The Alpha's Eluded Luna

3 Destination

Paul POV

2 Years. It’s been 2 years since I last came home. Paul Lopez thought to himself driving onto pack territory. The mountains surrounding the main pack grounds where most of the Crescent Valley werewolves lived were surrounded by mountains silhouetted against the night sky. I flexed my hands on the steering wheel, anticipation radiating through my muscles. I left Ocean View Pack as soon as school ended and I was debriefed by Alpha Dennis Reed.

When my Uncle, Lewis Fellows, alpha of Crescent Valley Pack, had sent me to train under his friend, I wasn’t thrilled at the idea. I was hesitant to leave home, to leave her. 

Ocean View was a nice break from the political strains going on here at home. My cousin, Sydney, and his mom, Luna Elise, made the packhouse a hard place to live on most days. 

I shifted for the first time at 10, which is almost unheard of. Most wolves shift by 14, but the earliest is 12, and that only happens when the wolf has alpha blood. I was early in my development and because Sydney didn’t shift until he was nearly 14, it didn’t sit well with him or his mother.

My aunt was a jealous and ambitious woman. My uncle was pressured into taking her as his chosen mate after his fated mate died in a car accident. Nora, his fated mate and our previous luna, was on her way back from a prenatal appointment when her car slid on ice in the mountain pass.

I don’t think my uncle would have ever chosen another mate if Elise hadn’t turned up pregnant. Uncle Lewis, in his grief and guilt, made the drunken mistake of sleeping with her and she ended up pregnant with Sydney. Uncle Lewis was pressured by Luna Elise’s father, Elder Hamman Welsh, to do the right thing for his daughter and his pack and take her as a chosen mate. If she hadn't been pregnant, he wouldn’t have chosen her; a fact she was more than aware of.

Elise’s insecurities with her mate, along with Sydney shifting so late, caused her to become a nightmare to be around in recent years. As the next alpha, Sydney should have shifted much earlier, and that didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the pack. His entitled behavior, and his need to bully and belittle those around him was a disappointment to my uncle. My uncle loved his pack, loved his people, and they loved him and respected him as their alpha, but no one carried that same respect and adoration for Sydney. It hurt Uncle Lewis that his son, mate and in-laws were the source of discord in the pack.

Luna Elise would put on an act in front of her mate, but rumors of her mistreatment of the she-wolves in the packhouse didn’t go unnoticed. My mother, as the Beta female and the Alpha’s sister, had to cover most of the luna’s responsibilities, as Luna Elise was too busy flitting around in her designer dresses and sneering at any woman she delusioned herself into thinking wanted her mate and title.

The fact that I only had one cousin was testament to how unaffectionate my uncle was with Elise. An alpha only having 1 child is uncommon. An alpha’s inner wolf drives them to procreate once they are mated, ensuring their bloodline has every opportunity to continue. Elise’s paranoia that Uncle Lewis was turning his affections elsewhere led to many altercations with women visiting the packhouse. Even when other lunas came with their alpha mates, they were subjected to her sharp tongue and pointed glares.

An Inn with an adjoining conference hall was built on our land when I was still a child to prevent conflicts from rising between other packs. Luna Elise was banned from the Inn and Conference Hall unless escorted by my uncle to keep her in check. The packhouse also had an extension built onto the packhouse to house all the ranked member’s offices. Elise was not allowed to enter the wing unsupervised. 

When I got my wolf at 10 and her 11-year-old son wasn’t showing any signs of shifting, she started treating me with as much disdain as she treated the she-wolves she thought were a threat. It started with sneers and hateful comments. She would call me “pretty” because of my curly hair. Up until middle school, I kept my black, curly hair shoulder length because that's the way my mom liked it and I couldn’t care less how it looked. My sisters had hair to their butts, so mine didn’t seem girly to me.

Elise started to comment on how pretty it was. Not in a nice way, but like she was taunting me for being feminine. She offered me her lipstick once, saying the red would look great with my curly locks. She started calling me "Snow White" when other adults weren't around. She and Sydney then went back and forth about how pretty I would be if not for my thick eyebrows. That night, I shaved my head. My mom had been so upset about my hair being gone. I only shaved my head that one time, but I still keep it shorter than before, fading the sides and keeping the top of my hair in a man bun.

Elise found many other ways to belittle me over the years, her son and family joining in when they could.

