The Queen of the Wolves

A Meriwether?

Theidta walked towards Christian, who was seated on the couch, his back supported by a pillow. His gaze was on the boy, who was walking behind her. “ With whom did you fight?” Theidta asked, her hands resting on her hips. Christian was so busy glaring at the boy that he didn’t see her standing so close to him. So, when she spoke, he jerked out of his thoughts and blinked at her. “ No one.” He replied, looking away. Theidta knelt before him so that they were at eye level and stared at him. “ Look at me, Beta.” She demanded. Christian gritted his teeth and stared into oblivion. “ If you don’t look at me, I will punch you in the face, Christian. I’m not kidding.” Theidta threatened her best friend. Christian heaved a sigh and looked back at her. “ Who did this to you?” She asked, her voice soft and warm, like a cozy blanket. “ I’m afraid that horrific person would be me.” Theidta heard a man speak up. She looked back and abruptly stood up. “ Mr. Meriwether.” She bowed her head, which took out a chuckle from the trainer. “ Dad?” She heard Jake’s footsteps closing the distance between the trainer and himself. “ Jake, where have you been?” The Trainer frowned at his son. Christian kept looking back and forth between his trainer and the boy who was in his imagination for the whole day. The boy who was responsible for his anger. The boy is the one who will have a broken neck very soon. At least that’s what he has been dreaming about. “ I was with my friend. At his house.” Jake replied to his father. The trainer heaved a sigh and looked back at Theidta. “ Anyways, It was my fault, Ms. Anvil. Your best friend is hurt because he brought wrath into my arena.” Mr. Meriwether glared at the future Beta. “ What? Christian never did that before. No matter what. What happened?” She waited for the trainer to answer but he was staring at his student. So, Theidta turned towards her best friend with a questioning look. Exhaling through his nose, Christian replied, “ I was angry because there was some work-related issue. That’s it. No big deal.” The beta was still staring into oblivion, his mind elsewhere. More accurately, trying to calm himself down rather than killing his trainer’s son. “Woah, Jake!” Kenneth walked towards Jake and wrapped his arms around him, to which he got a frown from his beta best friend. So, Everyone knew him except the future Beta. The fact was riling him up more. “ Can you all please get out? I need air. I can’t breathe!” Christian snapped at particularly no one, for which he got a train of warnings and threats from his mother. “ Christian, that’s no way to speak with the guests. What has gotten into you? You were okay a while ago.” Mrs. Delgado shouted at her son. “Yeah, well, they weren’t in my house a while ago!” The future Beta grunted under his breath. “ It’s okay, Mrs. Delgado. I was just leaving. I have to plan for my next class.” The trainer smiled at Christian’s parents and turned to leave. He stopped before his son, and asked, “ Will you be going home with me?” “ No, Dad. I have some work to do, first.” Jake disregarded his father’s silent plea to go home with him. Mr. Meriwether slowly nodded his head and after smiling at everyone for the one last time, he left the Delgado house. “ Hey Chief, what brought you here? Or shall I ask ‘who’? Was it Jake?” Kenneth hugged Kristopher and asked. “ Yeah. I heard that Christian was hurt, so, I came.” “ But how did you two know?” Kenneth frowned at the boys. Jake scratched the back of his neck and let out a nervous chuckle. “ Uh... Um..” Jake looked at Theidta to ask for her permission. He didn’t know if she would want anyone else to know that they JUST started dating. When Theidta gave a short nod, Jake replied, “ Well, Theidta and I were in the middle of our first date, when we got the call. And we were at Kristopher’s burger shop. So, that’s how we got to know.” And as soon as Jake revealed the truth, the temperature of the house changed, and all heads turned towards Theidta, in shock, except Era, who was blushing hard, and busy stealing glances at The Chief. “WHAT?” Kenneth snapped at Jake, then turned to Theidta, and asked again, “ WHAT?” “ Theidta, dear, congratulations!” Mary embraced Theidta. She muttered a ‘thank you’ and smiled. And within a second, Kenneth understood why Christian was angry. But he didn’t know what to do. Should he be angry or should he be happy for his friend? Jake is a good friend of his. He didn’t want to damage his friendship. “ How do you know that boy?” Christian asked him one of the most important questions, out of the blue. The Doctor took the clue, and excused himself too, from the kid’s problems. Mr. Delgado went with the doctor, as he too had enough of the drama. But it was Kenneth's time to speak up. “ Jake was with me in the army camp. That’s how we know each other. He actually was our senior, in school. But we didn’t care about our seniors. So, we didn’t know him.” Kenneth shrugged a shoulder. “ And why didn’t you tell me?” Christian straightened up and asked. “Well, it wasn’t big of a deal.” Kenneth bit his lower lip and looked away when Christian glared in his direction. “Well, now, it is.” He let out a nervous laugh. “ You didn’t know Jake? He is Lyla’s brother.” Theidta turned to Christian. “Excuse me?” Christian craned his neck towards Theidta, in question. “Yeah. Everyone knows Jake Meriwether. But he was a nerd back then. “ After saying this, Theidta turned to Jake and whispered an apology, to which Jake chuckled and waved at nothing with his hand. “ Wow!” Christian huffed mockingly, brushing his hair and staring at the floor. “ Alright. We’ll go, then. We do have work.” Kristopher spoke up. Jake nodded in agreement. Theidta ignored Christian’s temper and walked towards Jake. “ Oh, please, stay. You two have come for the first time to our house. At least stay for some snacks.” Mary insisted, with a smile, that no one ever was able to dismiss. But Kristopher had work. “Any other time, Mrs. Delgado.I do have work. And apparently, Jake is my employee. So, we both have to go.” Kristopher replied, then to Era’s surprise, stole a glance at her, which made her blush harder. “You up for a second date?” Jake asked with hope sparkling in every atom of his body. “ I would love to.” Theidta gave a firm nod, with a thousand-bolt grin.

