Alpha Rising

Chapter Thirty-One

It wasn’t until nearly noon the next day when I’d finally awoken. Nikolai wasn’t with me in my room, and my head was throbbing with a sensitivity I hadn’t quite experienced yet. Dazed and grumbling, I rolled to my side only to see a packet of aspirin and a bottle of sports drink on my bedside table. “Goddess bless it,” I grumbled, reaching for both. I used the drink to shoot back some of the aspirin and eventually managed to wrangle myself out of bed.

I kept hearing something at the back of my mind though. It was like a persistent little nagging that almost sounded like my mother’s voice. Through the headache though, I just pushed it aside and rolled my head back and forth to crack my neck. 

Funny… I couldn’t sense my wolf much. Was she just as tired as I was? Or was this tied to the age shift. Our Elders always spoke of there being a chance for our wolves to gain sentience after our official rites, but there was never any detail given as to what caused it, and how it came about. 

But my ceremony wouldn’t be until tonight, under the full moon. I had time to figure this out.

My reflection in the mirror nearly startled me, what with the oversized tee-shirt and sparkly fishnets apparently being my pajama of choice. I grimaced as I looked at my hair, knotted more than it normally would have been. “f**k,” I whispered to myself, reaching up to lightly wipe at the raccoon-eye look leftover from my eyeliner the night before. 

Another deep pulse of pain rocked my head and I groaned in protest. It took me an embarrassingly long time to grumble and groan my way into the bathroom and scrub my face. That tingle at the back of my mind was back, making my ears perk up in alarm. While my face was down in the bowl of the sink, I thought I heard my door open. The sound made me freeze. My soap was dulling my sense of smell, but once I toweled off, I could smell Nikolai and instantly relaxed.

The bathroom door creaked open as I exited, and I saw his eyes snap to mine in a near frenzy. He was quick to take me into his arms in a tight embrace, something he hadn’t quite done like this before. It felt different from the possessive and commanding holds he had tried before. This was...relief?

“Nikolai?” I asked, pushing back on him enough to be able to meet his eyes. We were close enough in height that I thankfully wasn’t buried in his chest. “What’s wrong?”

He seemed to be looking me up and down, and from the scent I picked up he was straining to not pounce on me and take me right there. “Are you feeling alright?” He asked, reaching up to brush my tangled curls back over my shoulder. There was a tremble to his touch that was also new.

“A little hungry,” I admitted. “But yeah, I’m good.” Although, the throbbing behind my eyes did start to return some. I groaned and reached for my drink, chugging nearly half of it. When I looked back over at Nikolai, he was still staring nervously at me. “What?” I asked, wiping the corner of my mouth. 

“We should get you cleaned up,” he eventually said. “We’re having brunch with your parents and brother soon.” Nikolai stepped closer to me again, his touch lingering on my chin after his thumb wiped away some of the liquid I’d missed. His beautiful sky-blue rimmed eyes glistened with pain far deeper than he was letting on, and a knot turned in my stomach. 

I sank into his arms willingly this time, nodding and burying my face into the crook of his neck. I could feel his body shudder when I passed by a certain spot with my nose, and looked up at him questioningly. 

As if reading my mind, he took another deep breath and let his fingers press firmly against my sides. “Not now, Vira,” Nikolai said with some measure of strained restraint. “You’re twenty-one now.” 

My eyes shot to his neck and I could see the sweat starting to form. “Ah,” I sighed. “Right. I can be marked now.”

“And you can mark me,” he reminded me. “But not here.”

My eyes closed tightly as I nodded firmly. He was right. And though I wanted to, I knew that there had to be something more pressing to make my mate keep his hands off of me in such a way. “Okay,” I said after a moment. “Wait for me downstairs. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

Nikolai looked at me rather incredulously, but he really didn’t know me well enough now. Did he. I was a fighter before I was his mate. I knew how to clean and prep in less time than that on the fly. And true to my word, I was coming back down the stairs less than ten minutes later. My damp hair was pulled into two crisp french braids, and I wore one of the short fit-and-flare dresses that Cecilia had given me. When I walked, it showed a fair bit of my thigh, too. Something that I knew Nikolai appreciated.

But the room felt heavy as I entered. At the round dining table sat both of my parents, Alban, his mate, and Nikolai. “What…” I started, taking the available seat at Nikolai’s right. Just next to my father. This was as disheartened as I’d seen them both when they came clean to me about my birth status. 

“Alvira,” my father said, reaching for one of my hands and gripping it tightly. I could tell that he was searching my eyes for something, but all I had was confusion and fear. “I didn’t want to worry you or your brother.” He looked then to Alban and then down at the table in shame. “Elder Yancy was in attendance last night.”

My heart clenched and sputtered, a wave of nerves and anger rolling deep inside of me from a place that I couldn’t even put a name on. But Alban spoke up first. 

“Why is Grandpa here, Dad?” From his tone alone, I knew he was just as hurt as I was. 

“Your father didn’t invite him,” Mom said in defense. I believed her, of course. “But the council was going to send someone regardless.”

“I had requested Elder Duke,” Dad admitted. I remembered Elder Duke. I’d met him on more than one occasion when he was still the Alpha of Agate. “I knew he would be easier to work with.”

“Work with?” Alban asked. 

And that was when our father took a deep breath. “Duke is one of the more progressive Elders,” he said. "And I knew that he wouldn't raise anything about you and Richie." He took in a deep breath. "And Yancy isn't pleased."

I could see my mother hide her mouth behind her hand, and this was the first time that I'd seen her cry today despite her eyes being reddened. "Zachary," she whispered, reaching for his other hand. 

"Mom?" Alban asked. "What does he mean?"

Mom choked out a cry, unable to look at any of us. So instead, Dad spoke up. "He wants me to banish you."

Alban froze, and I could see the pain in his eyes as he made to speak. Mom cut him off though. "We aren't letting that happen," she said quickly. "I won't let it happen."

Dad agreed, nodding his head slowly. "We won't let Yancy ruin this family."

My jaw set hard, and for the first time today I could hear my wolf growl. But beyond that, I heard a voice.

'Yancy.' It muttered. It sounded feminine, and at first I thought it was just my imagination. 

I froze, sitting up in my seat. 'Who are you?' I asked the voice in my head. My parents were busy trying to calm Alban down, so I don't think that they noticed that I had zoned out a bit.

'Amelie.'

'Are you my wolf, Amelie?'

'In a sense. I am the spirit that lives in you now.'

'Why haven't I heard you before?'

"It was not time.'

'But it is now?'

'Ask them.'

'Ask who?'

'Our parents.'

Our? Amelie sounded so sad, so hurt. But in a lull in the conversation, I cleared my throat. "Mom? Dad?" I asked, bringing their attention to me. "Who's Amelie?"

Their eyes met mine, and the color drained from their faces. Mom buried her face in her hands again and let out a low and cracked sob. "Where did you hear that name?" My father asked, nearly shaking in visible rage.

"She's speaking to me," I responded plainly, much to their shock. "You did say it was possible for a wolf to gain sentience after maturity." But judging by their reactions, this was something deeper. "She....told me to ask you about her?"

Mom was bawling now, her shoulders heaving with every unstable breath. Dad let his hand rest on her back and looked like he was nearly at his own breaking point. "She," he said, clearing his throat. 

"She was your older sister."