My parents met at Alpha Dennis’s inauguration to Alpha ceremony. Elise’s brother, Eric, was being considered for the next Beta by our elders and my uncle at the time. Elder Welsh was pushing for it. The previous Beta only had daughters who were all married to ranked members of other packs. My parents' meeting put a stop to Eric getting the title. Dad was the youngest child of an alpha. He challenged the previous Beta and easily won, leaving no argument about him claiming the title. My uncle was still with his fated mate at the time, so the Welsh family had no footing in pack rankings to overturn the decision.It wasn’t until several years later, when Luna Nora died, that Elise came into the packhouse.

Dad is built like a wall, tall, bulky and muscular. Even though he’s annoyingly playful and jokes constantly, he isn’t someone you would want to cross. I doubt Eric, who is at least 5 inches shorter than dad, would have had the guts to challenge him for the position.

Along with my build, I inherited my father’s complexion. My maternal side of the family is fair skinned, but my dad’s side has Hispanic blood, so I tan easier than most people. Elise and her family would constantly make comments about my “dirty” skin in the summer. 

Sydney has a few cousins from Eric, one being close to our age. Jonathan Welsh and Sydney would take any opportunity to harass me at school. Making jabs about anything they could think of. By the time I got into high school, I had grown thick skin. At home, Sydney would leave me alone unless his mom was around, proving I intimidated him. I let the snide remarks and small pranks roll off me each day and focused on warrior training and my classes. It helped that most of the kids our age disliked Sydney and Johnathon as much as I did.

One day, I ended up snapping. 

~

In the winter of my sophomore year, I had filled in for one of the guards the night before when his wife went into labor early. When I got off guard duty, I only had 2 hours to sleep before 5 AM training. My brother-in-law, Marcus King, would kick my butt the next day if I skipped, so I forced myself to go. I ended up nodding off in my 1st period and woke up with wax strips on my arms. I was a hairy teenager and the pain from pulling off those wax strips had me seeing red.

I growled deep in my chest, shoved the hair-covered wax strips down Johnathon’s throat, shoving him to the ground, and then grabbed Sydney by the throat. His laughter quickly changed to pathetic whimpers and gasps for air.

“I’m going to kick your pathetic, scrawny, ginger ass. What the f**k is wrong with you? Do you have a death wish? Leave. Me. The f**k. Alone.” I hissed through my teeth. 

Sydney nodded against my grip, his fingers pulling at my hand, then fell to the floor gasping for air when I released him.

I walked out of first period, thoroughly pissed off, not even bothering to sign out in the office. I drove home fuming in my truck and parked in the covered carport beside the packhouse in my spot farthest  from the building and ran to the forest before stripping and shifting into my wolf form.

“You should have waxed his eyebrows off and shaved ‘cunt’ into the back of those frizzy red pubes he wears on that ugly head of his.” Noah, my wolf grumbled to me.

“I should have castrated the freak and saved humanity from the possibility of him reproducing, but you know my uncle would have been pissed if I did.” I replied, letting Noah take full control as he raced up the mountain trail. 

Noah was an abnormally large wolf. With fur the same color black I had in human form. He had one golden brown spot on his stomach, in the same spot my birthmark was on my stomach. He was almost twice the size of Sydney’s red-colored wolf and had a presence that was intimidating to even our top warriors. If a human saw me in this form, they would probably s**t bricks and assume I was a monsterous bear instead of a wolf. Wolves, even werewolves, didn't get as big as I was unless they had strong alpha genes. My wolf could already go toe to toe with my father’s and I was catching up to my uncle’s wolf every day. 

After running the mountain trails for several hours, Noah and I worked out our frustration and anger through physical exertion. I returned to where I left my clothes to find them now neatly folded next to my dad and uncle.

“Welcome back kid.” my father smirked at me.

I shifted back and dad threw my boxers at me, then threw the rest of my clothes at me after I slipped my boxers on. They waited until I was fully dressed, pulling my hoodie over my head before saying anything.

“Paul, we need to talk,” my uncle finally broke the silence. The light filtering through the canopy of trees glinted off his right eye; the eye stamped with an impression of the moon signifying him as the alpha of our pack. “We heard about what happened at school today. How’re your arms?”

“Great. I’m thinking of doing my legs next,” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my tone. 

My dad tried to stifle his laugh with a cough and my uncle side eyed him before he said, “I think you and your father should have a spa day and do it together. You can paint your toenails pink and bleach each other’s assholes when you’re done.”

