The Windfall Creek forest breathed with early morning mist, a pale silver veil shifting between the pines as if the land itself exhaled. Alisha ran through it with her heartbeat in her throat, the cold damp air clinging to her skin. Training mornings always started before sunrise, and though she hated that part, today she welcomed the sharp chill. It kept her grounded. It kept her from thinking too much.
Because Ben was home.
Again.
And every time he returned, something inside her chest twisted and snarled like a creature she didn't fully understand.
The pack's training grounds opened into a broad clearing lined with cedar logs and bare earth trampled by generations of wolves. Young pack members were gathering — some stretching, some quietly gossiping, some watching her with thinly veiled unease.
It wasn't new. It would never really stop.
Alpha females weren't supposed to exist.
Not born to beta parents.
Not born at all, if the old traditions had anything to say about it.
Alisha ignored the whispers, stepping to the edge of the clearing where her father usually observed training. He wasn't there yet, but people still moved out of her path all the same. Respect? Fear? She could never tell the difference.
Her fingers curled into her palms as she stared at the dirt. She could still hear the conversations her parents thought she never overheard—when she was younger, small enough to hide behind the sofa or pretend to be asleep upstairs.
"But Alphas only come from Alpha lines!"
"She wasn't supposed—this could endanger the pack!"
"What if she challenges one day?"
They meant well. They loved her. But even they didn't understand her existence.
A sudden shift in the clearing snapped her attention upward. The crowd parted, bodies moving automatically, instinctively.
Ben had arrived.
He walked into the clearing like he had always belonged to it, tall and sure-footed, muscles defined beneath his training shirt, the early light catching in the dark waves of his hair. His presence changed the air; even the mist drew back from him. His eyes warm brown with flecks of gold scanned the group with quiet authority he hadn't yet earned but everyone already felt.
He was the rightful Alpha by blood. Son of the pack Alpha and his chosen omega mate. Strong lineage. Predictable. Safe.
Everything Alisha wasn't.
When his gaze found hers across the clearing, it hit her like a physical force. Every nerve in her body sharpened. Her wolf rose inside her, ears pricked, energy coiling tight, as if bracing for either battle or… something else.
And from the way Ben's shoulders stiffened, the way his chest rose with a deeper breath, she knew his wolf felt it too.
The awareness. The pull.
The thing neither of them should feel.
The thing they never talked about.
Because Alphas weren't supposed to be drawn to each other. Not like this. Not obsessively. Not instinctively. Not in a way that made the pack shift uneasily whenever the two of them stood too close.
"Morning," Ben said, voice steady but lower than usual, it was supposed to be addressed to the whole gathering but it sounded like it was meant just for her.
Alisha swallowed. "Morning."
She hated how soft it sounded.
He stepped closer — not too close, but close enough that she felt the heat radiating from him. Close enough that her wolf pushed forward, desperate to lean in, to scent him, to just...
She forced it down, nails biting her palms.
Around them, pack members murmured. Two omega girls exchanged irritated looks. A few of the boys stiffened as dominance prickled the air.
Because everyone knew.
Everyone felt it.
And no one knew what it meant.
Ben's jaw tightened the moment the tension hit the air. He glanced around, posture adjusting, shoulders broader, stance wider, the subtle physical language of an Alpha keeping peace.
Alisha hated it. Hated that he had to do it because of her. Hated that her presence made people uneasy.
Hated that the part of her that was truly wolf… didn't care at all.
FLASHBACK – YEARS AGO
Windfall Creek forest had always been their battleground.
They were little the first time the strange awareness flared between them — a tug, a pressure, something instinctive and wordless. They circled each other in the grass like pups too young to shift but old enough to feel something ancient.
They'd fought constantly. Play-fought. Real-fought. Challenged each other for no good reason except that being near the other sparked something they couldn't explain.
Ben would shove her shoulder.
She'd shove harder.
He'd chase.
She'd bite back.
Once, in the middle of a sparring match, she'd knocked him flat on his back. The other kids froze, shocked. Boys weren't meant to lose to girls. And certainly not future Alphas.
Ben didn't get angry.
