The Last Alpha

Chapter Two - How we fell

My day was filled with studies, mainly Wolf law and learning the elder council members' names and responsibilities. This was all I could think about studying after overhearing what I did between my father and my brother.

I sat in the back corner of our huge library on the second floor of the pack house. It had been my mother's responsibility as Luna before she passed a few years ago. Now I'm the only one left that uses the room. I looked after it the best I could, but I didn't get much time between my duties and studies and training. It was difficult to look after something she cherished, but there was nobody else that could; at first, it was painful to come here, but I slowly found myself discovering why she loved this place so much. I have spent so much time here now, not many can rival my knowledge. Not even Edward.

Things around here were starting to get pretty crazy, preparations were happening for tomorrow’s new arrivals, so I thought it best to stay out of the way. Future Beta is a big deal, especially on their 18th birthday, so the party was going to be insane and that's not really my scene. I'll give Jackson his gift and be on my way. I don’t need to be there for his first shift, so I won’t.

I had gotten Jackson a small stone figure, crafted by a previous Beta that had the power of Earth. I got the feeling that Earth would be his element too. He loves being outside and enjoying the sun and everything that has to do with plant life.

Father has the element of fire, mother had the element of water. I think Edward may end up with fire, it just seemed more likely than water, as our family Alpha gene does dominate everything. Father's fire was very powerful, it made me wonder what I would get.

I suppose we will find out Edwards' element soon as well. His birthday was next week, and mine was still 10 months away; so I had a lot to deal with over the next month. The un-mated women arriving tomorrow will quadruple before the week is up thanks to my brother's fast-approaching birthday.

I didn't like the idea of sharing our home with strangers, granted many would stay in town and fill the hotels, but the higher-ranked people were invited to stay at the pack house; thankfully, it's a very large building with many floors and many rooms. There were six floors in total, the top floor was reserved for the Alpha and their family and sometimes their Beta's too. I was on the top floor, my room was towards the back, so thankfully I never ran into too many people at once. I could normally avoid people.

I had finished reading yet another book in our vast library. I stood up from the desk and returned the book to its usual place. Everything here was ordered perfectly. I had done it myself so I knew the placement easily.

I walked around the shelves looking for my next book to read when a strange-looking book caught my eye, one I swore I hadn't seen.

It was bound in leather and had our pack symbol on the spine. It looked really old, which caught my attention even more. I ran my hand along its spine, tracing our pack symbol; as I did so, the rain started to pour outside.

I pulled the book out, and the sound of lightning crashing made me jump. The book fell to the ground and bounced open to a page. I picked it up and started reading;

"The born Alpha to the Elemental Pack is the most powerful, each has more power than the last. It is believed that all knowledge known by one is known to all. This theory has yet to be proven.

In many cases, we find these Alphas have control of the opposing elements. Fire and Water or Wind and Earth. There is the occasional exception to this rule. How it's possible is another unknown."

I closed the book. I need to take this upstairs and read fully later, I gently place the book in my bag and seal it tight. I do not need to lose this book, I think it may help shed some light on the fact we haven't had a powerful Alpha in over 150 years. I'm sure people will start to notice soon, and when they do we will not be safe.

This book almost feels like it's someone's theories and observations. Whoever wrote it must have been close to an Alpha. I may need to investigate more before going to my father with any findings. I hope I can be of help to him and get him the answers our pack needs to keep the peace.

I walked over to the history section, maybe there was something here that could help me get some answers. I found a couple of books relating to the Alpha bloodline. I took all of them and put them in my bag. I was going to have a lot of reading ahead of me.

I found a scroll that looked to be our family tree. It looked like it hadn't been updated in a long time, the last name on there was my father's. I'll have to bring it to him for updating. That would need his approval as he's the Alpha. I guess mother didn't get the chance to update it.

Thinking that made me realize how much my mother missed out on. I was 5 when she died. We were attacked while Edward and I were at school in the town. Mother was a well-trained warrior and powerful Luna, but rouges attacked her in numbers even she couldn't fight against. Father had been at a nearby pack meeting to discuss peace and had run back to help defend his Luna. He arrived too late. The Rouges took nothing, only killed. They left when they didn't find us or father.

