Queen Alpha

    Who is knocking on my door so damn early in the morning? The banging became incessant and I huffed out a deep sigh. I hated waking up like this and my mom knew that, yet here we are. Third day in a row that she’s done it.     “What?” I shouted from under the blankets so that I could be heard over her horrible pounding on the door. The knocking abruptly stopped and I smothered my face into the pillow knowing full well my mother was going to come into the room at any moment. Next thing I know the door swung open and I heard the quick taps of her heels on my wooden floor as she came to stand next to my bed.     I felt the covers fly off me and my mother started poking my shoulder. Hard. I did not want to deal with this every damn morning. I peaked up from the pillow to see my mother staring down at me with her arms crossed. Her red hair was pulled into a sleek bun and her makeup was done to make her green eyes pop. Big dangling earrings hung from her ears and she was dressed to the nines. My mother always looked so well put together. It was enough to make any woman jealous.     Her full lips were set in a scowl as she looked down at me. I could hear her tapping her foot and so I rolled to fully face her.      “Yes?” I sighed. My mother started moving her hands and mindlinked me. To anyone not in our pack they wouldn’t be able to understand because she was mute. Her vocal chords just didn’t work for some reason and no one really knew why. She was just born that way. It was even more strange because she was a Luna. The Goddess decided that she was best suited for my father, the Alpha, despite the fact she couldn’t speak.     You need to get up for school, she signed and mindlinked to me. It’s the last day of senior year. You don’t want to miss it. I rolled my eyes at her and sat up.     “Did you maybe think I don’t really want to go to the last day of school?” I reasoned. “No one there is really my friend. They’re only ‘friends’ with me because dad is the Alpha of the pack.”     Your sister doesn’t have any issues with making friends, she said with a raised eyebrow.     “Yeah, well,” I sighed. “She also doesn’t have as much responsibility as me. Dad keeps praying to the Goddess that my mate will be another Alpha.” It was my mother’s turn to sigh then.      I’ll talk to your father. He knows this isn’t something that you can control and he should know better. I could feel the irritation rolling off of her. My dad’s father had pressured him to reject my mother as his mate in the beginning. He didn’t think that someone who couldn’t speak would make a good Luna for our pack. It was about a year before my grandfather finally accepted my mother as his daughter-in-law and I suspect that my grandmother had something to do with it as well being pregnant with my older brother, Brandon.     “Do I really have to go, mom?” I whined. Yes, I was turning 18 tomorrow. Yes, I should probably go to school. No, I did not care about either of those things. I was tired of people pretending to be my friend and tired of the impending doom that is adulthood.     Yes. Now get up. Beth is waiting for you downstairs, she linked as she patted my leg. She’ll have her driver’s license before next year, but she doesn’t now so you have to take her to school. I groaned and slowly rolled out of the bed and sat on the floor. My mom chuckled as she walked out of the room and slowly closed the door behind her.     I stared at my legs stretched out in front of me while I sat on the floor. I literally had no motivation to even get up, but I didn’t want my mom coming back up here and scolding me for not getting ready. She already told me I was too lazy around the house, but can you blame me? Everything was regularly done by the Omegas. Then again, I hadn’t really been taking any of the warrior training or etiquette classes seriously.      I slowly got up and made my way to my bathroom. I started running the shower to let it get warm and turned to brush my teeth. Seeing myself in the mirror I almost jumped. My crazy curly hair was all over the place and looked like a giant, red rat’s nest. This is what I get for not braiding my hair before I go to sleep. My eyes were big and blue with beautiful long eyelashes and very puffy from just waking up. After brushing my teeth, I splashed water on my face to get the sleep out of my eyes.     I hopped in the shower and conditioned my hair for five minutes while I relished in the hot water cascading over my body, quickly soaping up and washing myself. After rinsing out my hair, I turned off the water, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself, grabbed my wide toothed comb and started combing through my hair as I walked back into my room.     There sitting on my bed was Beth, my little fifteen year old sister. She and I looked similar except she had long, straight red hair like our mom, but she had blue eyes like me and dad. Her legs were crossed and she was absentmindedly filing her nails.     “What’s up, Beth,” I said as I rushed over to my closet to pick out my clothes. Beth looked up at me and smiled.     “Nothin’, just waiting on you, Bree,” she threw herself back on my bed and stretched out. I looked at her and had a sudden wave of jealousy. She had the perfect body with breasts just the right size and her hip to waist ratio was perfect. Not to mention her slender legs and standing at five foot eight. I could never compare to her. I was a bit curvy, probably because I was lazy like my mom said I was. And I wasn't all that tall. Even though I was older than Beth, she stood a whole 5 inches taller than me. I pulled some jeans and an olive green tank out of my closet. Quickly pulling on my panties and bra, I threw on the clothes and slid my feet into some sneakers.      “Okay, ready?” Beth sat up quickly from the bed and grabbed her bag off the floor.     “About time,” she said cheerfully. I rolled my eyes at her and we both left the room. We rushed down the two flights of stairs it took to get to the main floor of the pack house, our feet thundering down the stairs as we raced each other giggling.      As usual, the main floor was bustling with members of the pack. There was a cartoon playing on the large theater television in the living area for the pups as they sat in a large circle eating fruity cereal together. Every friday and saturday were cartoon mornings for the pups while their parents got to enjoy time with other adult members of the pack for a brunch and to discuss different issues going on in the different parts of our territory.     We walked past the living room and into the dining area. The large table was completely covered in amazing looking food. There was french toast, waffles, fruit, eggs, and plenty of extra toppings for the food. Our dad was sitting at the head of the table and was laughing and talking with his Beta and our brother, Brandon. Brandon was the future Alpha of the pack, but dad didn’t feel quite ready to hand him the title until he found his mate. Even though it had been two years since he turned 18, Brandon wasn’t giving up hope to find his mate. He was always on high alert. Beth and I sat down next to dad and he turned to smile at us.     “Good morning, girls,” he said with a big grin on his face. Our dad, even though he was Alpha, was an extremely kind man. He had a kind smile, big blue eyes like his two daughters, and long brown hair with a nicely maintained beard. “Are you two ready for summer this year?”     “Of course, daddy,” chirped Beth. "I can't wait to go with you on your business trips this summer to really learn the family business." I rolled my eyes and grabbed a plate and started filling it with food. As I was filling it, an omega came out with my favorite breakfast food, Scotch eggs. My mouth instantly started watering as it was placed in front of me.      “It’s a birthday gift for you from the head omega,” said the omega shyly, bowing to me and my family. I turned and smiled at her.     “Tell her I said thank you so much,” the omega gave me a quick nod and shuffled back into the kitchen. There was one time that my dad took me with him on a business trip to the United Kingdom and we had Scotch eggs given to us for breakfast. Ever since then I have been in love and it’s been a full time affair. I cut into the Scotch egg with my fork and the yolk became runny as it dripped out and I took a bite. I moaned as I ate it and Brandon c****d an eyebrow at me.     "You and that egg need some one-on-one time?" He snickered. I smiled and winked at him while I continued eating and he rolled his eyes at me.      We sat there eating our food and laughing with our dad as our bellies became full. Beth was begging for a car and Brandon was laughing at our dad’s face as he was quickly getting annoyed with her. I was drinking my orange juice when suddenly my mom came down the stairs looking all business.      She had a look of determination on her face which always made me worry. She had something planned and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. My dad scooted his chair back a little bit and let my mom perch on his lap. She leaned down and gave him a kiss that was so sweet no one could resist smiling at them. Their love was like something out of a movie, passionate but never overly passionate in front of other people and everlasting. You could just tell that nothing could come between them.     My parents mindlinked for a moment and had a private conversation while Brandon was mimicking Beth’s whining for a car from across the table. I could tell Beth was getting irritated and so I rolled my eyes at Brandon and told him to knock it off.     “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do, Bree,” he growled at me. I c****d an eyebrow at him and rested my chin on my hand.     “I’m your sister and you have no idea how strong I am once I get my wolf, buster,” I said in a bored tone of voice. “You never know, I could be stronger than you.” Brandon scoffed at me.     “Yeah, right. A future Luna stronger than a future Alpha. That will be the day.” Just then, all three of us were pulled into a mindlink with our parents. What the hell, dad, I heard Brandon say in my head.     You need to stop aggravating your sisters, now, my dad growled at him. You are going to be Alpha of this pack once you find your mate, I expect you to act like it.     Yes, sir, conceded Brandon. It was really difficult not to smirk at him from across the table, but I held it in.     There’s no need to behave that way, Brian, I heard my mother purr to my dad. His sisters also shouldn’t be challenging him like Breanna just did. She gave me a pointed look and I looked down at my hands. Luna’s were supposed to be graceful and nurturing. I had a hard time being that way, but Beth was there naturally when she wasn’t whining.  Sorry, Vanessa. Go ahead and tell them the news. My siblings and I exchanged looks with each other. Taking a deep breath, our mother produced a dazzling smile and turned to me. Breanna, we are having a huge get together in two days to celebrate your birthday and we’ve invited all the packs from the surrounding area, she sounded excited in my head. All I could do was sit there in shock. All the Alphas from the surrounding packs will be coming and many different young women will be coming here in hopes they are your mate, Brandon. I looked across the table to see Brandon’s face break into an excited grin. I rolled my eyes and huffed, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms. “Fine,” I said out loud. “Sounds like fun. Come on, Beth. It’s time for school.” I got up to leave, leaving my Scotch egg half finished. I’d suddenly lost my appetite. I kissed my mom and dad goodbye, grabbed my bag, and rushed out the door with Beth trailing behind me.  I wasn’t ready to meet my mate...and I didn’t think I would ever be ready…