Book One of the Chimers Series. Heir to the Throne

Dinner

Christina and Christopher joined their parents in the Alpha Dining Hall, where the entire Alpha Family was gathered to welcome Christopher as the future Gamma of the Pack. It was the first step in the official training, as he had to be accepted by a member of the Elder Council as well. The woman was sitting next to the Alpha, as the Luna had died a decade earlier with the twin of Bestrice Winters, the youngest of the Alpha children. Dante Winters however smirked at her as she entered, as he was the future Alpha and everyone expected it to be her that received the Gamma powers, as she was technically the oldest.

Christina however saw the truth of it, as she could tell despite being the youngest of the 3, Beatrice was the one who had inherited the Alpha Powers for the Pack. She could also tell that despite being too young to officially identify her Mate, he was definitely it.

"Well, it still seems your Wolf hasn't come out to play yet." Tiffany sneered at her as she looked at Christina.

Christina however only laughed as she looked at the smug look on Tiffany's face daring her to say what she had earlier with everyone present. "You still stink Tiffany, maybe it's why your nose quit working."

Alpha Brian snorted as he heard that, having heard exactly what she said earlier in the day. "Now girls, that is no way to behave at an official function. We all know it can take several days to months for a Wolf to fully develop and change, some of them have even become fierce warriors that none would dare say were weak because it took them longer to change than others. Now Christopher, let us see you." he finished as Chris stepped off to join him and Beatrice walked up to her and sniffed.

"Your scent is slightly different, but it is so subtle I don't think they can tell the difference." the 11 year old future Luna said as Christina smiled.

"Well can I share a secret with you?" Christina said as Beatrice nodded while she bent over. "That is because I am as special as you are, future Luna Beatrice." she whispered to the little girl whose eyes went wide in surprise as no one had ever dared say that to her.

"You think so?" Beatrice whispered back.

"I can tell. Your brother and sister have nothing on the strength of your Wolf." Christina said as Snow purred in her mind as they sat down at the long table in the Alpha Dining Room.

Christopher was eating up all of the attention, wondering why his sense was telling him that Dante was not his future Alpha. Yes he had a powerful Wolf, but his sense was telling him that Beatrice would be the one he would be responsible for protecting in the future.

All through the dinner, Dante kept stealing glances at Christina as if he were getting the first hint about their eventual Pairing. Christina however knew he was in a relationship with another one of the Pack, who had great standing among the Elders to become the assumed Future Luna as it was assumed his Wolf would be the strongest of the future generation and he would be Alpha.

"So Alpha, when will you be making the announcement for Dante to be the Future Alpha?" Jason asked as everyone expected that to be the result.

Brian cleared his throat as he looked at his son. "Pack law states that all of my potential Heirs must be of age before the strongest among them is chosen unless one is a clear Alpha lineage. Because Dante doesn't exactly fulfill the requirement, we have to wait until Beatrice shifts the first time. So most likely atleast 4 years before I can, so he will remain Heir Apparent until then." he answered as he hadn't hidden this fact from his son. Tiffany knew as well that he was already stronger than she was, so she had no hope of being Luna over him.

"What are the chances that the youngest has a stronger Wolf than the oldest Male? One in 200?" Monica asked generally as Christina snorted.

"Actually it is more along the lines of one in 50 now, and has been going lower since the Council passed the law that the strongest Heir inherits the Pack. If it were eldest male still, Dante would be a shoe in. Beatrice however I think is going to surprise everyone in a few years." she said confident of what her Wolf and her own senses were telling her.

Everyone looked at her stunned, amazed that she would so boldly announce to them that she believed Dante would be weaker than his younger sibling.

"What makes you say that?" Brian asked diplomatically as everyone kept staring.

Crystal looked him dead in the eye before glancing at Dante. "It is just a feeling I have that my Wolf seems to agree with."

Brian sniffed the air towards her quickly as everyone else did as well. "So we will be seeing you change as well next week at the full moon?" he asked a little surprised as he had caught no scent of a Wolf.

"I never said that. I said my Wolf agrees with me, despite what everyone thinks just because you can hear or sense your Wolf doesn't mean you will change at the next full moon. Strong Wolves take longer to shift their first time than weaker ones. For truly special ones. it can take years of strengthening the bond between when you get your Wolf and the first time you are able to shift." Crystal said speaking the truth as it was well known that the strongest among their kind did in fact take time. "In fact I believe the Alpha King took 3 years between when he could speak to his Wolf and the first time he shifted."

