had been experiencing things like that and what his symptoms were.
Overtime he had learnt to control his strength and successfully hide it but if he was playing sports or indulged in any extracurricular activities where his competitive side was awakened just a little then there was an issue so he had stayed away from sports entirely and luck for him he was very smart so he could get into the university one way or another.
And he did
Until his 18th birthday when everything switched
He had noticed things were different that day his mother seemed more tensed than normal, in truth she was always tensed around his birthdays but this one was more different.
He was to go to the library with his study group and she had forbidden him to do so.
Around 9pm that night she had told him to follow here to the basement
A place he was forbidden to enter and he had totally forgotten it has existed
He looked round the place and he saw concrete pillars and chains.
It looked like a dungeon for a kind of beast and the walls seemed like the sound proof one in the radio room at his school
He turned to his mom
"I know you've had a lot of questions for a while and I am going to answer them for you.
"Finally, some answers he said sarcastically
"We don't have enough time so please just trust me and any more questions you have would be answered tomorrow
"OK now your scaring me
"Please don't bee scared, everything will eventually make sense
"I know this pass few weeks you have been feeling more stronger than usual and the nights get more hotter
"Yes, Declan answered looking at her more suspiciously. "How did you know that?
"Honestly, she started bringing out the pendant his birth mom has left with him while he was born
"I am not the mother who gave birth to you, I was merely the midwife
Declan felt like his whole world was crashing on him, he looked at her with pure disbelief.
How can the mother he has known from the moment he realized what the world was, look him in the eye and said she wasn't his mom
While Declan was trying to make sense of the situation, she looked him in the eye and said
"Your real parents are both dead and she gave him the pendent
"You are the heir to a wolf clan but your half brothers could not let a young child born out of wedlock be their ruler when they had far stronger more capable men in the clan and then had to kill both your parents
His strong legs gave way and he went weak sitting on the floor as she proceeded to explain in details
"So on the the moon by your 18th birthday your full transformation will start and to prevent you from going wild and causing issues, I will have to chain you up, I come here every full moon to chain myself up, not because I lack control but because I did not want you or anyone else to see me in that state.
At this point his mind was blank as Mabel proceeded to chain him up and secured the looks the she went and did the same for herself.
He turned to look at the mother he had known all his life, the cheerful nurse a the hospital, she looked so normal no one will ever belief
Then it happened
He literally could hear his bone crack and it felt as though someone was breaking them to build them back up
He had never felt pain like this before, it was excruciating.
He could breath he tried to gasp for air, he tried to breath but what came out left him stunned
He howled
He tried to stop it but the pain was unbearable
He howled again this time a lot louder than before
He was suddenly filled with blood lust as his eyes glowed and illuminated everything
He struggled to break free as his hunting instinct took control of him but he could not, he fought, and howled , and fought and howled
And after that day, his entire life never remained the same
*************************************************************
10 years later he is out of school and trying his best to live a normal life in a small reserved town farther from the supernatural world
His mom had died 5 years ago while he was still in school and now there was no one alive he could share anything with and be his true self around, so when the offer to join the company's newest branch in a small town at the outskirts he quickly jumped on the offer.
He wanted to start afresh and honor his mother's dying wish by living a quiet life
'As if it was ever possible for a true Alpha to do that'
He is quiet, no dating drama and works as a smart mechanic that minds his business
Every night he chains himself to his specially built basement to control his shifting
Every full moon was torture for him as the struggle to hide who he was became more difficult, his dreams were becoming more violent, sometimes he felt claws on his skin while he slept.
The only thing similar to friendship he shared was Amelia, the girl that tortured him through high school, somehow they had both ended up in this small town, she coming few months after him and forcing him literally to be friends with him
"You're the only familiar face I know" she had insisted
Now he was more than grateful for that small touch with humanity
If he was the least bit normal, if maybe he could even trust her with this his secret then maybe something might happen between them.
He shook his head as she walked up to him, it had been their tradition for almost a year now to hang out every Friday evening,
She would come to the garage and watch him round up, calling him names in between and then they could go for dinner and drinks and on rare occasions like today she would convince him to cook for her and they would go grocery shopping.
He knew she would always try to seduce him whenever they are in a confined space but he did not mind, he found it amusing.
As Declan walked out of the garage with the ever smiling Amelia, he felt eyes on him and turned to see a stranger just behind him
An older man who could barely stand upright was staring at him from the side of the garage, their gaze locked and Declan felt a chill run down the entire length of his spine. The man had golden eyes too but they were faint.
Declan could swear he had never seen this man before but something about his scent, his aura and the way he was bent seemed oddly familiar.
The man walks up to Declan and takes in his scent, looking him dead in the eye
He rasps, "You smell like a ghost." "Like something long believed to be dead."
The old man disappears into the darkness as swiftly as he emerged, before Declan could react or even move.
Declan is shook. He felt... exposed for the first time in years as his instincts erupt in uncertainty.
"Do you know him" Amelia asked
"No Declan replied in a rasped voice, "I don't think dinner will work tonight" he said without looking at her, his instinct on edge as he quickly walks away
********************************
Declan falls ill the next day for the first time in his life, it was the week of the full moon and if anything he should be getting stronger
Amelia had checked in on him a few times but he had rudely told her off and he noticed her hurt she was but this was the week she dared not be around him and he was sure she was used to this by now
The moon is full that night. Declan withdraws to the basement in his house just like he had always done from the time he turned 18. His only tool for halting the metamorphosis is a pair of reinforced steel chains that he fastens to his wrists and ankles.
Using the breathing exercises his mother taught him prior to her death, he starts to meditate. Tonight, though, feels different. Inside, the beast is restless. he's hungry. enraged.
His chest suddenly bursts in a searing anguish. The bones beneath his skin start to move against his volition, and his vision becomes blurry.
The chains clatter wildly. His body trembles.
"No." Not tonight. "Not now," he grinds his teeth
But the change takes over.
And then, one by one, the chains break with a howl of primordial pain. The beast is not completely transformed, yet it is strong enough to shatter steel when it is half released. Kieran loses consciousness as the wolf's rage overwhelms him.
***************************************
It's dawn
Far away from his basement, in the jungle, Declan awakens bloodied, bruised, and naked. His head is throbbing. He doesn't remember the night.
The trees are broken and clawed around him. A flawless ring of scorching covers the soil. Huge wolf footprints follow him in a purposeful route, as though someone or something had been hunting, guarding, or observing.
He stumbled when he tried to stand. His gaze catches a symbol cut into the bark of a neighboring tree—a precisely carved crescent moon that glows dimly in the early morning light.
Declan gasps for air. It has been more than ten years since that symbol was last seen. He had safely tucked it way the night his mother explained it to him
Someone is aware of his identity.
They had located him.
The Lost Alpha Had Been Found!