The Alpha's Rival Mate

Chapter One

This chapter is dedicated to one of my first readers Kelly Rohrer who loves Aiden so much. Kelly, here's your baby all grown up.

Aiden

I snapped my eyes open and sat up in bed. My body was shaking and I was drenched in cold sweat again. My heart was pounding inside my chest. I looked around my room, then out the window. It was still dark.

It was just another nightmare. Regardless, I was happy to see him again.

Ever since my father disappeared and vampires came out from hiding, sleep had become a thing of the past.

When will the nightmares ever stop?

Why was my life so messed up?

I laid back down and stared up at the ceiling, trying to recall every detail of what I saw. My nightmares almost always had my father in them. Delusional as it may sound, it was the only way I could see him other than some videos on my mom's old phone that she kept on her nightstand.

Ever since the night my father vanished, I started having nightmares. Nightmares of him being tortured, of my mother being taken captive and beaten by the vampire filth, and of my sister Faith crying hysterically just before she was bitten. My nightmares were always about my family and my father was almost always there. Sometimes I could even hear him calling for me.

Nightmares... or maybe they were premonitions. I wasn't sure, but one thing I was certain of was that my father was out there somewhere, and when the time came I would make the vampire scum hide under a rock for another thousand years.

I had no doubt in my mind that he was alive. My mother would know if he was dead.

I became so paranoid about my nightmares that I made sure everyone in the pack was constantly heavily guarded when they left our territory, and Matt went as far as setting a curfew for all pack members except the warriors and other pack members involved in the search for vampire scum.

I asked the Moon Goddess time and time again to show me where he was, but she said she would not interfere. She said this was something my family and I would have to face on our own. I asked her why she never told me about the existence of the Primordial Vampires, but as always, I never got the answer I wanted.

I was angry. I've been angry ever since I was little. I was angry about not feeling normal. I was angry at the Moon Goddess and at the whole world. My father was taken away without any remorse, and when I reached out to the one person who could give me answers, she silenced me and I was given a load of crap. So I did my own research.

The Primordial Vampires were strong and very powerful vampires that first came into existence thousands of years ago. Exactly how they were created is still a mystery, but they existed along side the first and most ancient werewolves created in the fifth century, called the Immortals. The Immortals were the most primitive werewolves to roam the Earth. Yet, even though they were primitive in their ways, they certainly were not in their strength and power. I remember when Ace and I were kids, my grandfathers both used to tell us stories about them. Stories that portrayed the Immortals as heroes.

The Immortals were known to be aggressive yet extremely strong and witty. At first, they both got along and the Alpha werewolf had a peace agreement with the vampires. Later, when the Alpha's mate was killed mysteriously, he blamed the vampires and waged war on them.

The war lasted decades and evolved into an intense rivalry that would reveal the vampires' involvement with Gaia, The Original Witch. The witch used her magic against the werewolves, thus being the reason witches and werewolves have been enemies for ages. It is believed that Gaia used vampire blood to weaken the werewolves. That would explain why my father hadn't fought his way home or even reached out to us all these years. The vampires were probably using their filthy blood to weaken him.

After decades of war and bloodshed, the Immortals thought that they had finally rid the earth of vampires when they were actually living among us the whole time.

But where?

The more I discovered about the vampires, the more I resented The Moon Goddess for not helping me. I felt like her mask had fallen off after all these years. See when you're down in the fucking gutter is when you find out who's in your corner for real. Everybody talks about loyalty, but when it's time to be loyal, everybody disappears. Even the Moon Goddess. At the end of the day, difficult situations expose fake people.

I stopped asking her for help and soon my resentment towards her led my spiritual belief to falter. My mother wasn't happy with my choices, especially regarding the Moon Goddess. I always heard her out while she tried to convince me that The Moon Goddess was right. I listened to what she had to say because I couldn't put my mother through any more hurt. I didn't want to be the cause of her sorrow anymore than I already was as an infant. But the fact of the matter was that she couldn't make me believe in a creator anymore. I didn't want a creator who refused to help me in my darkest times.

The most emotionally disturbing thing was that I resented and loathed myself more than anyone else. I had all these powers and couldn't find my father. I searched everywhere day and night for years but nothing. Our trackers couldn't even pick up his scent. Turns out my powers weren't all mighty. I wasn't as strong as the Moon Goddess made me out to be. The vampires were just as powerful and strong.

"Finally, a worthy adversary to demolish once we find them." My wolf said whenever I talked about our enemy.

Today was the day I agreed to accept my position as Alpha. I finally gave in to my mother's wishes and agreed to accept the position before my father was found. For years I was determined to wait until he got back so he could be there next to me. It was what he always wanted and as time went by I came to realize it was what I was brought back for.

I once asked the Moon Goddess why my family had to go through so much shit, and she replied that sometimes we have to take the most uncomfortable paths to lead our life to what we want it to be.