Tiffany who had never paid attention in class laughed loudly as she heard this. It was well known the Alpha King of the Werewolves was the strongest among them. "What kind of nonsense is this? Everyone could sense the Kings Wolf those entire 3 years. It was well known he would be strong. You have no Wolf, so quit pretending."

Crystal looked Tiffany dead in the eye and smiled. "Just because you failed history doesn't mean the rest of us did. Scent is one of the least reliable methods of sensing a Wolf, a fact that almost everyone else here knows. As I recall in 5th year we all took the same test to determine if we had a Wolf. Your result took what, 5 minutes to be determined positive? Dante took 3 minutes when his test was done? Even Christopher over here took 4 minutes for the solution to show a positive result. Mine was 30 seconds and I believe Beatrice will even break that record when she takes it later this year. So I could care less what any of you say about my scent, it proves absolutely nothing. I can hear my Wolf as clearly as any one of you can, I just am not the future Gamma of this Pack. A fact I couldn't be happier about, so congratulations Christopher. No one deserves to be stuck here more than you." she finished raising her glass to him as everyone thought she was being extremely kind. No one noticed that Beatrice was smiling at what she had been hinting at, as even now Christina had no plans of remaining in the Crescent Moon Pack.

It was a few hours later when they returned home, and Christopher looked at his parents seriously. "Dad, can we talk?" he asked quietly.

"What about son?" Jason asked his son.

"Probably the fact he is confused about what his senses are telling him. How one of his best friends is Dante, but his Wolf is telling him that Beatrice is the Luna he will be protecting." Crystal said matter of factly as she walked into the kitchen leaving her parents looking struck dumb as Christopher looked at her back.

"How did you know?" he demanded as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Snow hasn't stopped talking to Gator since this morning, seems even our Wolves are twins." Crystal replied knowing that Christopher hadn't told anyone his Wolfs name yet.

"Your sense is telling you that Beatrice will be your Luna?" Monica asked looking between Christopher who nodded and her husband. "It has never been wrong, has it?" she asked and he shook his head no.

"What are you two talking about?" Christopher asked as his parents sat down.

"A Gamma always knows who it's Luna is and is never wrong on that matter. Now an Alpha rejecting her will break the bond, but unlike the Mate bond that requires they be of age to be sensed, the Gamma Protection Bond can tell even in an infant. They are always driven to protect their rightful Luna, which one further shows that you are the Gamma and not me. Yes I can tell she will be stronger than Dante who is a powerful Beta, but I have no desire to protect her even in the slightest." Crystal explained as their parents nodded when he looked at them for confirmation.

"How do you know all this?" he demanded as she snorted.

"History class, you would know as well if you paid attention half the time." she replied before looking at her parents. "I am exhausted, I am going to bed."

"Good night." Jason said as he indicated Christopher should sit down. "Your mother and I cannot tell who the true Heir is, because it is not our duty to protect her. It is yours and whoever your Mate will be that will be driven to protect the Luna to the Pack. If it is Beatrice, I suggest you let the Alpha know so new plans for the future of the Pack can be made." he said as Chistina walked up the stairs and closed and locked her door.

It didn't take long for her to open the door behind the mirror where her space was hidden when she stepped in. She was tired, but she was also excited and decided to start reading one of the spell books she had brought home. Nearly halfway through it she finally felt so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, she stepped back into her room and looked at the time on the clock. It had felt like she had been in the space for hours, but her clock showed it had barely been five minutes minutes, and her parents were still talking to Christopher about Beatrice and his responsibility to protect her.

She crashed on the bed and fell asleep quickly, waking a few hours later feeling completely refreshed. She saw it was 2 am, so she opened the secret door again, and went into the space. She was amazed at how well she remembered what she had read the night before, and decided she was going to attempt some of the spells she had read about in the book. The first one was a simple creation spell, that she used to create a few more chairs as well as a bed in her space. Everything as exquisite in reality as she had imagined it to be.

She had no idea how long she had been inside, but by the time she heard her alarm go off inside, she rushed out and shut it off quickly before she began getting ready for school. She only knew that not only had she finished reading all 3 of the books, she had practiced some of the spells so much she could do them easily. She had no idea how much stronger she had already become as a Witch, or how much it was going to help her in the long run.