Wolf Wrongs

The mother beta and her daughter

Harris is quick to explain why Michael may have been an Alpha if the situation were different, "If two males are born within two years of each other, it is unknown which is the rightful leader. Because of Michael's exile, it defaulted to me. But now I'm seeing the true way things were meant to be may have left him Alpha."

"So how is it decided normally ?" I question.

"It doesn't normally happen!" Harris says, "In other words, I don't know."

I shrug, "Time to ask your father I guess." I figure he would know.

However when I ask Adrian,, he doesn't know. "Who does?" I plead.

He sighs, "The mother beta."

"The mother beta?" I question, but I know who before I finish.

Adrian grimaces, "Your mother, you'll have to persuade your mother to tell you."

I shrug, how hard can it be? Only impossible! I laugh sarcastically in my head.

"He's only trying to help" Celia tells me, through our mate bond.

"I know" I respond, again through the bond. I'm actually finding it quite hard to distinguish mate talk from out loud talk. It can be quite distracting. Adrian laughs, he's guessed what I'm doing.

"You'll get used to it." He chuckles. "It doesn't take long."

I smile, despite his mistakes, I like Adrian. I can't help feeling he'd be able to prevent the attack better than I. What could be better than a father-son reunion, that saves the day?

But now, I have to approach my mother, and ask her for help! I think I need help!

I walk back over to Harris and Gex, and tell them only the beta mother knows how the Alpha is decided. As if reading my mind, Gex shakes his head.

"I'm not going with you to ask her. You have to deal with your problems, besides, I'm needed here, he nods towards a gathering of pack wolves who need guidance, assurance and instruction. Himself and Harris are needed here. It was foolish of me to even think about tearing him away.

"Celia?" I ask in my head.

"Sorry" she mumbles back, "I don't really want to face your parents at the moment." I understand this.

Then she speaks aloud, "I'll stay here while you find them."

I guess there's no escaping it, I have to talk to my mother.

Where is she? I wonder to myself.

I wander through the endless corridors of the pack house in search of my parents, through many living rooms, studies and kitchens. Till I enter a kitchen that very much reminds me of my family home's kitchen. The swirled pattern tiling on the walls and conservative style appliances surrounding a main preparation workspace. A smell wafts toward me, a familiar comforting smell, the smell of baked good, ready for removal from the oven. Then looking over at the oven. I see two figures crouched in front of it. They remove the contents of the oven before turning around. When they see me. All eyes widen in sink. It is my parents, my mother, who is still holding the hot tray of goodies, promptly drops it. The metal tray clashes onto the floor spilling the freshly baked delicacies along with it.

Upon laying eyes on me for little over a second my mother and father make a break for the exit and are forced to walk past me. I never knew them ignoring me could hurt so badly, as I feel a pang in my chest. I yelp silently and cry out "Mother please!" whilst not turning around to see her standing back turned behind me. I know she has stopped in her tracks and relief washes over me, I feel a tear trickle down my cheek as I let the fact my mother has not completely abandoned me sink in.

"Celia." She begins speaking in a harsh tone which makes me swivel round to find she is now facing me. Upon seeing my dampened cheek, her voice softens, "Whatever happened?" She says despairingly. "What did I do wrong?!" she asks. "What could I have-"

"Mother it's not a bad thing! Homosexuality! It's not bad..." I whimper.

"You may think that... But-"

"Mother, I know you don't approve of Celia, but the entire pack is in danger, I need to know something."

"What on earth are you talking about?" she retorts, "Why is he pack in danger?"She speculates, frowning curiously at me. I then proceed to explain the situation as patiently as I can, for the umpteenth time in the last two hours. When I finish she doesn't so much give me the information I want from the mother beta, as the comfort I need from my mother.

"Whatever your father told me," She smiles weirdly, "I always knew that my daughter was destined to be more than he insisted and still insists." The so called 'weirdness'... Was pride. I feel happiness creep through me. "Lets have him tell me my daughters useless now." Despite the realization that my father has called me useless, I am delighted to think that perhaps the favoritism for Gex, mainly originates from my father, and that my mother disagrees!

I smile meekly and begin to cry again, "Do you hate me?" I splutter, "I thought you hated me!" I confess.

My mother scowls and then says to me seriously, "A mother can never hate her young... No matter what they have done... But I will never, never, look at you with Celia again. It is wrong." A pause as she lets the words rest in the air. I am glad she doesn't hate me, but her words about Celia anger me. I try not to let that show. "What is it you need me to tell you?"

I swallow my judgement and hope she has a straight answer for me. "How is an Alpha chosen, when there are two possible candidates?"

"You can't be referring to Michael!?" She queries me, "Michael is no candidate, he is Gay, the current Wolven society states that by law, no Alpha may be unnatural in this way."

I brush aside her crude response and press her for an answer, "How is an Alpha chosen when there are two candidates? I need my facts right for when I talk to Michael!"

"I've been sworn to secrecy about this by the former mother beta! I can't tell anyone!"

"Why must this information be restricted to the mother beta?"

"Just the way it is."

"Well, Michael surely won't talk with you! So I need to know."

She nods regretfully, "Okay, but I'm not happy with this. And your father won't be either."

"I can't focus on what Daddy wants right now!" I sigh, my mother knows this and nods understandingly.

"The two candidates must sign an agreement first, as a sign of respect, this agreement will decree that the loser will not be harmed, or expelled from the pack. And that the outcome will be honored."

Okay, I think, got it so far. Seems simple. Then what? I wonder.

"Then at an agreed time and place, the two must have a one on one fight."

The look on my face must have gone noticeably dark. A fight is not what I wanted to happen in order to reach a peaceful solution. But if it's the only way, so be it.

"It must be a fight to submission!" She finishes.

Oh my goddess! That's horrid, it's the most humiliating thing she could have said. Forcing a potential Alpha to submit to another is as bad as it gets, though I should be grateful it's not a fight to the death, I suppose.

Spying a pained expression on my mother’s face, I realize, being around me for so long after I 'betrayed' her is becoming too much. I don't want a repeat of the incident when I told her before, so I quickly thank her for her help and sadly leave. Knowing, I will never fully repair my relationship with her and that it was only an emergency that drove her to speak with me for more than five seconds.