Jake kissed her hand and left with Kristopher. That’s when Christian stood up and turned Theidta towards him, by gripping her elbow. “Hey!” Theidta protested with a frown. She tried to wriggle her elbow out of his grip but it was of no use. “ You are dating your enemy’s brother?” He asked, nostrils flaring. “ I said the same thing. You know, Jake WAS a nerd but he IS handsome and he used to flirt with girls. He was a playboy at school.” Era finally spoke up, to Theidta’s dismay. Theidta turned her head towards Era and glared, to which Era shrugged. “Theidta, Are you sure he is good for you?”Kenneth asked. “ What are you talking about, Kenneth? You went camping with him. Did you see him do anything else except training?” “No. But… I don’t know.”Kenneth side glanced at his best friend, who was occupied, glaring at Theidta. “ He has changed. I have been training with him for one year now. I know him for one year. And he is very nice. Very polite. Before he came, I used to train alone. And nothing made a difference. He was the one to find me training by myself in the woods. And HE offered to help me. He taught me everything I know. He might have been someone else in the past but now he has changed. And I want to give him a chance.” Theidta raised her chin, her jaw set. Christian knew that look. It meant that she wasn’t going to listen to anyone. It meant that she was going to do this with or without anyone else’s agreement. Maybe she was doing all this because she had read the letter. “ If it’s about the letter, Theidta, then forget about that. I… I.” “It’s not about any letter, Christian! I genuinely like this guy.” Theidta interrupted her best friend. Christian knew she liked the boy. He knew it the second when she knelt before that boy and accepted to go out with him. He saw the twinkle in her eyes that was enough proof that she admired him. That boy admired her, too. Which bothered Christian to a large extent. He could feel his heart tearing apart as she stared at him with defiance. Like she needed him to know that she was taken. Christian left her elbow with one last glance. Then turned and didn’t look back even once. He went straight to his room and everyone heard the bang when he closed the door. “ I’ll go and talk to him.” Kenneth jogged up the stairs. “ See? Told you kids are confusing these days.” Henry commented when he witnessed his son run up the stairs and go to his room. “ SHUT UP, HENRY!” Mary snapped at her husband, while Era embraced Theidta in a warm hug.

“ You were right. Someone stole her from me.” Christian stated, staring outside his bedroom window. “ No one can steal her from you, Christian. If you two are meant to be, then she will come back to you. And I know she will.” Kenneth hung his hand over his Beta’s shoulder and looked at him. “ How are you so sure?” The future Beta asked. “ Because she left in the middle of her first date for you.” Kenneth’s answer was able to insert a little amount of hope in Christian’s heart even though the Beta tried to fight against it.

Era heard knocks on her door. Thinking it might be Theidta, she opened the door but much to her dismay, it was the Alpha. “ What do you want?” She asked. “ I am sorry, Era. I didn’t know that my parents would come to your house and ask your parents for your hand in marriage. If I would have known, I would have stopped them. It’s just that… As we don’t have mates, my parents were worried that I won’t be able to find a true Luna, whom I will love. So, just to calm them down, I told them about you. They knew I always had a crush on you. But I had to tell them about you to calm them down. I wanted them to know that I got this. I apologize, Era. I really didn’t know.” Era was so silent that Kenneth spoke up again. “ That is what I wanted to tell you. That’s... That’s all I have.” Kenneth turned to leave, with a sliver of hope that Era might forgive him. But neither did she call him to turn back nor did she call him when he was out of their house.

Kenneth thought about inviting Kristopher to Aluma all the while he walked back to his house. It was the only way to make it up to Era. And he would do it. So, he went straight to his car and jumpstarted the engine. He didn’t stop until he was standing right before Kristopher’s burger shop.

“ See you later, Mr. Delgado.” Theidta waved goodbye to the Beta of the pack and turned to enter her house. When she was about to knock on the door, she heard an unexpected but familiar voice.