In This Life or Another

Prologue  Third Person's POV "Henry... leave Striker alone.” Mother yelled from the other room. "But mom, he took my sword and won't return it. He keeps saying he's gonna be alpha and when I tell him that I'm the firstborn, and I'm gonna be alpha, he acts like a baby, screaming like a girl." "Striker, give Henry back his sword before you hurt yourself. We've already talked about this. Henry will be alpha, and you will be head of the warriors." "But mommy... I want to be an alpha. It's not fair. Henry gets everything and I get nothing." Striker says with a 10-year-old whiney voice. “Striker comes here." Striker enters his mother's room and struts over to her in defeat with his head down. "But mom..." "Striker, come sit with me." Striker climbs onto the chase lounge with his mother Grace as she wraps her loving arms around her son. "Striker, why do you envy him so much? Don't you see how valued you are? You are going to make a strong general for the kingdom, lead massive armies, and win history-making wars." "I know mother... so I've been told. It's just Henry is constantly teasing me about how he's the alpha, and he will be my boss and I have to listen to him. Do I mother... do I have to listen to Henry, because that's not fair?" "Well, a good alpha works very closely with his general. You are going to be responsible for the protection of everyone in the region, including me, your friends, and Henry. Don't you see how important that position is, how important you are Striker?" "Yes Mommy, I will protect you. I promise, but, Henry's on his own." Striker hugs his mother and leaves the room. "These boys." Third-Person POV 7 years and 364 days later The castle is a chaotic mess. There are omegas and tons of people running around trying to have the castle ready for later. The young princes are returning home today from Alpha and Warrior school and there is to be a ball tomorrow night to celebrate their 18th birthday. Packs from everywhere will start arriving and everything has to be perfect. The queen will not accept any less. "Queen Grace..." "Yes, Mildred." "I am here to dress you for today. Are you ready?" "Yes dear and I have asked you one thousand times to please just call me Grace" "Yes Luna '' They both smiled at one another. Mildred went into the closet and came out with two dresses. She spread them over the chaise as the Luna came over and began to undress. Mildred began to spread lotions and perfumes over the queen. The Queen enjoys physical contact with another. "Have you seen my husband this morning?" "Yes, Luna, he took his coffee to his office." "Thank you, Mildred." Mildred smiled into the mirror at Luna, her friend, as she brushed her hair and assisted her with her dress. "I'm so excited about seeing my boys today." Grace says to Mildred. “They've been gone for so long." "Yes, Luna, they are men now," Mildred replied. "They will always be my baby boys, Mildred." Third Person's POV "Get your ass out of bed" Sebastian yelled at Henry. "Five more minutes ... Mom" Henry groaned into his pillow. The all-nighter with the porter twins and the large amounts of whiskey were kicking his ass this morning. "Henry, get up!!! Striker is already loading the SUV, and we have a 5-hour drive to the Packhouse...get up!!!" "Bas, where's Molly and Holly?" "I got them out of here earlier. I swear I can't wait till you find your mate, so I don't have to keep taking out the trash." " Hey... that's not nice considering I made you my beta. I can't help it that you found your mate 2 seconds after turning 18 and didn't get to sow your oats. Hater..." Henry reluctantly rolled out of bed and brushed his hair and teeth. Henry looked out the bathroom window. "Why is Striker yelling at last night's trash?" Bas turned and watched as Striker was yelling at Molly and Holly causing Holly to cry. "That's enough, Striker," Bas yelled, and the two upset girls walked away. Bas made his way out to the SUV. "Holly thought I was Henry again and proceeded to profess her undying love for me. I swear he has no self-control, willing to f**k anyone who will let him." Bas growled and Striker chuckled and rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving in 15 minutes with or without him. Let go." Striker said, agitated. Sebastian mind-linked Henry, Warren, and Duke that they had 15 minutes to be at the SUV or Striker was leaving without them before he jumped into the vehicle waiting for the others. Henry's POV The drive back to the castle was tiring, to say the least. Striker drove the first leg, only stopping for gas, food and to use the restroom. Duke in the passenger seat played DJ and not a good one in my opinion. Warren slept most of the drive. He was in worse shape than I was. Man, he could drink. Sebastian was constantly texting his mate. They met at school. Her name is Avery. She is from the Black Lake pack, next to ours. She will be going back to gather her belongings and coming to our pack for our birthday party. Bas hasn't even told his parents yet. Duke drove the rest of the way home. When we arrived at the packhouse, mother and father were waiting out front for us. Striker being the mama's boy that he is jumped out of the SUV and swung my mother around in a huge hug. My father, King Roland, shook Bas's hand. "Welcome home boys." "Thank you your royalness," Bas said with a chuckle. I rounded the SUV and my mother approached me. "Henry, my boy. I have missed all of you so very much." I kissed my mother's hand while bowing my head. "I missed you too, mother." Warren finally wakes up and steps out and says "What am I chop suey?" My mother walked up to Warren and said "Warren my dear, you big teddy bear. You need a shower and a haircut." Warren smiled at my mother and kissed her cheek, causing my father to growl. Every one of us, even Striker busts out laughing. "Luna Grace, you are the definition of beauty and desire." then he kissed her hand and bolted towards the packhouse. I thought my father's head was going to come off his neck. My mother actually blushed and looped her arm around mine and then Striker's as the three of us walked into the packhouse. As they were walking, I watched as my mother smiled at Mildred and said, "You were right Mildred, they are men now." “Yes, Luna, and fine looking ones at that." The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I unpacked and showered, then joined my family for lunch in their private dining room. It was a casual gathering, and we told them about school. Bas told everyone about Avery. Bas' mother was excited to hear she was gaining a daughter. Bas asked my father for his permission to allow Avery to join our pack. Of course, my father said yes. He favors Bas for some reason. As kids, we would find Bas in my father's office listening to him talk about when he was in alpha school and how our fathers were troublemakers. I used to envy Bas, but he would just blow it off saying he was just listening to his stories. That evening, I went to the lake on our land. It was stunning at night as the moon glistened off the still waters. It was so peaceful. "Are you OK man?" I looked up to see Warren standing at the side. "Yeah, just enjoying the last 24 hours of my childhood." Warren came over and sat down on the bank next to me. "Hey man, remember all the fun times we had here?" "Yeah, who can forget? It just seems like it's coming to an end. Tomorrow I'll be 18 and have all these new responsibilities. What if I f**k up... what if ..." "Aye, seriously you will be great. We all will. We have been training for this since we could walk. The 5 of us are well-oiled machines. Come on, aren't you excited about making a difference?" " 5 of us... Striker hates me. He always has. You guys are more like my brothers than him." "We are all brother's Hank. Striker is just Striker. He will get better when he finds his mate. Maybe she can soften his edges?" "I hope so. He's my twin, my brother. I fear my future enemy." I never took my eyes off the water as I talked to Warren. My wolf Knox stirred in my head. "It's time to grow up."