Taking Power With The Alpha's Daughter

Prologue: Reflection (Pt. 1)

***MICHAEL POV***

    Running was my peace.

    Running was my happiness.

    Running was my drive.

    Four weeks after Mira’s Luna ceremony, I couldn’t help but start my days with a run.  I needed to be strong. I needed to be healthy.

    And I needed to lead.

    After all, I had a newborn coming soon.

    Mira was about seven weeks pregnant with our first child.  I was five weeks removed from taking over the Crescent Woods Pack in Hayforth, California. I was also 11 weeks into my new job as a teacher at Hayforth High School, a job that I had gotten by moving three thousand miles away from my hometown and finally leaving behind a toxic relationship. I didn’t know how much longer I’d keep my teaching job, though, because I wanted to get enough of a revenue stream of my own for the pack to use.

    I had that in the works, and for good reason, and as I turned the corner, I realized where I was.

    About six weeks ago, Crescent Woods was attacked by a faux pack of rogue wolves.  No fewer than 11 of the attacking 30 were killed just off the borders of the pack territory. I was standing at the place where I personally ended the lives of the two leaders of the insurrection.

    I stopped. I looked around to make sure no one was in earshot, then looked down. I didn’t know if they had been buried in those particular spots, but I wanted to have a short conversation with them.

    “I don’t know why you two decided to make the lives of my mate and my own tough, but I hope that whatever was troubling the both of you is now gone in the afterlife. I forgive you both.”

    With those words, a weight I didn’t know existed lifted from my shoulders.

    So much baggage had followed me from the move out west that I just needed to let go of as much of it as possible.

    Because, after all, I had a pregnant wife to get back to, and knowing her, she was asleep.

    I looked at my SmartWatch to see how much ground I had covered on my run and saw I had managed to hit my goal of ten miles. My stamina was really getting good, and I couldn’t believe it. I took my tank top off and walked the rest of the way back to the packhouse. At 6 in the morning, I knew that the house was about to be bustling with activity. I also knew that Mira was at least an hour away from waking up, so I decided that it was time for my breakfast.

    I wanted to get started early that day because right before dinner, I had gotten an email from the Vegas campus saying that they needed to talk to me about something. This was huge. The project they were working on was important for two reasons.  

    The first was that if it worked, we’d have my first revenue stream created as the alpha of the pack.

    The second reason was that this had the potential to revolutionize antidotes among the supernatural communities around the world.

    Crescent Woods’ biggest rival, Phantom Grounds, and their alpha, Fabian Nhabokov, had given my former lead delta, the delusional and sociopathic Richard Robertson, a lethal concoction with the specific instructions to kill some of my ranked members.  How Fabian financed everything to make that substance exist in the first place was a mystery to my whole team, which was one of the many reasons why he, his family, and his team would be coming to Crescent Woods in a few weeks.

    If that wasn’t everything, I was going to be heading up the Grand Tacoma Council in a few years.

    By the time I reminded myself of that fact, I was back in the packhouse. I knew that I was drenched with sweat by this point and needed to shower first. I passed one of my favorite omegas on my way up the stairs.

    “Good morning, Alpha,” Dolores said. She had started working in the packhouse a little bit before Alpha James had his investiture as the Alpha of Crescent Woods and had recently put in her two-week notice.

    “Good morning, Dolores,” I replied. “Could you have my breakfast brought into my private study, along with Luna’s insulated mug of chicken broth?”

    “Yes, Alpha,” Dolores replied. “What will you be having?”

    I looked at my watch and saw that it was nearly 6:15. Mira would be up in an hour or so, depending upon how the baby treated her during the night.

    “I’m going to go with corned beef hash, toast, and eggs over easy with a massive cup of coffee and a bottle of water,” I replied. “Today’s slate of meetings is poised to be really consequential, and I want to be properly fueled.”

    “My pleasure, Alpha,” Dolores replied. “You’ll see fresh towels in your linen closet, so have a hot shower and get your head in the game.”

    That made me laugh. “Yes, ma’am, I’ll do just that.” I stopped, looked back at her, and said, “scratch the water; make it orange juice instead.” I then restarted my ascent to the Alpha’s floor of the packhouse.

    When Alpha James retired, Theresa moved to the third floor guest quarters with Alec, but the other three Callahan girls - Ronni, Elizabeth, and Amy - moved out to the retirement cottage on the northwest corner of the pack’s property. They wanted to be involved in pack affairs if absolutely needed, but he made it very clear to the rest of the pack that this was my show now. As a result, all of the other bedrooms were whitewashed, and all of the furniture was put into storage until such time as Mira and I would need everything. I already had a good idea as to which bedroom I wanted our firstborn to have, but that was something that my better half and I would have to discuss.

    The Alpha’s bedroom had a California king-sized bed, with the headboard on the northernmost wall of the room, in a space the size of a normal living room in any other house.  There was a vanity on one wall for Mira to do her hair, put on makeup, and store her jewelry.  In addition, we each had massive dressers and a walk-in closet with both ‘his’ and ‘hers’ sections, mine on the left and hers on the right. Sure enough, Mira was still sleeping like a baby (pun intended), so I decided it was time to get my shower out of the way.

