Alpha Kael

~Jada

My first thought is I have to tell someone.

My second thought is questioning what I’m meant to do. It feels improper to be watching his scandalous act take place, but I’m so stunned on what to do. All I know is this shouldn’t be happening. It is forbidden to have a relationship with a Silent or Trainer. And yet here I am, witnessing Baylee making out with Niko.

I have to interrupt. It might not be the best thing to do, but what if this is a mock situation? What if I’m meant to intervene and stop Baylee from getting eliminated? Is this my chance to protect her?

With all these questions needing to be answered, I can barely make sense of my thoughts. I’m a good person, and I good person wouldn’t let something this unfair happen.

Right?

“Hey, what’s going on?” I question, emerging from the shadows. I’m without any weapons or any means to protect myself if Niko’s next motivation was to turn against me. If this is a simulation like I’m hoping it is, that should be how he reacts.

Instead, they both pull away from each other as if I set a fire in between them. Baylee looks at me with wide eyes, clothes frumpled, lips swollen, cheeks crimson red with shame and embarrassment. Niko simply takes a few steps away, as if he could simply leave the situation and i would forget he was involved.

“What are you doing here?” Baylee hisses, as if I was the one illegally making out with a Silent.

I’m stunned. “What are you doing here?”

Baylee looks back at Niko, who has his back facing us. I glare at him, wishing he could see my face. I’m disgusted, that he is taking advantage of competitors this early into the competition. And now he won’t even face what he has done…

“We were just… talking,” Baylee says, rubbing the back of her neck. Does she think I didn’t see exactly what just went on. “I had a few questions about the competition and our current task.”

“You should get back to the halls,” I tell her slowly.

I’m both shocked and confused, and can’t for the life of me sort through my thoughts. As I know Baylee, she didn’t seem like the kind of girl who would do this. Either she is truly interested in Niko – which I wouldn’t blame her – or she is trying to get ahead of the rest of us in this competition.

“Don’t tell me what do to,” she snaps, which I suppose to some extent I deserve. “I can do whatever I want.”

Baylee moves past me, making a show of pushing against my shoulder, knocking me back a few steps. I watch her storm off, luckily towards the halls. I don’t follow her right away. She needs space right now. Who knows how she might react if she finds out I’m protecting her.

Niko turns around, eyes dark and sinister. I brush it off as the shadows playing around with the night, but I’m not so sure. With the expression on his face alone, I want to turn around and run for my life.

“You won’t tell anyone about this,” he says slowly, voice hushed, anxious someone else might hear. “If you know what’s good for you.”

A threat.

He walks past me and back into the building, leaving me with nothing but a chill down my spine. Is he going to get me kicked out of the competition? He surely has the authority to do so. And if he makes up a lie and tells Kael, then I’m done. That means I have to play just as dirty as him. That’s what Silent’s do, right?

It’s just, how am I supposed to do that…

As if an angel above, perhaps Fate, perhaps Millicent had been listening to my silent thoughts, I spotted a figure across the field. Quite far from me, but I know immediately who would be dwelling out here at this time of night.

Kael. And despite what the repercussions might be, I decide I need to follow him. Or at least approach him. If I talk about what just happened, then I will. But what seems most imperative in my mind, is why he goes out into the forest at night. Last time I followed him, I failed to find out.

Before I go, I make an informed decision to grab a flashlight from my room. I may be miles behind him, but at least he won’t know I’m following him.

And this time the darkness isn’t going to swallow me.

By the time I reach the forest edge, Kael is nowhere to be seen. My plan, although probably foolish is to blindly walk in a straight line, and hopefully stumble across something in relation to Kael. Either this will get me kicked out of the competition, or I might find something that will change everything.

The forest is cool tonight. I wish had brought an extra layer, because it seems as though the icy winds are seeping through my jacket and against my skin. This better be worth it…

I make it quite a way in, stumbling over fallen boughs and low hanging branches. I drop my flashlight a few times, which doesn’t help my unease. The shadows seem to be playing tricks on me, crawling and shifting into ethereal predators, silent and deadly as the wind shifting around me.

And then my light flickers off.

I pause in my spot. My heart stutters, and curse words flow adeptly out of my mouth. This seems all too convenient to be real. Smacking the plastic against my hand, I will it to work again. The batteries have to be new, so either dropping it ruined it, or something else is going on.

Regardless, I can’t see anything. And once again I’m stuck out here, unsure of where to go, and how long I’ve been wandering in.

This was a foolish idea. And I knew it too, so I deserve to be lost out here to never be found. Kael would have come and gone by now, unaware that he had been followed. I would burst into tears and fall to the ground right now if I wasn’t so mad at myself.

And then, I see a faint glow in the distance. A cozy, welcoming glow…

My feet take me in that direction before I can do anything about it. Not being able to see anything only makes me stumble and run into trees, hitting my head at least once before I got anywhere close to the strange light. It may not be my smartest move running blindly towards a strange light in the middle of a forest, but it wouldn’t be very intelligent to stay in that one space all alone waiting for help. Not when no one cares that I’m missing.

Pushing through the last boughs, I come to see what the source of the strange glowing light. It is a porch light belonging to a small, comfortable cabin.

I know immediately this is where Kael goes. Why else would a cabin be in the middle of this forest? Warmth and comfort seems to seep from the place; a welcoming grasp after my trek through the cold wilderness.

Almost drunkenly, I wander closer, wishing I could see through the windows. Bright lights streams through, alighting the porch steps I climb up to the front door.

For a cabin in the middle of nowhere, it’s very well kept, the wooden slabs this is built from seem new, the fresh smell of cut oak still seeping from the place. I knock twice on the door, wondering what is going to come from this. I can only hope Kael is inside.

I wait outside for a few moments. It takes the person behind the door quite some time before they slowly open the door.

Immediate relief. Kael.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

As much as I shouldn’t have followed Kael out here, I trust him, and he wouldn’t leave me out in the wilderness without help. At least I hope not. The surprise on his face has me questioning myself. That is, before his expression melts into concern.

“Jada…” he breathes. “What are you doing out here?”

“I’m not sure. I witnessed something today that I can’t explain, and tonight, something else happened that I’m questioning. I didn’t know what to do, so I saw you and decided to follow you again.”

Kael looks stunned for a moment, too dumbfounded to speak right away.

“I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t mean to disrespect you Alpha, truly,” I tell him, although I doubt it’s very fruitful for trying to explain my guilt away.

Kael takes a deep breath, stepping back. “Come in.”

I have a million questions, but I keep them to myself until I’m inside. It’s just like any other cabin. A fire is lit on one side of the room, consuming it in a comfortable, safe heat. A lounge suite faces it, adorned with blankets and pillows I want to crawl into a rest my weary body. I look down at what I’m standing on. Some kind of animal pelt.

What is this place?

I want to voice that exact question, but before I can, someone else enters the room from another door I hadn’t noticed. He’s tall, he’s handsome, and he no way belongs to this earth.

A feline smile graces his face at the sight of me, lavender eyes lighting up. “Oh, a visitor. How wonderful. Hello darling, my name is Sinful.”