The Luna Alpha

CHAPTER SIX - YOU BIG i***t

You i***t! You big dumb stupid asshole i***t! The moon Goddess is gonna pair you with a devil from Hades for this. What is wrong with you? How could you do this? You’ve done some terrible things Axel. You already abandoned him as a child. You stood by for years and watched while Aaron bullied him over and over.

Boy if I could bust Aaron’s face up I would. Andrew too. Except I look at him the same way Andrew does but I don’t mean it. My brothers are the worst. I mean, I go along with it cause I have to or otherwise they would find out the truth but still. That’s not as bad right?

Except this is as bad. This is worse than anything Aaron’s ever done. I hurt him. I hurt him. How could I ever hurt him? Not my Parker. Not my love. Please forgive me Parker.

I’ll go back and take him down once they go in their rooms, that’s what I’ll do. But then they’ll ask me why. Why was I being so lenient on him when I’m known as the angry, brooding, Savage beast? The one who could probably take down my own father even at 17?

Because I love him, I’d say. But that wouldn’t fly. They wouldn’t believe me at this point even if that’s the truth. I’ve shown no love for him over the years. Just hatred, disgust or indifference. For my love, my only love.

The one who’s made me contemplate rejecting my own mate when I find her. It’s why I could never tell him. If I ever held him, or kissed him, I wouldn’t want to give him up.

And I can’t reject my mate. It’s just not done. Especially by an alpha. A mate makes you stronger and an Alpha’s true mate is the true leader of the pack. I know Parker couldn’t ever be my true mate cause my brothers hate him so much.

Plus an Alpha’s mate has to be female. An Alpha has to have a Luna. But I could have him, maybe. Maybe if I found my mate I could reject her and step down as alpha. No, no, no you i***t! He’ll have a mate of his own. They’ll be happy. It’ll never be me.

You f*****g i***t! How could you do this to him? You could have held him when he cried. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ Because, love, I have to pretend that I only have contempt for you, or else I’ll run to you and kiss you full on the lips. His words, his voice, his plea, it nearly broke me on that field.

It’s gotten harder and harder over the years. Harder to pretend to hate him. I shouldn’t have given him the stew. I should have gone back up stairs that day. That was the most me I’ve been around him since we were 12. But my heart was bursting when I saw him in the little kitchen. He was so skinny I wanted to feed him. He was so cute I wanted to kiss him. He was so sweet I wanted to hug him. But I could only feed him. I hope he ate all of it.

And then I had to make up for letting him go the next day by showing him that I was just following him to find out where he was going. Of course I knew where he was going. I’d followed him before. I knew every class. I knew when he got drinks of water at the fountain. I knew everything except where he ate lunch cause I had to be in the lunchroom at the same time.

It was ok at first. I started off staring angrily at him in the lunchroom in 9th grade. It was supposed to make him avoid me. That way I didn’t look like I was avoiding him because I was in love with him or for any other reason. But it seemed to have triggered Aaron into not liking him and then Andrew. It all went so wrong. I'm such an asshole!

I harshly banged the inside of the car door involuntarily.

“You ok bro?” Aaron had a hint of anger in his voice. He didn’t agree with my punishment.

“Fine, I see you didn’t agree with my punishment. “

“A little harsh, but I guess it’s a good one.”

“A deserved one. No one can talk to us like that.”

“You’re right.” Aaron agreed, but stayed rigid while he drove. My brothers had changed. As children we used to be so close and to the outside world we still were. Hell, maybe to my brothers we still were. But seeing what they did to Parker and how they acted around my love made me refuse to see them as brothers anymore.

Aaron had become a full blown bully and Andrew seemed to be full of hate in general. He was always sulking, sad, distant. Was it all my fault? I was no better. I started it with my evil stares at my beautiful Parker.

We had been friends, as he said. The first important day of my life was when I saw him. We were 10. He was just as skinny as he is now. He was sitting on a bench outside the playground eating his lunch.

He had peanut butter under his bottom lip from his sandwich. He tried to lick it off but wasn’t getting the job done. It made me smile. I watched him for a while until he finally took his finger and got it. Then he went back to his sandwich.