    To the left of the closet door was the master bathroom, with a walk-in shower that had 9 different shower settings and the perfect amount of room for two people to relax together…among other things. We also had a double sink, a 1950s-style tub, and a whirlpool jet tub at our disposal, which I loved relaxing in after a two-a-day training session when the day was over. It was the only thing that could work the kinks out of my legs. Weeks ago, I had stopped using my heavily-scented soaps and shampoos because of how sensitive Mira’s stomach was with the baby, but last week she had given me clearance to use my favorite ways of cleaning off again.

    This morning, the wood bourbon barrel soap and deodorant combination won the day.  I showered away the grime, trying to clear my head the best I could to face the day. I had the feeling that this day was going to be one of those days that would shape the next several weeks in many ways. I had no reason to support that, just an inner gut feeling. Those gut feelings were nearly always right, though, so I needed to be prepared.

    I shut the shower off and felt a link come in my head from Dolores.

    Alpha, your breakfast is in the hallway outside of your chambers, she told me.

    Thank you, D! I replied. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. You’re the best.

    I went into our closet and chose my favorite button-down shirt and jeans, wanting to wear it open over a band t-shirt. I didn’t have any meetings with anyone higher up at all that day, so I decided to be casual. I then went to the hallway, wheeled my food into the private study Mira, and I used to grade papers and do legal work for the pack and removed the cloche. Sure enough, there were my Irish breakfast sandwiches with a cup of coffee and a massive glass of orange juice. A copy of the local newspaper came with my food, as well as the weekly newsletter from the GTC.

    I snorted and rolled my eyes when I saw that a pack was petitioning to deny making upgrades to an Omega village in Nebraska. How some packs would treat their fellow wolves horribly and expect to get away with it was beyond me. I made a mental note to ask Chief Andrew about his protocol on how he handled issues like that. I set the newsletter off to the side and dug in.

    Just as I finished my breakfast, I got an email from the Vegas campus. It was simply titled ‘urgent.’  When I opened up the email, I saw it had an attachment to it. I clicked on the video to have it start downloading, and I walked away. I wanted to spend some time with Mira before I went downstairs.

    Meeting her all those months ago was, without a doubt, one of the best things I had ever done. With a small smile on my face, I sat down on her side of the bed, watching her sleep. Every single day, I fell more in love with her. The way she slept, with her hair falling on her face, her lips slightly parted in a smile as she slept, and with her forehead relaxed with no tension in her dreams, made my heart skip a beat. I loved these little moments with her, and I hoped that I would never tire of them.

    I gently placed my hand over the lower part of her stomach. She was starting to get a bit of a baby bump, and I couldn’t wait for our baby to start kicking. I started to rub my thumb over where I thought that the baby was and decided to talk with them.

    “Hey Baby, this is your Daddy,” I whispered. “I can’t wait to meet you, and I love you so much already. You’re so treasured and so spoiled and so perfect. I hope you’re a girl. I’ve always wanted to have a Daddy’s little princess.”

    I was so focused on this conversation with my unborn child that Mira’s first words of the day scared me. “You’re going to be such a good dad,” she said.

    “Thank you,” I replied. “How long have you been awake?”

    “Since you hopped in the shower,” Mira replied.  “I love the scent of that bourbon barrel soap on you again. That breakfast you had made my tummy turn a bit, but that’s okay. Once you ate it, you were good.”

    “You’re perfect,” I replied.

    “And yours,” Mira stated with a smile. I leaned down and kissed her forehead and moved down her face to kiss each cheek, eventually planting a delicate kiss on her lips. Then, just as I was going to try and put something together with her, she pushed me away a bit and smiled.

    “Not now,” she said. “Tonight if I’m feeling up for it. I just heard your phone buzz. I think your email finally finished downloading. Who was it from?”

    “How’d you know I was downloading something?” I asked.

    “It’s something I’ve seen you do before,” Mira replied.  “When you have breakfast in our little study, it’s usually something that needs your attention right then and there, and most of the time, we talk it out.”

    “Vegas campus,” I told her. “It was titled urgent.”

    “Then bring it over here,” Mira stated. “Once you help me stand up and get me to the bathroom, we’ll take a look together.”

    “No problem,” I told her. I swung her legs over the side of the bed and placed her hands on my shoulders. When she was ready, I stood her up, and I walked her over to the bathroom. One thing I noticed as she progressed with her pregnancy was that her joints were getting really bad. When she got up and going, though, she was fine, but that first initial movement of standing up was becoming a problem. I made a note to have her talk with Dr. Richards about it. When she got to the bathroom, I grabbed my phone and saw that it was a video message from Vegas.

    “When you’re ready to go, I’ll meet you in my office, Astor. Vegas has news for us,” I said after reading the email.  “It’s not something we can look at right now because it’s a video, so I’ll project it on the TV down there.”

    “Okay, I’ll see you in 20,” Mira replied. “I’m wearing a dress today, by the way.”

    “Can’t wait,” I said and left our wing. It looked like I was spot on with my assumption.