The Chosen Alpha (Prequel to The Female Alpha)

Abhay's P.O.V

As I stood there, thinking about what I had just witnessed, I made a split decision as I turned around and rushed downstairs, bypassing my parents who looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Sorry, I just need to get something." I called out to them as I rushed out the front door. "Be back soon."

I had no idea if they even heard me or not, but at that moment, I had more serious matters at hand to tackle, and the first thing on my mind was that mysterious woman who I had seen in the desert with Mikalya. If I was going to find answers as to what the hell was going on, she was my best bet.

Asides from fining answers to all the questions that had been plaguing my mind since that day, I also needed to know whether I was hallucinating and if this was all a figment of my imagination.

I needed the assurance that I hadn't imagined the whole thing so I could once again go back to my normal life, whatever the fuck that was. This was a deviation, one that had shattered my sense of reality and I needed some form of normalcy back in my life to keep moving forward.

Finally, I was out of the house and I ran towards the direction the woman had disappeared to and soon enough, I spotted her walking a bit further ahead of me, alone with her child in her arms.

I stopped short for an instant, realizing that I hadn't just imagined the whole thing and that woman was really here. She seemed to be lost as she looked around the neighborhood cautiously, her eyes scanning the streets for any form of danger.

"Hey! You there!" I called out, holding out my hand to signal her to wait. But as soon as she heard my voice, turning to find me walking in her direction, she immediately picked up pace, as if she thought I was a danger to her and her child. "Please... stop. I just want to talk!" I begged. "Please...just...talk to me! I'm not going to hurt you!"

I didn't mind begging her, because my pride was the last thing on my mind. But what I was worried about was any of my neighbors hearing me and thinking I had gone nuts, so I had to keep my voice lowered, instead of shouting to get her attention like I had wanted to.

But still, it appeared as if she had heard me, because she stopped running, and turned towards me with a confused look on her face. It gave me enough time to catch up to her, but by the time I reached her, I was already panting. "Please... is it really you?" I asked.

I wanted to be very sure that this wasn't a case of mistaken identity. She did look like the woman I had seen in Gujarat, but instead of a ghagra-choli, she was now wearing a salwar kameez, with the dupatta covering her hair. She looked a bit different from when I had last seen her, so I needed to be sure I had gotten the right person.

"Is it really you I met in Gujarat?" I asked again for clarity's sake.

The woman nodded her head in the affirmative, telling me that indeed she was the one. I heaved a sigh of relief. It was the first step...the first step in finding out the truth. At least now, I knew that I hadn't been hallucinating, that I hadn't imagined the whole thing. That I wasn't going crazy....

"What...umm...what's your name?" I asked, because I couldn't just keep calling her 'girl from Gujarat'.

"My name is Kashmira and this is my child, Kushal." She pointed to the sleeping baby in her arms.

"Right...um... Kashmira, so..." I scratched the back of my nape, thinking about how to ask her what I wanted to ask all this time, but deciding to go with something simple first. "Wh-what are you doing here? Near my house, I mean. Do you live around here?"

"No. But I've been searching for you for a long time." She declared, unphased. "And now, I finally found you."

I was stunned by this revelation because I had no idea why she would be searching for me in the first place. Was she...someone like me as well? Was she someone who had been looking for answers all along? Or was there something more to all this that I wasn't seeing?

"Why? Why have you been searching for me?" I asked her.

She took a deep breath, looking unsure of how to give me the news. I had a hunch that whatever it was...it wasn't something I would be expecting, at all. "Mikalya is gone."

I staggered back, holding onto a nearby light post so I didn't topple over. I didn't know why the news shocked me so much, but I felt my heart tremble at the word 'gone', like something precious in my life had just gone missing. "Gone? What do you mean by 'gone'?" I asked, confusion written all over my face.

I knew I shouldn't feel this affected...I shouldn't feel this shaken, because I had this notion that if I wanted to look for her, if I ever wanted to reach out for Mikalya once again...she would be right there, in that desert, waiting for me in her gorgeous red ghagra-choli.

I had eventually wanted to go back once again, to find her so I could seek answers as to what happened that day and why she did this to me. But now...hearing that she was no longer in Gujarat...a strange sense of loss began creeping into my heart.

"After the fight with the falcons, we had returned to the hotel we were staying at and Mikalya had told me to go get some rest, but the next morning, to my surprise, when I had woken up, Mikalya and Ruksaar had already left in the dead of the night." she explained.

"But how can you be so sure? How can you be so sure that they left in the dead of the night?" I asked, my confusion growing.

I was trying to piece together all the facts, trying to make sense as to why she would suddenly up and leave this woman without a word because from what I had seen that day, Kashmira hadn't seemed surprised to watch them turn into wolves. So she must have known about them...right?

But if that was so...then why did Mikalya and Ruksaar leave? Why didn't they take her and her child with them? What the fuck was even going on around here?

"None of the hotel staff had seen them leave either and funny enough, I was left with a wad of cash that had slipped in from under my door."

I didn't know of her relation with Mikalya, but Kashmira seemed to be on the verge of tears, as if she had just been abandoned by her mother and had nowhere to go. I didn't know what their relationship was, but their connection seemed to be deeper than I had initially thought.

But if their connection was really that deep...why did Mikalya abandon her in the first place? Had I really judged her wrong? Was she really such a heartless person?

Somehow, my mind refused to believe that.

"Ever since that day, I tried to search for them everywhere, but I could never find them." Kashmira continued sadly. "So I tried to search for you instead... because you were close to her, so I thought she'd be with you, but..."Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

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"She isn't here." I told her. "I would know if she was." I didn't know how, but I could feel the emptiness in my heart ever since I left Gujarat that very night.

"Abhay, a wolf is a social animal who cannot live without a pack and protection of an Alpha. My wolf has accepted Mikalya as its Alpha and now, I cannot join another pack because I don't feel safe at all." she pleaded, looking into my eyes. "I need to find her, Abhay! My wolf is restless...my child is feeling it too. Please...how can I search for her? You're my only hope now."

Wolf...Alpha...pack...

I didn't understand what any of this meant, and yet, there was this sense of 'knowing' in my mind, a kind of reassurance that told me that it was all connected to that incident from that day.

That man had called Mikalya an Alpha too, called her an abomination that shouldn't have been born. But how can he say that about such a magnificent creature? I may not understand what was going on just yet, but one thing I did know was that Mikalya wasn't an abomination, she was a beautiful, strong and brilliant woman who must have had her reasons to do what she did.

"Do you have any idea where Mikalya could be?" Kashmira asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I wish I knew the answer to that but sadly, I was equally as confused as she was.

All I could think about at that moment, were my reoccurring dreams of that cold mountain region...the blood dropping onto the snow...and that white wolf...and...Jharna! That waterfall in the middle of the mountains. "The Himalayas."

The words slipped off of my tongue even though I didn't understand why I said so. It just felt right...felt natural.

There were other mountains in India that got plenty of snowfall but the Himalayas just seemed like the right place that Mikalya might be. But even though I didn't know why I said the name, the idea of finding her, the thought of seeing her again...it brought out a silver of hope in my heart that had been a barren land of fear and confusion for so long.

Why hadn't I thought of this before? I didn't need to know if all of this was a dream or hallucination. I didn't need to know if I was going crazy or if I needed to rethink everything in my life.

All the answers I needed, was with the one woman who had managed to steal my heart. And now, all I needed to do was find her. And then, everything was going to fall into place.