I don't have much memory of the day. I recall staying in town for a week or so in the hotel under heavy guard. We did our schoolwork there too. Father hasn't really left the pack much since then. 12 years on and our defences are impenetrable, with round-the-clock patrols, guard stations, security cameras constantly being watched and the occasional weaponized defence system. Father said these were the last resort.

I can't blame him, he lost his mate in that fight, he was too trusting of the peace that had been built with surrounding packs.

The elder council got involved and did a thorough investigation. I heard some years later that serval rouges had been captured and held for questioning. From there we heard nothing more.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and grabbed my bag, now full of books, and made my way upstairs. The lift was everyone's preferred mode of transport, so I used the stairs more.

Finally, I was on the top floor. I made my way back to my room and sighed to myself when I walked in. I needed to clean up a little. A few books were on the floor. It looked like my stack had fallen. I need to find a better place for those.

I put my bag down on my bed and got started moving things around. It only took ten minutes to get things where I wanted them. I looked at the time, 18:07. Not that late, it was almost time for dinner as well. I could fit a run in quickly now before food, but then I glanced at my bag on the bed. I needed answers as to why things were changing; what was going on with our pack?

I spent the next 45 minutes pouring over that book, there was so much information.

There were many terms that I had heard growing up; the true Alpha, the born Alpha. They had the ability to possess more than one element. In most cases, it was 2. There are records where some would even have 3. 4 had not been seen at all throughout history. I doubt it ever would. That's a lot of power for a single wolf to have.

I then found a page which was written poorly, like the person that wrote it was rushing to get this down on paper. I could barely make any of it out.

"I believe there is another. How it is so is not easy to put into words. I watched as our born Alpha strode into the woods alone. I followed at a distance. He was then surrounded by a brilliant light. It was not fire, our Alpha does not possess fire. It was as if the sun had shone directly on him. The power of light!"

That can't be right. I flipped the page and found the next page had been torn out. I wondered what secrets it held, it must have information that we weren't meant to see.

My phone then went off, snapping me out of my thoughts. Father had texted, the food was ready and the servers were waiting for me so they could finally serve dinner to us all.

I quickly closed my mysterious book, I was not going to let this out of my sight. I grabbed a small shoulder back and placed the book in there and zipped the bag up. I'll have to check the pack archives for more information. There must be more in there; it holds our history and only a wolf in the Alpha bloodline has the authority to access it. I guess now I understand why. I had a plan. I was going to eat dinner as quickly as I couldn't. Then I would head to the basement, where our archives were.

I ran downstairs as quickly as I could to meet father, and of course, his text was misleading. I am notorious for being late. The servers were still laying the table out. I heard father pacing in his office on the second floor. I decided now was a decent time to talk to him about what I know.

I knocked on his door as soon as I got to it.

"Father, I need to talk to you about something."

"Come in, Thalia. What's on your mind?" I heard him say from the other side of the door.

I quietly closed the door behind me, father motioned for me to sit down.

"Why has it been so long since the last born Alpha?" I asked him directly.

"I'm surprised you are interested. Glad, but surprised. Jeremy and I have been investigating for almost 20 years now, and my father before that. It's unclear what's changed. Perhaps the threat to our people has been minimized so much that we no longer have a need for a born Alpha. Or it's a test from the Moon Goddess, to see if we are worthy of the next step in her godly plan for our kind. There have been signs from prophets but none of them make much sense. We have had our best people looking into everything they see and are attempting to decode it. But we have had very little luck. The Elder Council is aware and is also investigating. Perhaps they will uncover some answers for us."

"Why are you just telling me all this now?" I asked with eyes wide at my father.

"You asked, I can't just give you all this information that you aren't ready for. There is so much more I have to teach you, my sweet daughter." Father was waiting for me to be ready to look into this. But why?

"What changed with Edward? Why does he have to wait a year to become Alpha?" I asked, this one I knew was more complicated.

"That is a matter I don't want to get into at this moment, besides dinner is ready. Let's go eat. We can continue this later" Father stated. There was no arguing with him on this one.

Sadly, we never got the chance to finish the discussion.