The Alpha's Queen

Chapter 2

Watching my dad as he and my mom seems to have an unspoken conversation. “I'll start,” my dad said.

Looking at him, I had so many questions. But I knew that he wouldn't answer any of them until he finished talking, saying what he needed to say. He looked at my aunts and uncles, seeming to have a whole conversation with the adults without words. Then my dad nodded and turned to Terry. “Can the older kids come in as well? I would like to tell all the children at the same time.” 

Terry’s eyes glazed over once again, then he looked at my dad saying, 

“The pups that are over the age of 7, will join us shortly.”

“Pups, what do you mean by pups?” I asked the room.

“Honey, I'll explain it all soon sweetheart.” My dad said Once everyone came into the media room, we moved the couches around so that we could all sit together while we were talking.

“Your mother and I aren’t who you know us to be sweetheart” my dad said looking at me and my siblings. Then, looking at my cousins, “and your parents aren’t who you know them to be either.” He said and took a deep breath, as if whatever he was about to say, was going to be very hard. Looking around at each adult individually, he sat back on the couch.

“We’re shifters, more commonly known as werewolves. When I was 16, our pack was attacked. Some people wanted my mate, your mother, Maritza, as their own. The Moon Goddess makes a perfect mate for each of us. think of it as your soul mate. But because we are from royal blood, our bloodline is stronger than most. When you mate with one of the royals, the bond between the mates, as well as their pack, is stronger. When our pack was attacked, my dad told me to take my mate and run. For me to keep my mate and her siblings safe. He also sent both your aunts, my sisters with me. During our travels from our home land in Northern Africa. Don't ask because I won't say exactly where. During our travels, we never stayed in one place too long. Eventually, both mine and your mother’s siblings all found their mates. After many years, we settled here in Northern California. To avoid detection, we decided to homeschool you kids, as well as work from home. With my work as

a computer consultant, your aunt and uncle’s photography, and your mother’s books; We never needed anything. Being used to living in the pack house, similar to this house, we built our house big enough to hold any children that we may have in the feature.

About 3 months ago, I did a consulting job for the Golden Moon pack. Since we only communicated through email and phone calls, I didn’t know that he was the local pack’s alpha. Nor did he know that I was the missing royal that everyone had been searching for the last 20 plus years. Terry and I met for the first-time face to face when we went to town. You may not remember this sweetheart, but you were riding with me that day. Terry being the alpha of the local pack asked if we were moving to the area or passing through. You came into the coffee shop with me, and after getting your drink I asked you to wait for me in the car. When he realized that you’re his mate, and that our family has been living in the area for some time, he offered for us to join his pack. After talking with Terry, explaining to him who we are, I asked Terry to give me a few days to talk with my family. But I never responded to his request or offer. When we were attacked at the house, I already knew why we were being attacked. But I couldn't stop the actions that came after my choice to ignore Terry. I knew you kids would be concerned, worried and in doubt about some of the things that you would soon learn.”

Looking at my dad, I couldn't believe what he was saying. Shifters, werewolves, whatever you call them just don’t exist. Next, he will be telling me that vampires and harpies are real. 

My cousin Juan was looking just as confused as I was. “If we’re supposed to be shifters, then why haven't I ever seen anyone shift?” He asked. Good question, I thought and looked to my mom and dad. 

“There is a plant called wolfsbane, it will suppress your wolf. In small amounts it's not harmful, but in large doses it can be deadly.” My mom said. Terry looked at all the adults like they had sprouted a second head.

“Why would you give your children wolfsbane?” He asked

“to suppress their wolves” my mom said “we didn't want them shifting and our family getting attacked for a mate. When you met my mate and daughter in town, William told me about you guys meeting each other. We thought that we could keep the kids safe. You have to understand; this family is all we have. We've lost our parents along with the rest of our pack when We were just coming of age. We all made the decision together, that we would make sure our children were able to live a life without fear of repeating the same situation that we had to go through.” Mom looked at dad with love in her eyes and nodded her head. 

“When we first came to California, we fell in love with the area and decided to settle here. Knowing that we were in the shadows of your pack land. Your father was notified about our being in the area. We explained to him who we are, and why we’re here. He agreed with us about living separately from the pack. But since we kept to ourselves, we have been able to live in relative peace. When I accepted the consultation job from you, I believe that's when we came up on your radar.” Dad said. Looking around to my mom, aunts and uncles. I was shocked, saddened and pissed about everything that was just said.

Terry looked at all of us, one by one. “The fact remains”, he said, “You’re in my territory. You never once contacted me, once I became Alpha. Nor did my father give me any clue about a rouge family of shifters living  right under my nose. As of this moment, you’re all rouges. It is entirely up to me; whether you’re sentenced to life in the dungeon, kick you out of my territory, and I'll alert the other packs, or extend the offer to become a part of this pack. I’m sorry

about the hardship your family has endured. But, you should have notified me when I became Alpha. I’m a reasonable man, I will speak with the adults privately to get the full story at a later time. Whatever you tell me, will be kept between us. Once you join, if you join the pack, your history will be yours to share with the rest of the pack members if you so decide to share your story. As of right now, though, I’ll treat your family joining as new members moving into the area. I think that way, no suspicion will fall on you if someone is still looking for any of you.”

