(Alexis)
The books laid out before her were taunting, in them held all the information one would ever need to learn about their heritage, yet something was stopping her from continuing her reading. It had only been a short time since she had set foot on Alpha soil, how had her feeling changed so drastically? Before coming here, she had loathed everything about the Alpha race, deemed them all swine's that could rot in hell. Now she was the Mate of one of the most ruthless Alpha Lords in existence, what had happened to her way of thinking, what spell had Lord Ryker cast upon her? The man was insanely handsome but reserved and intimidating. The way she felt when his full lips caressed her sensitive skin though was another story, it made her hot just thinking about it, his mouth was wicked. Was one of his gifts the power of seduction? Alex had heard that each of the Alpha Lords were given their own unique powers, it did not seem unlikely that his would be carnal delight, it would explain her traitorous body for abandoning her rational thinking. Everything about this situation was so messed up, she had come here with just the intent of pleading her case, not to become a whore.
It seemed what she wanted had went out the window the moment she had vowed to do anything for her family. The family that did not lift a finger to help themselves, the family that relied to heavily on her to survive, their drunkard mother sinking lower and lower with each passing day. Bitter thoughts weighed heavy in her mind now, she let the thoughts of leaving them to their own devices enter for a fleeting moment, toyed with it, then cast it out. Her siblings were not horrible people, they were young and naive and still believed in the goodness of the world. They believed that fairytales existed, and any day their wealth would be restored, without putting in the hard work to get it. It was a fantasy that Alex herself had many times dozed off to sleep, many a cold starving night, praying for. Nothing came for free, the price of her family's happiness came from offering herself up as the Alpha's plaything, to do as he wished. What was her self-preservation in the light of her family and town being restored? Worrying about herself seemed childish and selfish, she needed to be bigger than all that and rise above.
Setting her shoulders, she let out a sigh, and looked back down to the book she had already cracked open. The smell of an old book was the best thing she had smelt in a long time, besides Ace, of course. The writing was old, and the ink a faded black upon the parchment, written with a quill. Alex could almost visualize the white and brown feather as the writer dipped it into the small ink pot, scribbling away the vast knowledge of his, or her time. It was almost a journal of sorts, dating back to the early age of the first Shifters, so old this book had to be. The simple fact that she was touching something so fragile made her want to back away, what would happen if she tore a page accidently, she would never be able to forgive herself. Biting her bottom lip, she made sure to be extra gentle handling the ancient piece of property, turning the pages slowly, the faded ink was getting harder to make out as she turned. Most of the information here was general knowledge, so she skimmed those parts she already knew.
"The Mating Bond." She read out loud, zeroing in on the page with the bold title at the top. That was a subject that she knew almost nothing about and seeing as she was going through a mating right now, it might be beneficial to read up on what to expect. "True Life Mates are rare and something to be treasured and honored. Through the True-Life Mating Bond any offspring produced are born with immense power, the Gods blessing to the Shifters on their match, only through the True Mating Bond are Alpha Females produced." Well, Alex thought shrugging her shoulders, but continued on, "In the beginning True Life Mates were common and paired off by the thousands, the first couple Adriana and Theodor paired off claiming their Bond, then committed the ultimate sin. They brought forth a daughter Carmen, who was blessed by the Gods with the ability to detect True Life Mates for the rest of the Shifters, who were struggling. Each Alpha Female and Male born of a True Mate Bond has a birthmark, an inscription, of their power gifted to them at birth, on their body. Wanting to abuse that power they used the girl for their own selfishness, selling her gift to the highest bidder, they whored their first-born daughter. The only time her gifts took root were when she laid with an Alpha male, they forced Carmen into room, and only opened the doors to let an Alpha in. Once she had her vision, the door was shut, and she was left alone. One Alpha was told that his mate had died as a child and grew so enraged that he ended up ripping Carmen's head from her body, the Gods' were so enraged by the defilement of their gift, that they cursed all Shifters. Taking away their ability to find their True-Life Mates, they also stripped Adriana's womb making her forever barren and Theodor's seed."
Alex blinked at what she had just read, holy shit, and she thought her own mother was horrible. That explained a lot, as far as why there was a shortage of Alpha females now, they were being bread out. Not being able to find a True-Life Mate was slowly putting the Alpha's a disadvantage, if they were no longer the strongest predators, then what would happen to their race? The Alpha's relied heavily on their offspring's being blessed, to carry on their line with power, if they no longer had the upper hand, they would be no better than the Beta they claimed to rule over. The fact that Beta's were here now, in Alpha land, said a lot of just how desperate Ace was in finding True Life Mates for his people. The fall of the Alpha's would have the bloodiest of wars coming soon, if something did not change and fast, a chill swept down her spine at the thought.
"Penny for your thought." Came the darkly familiar voice she had grown to hate and like all at the same time.
Alex let out a heavy sigh, turning to observe the male that seemed to loom in the doorway, "Even if I had a hundred pennies, I doubt that would be enough to explain what is going through my mind." She confessed sadly. "There is so much history here, such tragic things, it breaks my heart a little."
"Come, let's continue our lessons out in the garden, the library has suddenly become such a dreary place." Ace stated nodding towards the glass encased doors on the other side of the room.
Alex bit her bottom lip but nodded standing from her seat, she walked on stiff legs out of the library, leaving behind the dark cloud of ominous doom.