Safe

    Elise had been running for some time now. She finally allowed herself to stop, checking her watch as her fingers instinctively went to her neck to check her time. 4 minutes, 20 seconds, she thought to herself, Not bad.      Elise grabbed her duffle bag from its spot on the side of the track and started heading to the showers. She had been training for nearly three hours, it was time to get some food. Her stomach growled in agreement as she finally reached the packhouse. She laughed to herself, thinking about what she was going to have for dinner tonight.      With any luck, it’ll be fake meat casserole, said her wolf, Kyra. Elisa laughed again, this time in agreement with her wolf. Her roommate, Lila, was human, and didn’t need to eat meat. She also did most of the cooking since Elise was rarely home. She decided to air on the side of caution and grab something to eat on the way home. She took her long, straight, black hair out of the bun it had been in all day and grabbed a towel. In the shower, she let the hot water soothe her muscles as she recounted her training session. It had been a hard day, even for her. The pack had been berated by Alpha Jed, her father, for their behavior at a pack meeting two days ago. They had been meeting with a neighboring pack, Fire Sun Pack, when out of nowhere, her younger brother Rylan, interrupted the meeting. To punch no other than Fire Sun Pack’s beta, Kyle, without any explanation. Needless to say a fight followed, and my father, furious, dragged Rylan off of Kyle and out of the room. The following morning everyone showed up to training to find Rylan had been running laps, all night. It was not a good start to anyone’s day, and soon enough they were all running right behind Rylan.      Not that Elise cared. Running had always come easy for her. If she hadn’t been a wolf, she probably would’ve ran track in high school. But none of that matters anymore she thought to herself, and a look of impending doom ran over her face.      Calm down, it won’t be as bad as you think, Kyra said matter of factly. I actually think it will be a quite nice change of pace.      “It’ll be a permanent change of place, that’s for sure,” Elise quickly replied. Kyra was referring to their 21st birthday, where her father would retire as Alpha and she would take his place. It wasn’t common to have a female Alpha in a wolf pack. In fact, some Alphas chose to hand the pack down strictly to sons, passing over any older daughters they may have had. Thankfully, Elise’s father was ultra feminist, and had no doubt that passing the pack down to Elise was the right decision. That doubt was reserved specifically for her. Elise had never wanted to be Alpha. In fact, she wanted to be as invisible as possible. Growing up, she had secretly hoped that Elise’s father would decide that Rylan would be a better Alpha, that it would be better to follow tradition and make his son leader.      But after what happened with Kyle and the Fire Sun Pack, Elise knew she was all but cemented in. She dried herself off and quickly got dressed, pulling a white sports bra and some training shorts on. She looked at herself in the mirror, and took note of today’s bruises. Training always consisted mostly of sparring, meaning it was impossible to escape the day without at least one bruise. And there it was, a large bruise right in the middle of her olive toned thigh. Well, she thought to herself, at least it’s not my face. She gingerly brought her eyes up to her reflection. She looked at her hazel eyes, the full lashes, the peach lips. She looked at the delicate nose and arched brows.      “How will anyone ever take me seriously as Alpha if I look like a little doll!!” She wondered out loud.     “You know, some people would kill to look like you” said a voice from behind. Elise smiled, knowing who it was before she looked at the reflection in the mirror to confirm. Her best friend, Sophie, was walking up to her, smiling. “I was waiting for you outside, but when you took 6 years I decided to come in and haul your ass out” she added jokingly.     “But really, you should learn to appreciate yourself more. Being Alpha isn’t just about looking tough, it’s about being a respectable leader” she continued in a suddenly serious tone.      Elise sighed and decided it would be better not to start this argument with Sophie. She had been increasingly worried about it as her birthday came up. How could she be a respectable leader if all anyone saw was a little girl? No one would expect her to be capable of making the right decisions or defend the pack. Especially in battle. Who would fight behind her when she stood at 5’3.Not even her brother thought she could, even though she had proven to everyone time and again that she was a more than capable fighter. At her size, she was faster than most of the men in her pack, and a hard target to hit for them as well. Certainly these had advantages where she lacked in strength.      