Second Born Son

I am the second born son of the Alpha King James Sanson the Second. My elder brother of 7 years is James the Third and the one set to inherit everything from our father. This is a fact that he has ensured that I would never forget by imprinting his words with his fists and feet. I cannot remember a day where I did not receive a bruise from my brother. My father never knew of this fact either as I have never been allotted any time with my father since I killed my mother in childbirth. I've only heard of my mother from the gossip of the omegas in our house. She was kind and gracious. Her long wavy hair shone like gold in the sun and her blue eyes rivaled the sky above. The one piece of gossip I heard all too often was about how she was taken to the grave way too early by birthing a demon pup who tore from his mother's womb shifted into half wolf pup and half babe. This piece they always made sure to say when they knew I was listening and it was all they talked about when I was around. Some would even go as far as to strike me as they called me Demon Pup or Mother Killer. I learned quickly not to fight back as that only led to me being chained in the dungeon without food for a week. My father was a great man to all before my mother died. He was caring, approachable and listened to the needs of the many with a gentle guiding hand. Now my father's beta Harrison Wittler handles everything as my father once did and teaches my brother in my father's stead. I am not allowed to be taught anything of the like because everyone believes me to be bad luck. Every morning I'm woken up by my brother as he reminds me of the position I'm in, I get up, freshen up and head into the kitchen to grab whatever I am able to before I am rushed out by the omegas wielding brooms as they try to hit me. I go to the northeast corner of the pack land and pick a few apples from the trees out there before sitting down and begin to eat my breakfast. I would then slowly make my way back to the pack house and clean up after the pack's breakfast feast. As I entered the house today I noticed that there were still a number of voices in the dining hall. I peak in the doorway to see James, his beta Harlton, Harlton's mate Clara, James's gamma Ivan and Ivan's mate Yunna. A few warriors around their age were also hanging out with them but I didn't know their names. As quickly as I peaked in the room I quietly spun out of the doorway. My brother was bragging about how father had finally set up his alpha ceremony even though he had yet to find his mate. You see my brother is turning 26 next year so my father is sending him to every pack around the world for the next year in hopes that he will find his mate before the celebration of his birthday and alpha ceremony on December 27th. My brother doesn't see the importance of the true mate bond and has proposed to our father that he just take a chosen mate but our father threatened to give the title to the beta's son if he did that. Of course my father would overpass my birthright to the title because he believed that I died with my mom that day. It was the only way that his wolf Howler didn't go on a rampage to find me after the death of his mate. Especially since my wolf Rian did present himself on the day of my birth because there was a grave threat to our lives. Nobody knows that I've been able to shift since that day and Rian remembers everything. Someone snuck into the birth room with what smelled of silver and acid which awoke Rian to partially shift. He forced us the rest of the way out of the birth canal rather roughly and cut our umbilical cord as the substance was put into mom's IV. We wept knowing that we were not fast enough to save her. Later I'd learn that the acidic smell is oleander which is poisonous to wolves. Flora, my mom's wolf, died long before my mother died of blood loss but no one realized but Rian. His instincts and senses were always correct without any error at any point. It's actually what has saved us from a few lashings of our pack. As I was lost in my thoughts I never heard my brother and his friends had gotten up and were trying to get my attention until I took a punch square to my stomach causing me to cough. I look up to see my brother's smirk. "Finally I have your attention. I hope you're gone by the time I get back from finding my mate or else my first act will be to imprison you for eternal torture until I'm satisfied that you've paid for the years I lost with my mom," my brother says as he drives his knee into my chest, leaving me to fall to the ground. They laugh as they walk away. 'Soon Kelton, don't let them get to you,' Rian's regal and deep velvety voice gently rumbles in the back of my head. I close my eyes and take a few calming breaths before I get up. I started collecting the dishes from the dining hall to bring them into the kitchen where I put away the left overs in the industrial walk in refrigerator we have and then hand wash all dishes taking great care to make sure they shine before I let them air dry in our stacked dish rack. I wash down the tables and then go around shining the windows. I clean all common spaces in the house as everyone is out either at school, training or work. The only one in the house with me is my father but he never leaves his room and I never clean his room to avoid disturbing his mourning.