Dad didn’t even bother to cover up his laughter at that. He wiggled his eyebrows at me and asked, “Up for some father-son time?”

“Not today. Maybe after we get our cycles synced up.” I smirked at him as he bent over laughing.

“Pull yourself together Carlos. I swear, you can’t even pass gas without giggling like a girl,” Uncle Lewis shakes his head at my father. Turning back to me, he continued, “I’m sorry for my son’s immature prank but you shouldn’t have threatened him like that in front of so many people. You know, with that many witnesses, I can’t let something like this slide.”

“So are you going to have them expel me from school or something? Was I supposed to just ignore what they did? He and Johnathan have been a pain in the ass for years. I think I should be commended for not laying hands on the shithead sooner,” Uncle Lewis gives me a hard look before I add,”No offense.”

“The issue is there is already strife with Elise’s family. Her dad is an elder and your actions towards the next alpha, no matter how justified, put us in a difficult situation.” Dad says while crossing his arms over his chest.

“So punish me,” I shrug,” I can take it.”

“Okay,” Uncle Lewis says, “You’re banished.”

My mouth dropped. “What? Seriously?”

“Seriously. Until you graduate high school, you will go to Alpha Dennis in the Ocean View Pack down south.” My uncle smirks at me.

I look to my dad out of desperation. He is looking at his brother-in-law with amusement, his eyes crinkling in the corners like he’s fighting a smile. This pissed me off and I snapped at my uncle before I could think, words just spewing from my mouth “Why should I be punished for this s**t? If the next alpha can’t defend his own skin after pulling s**t like that, maybe he shouldn’t be alpha.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Uncle Lewis calmly replied, looking me straight in my eyes.

“What?” I was surprised. 

“Maybe you’re right,” my uncle says again. “Actually, that’s the real reason we are sending you away. Paul, what do you think about becoming alpha? What do you think about training with Alpha Dennis to take over after me? Because you are right. Sydney can not become alpha. I don’t know how it is physically possible for him to be so inadequate, being my son, but he won’t even train most days. With that woman codling him...,” he pauses, looking away for a moment. I could see his wolf glow through his eyes briefly before he closed them, took a deep breath and turned his face back to me. “He won’t ever be ready to lead. He’s 17. He can’t even shift without a pep talk most of the time. At 17, he should be able to push his authority out and give simple commands. He can’t get his mom’s tit out of his mouth long enough to complete the simple PT tests our youngest wolves have already done. No, Sydney will not be the next alpha of the Crescent Valley Pack. You will, Paul.”

I was stunned for several seconds, opening and closing my mouth, looking between both of them. My dad still has that small smile on his face and my uncle just stares calmly back at me. “Oh shit.” Noah whispers in the back of my mind. After almost a minute of stunned silence, I finally found my voice. “So, why the banishment? Wouldn’t it be better to train under you?” 

“How do you think Elder Welsh will react to that? How do you think Elise will react? You would probably have to put up with a lot worse than having your arms waxed. I’ve already put my foot down and told them Johnathon cannot be Beta next. You saw how that went over. Your sister’s mate has been training under your dad for a year now and it’s been hell for him.” 

Marcus, my sister Elizabeth’s mate, was challenged by Sydney’s uncle when it was announced he would be the next Beta. Marcus King is another pack’s former Beta’s son and his mom had alpha genes as well. He was built like a freight train. Eric didn’t stand a chance. Marcus had a positive attitude and let most things roll off him, but the past year, you could see the Welsh family was taking its toll on that optimistic outlook of his. He and Elizabeth actually temporarily moved out of the packhouse and into a cottage close to the training grounds to avoid confrontations. 

I had been wondering how Marcus was going to be Beta for Sydney. Marcus had no respect for the punk and was very open about his dislike of his whole family. 

I found out as we talked more that it had been the plan for the last year to hand me the alpha title. I had my mother’s genes, making me an alpha by blood. Without a challenge, I was my uncle's only option. He had reassured me, though, that I was the best option. I loved my pack and sacrificed daily for their needs. Taking guard shifts when needed, teaching the younger training classes, running the summer programs for the pups and volunteering at the hospital with my mom when she went to help when they were short-staffed.

If I was being honest though, many of those “sacrifices” were more to run into Doctor Tyson Lee’s stepdaughter, Dani. 

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