The Alpha Female

Episode 3

After they had gotten married, Emma asked that they move up to the mountains. They wanted to rear a pack, and live lives just like wolves. She loved the peace and quiet up there and wished Carla would see it too. Why was she so eager to go out amongst the pure humans? She said she loved school but Emma could see in her eyes every day that she was going through some form of torture she'd rather not talk about. And sometimes she came home with a few bruises here and there, yet she claimed it was nothing. Then recently, she started feeling ashamed to wear out her nappy curls in ponytails and would force them onto cornrows instead. She became sensitive to any remarks about her eyes or skin color. Emma couldn't place it, but she knew something was wrong with her baby.

"I wish she would talk to me. '' Emma thought to herself, her eyes filling up with tears at the thought of how much her 18-year-old had learned to shut them out since she got into high school.

Emma was distracted by her line of thoughts as the patches of fur that became buried under beautiful white human skin, claws became nails, and fangs just human teeth. It was still the most magical thing she'd experienced since she married Hudson, being a part of two different worlds, one at night and the other at day. While the stories had described werewolves as monsters and their transformation into beast-like, Emma had come to experience firsthand that it was nothing like that. It was usually a transformation like Cinderella's, only that there was no good or bad side. They were all both human and wolf. She smiled, feeling through the thick mass of brown hair with her fingers. A pair of hands slipped around her waist line and then she received a kiss on her neck. She knew who it was.

"Hey beauty, you okay?" Hudson asked, pecking her neck again.

"Yes I am," she wrapped her hands over his. He had always been worth it, worth giving up herself to become a werewolf. She didn't think she had any regrets, except when she thought of how confused Carla seemed about her identity.

"Something seems to be bothering you," Hudson noticed when he turned her around so he could see her face. "What is it?" He looked so concerned, Emma laughed at the slight frown on his face.

"I'm okay. Just thinking about Carla".

"Me too. But we just have to keep an eye on her and let her know that we are right here if she ever needs to talk. Okay?"

"Okay"

Hudson lifted her chin and buried her lips in his. It was a long kiss and his way of telling her how much he loved her.

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"Why would you do that to me? Maverick doesn't have to change schools, why me? And why do I have to be put off to one of the worst schools in town?" Aiden was furious. He didn't understand why his father had decided on punishing him like that.

"It is for your good, you need a different environment, one that has not many people born with silver spoons. Then you'll learn to not take for granted what you've got!" Aiden could see his father's face redden as he said those words. He was furious, but Aiden knew that the words his father had spoken had hit him harder than his father would ever know.

"This has nothing to do with me learning anything. It's about the tests, right? The ones I failed? I told you that I wasn't in the right state of mind and that's why I failed. I know I messed up, but I didn't mean to. I couldn't get over it dad, I couldn't get over mum. I wasn't in the right frame of mind". Aiden was desperate for his father to hear him out, the pain of his mother's death was still fresh in his mind even after five whole years. Sometimes it gets too much to bear. He really didn't want to end up in a school not even half as prestigious as the one he was in, but he could see that dad was adamant, and Maverick only stood afar off with a cynical smile on his face. Aiden knew he would do nothing to help. He was glad all this was happening.

"Well, maybe after you've spent some time at Bloomfield High school, you'll recognize that you do not have the luxury of not being in the right frame of mind. Do you think I have money to throw away?! I don't! And I will not let you drag my name in the mud with your terrible grades in a school where everyone knows who I am, and the students have parents who are potential business partners. Better to throw you into a dump where no one will find or trace you back to me. Bloomfield High school it is, son!"

"This isn't even about my grades but your reputation, dad. You are more worried about what people will think of you and how to follow through with your business pursuits?"

"Exactly son, that is what this is all about. I don't care what you choose to do with your life, but if it's ever going to make me look foolish and close up business opportunities, then I'll have to cut you off" His father sat on his luxurious couch and sipped wine off a glass-like nothing in the world bothered him.

"But Maverick never has to read for any tests, he only needs to show up at school and the grades are already bought for him, by you!" Aiden was livid, swelling up with anger, pissed over the unfairness of his father's treatment of him even when he and Maverick had been born together, having stayed nine months in the womb as twins. For as long as Aiden could remember, their father had always had a favorite; Maverick.

"Oh, will you quit whining? I do all that for Maverick because he's useful to me. He keeps the flow of connections with the high and mighty coming in, he knows just how to reach every student whose father has what he wants. He has all the charm and charisma for the job. What have you contributed to me, huh?" His dad gave a mocking laugh and waved him away like a noisy fly.

"You run a circus, dad! Not a multi-million dollar company!" The heat was turned up way too fast, the room suddenly becoming full of tension and unexpressed hate. Aiden watched his father get up in fury. His heart dropped to his stomach, but he didn't let it show. The last thing he wanted was for his father to see fear in his eyes. It would only make his tyrannic reign more powerful.