Sophie shoved her, hard, shaking Elise out of her thoughts.      “Looked like you were thinking about something kinda heavy over there, wanna share?” Sophie asked, even though she already knew what was bothering Elise. “Come on, let’s go meet Rylan before the pack meeting” Sophie said, thankfully before giving Elise a chance to answer the question. Elise groaned. The last thing she wanted to do right now was stand in front of the pack and watch Rylan get grilled by her father. He was a great dad, but a tough Alpha. Elise frowned, worrying about Rylan and her father’s relationship. Their mother was gone, on an extended trip on pack business. Elise wasn’t sure what pack business took 3 months away, but it couldn’t be good. And the longer their mother was gone, the more Rylan and their father fought. Although she had never had issues with her dad herself, she credited most of that to the fact that she stayed out of dad’s way and out of trouble. Rylan, on the other hand, had a hard time doing both.                                                                                              ***     Elise grimaced as her dad stood silently in front of Rylan, about 6 inches from his face. Even though Rylan stood tall at 6’2, he looked small compared to his father. Looking at the two of them, Elise definitely felt like she was seeing double. Rylan and their father shared the same chestnut brown hair and fair skin, and both stood well over six feet. The only difference between the two were the lines hardening their father’s face, creases that had been etched into him like a forever stern statue or painting. Her father never seemed to age or grow more lines, but they did seem to get deeper and deeper the older he got. Elise silently groaned at the thought of her father’s age, angry at herself for constantly remembering the thing she feared most.      “ELISE!” her father yelled. Elise snapped into attention as she felt her entire body tighten.      This is NOT going to be fun, Kyra thought. You already know what’s coming.      Elise did. Lately, whenever Rylan got into trouble like this, their father made Elise choose the punishment. Their father claimed that it would harden Elise, teaching her a valuable lesson as an Alpha. But Elise could never figure out why the punishment was so necessary. We should be supporting the pack and give them a safe space, not punish them into submission. It’s not that she thought her father was cruel, she just thought that his methods were.     “What do you think is an acceptable punishment for your brother, considering what he did?” her father asked gruffly. It was clear to her that he had already made up his mind on what to do, he was just waiting for her to say it out loud.      , Elise thought to herself. What does he expect me to say? He already made Rylan run through the night, and now he’s reprimanding him in front of the whole pack?? I wish mom would come home, this would never happen if she were. Now I have to pretend to be her for both Dad and Rylan, which is definitely not what I signed up for. Elise quickly wracked her brain while searching her father’s face for clues. If she didn’t come up with the right punishment, the one that her father would deliver would be far worse. She glanced at Rylan, an apologetic look in her eyes. She hated doing this to him. She wished so much to trade places with him, she hated having to be Alpha so much that she would rather be the one in trouble. She tried to hide her smile as an idea popped into her head. Man, her dad was going to be pissed after this.      “Rylan, how do you know Kyle?” Elise asked, much to her father’s surprise. He had been so sure that she was going to assign extra patrol duty or training, or tell him to work in the packhouse laundry room for three months. Instead, she was smiling and asking Rylan questions as if it were just another conversation.      “I don’t,” Rylan lied “But I know his sister” he added quickly when he saw the fury in his dad’s face. Rylan was being careful not to further anger his dad, but if he had to keep explaining himself he wasn’t sure how long he could avoid it. He wanted so desperately out of this situation, but could see no way. He felt trapped, and started to feel the panic rise inside of him.     “How?” Elise asked, her hazel eyes large with curiosity. s**t sis, Rylan thought, I hope you have a good plan.  She didn't.     It’s about time we told them, Bane, his wolf said. This secret is so heavy, wouldn’t it be nice to finally be free?      “I dated her not too long ago, we met during my beta training last year” Rylan promptly explained. He knew that at this point, he was going to have to come clean, but he just didn’t know how. What he was about to say was going to change everything.      “You slept with her, didn’t you?” Elise asked, quietly. While she didn’t enjoy exposing her brother in front of the entire pack, she felt it was time to show everyone just what kind of Alpha they should expect from her.     “No,” Rylan said, his voice barely even a whisper. He was trying to build his courage up, trying to find the strength to say what he needed to. Rylan looked up at his father and thought he saw his eyes soften, just for the slightest of seconds. Rylan took a deep breath in and thought of his mother. She would be proud to hear this, to see this, Rylan thought. She was the only other person who knew his secret.      “Kyle is my mate. I know I said I didn’t know him, but I thought I could avoid saying all this. Last year, while I was training, I started to date his sister. One day while I was at her house, her brother came home from patrol and I was immediately hit with the smell of coffee and pine and cedar. I knew instantly I had found my mate, and was confused by all of it. Kyle was too. We started to meet secretly, at night after patrol sessions, and we tried to figure out what all of it meant.” Rylan paused, giving everyone in the room a chance to process what he had said. It was rare, so freaking rare that it happened, but sometimes you did see same s*x mates. He had never thought himself gay, but that’s mostly because he had never even considered it a possibility. All his life he had been told that he would grow up to be beta, find a girl who was his mate, and continue the family line. Heterosexuality had been so ingrained into his childhood that he had just assumed that he was heterosexual too. And sure, he had had girlfriends before, but never anything serious, never anything that went too far. He had always thought it was because he was waiting for his mate, and while that was true it apparently hadn’t been the whole truth.      Rylan looked up at his father, who’s eyes had definitely softened this time. He looked at his sister, Elise, who was trying hard not to cry. Damnit Elise, Rylan laughed, How is anyone supposed to take you seriously? You’re too damn cute. He quickly walked over to her and gave her a hug when she started to apologize. He would hear none of it, Bane had been right. The truth really had set them free.      Elise blinked the tears away from her eyes. She had never been so proud of her brother, she could not believe what she had just made him do. She thought that by asking Rylan how he knew Kyle and why he had attacked him, then maybe their father wouldn’t be so harsh.      Wait, she thought, realizing that Rylan had not finished his story.      “Why did you punch him?” she asked, more pointedly than she had intended. Rylan’s face flushed and he scowled, the mood suddenly changing. He sighed and released Elise from his hug, taking a few steps back and shaking his head.  “Kara, Kyle’s sister. She was in love with me. I thought that I had been clear with her that I was waiting for my mate, but she hadn’t believed me. Kyle was worried that if she found out that we were mates, it would break her heart.” Rylan was quiet again, barely audible as he looked at his feet.      “Kyle rejected me.” Ryland said after a few moments of silence. The whole room went quiet. For a moment, Elise had forgotten that they had an audience. She shot a quick look at her dad, and saw something she hadn’t ever seen on her father’s face. Heartbreak.      “WHADYAMEANHEREJECTEDYOU” Her father boomed, his voice shaking the entire packhouse. Rylan jumped, surprised that his father had said something. This entire time, his dad had been quiet. Rylan thought that his father was angry, that he was going to reject him just like Kyle had. It was the only reason Rylan had never said something. He had been so worried that his father wasn’t going to accept him, was going to think of him as less of a man. And yet, judging by the tone in his voice, his dad didn’t think that. In fact, was he mad for him?     “Answer me!” Rylan’s father said, the vein in his forehead starting to protrude.      “Dad, calm down,” Elise calmly said. She then turned to the pack and, standing as tall as she could, stated “I think Rylan’s been through enough for today. This meeting is adjourned. Alpha Jed and I will mindlink you all your patrol stations and duties for the day later on.” The pack reluctantly started to shuffle out the door, upset to miss all the drama but grateful that Elise had dismissed them from this uncomfortable and intimate moment. Elise turned back towards her brother and father and sighed. It looked like today was going to be even harder than she expected. Suddenly, Sophie mindlinked her, asking if Elise needed her to stay behind.      No, you go get some rest, Elise mindlinked back, We’ll be taking over Rylan’s patrol tonight. Elise was surprised at the authority she was speaking with suddenly. It wasn’t natural for her to be comfortable in these situations, and here she was, commanding the whole pack. She started walking over to her brother, trying to figure out what to say.      I told you you’d be good at this, Kyra said smugly. Elise hated that Kyra was such a know it all, but then again, so was she. Funny how your wolf lived inside of you, like a little angel (or devil) on your shoulder. It bothered Elise how invasive it felt at times, but at nearly 21 years old she had long grown used to it.      “I’m taking your patrol shift tonight.” Elise said, holding up her hand both her brother and father started to protest. She took a deep breath and tried to hold on to that feeling of command she had not that long ago.      “You need to take the night off and rest,” she said to Rylan before turning to her dad.     “You,” She said sharply, looking at her father, “Need to relax too. Take a breath. Comfort him. He’s been hiding this for months. Let me be the leader you’ve been training me to be while you go be a parent”. She was so surprised by the ease these words came out of her mouth. She didn’t know what she was going to say, but she definitely didn’t expect that. Rylan shot her a grateful look, while their father contemplated it.      “I’ll mindlink you if anything goes wrong, I promise” She said assuredly as her father finally nodded in agreement. With only a week before her 21st birthday, she needed to learn how to be comfortable as a leader. It’s now or never she thought weakly to herself. Suddenly her stomach growled loudly, echoing around the empty room. Her brother and father looked at her and laughed loudly, causing her to blush. She had completely forgotten to eat before the meeting, and now she had signed herself up for a second patrol shift. Elise groaned, realising that she probably wasn’t going to have a chance to eat until late tonight. Despite her tiny stature, there was nothing in this world that Elise loved more than food, which was ironic considering that her roommate was vegan.      She shot Lila a quick text telling her that she was going to be out late, again.She furrowed her brow, concerned for Lila. She didn’t like leaving her human roommate alone all the time. Lila was the only human in the entire town, which was located in the heart of the pack’s territory. Lila had shown up on her parents’ doorstep 12 years ago, nearly starved to death and filthy from wandering the woods. No one knew where she came from or how she had found the town, as it was so carefully hidden from other humans. She just showed up. And while her father was against having a human in the town, Elise’s mother welcomed Lila into their home and hearts, raising Lila like Elise’s sister. And when the girls got older, they decided to stay together, and moved into an apartment together in the center of town. But being the only human in town wasn’t easy for Lila. She had been constantly harassed throughout school, and even now as an adult there were people who made Lila’s life unnecessarily difficult.      Going 2 b late agn, picked up Ry’s patrol-- Elise sent quickly. Almost immediately Lila responded.     Figured. Mushroom casserole in oven. Ry ok? XOXO. Elise smiled as Kyra started whining.      “Hey, at least it’s not fake meat,” she said to Kyra, who immediately started laughing.She told Lila that she would explain at home and then tucked her phone back in her bag. Elise checked the time on the watch and groaned again, her first patrol shift started in 5 minutes and she still had to eat.      “Think fast” Rylan said as he chucked a bagged lunch at Elise. “I figured you needed to eat, you can have the lunch I packed for patrol”. His face was covered ear to ear in a grin, but the smile didn’t truly reach his eyes. Elise felt a pang in her heart, she could only imagine what he was going through. Not only was hit mate an unexpected match, but Rylan had been rejected as well. One could only take so much. And rejection was not easy for a wolf, especially one as high ranking as Rylan. Elise looked at her brother admiringly, trying to hide the worry she felt. He had put on such a strong front for so long, her only wish was that Mom was here to take care of him. Only their mom was able to understand Rylan, and it was clear by the look on his face that he needed her here.      Elise smiled gratefully at Rylan, nodded at her dad, and dashed out the door. She needed to start running if she was going to make it to patrol on time. Right as she was about to take off, she heard a loud honk. She turned in the direction of the honk and low and behold, there was Sophie, waiting for her in her little civic. Elise breathed a sigh of relief and quickly walked over the car.      “I know you won’t be in in trouble if you’re late, oh Alpha Elise, but I thought you’d still appreciate a ride. You know, if you’re not too good to sit in my car” Sophie said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.      “I, Alpha Elise, am not only humbled by your offer, but ask that you extend this courtesy to me everyday” Elise responded, her voice equally sarcastic. She stared at her best friend gratefully, and she counted her blessings. She had an amazing best friend, amazing roommate/sister, a hilarious younger brother, and a father she could always rely on. All that was missing was her mom.  Where was she?