Alpha's Protective Pup

11

“Alison isn’t on guard duty right now and knows about the situation, so she could stay with her,” Lukas suggested.

His sudden suggestion annoyed a part of me, but I suppose it was for the best. Alison would bring no harm to Isla. Because she was a beta, my instincts dismissed her as a potential threat.

Isla’s eyes betrayed her apprehension as she contemplated spending time with a stranger, but I reassured her that Alison was a trusted friend. She was someone we could trust.

Beside me, Lukas cleared his throat. “Maybe she should get checked out by Margaret just to make sure everything is okay. What do you think about that, Isla?”

“I guess.” She shrugged.

Isla’s state of shock made her more inclined to go along with our reasonable suggestions.

“You go get Alison,” I instructed Lukas, while his blank stare met my gaze. “Lukas, is that a problem?”

His eyes remained empty as he stared at me, but he eventually nodded his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll talk to Alison and tell her the situation.”

In no time, Margaret concluded Isla was healthy. She nudged me aside, allowing Isla to freshen up and change into a new outfit.

The fear of losing sight of Isla made waiting outside the door a nerve-wracking experience. Before I could even return to the room, Lukas appeared out of nowhere.

“Alison is aware of the situation and said she can stay with her for the time being.”

I sighed in relief. “Good. She’ll be safe there.”

Lukas looked like he wanted to say something, but held back. The atmosphere shifted, and a newfound tension settled between us, thickening the air. The two of us were best friends. Yet the rising hostility was making me anxious.

Though I didn’t enjoy it, there seemed to be no reasonable way to put an end to it, considering our present circumstances.

“How is she doing?” Lukas asked, eyes glancing at the closed door.

I shrugged. “I mean, physically Margaret said she was fine, but just one look in her eyes and it’s clear she’s going through a lot. We have ripped Isla’s entire world out from underneath her in a matter of days.”

“That’s why it’s important to help her through this as best I… we can. She will require additional support when your father expresses his desire to meet her.”

The mention of my father made me sigh. I expected it would become problematic when he uncovered her omega status. If we could maintain secrecy, I’d be all for that plan.

When Isla came back out of the room, we ceased our talking. Her complexion seemed brighter, and her eyes held a hint of renewed energy. Isla’s body was now clean and devoid of any traces of dirt, grime, or blood. The clean clothes were a slight detail that made a big difference in her overall appearance.

“I can take you to Alison,” Lukas blurted out, catching me off guard. “Oscar, you should probably just inform your father of what’s been happening. You know how he gets when we don’t keep him up to date about everything. He becomes like a pressure cooker, ready to explode.”

As angry as I was for Lukas offering to walk Isla to Alison’s part of the den, I realized he had a point. Dad hated to be left out of the loop. He’d view it as people hiding things from him, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Although it was late, he was probably awake. Dad rarely slept much anymore.

With a heavy heart, I left the two and went to speak with my father. I walked in after making my presence known and told him everything that had gone on in the past few hours.

He didn’t speak at first, but finally looked up.

“Good, maybe that bear knocked some sense into her. If she pulls something like that again, let her face the consequences of her actions.”

I only nodded, not surprised by his response. It was similar to the one Margaret had, though not nearly as harsh. He said nothing as I turned to leave, and I was grateful for that.

As the eldest son and the head alpha of the pack, I carried the weight of expectations that I had to live up to. They presumed me to take over once my father officially stepped down, though this wasn’t always a guarantee.

Any alpha could step up and confront the current pack leader’s authority. These types of challenges could happen in any pack, though they weren’t always common in all of them. The Sabretail Pride had found a sense of stability a few decades ago when my paternal grandmother had fought the current alpha at the time for leadership.

Before my grandmother challenged the reigning head alpha, our pack remained immersed in a state of disarray and turmoil. Because of the leader’s ineffectiveness, they staged a coup to remove them from power. After my grandmother took over, things became calmer for a time. She stepped down when I was a young boy, leaving her eldest son or my father to take her place.

At first, everything was fine, but in the past few years, I observed my father’s troubling change. As time went on, his mind became a breeding ground for paranoia, resulting in a stricter demeanor. It was difficult to see because my father had not always been like that. This conversation only reinforced that fact.

I recalled a time when he possessed a more open-minded attitude, willing to listen and give others the benefit of the doubt within his pack. If I were to pinpoint a time when it changed, it had to be after the death of my mother.

By the time I got to the part of the den Alison occupied, Lukas was already walking in my direction. He stopped a few feet from me and c****d his head to the side.

“She’s fine. Just resting now.”

“Guess we’ll see her in the morning then,” I told him.

He nodded and strode past me.

The two of us didn’t even say goodnight to each other. Between the situation with Lukas and my father, my mind was reeling.

I didn’t even want to think about what my father would do when he realized Isla was an omega. As betas dominated, the scarcity of omegas made them a prized commodity. My father was now without an omega mate. She hadn’t been in her fertile years any longer, but my mother had given birth to many children over the time they had been together, so that didn’t matter.

His ability to raise a family showcased the pack’s unity and resilience. Yet, without my mother by his side, my father seemed agitated. The way the pack looked at him showed they didn’t view him as weak or anything similar. They were sympathetic that my mother passed, leaving my father without a mate.

He should focus on that. Yet, after my mother passed, he seemed to become a different person. This started a reign of ruling over the pack with an authoritarian feel to it. We remained separate from humans but still knew of their history. I’d read up on many cases where these leaders came to power and the fact that my father was displaying such behavior was concerning to me.

My siblings and I joined forces to offer our help, ensuring he stayed on the right track. At first, it seemed to work, but the behavior continued to escalate with each passing day. Without our intervention, I believed it would’ve happened even faster.

I had limited abilities. With the rising concern, my father’s paranoia grew. I didn’t know how to quell his worries because they were so outlandish.

The circumstances he was facing were a direct reflection of his own behavior. Had his behavior not become so extreme, then there wouldn’t be so many whispers behind his back, trying to figure out what was amiss with their pack leader.