He had stared up at her with wide eyes, chest heaving, something baffled and fascinated flashing in them. As if seeing her — really seeing her — for the first time.
She'd felt it then too, like lightning under her skin.
It was the first and last time she had won against him. After that he worked harder, got bigger. Part of her said he did it to earn her praise. Her wolf was as pleased as she was annoyed, the wolf deemed him worthy.
Their parents dragged them apart that day. The adults saw it before the children did — something off, something wrong.
Something dangerous.
Together, the two of them were too intense. Too drawn. Too aware.
And no one wanted to know what that meant.
BACK TO PRESENT
Ben tore his gaze away from hers and cleared his throat. "Pack run this morning. My father asked me to lead."
Of course he did.
The Alpha was busy preparing for the upcoming seasonal council, so Ben was here in his stead. It made sense. He was the heir. He was the future.
He moved toward the center of the clearing, but paused when he realized Alisha hadn't followed.
"Coming?" he asked quietly.
She hesitated.
She always hesitated when it came to him.
If anyone else had spoken to her like that, she would've lifted her chin and walked away or walked forward depending on her mood. But Ben's voice hit differently, not because he was the Alpha's son, but because his wolf wrapped around hers in ways wolves weren't supposed to.
Alphas did not cling to each other.
Alphas did not need each other.
And yet—
Her feet moved before her mind decided.
Training runs were simple: shift, chase, sharpen instincts. But nothing felt simple today. The moment Ben gave the signal to shift, a ripple of energy passed through the clearing. Bodies shimmered, bones cracked, fur burst outward.
Alisha's wolf form was sleek, pale silver streaked with charcoal. Ben's wolf was taller, powerful, deep black with gold glints that caught the light.
When he looked at her, she felt it again, the unfathomable pull. As if her wolf recognized his on some level deeper than logic, beyond tradition, outside every rule they'd been taught.
And his wolf mirrored it.
Two Alphas facing each other.
Pack members backed away instinctively, forming distance.
Even in wolf form she could sense their unease.
Ben took a step toward her.
Her wolf growled low, uncertain. Not at him but at the overwhelming surge of instinct urging her forward.
His wolf huffed, ears pricked forward, curious, drawn.
He should've been drawn to omega females.
She should've been drawn to omega males.
But they only reacted to each other.
A wrongness. A flaw. A threat.
Run, he signaled.
The pack rushed into the forest, paws pounding earth, lungs burning, energy sparking through the trees.
But Alisha and Ben stayed close. Too close. Every stride was synchronized. Every movement mirrored. Their wolves circled each other mid-run, brushing shoulders, exchanging sharp glances of confusion and agitation.
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
When they reached the riverbank, Ben shifted back to human first. Alisha followed seconds later, instantly transforming back onto her gear, the magic always protected their clothing from the shift.
Ben's hair was messy from the wind, his skin lightly flushed, his eyes too bright as they pinned her.
"Did you feel that?" he asked.
Her breath caught.
She could lie. She could pretend she hadn't. Pretend she was normal.
But she wasn't.
And neither was whatever existed between them.
"…Yes." The word came out barely above a whisper.
Ben exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know what it means."
"Nothing. It means nothing." She said it too quickly. Too desperate.
His eyes softened. "Alisha… we've been circling each other since we were kids. There has to be a reason."
"There isn't," she snapped, chest tightening. "You're meant to choose an omega. Every Alpha does."
Ben's jaw clenched.
"Maybe I don't want to," he said quietly.
Her heartbeat stumbled.
For a moment the world seemed too still, too fragile.
Wind rustled through the pines. The scent of damp earth rose around them. The pack was still somewhere behind, running, unaware of the charged stillness between their two young Alphas.
Alisha swallowed hard, stepping back. "Don't say things like that."
"Why?"
"Because it's impossible," she whispered. "Because it's dangerous."
Ben stepped closer. Not enough to touch, but enough that she felt his heat.
"Or," he said softly, "maybe it's the reason we were always drawn to each other."
Her pulse thundered.
Her wolf trembled.
The world spun in slow circles around them.
She could feel the truth hanging in the air like stormlight.
Two Alphas should never be pulled toward each other.
But they were.
And Windfall Creek would never be the same again.