I walked over to him. “Hi, I’m Axel. I’ve never seen you before.” I don’t remember ever being nervous about anything before. But I remember every detail about that day and I was definitely nervous. I watched as he swallowed his bite of sandwich.

“I’m Parker.” Recognition hit him. “You’re….you’re one of the alphas!”

“Awww it’s nothing, doesn’t mean anything,” I shrugged as I sat down next to him under the leafy tree. It clouded us in shadow. “Just means I’ll lead the pack one day with my brothers. We’re already training.” I puffed up my chest just in case he cared. He smiled.

“That’s really cool.”

“Where are your other friends?”

“Oh uhhhh….They’re back at the orphanage.” For some reason he lowered his head and began eating his sandwich again. I tickled him.

“Hey! Not fair! I have a sandwich in my hand!” he laughed. I stood on the bench and tried to reach the branches of the tree. Then I jumped off. He smiled at me again.

My brothers came running up to me. I ignored them.

“Hey you wanna come play video games with us this afternoon?” I asked.

“Video games?”

“Yeah at the packhouse.”

“Hey,” Aaron said with a toothy grin as he sat by Parker.

“Hi,” Parker said in a much smaller voice.

Before he knew it Andrew had pushed Aaron off the bench quickly and sat by Parker. I rolled my eyes.

“That’s Andrew, Parker. The one on the ground is Aaron.”

“You all look alike.”

“I should hope so. We’re triplets!” Aaron got up from the ground and gave Andrew a playful noogie. “I was sitting there jerk.”

“And now I am. Nice to meet you Parker.” Andrew smiled too and Parker smiled with peanut butter on his lip. He was almost done with his sandwich.

“It’s almost time for us to go back in from recess. Is your lunch almost over?”

“Yeah.”

“You can come over if you want, Parker,” Aaron said.

We all looked at him, hoping to make a new friend.

“Oh …uh ok.”

I smiled happily and ran as I heard a bell. “Come on guys! Bye Parker!” I saw him wave and smile as he finished his sandwich. I wasn’t sure if he was coming over and it made me nervous all day.

A shy little boy showed up to the packhouse about 4:30 when all the other kids including my brothers were playing outside. I was just inside the door sitting at the smaller table where we sometimes ate near the kitchenette. I kept looking and looking until the front door opened.

There he was, scraggly brown hair, brown eyes and small frame. My new friend. No pleasantries were said. I grabbed his hand and pulled him along through the dining room with me as I raced outside.

“Guys! He’s here!” I briefly shouted and then dragged him back inside to play video games like I promised. I sat him down in front of the TV in the game room. I pulled out Mario Brothers and Mario kart. Then I ran back into the kitchen and asked mom if we could have a snack.

I brought sodas and peanut butter crackers and a tray of fruit my mom gave me and threw it all on the table. By then Andrew and Aaron were already setting up the game. Our beta and gamma were on the floor.

“This is Derek and Lucian, our best friends. They’re gonna be our Beta and Gamma. This is Parker. Do you wanna play Mariokart or Mario and Luigi?”

“What’s Mariokart?” he asked.

They all groaned. He looked embarrassed. “What’s Mariokart?” said Derek. “It’s only the best. Plus more than 2 people can play at a time. Let’s do that one.”

“Hey!” I said. “Let Parker decide. He’s never played either.”

“It’s ok,” he said shyly. “I wanna try that one.”

“Ok,” Aaron sat next to him and gave him a controller and a peanut butter cookie. “First you have to pick your player. Then your car.”

I was content to let Aaron and Andrew sit by him. I could just watch him from the floor and make sure he was having fun. An hour and a dozen cookies later between us all, we switched to the other game.

Derek and Lucian left to go finish their homework before dinner. Parker wanted to do the same but I invited him for dinner. His eyes got as big as saucers.

“In the packhouse? At the dinner table?”

“Yeah! Anyone can eat there, especially if you’re invited.” I gave him a big smile and a shoulder push. He seemed to blush at that. Boy was he shy. And I recognized that he needed to eat.

