New Alpha, Next Generation

I felt my heartbeat beating so hard as I waited, and I was sure she could hear it all the way across the room. "Jade, it's time honey. We can't wait any longer. It's time you not only stepped up as Alpha, but it's time to select a mate." My mother said this while she continued looking through her closet as if my request wasn't the most important of my life. "Mom, you say mate, with so little care. What if the goddess doesn't agree with me and my mate isn't a woman? Am I to be forced to marry some man simply because...?" I couldn't even finish the thought as the idea sent shudders down my spine. "Jade, you are the oldest and we've coddled you long enough. We were blessed with six girls and we've raised each of you to be the Alpha that your blood dictates you will be. Only the goddess knows who you will be destined to and why. We don't question it." She said this last part in a clipped tone with her movements matching as she pushed the clothes aside in search of whatever piece was eluding her today. I wanted to ask her why her assistant wasn’t in there doing the job that was clearly leaving my mother in an increasingly irritated manner the longer she had to work the task. I stepped closer to her, placing my hands over hers in an effort to both get her attention and to calm her nerves. I locked my eyes on hers and allowed a calming smile to come over my face. “Mati, what are you looking for? Allow me to get it. Sit and rest, I’ll find it. Just tell me what it is.” I led her to a high back chair she insisted be placed in here, depositing her there before I returned to the closet to wait. I took my time finding the piece, heading to the farthest corner of the closet to block out the speech she continued with in her persistence to explain the importance of accepting my role. I have heard this speech my entire life. As the oldest of six and the only for the first eight years of my life, my parents made sure to raise me as the future Alpha despite any protestations that the other packs had. If any of my sisters had been male, they would have inherited the title of Alpha and I would have been married off to another pack to strengthen an alliance and would have become a Luna. This is why their decision caused an uproar. If I was allowed to assume the role of alpha, my mate would need to be a Beta, which meant that there was one less mate for one of the other packs Alpha’s. I was raised and trained by our pack's beta, Havir, who made sure that I could fight and win against any member of our pack's guardsmen. I have already proved this many times. I had no desire to fit into the role of a meek and mild Luna. I knew who I was. “Yes?” I confirmed, stepping closer so she could be sure, placing it on the dress rack in front of her. Her squeal was the only confirmation I needed as I took the twin to her chair directly across from her. I held her gaze before I started the speech I had been rehearsing in my head for the last hour. “Let’s have the party. I won’t fight you about this because I know I won’t win. I draw the line at you picking my dress. If this is my debut, at least let me decide who that person will be. I have already had Djena working on it for the last month.” I said this with a smirk as she feigned surprise that I had finally agreed. I knew when to stop fighting her and, most importantly, I knew how to win from watching the master. “You will not see it until the night of the party. I am willing, however, to model it for Fati the week before the party and if he says no, I will agree to go with your selection, I will still have to agree to the design. I also would like all of the packs in the region invited, not just those that we currently have alliances with.” I paused, looking her in her eyes for the last part and tried to calm my tone before I made my last demand. “I also want all the eligible members in my age range in attendance. I agree, I believe my mate will be there.” I said this knowing that both of us were clear on exactly what I was asking and she slowly nodded her assent with an elongated sigh. Five years prior, I had overheard my parents discussing with our pack Beta Havir and our pack historian Dulanet that he had finally found the scrolls they had been looking for and they showed that not only could the pack have a female Alpha if it was the only guarantee of the family name continuing, but that the Goddess had previously paired some of those female Alpha’s with Luna’s of their own. One of the greatest gifts from our Goddess was the instant connection that each mate would feel upon meeting. Before we meet our mates, we still have the ability to form an attraction, especially since it could often take decades to find your mate. I stood up before she could gloat about her victory or back out of the agreement that I could tell was going to keep her up at night deciding who had won. “I’ll go grab Fati and catch him up on everything that we just discussed so that he can have the invites sent and have a security detail prepared for the event.” “Please ask your father to come see me for tea please, I am sure that I will need to catch him up also”, she said with a tight smile. I nodded my agreement and backed out quickly. My mother knew that my dad couldn’t often say no to any of us, especially me. I had truly learned from her both how to win an argument and to persuade people to see things from my point of view. Combined with that, I had my father’s strength of presence, people normally caved in more times than not. I walked towards my room knowing that I had about an hour before he would be free from the morning debrief. I usually stop at the meetings but today I wanted to go one-on-one because I needed to ask a question in private before I continued with my plans. When I was younger, my father wasn’t willing to allow me to train with the other young pups. The class didn’t have a single girl in my age group who I could spar with. This was rectified in the second month when a rogue family that had been staying with a pack that was in alliance with us agreed to relocate so that their daughter Sati could train with me. They had gone rogue when she was born, hybrid births weren’t often encouraged in the packs. Not only was she a hybrid, she was considered an unstable hybrid because her mother was also a hybrid. Sati’s mother, Mashe, was born from the union of a vampire and an angel. She was abandoned in her father's pack with a book naming her origin and family history. The pack Alpha decided that she would be placed with a family within the pack; her true ancestry was only shared with the parents, who agreed to adopt her. Her origin was often questioned by other pack members, who noticed some strange practices that her parents had pertaining to her that weren’t standard for the other pups. They whispered it amongst themselves, none of them brave enough to face the Alpha’s wrath in exchange for the satisfaction of their curiosity. She wasn’t allowed out in the sun without protectants and glasses and daily she wore a scent protector cast by their pack witch to disguise her sent from anyone around her. They wouldn’t have to wait long for answers. When she turned thirteen it could no longer be denied. During her lunar celebration welcoming her into womanhood, it was a powerful night. The Rose moon appeared for the first time in over two hundred years. It was said that the moon bestowed extra powers from the goddess on anyone who’s lunar annual cycle or birthday fell on that night. For those who didn’t participate in the whispers, they were expecting a werewolf pup to emerge that night with unique colorings or eye colors that correlated with the powerful moon. They were right on one accord, unusual colorings and eye color did appear, but it wasn’t a werewolf pup that was before them. As the Rose moon reached its peak, Mashe’s head was thrown back as light emanated from her body. She fell to her knees and the back of her shirt began to rip as black wings the same color as the night with thick beautiful feathers tipped in quartz red emerged. Her hair grew to near the ground as her eyes that were previously closed when she fell opened with a red glow. Everyone stepped back from her in shock as their minds tried to understand what their eyes were seeing. Many thought that she wasn’t a full werewolf, but few were prepared to understand the mixture in front of them. The Alpha stepped forward, offering her his hand as her parents quickly followed, rushing to her aid. The pack went silent when the Alpha turned around, waiting for his explanation. He explained to them her birth and enough information from what was left in her carrier to give the minimum information to understand that she was still a pack member and would be treated and protected as such moving forward. He explained that she was part angel, not acknowledging that the other part of her was a vampire, as that wasn’t his secret to tell. Their past and present with the vampires were often on opposite sides of the war, despite history showing that they had formed alliances in the past to defeat common enemies. When Sati shared the story of her mother's birth and transition, it was to explain her own anxiety about her transition as the hybrid of her mother and a pure wolf. Her mother possessed a mixture of powers and abilities that had no reference in their written history, so what powers she would inherit from each of her parents was also unknown. Her parents had agreed that before the time of her transition cycle came that she would be allowed to go to a private retreat with just her parents and the pack doctor and pack historian. What Sati was not told was that she would not be coming back.