Yeah, I lived with her as a child and I continued to see her growing up, but I didn't speak Goddess. I wished she could just give me a direct answer for once. That was another reason I was angry with her. She claimed I was her only son but, she never just plain out told me the fuck I needed to know.

I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom to take a cold shower. As I walked by my window, I saw someone outside by the pool.

Mom.

My mother had been suffering for years since dad went missing, but she kept it together for the family. I have so much respect for her. She's one of the strongest women I have ever met and who knew how to keep her life in line despite all the pain she was going through. She did it for me and my brothers and sister. She took over my dad's position while he was away and she did one hell of a job. Throughout the decades, our pack had a badass reputation in battles and our allies trusted us to step up whenever needed, which was why my father was the first Alpha of the Black Circle.

After dad's disappearance, mom made sure things ran exactly how my father would have wanted. My grandparents on both sides of the family helped her when she needed guidance, especially Matt. He had been leading our warriors for years and he did one hell of a job. I had so much respect for him. Growing up, after Kyle left, Matt was the closest thing my brothers and I had as a dad. Unlike Kyle, who had proved time and time again to be a useless asshole. He walked out on us as soon as my father went missing. His disappearance hurt us as a pack, since he was our Beta. With his sly demeanor and lack of affection towards the family, there was no way I could let him into the Black circle.

I didn't trust him and I made sure he knew that.

Kyle kept visiting our pack from time to time with an excuse that he was concerned about his parents. At first, every time I saw him I felt betrayed and hurt, but as time went by and one failed attempt after the other to find my father, seeing him triggered me. I lashed out at him every time he came by until he stopped visiting once and for all. As a kid, Kyle was everything to me and to my mother. But I guess not every person in your life is meant to stay. As far as I was concerned, he lost his right to be concerned about his family when he became the reason his family wasn't well.

My grandparents went through hell after my father disappeared. They didn't need a bitch like Kyle hurting them even more.

Fuck him and whatever he was going through. Fuck him and his double personality. He should have been their for his parents, for his brother and sister, for the pack, my mother, and for......me.

He should have stepped up as Beta and as an uncle but instead he left us. He turned his back on the pack and his family.

My mother tried to explain his situation over and over and I listened, but I wasn't convinced. To me, only a coward walked out on his pack and on his family.

I did, however, learn something from all of Kyle's bullshit. I learned never to underestimate anyone ever again.

Our pack was the Black Circle headquarters. One Beta wasn't enough to take on the work load alone, so both Ace and I took over all of Kyle's duties until the time came and I took my place as Alpha.

Despite her Alpha responsibilities and the trauma of being torn apart from her mate, my mother was able to smile every morning like she hadn't been crying the night before. But aside from my nightmares, I felt my mother's pain and agony.

The bond between my parents was unique. I knew it as a kid and everybody else knew it. Their relationship was why Ace desperately wanted to find his mate.

What a sap.

Every time I asked my mother how she was doing, with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, she still managed to say she was fine. My mother also still managed to be there for everyone else and still lead our pack with defiance. Our allies were expanding across the country and the globe, but Axel and Ali remained our most loyal friends through the years. They stood by my mother and by the pack since day one. They were my father's closest friends, and despite him not being here they both spent a lot of their free time at our pack, which led me to getting comfortable with Ali's daughter. She was a fireball! Beautiful and she wasn't so bad to be around. I thought for sure that she was my mate, but my wolf never claimed her.

Our parents didn't know we were hooking up and that was one of the reasons I moved out of my parents' house into my own room. I was still in the packhouse but I had a lot more privacy this way.

My mother took dad's place as Alpha until his return or until I agreed to take over as Alpha. That day was today. I never thought I'd be taking over as Alpha without my father by my side.

I threw on a pair of shorts and a T.shirt, then cleaned up a bit and walked out of my room. I went through the pack house to the backyard where the pool was. Mom turned around when she picked up my scent and immediately put a smile on her face.

"Can't sleep?" She asked

"I could ask you the same thing."

She smiled at me. "I'm sorry you can't sleep. I wish I could take away your nightmares." She said as she hugged me. "Did...did you see your father?"

"I always see him" I told her, looking away from her. "Why are you out here?"

I knew why this pool area meant so much to her, but I wanted to talk about everything except my nightmares.

Mom looked around us for a minute like she was living a memory.

"Yeah, this place means a lot to me. This is where your dad first found me."

I already knew that.

"Mom, you can talk to me. You know that, don't you?"

"I know" She said, as she gave me a quick hug and walked away.

Before she entered the house, she turned around towards me, "Try to get some sleep. Today is a big day for you, you need to be well rested."

I couldn't go back to bed so I hit the gym. The gym was where I went to get away. Being here reminded me of the days my father and I trained together. I was just a kid but memories of my father were engraved in my mind.

Working out was my escape from reality. Here I was able to shut everything and everyone out.