My mother took a deep breath at the same time that I released the air that I didn’t even know I was holding. “Thank you for your kindness and generosity Alpha.” She said while looking at my dad. “As the Luna of our small pack, on behalf of everyone, I’m accepting your offer to join the pack.” She said with a smile 

“Great,” Terry said, looking at my dad “welcome to the Golden Moon Pack” Walking towards me, Terry kneeled in front of me. “As for you my Queen, it’s time for me to explain why I call you ‘My Queen’, I promised to tell you everything, and that all your questions will be answered. If you have any questions for either your parents or myself after I’ve finished talking, please ask them and don’t hold them in. You are my mate, my soulmate, my other half. I call you Queen, because you will always be my Queen. You will never go a day without knowing the love I have for you is real. I will never mistreat you, harm you or talk to you in any way that wouldn’t be fitting for a Queen”, Holding my clasped hands in his, “I’ll give you time to adjust to our world. We will take our time getting to know each other. But, I do have to let you know, now that I’ve found you, I can’t and won’t let you go. Being separated now that our wolves have found each other will become unbearable, and any prolonged separations will weaken both our wolves to the point of death. I

can’t allow you to hurt yourself like that, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you’re happy here. Also, in case you haven’t guessed by now, you are the Luna of this pack. While we are a very large pack, I’m sure you will have no problems acclimating yourself to our world and your new duties.” Looking at my parents, “since our pack was already extremely large, and has just become larger with the addition of your family; I would like to ask you to be my second Beta, you would be my third in command since you have Alpha blood.” He said looking at my father, to my mother he said “I would like you to train Maritza on the Luna responsibilities that she will have. Along with my mother, I feel that she will learn everything that she needs to know in a short time.” 

Terry stood up and shook hands with my dad and uncles, then inclined his head to each of my aunts and mother. Not moving in their direction until each of the husbands in turn nodded their heads. Then he gave each one a hug, “Welcome to the pack, I’ll have someone give you guys a tour of the grounds. But I would like to speak with the adults privately while you guys get settled in your rooms. Also, I want each of the children to get their schedules. You will all need to train with the pack for defense. Those that are old enough can get jobs within the pack or town if you would like. But everyone, in the pack, takes a turn at cooking, caring for the young children, and other chores within the pack.” He looked around to all of us, giving us time to think and ask any questions. “Now I have a

party to plan with my Luna. This weekend, we will have a BBQ welcoming your family into the pack.”

A girl walked into the room “hi, I’m Emily” she said with a smile. “I’ll show you to your rooms, and then show you around the grounds once you’ve settled in.” Emily was short, maybe 5 feet at most. But she has beautiful gray/blue eyes framed in a heart shaped face. With long hair that flowed past her hips, it was an unusual mixture of blue-black with silver streaks, with skin the color of honey, she had that natural glow that every woman wants to achieve. Each feature was beautiful by itself, but together she was just stunning.

She looked at my cousin Brandon. “Mate” was the only word that she spoke. I could tell, by the look on his face, that Brandon was already in love. I’m sure it wasn’t the ‘mate bond’ that Terry said he felt for me, I think it has more to do with a pretty girl showing him some attention. I can't blame him really, she is drop dead gorgeous, I would date her if I was into girls.

After showing us to our rooms, we all decided to meet in the media room in 30 minutes. Emily suggested that we all pile into a few golf carts. “The grounds are extensive,” she said. “We wouldn’t even cover a fourth of the grounds on foot.” Her comment had me wondering how big the property was. The sheer size of the property and grounds, was enough to make my jaw drop and my eyes bulge out their sockets. 

The pack grounds are huge, covering almost 700 acres. That makes the 30 acres that my family owned look like a typical front yard. In fact, it could have been the front yard, considering that the back of our property butted up to the back of the pack's land. It’s a wonder that my family have never crossed paths with anyone from the pack. 

Besides the media room and huge kitchen. There is a gym that was housed in another building, with at least 5 of every type of workout equipment you can think of, including a boxing ring and floor mats for hand to hand sparing. The daycare and training house was another building with about three hundred square feet of space. But, I have to say, the space that gave me the most excitement was the indoor/outdoor dining area. With accordion glass doors, the inside could easily hold a party of 200. But, when combined with the outdoor space, 1000 people could easily sit down and enjoy a meal together. It reminded me more of a hotel grand room, the space was so big and elaborately comfortable as well as casual at the same time. 

Most of the pack kids go to school in town, but there is a school house building for those that are homeschooled or take college classes. Cabins are scattered throughout the property for the pack members that don't want to live in the pack house. The pack house itself is huge, more like a log style castle hidden in the forest. It has seven floors and over 200 condo style rooms for those who chose to

live in the pack house. The individual rooms are unlike anything I would have thought of. Each has a living room and kitchenette, and between 3 and 4 bedrooms, each with its own ensuite.

After the tour, we were taken back to our rooms, which are more like condos, so we could finish getting settled and have some personal time to think about how drastically our lives have changed within the last 24 hours.