“Um, ok. But I gotta get back to the orphanage right after or they’ll be missing me.”

“Ok, cool.”

We played for a little while, talked about school, things we liked, and then cleaned up the food and cans before dinner was called. We all sat down at the long table and made space for Parker. He sat between me and Aaron.

“Well who’s this?” my father Alpha Anton said as he sat down. Parker froze.

I answered. “He’s our friend from school. I invited him over. We played video games and Mom made us snacks and he’s really smart. He’s really good at Mariokart –

“Alright, uh, son. I understand. He’s your friend from school. Now who are your parents young man?”

Parker almost choked on his soup that was put before us. He looked at me as if asking if he was expected to speak to the Alpha. I nodded my head and mouthed “talk" to him.

“Uh, um ..well,” he stumbled,” they um were warriors Alpha sir. They died in a rogue attack when I was 2.” He tucked his head almost into his shirt. Was he being shy or had my dad upset him?

“Oh! I thought I’d recognized you!” my Mom exclaimed. “Little Parker from the orphanage. I visit every week. He’s so sweet with the other kids. Almost like a big brother to most of them. So nice to see you again Parker.” She looked over and smiled sweetly, not that he could see it.

“Yes Luna Palonia. Nice to see you as well.” His voice was a little muffled seeing as his face was still tucked into his shirt.

“Parker!” Aaron patted him on the back hard enough for him to look up. He laughed as Parker’s face came out of his shirt. “Sorry you had something on your face. It was your shirt.” He laughed some more and Parker finally smiled. Then we all giggled. Maybe he was just shy after all.

The rest of dinner went without mishap. There was salad and roast beef and rolls and veggies and dessert. Parker seemed to have a blast. He and Andrew played rock, paper, scissors under the table and I kept telling him about other games we had and asking what time he wanted to come by tomorrow.

“Um …” he attempted to answer after we finished cleaning off the table. “ I should probably come right after school cause I usually eat dinner at the orphanage and help with the younger kids too.”

“Oh, ok. Well you can always eat here. You’re always invited. The packhouse and everything in it belongs to everybody like my Dad says so you’re always welcome.”

He brightened up. “Thanks.” I remember being tempted to give him a hug but I didn’t.

“Well I gotta go,” he finally said after he put the dish rag down.

“We’ll walk you home,” Andrew said as he followed him out.

“Oh, no. You don’t have to. It’s after dark. I don’t want you to get in trouble.” My brothers and I all laughed.

“We don’t get in trouble,” Aaron said. “We’re the Alpha’s kids.”

“We would only get in trouble if we did something really, really bad,” I added. “This is nothing.”

He shrugged as we came along with him. I followed Andrew and Aaron and ended up beside Parker while Aaron was in the back. We got into a game of hit the tree branches on the way there. Sometimes we ran and played “catch Parker" around the trees which ended in fits of laughter.

A trip that should’ve taken 20 minutes took and hour and felt like only 5 minutes. We said goodbye and headed back to the packhouse at a run. Sometimes we’d stop and play tag but ultimately we knew we’d stayed out too late so we made it back in good time.

Dad was ascending the stairs as we ran up. “Homework all done?” he asked all of us.

“Yes, sir!” we answered in unison without stopping. We still shared a huge room together, each of us in Queen size beds. We were all 10 but being alphas kids and in training meant we were all 5 feet and 4 inches tall at this point and a hundred and thirty pounds at least. We could all pass for teens.

We all took our showers and laid out our clothes for the next day. We didn’t say much to each other like we usually did. I’m not sure what the others were thinking about but I was happy. I’d made a new friend. Parker was nice, and smart, and good at video games, and had an addictive laugh, and he was shy, and …well … I kept thinking of things about Parker that I liked.

But my favorite thing was when I saw him sitting on that bench eating that peanut butter sandwich. I wondered if he liked the crusts cut off cause they weren’t. Did he have jelly at the orphanage or did he not like it? Who were his other friends? Were they older or younger?

I wondered what he was thinking about sitting on the bench before I came up to him. And then I thought about the whole day over and over in my head until I fell asleep.

It was the best day of my life.