Alpha Rising

Chapter Thirty-Two

Alban’s P.O.V.

“Banished?!” I shouted, reaching for Richie’s shoulder so that I could have something to hold on to. I felt him tighten in fear. We hadn’t told Mom and Dad about what Richie’s father had done, yet. We couldn’t lose two homes in one week...we just couldn’t.

But I believed them when they looked at us and told us they wouldn’t let it happen. I really did. Something in their tone and in their eyes told me that they really would fight to keep us from becoming outcasts just for finding each other as mates. 

Richie leaned his head on my shoulder and nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck comfortingly, and his hand found mine on the table and laced together perfectly with it. He was my everything, my life, and my rock. And I suddenly wanted to kiss him, but held back out of respect for the room and the conversation. 

It was only when I heard Vira speak again that I realized I’d zoned out. But a quick shake of my head had me following right along in no time. 

“Oh awesome,” I said when Vi mentioned her wolf gaining sentience. “I was hoping one of us would!” I genuinely was excited for her despite my own frazzled mental state. All our childhood, we’d only ever known one or two adults who had gained sentient wolves within them. Alpha Duke was one of them. He said his wolf’s name was Ginger if I remembered correctly. And I think one of the other Elders had one named Ivy. Funny… I wondered why they were all females.

But then Vira continued, and I felt a knot form in my gut. She looked scared, not excited. And then she said the name. At first, my reaction was mild; I thought it was a pretty name. But it was Mom’s reaction that made me jump.

And then Dad spoke. My eyes went wide and my mouth went dry.

“She was your sister.” The words kept repeating even after the room dove into silence.

No. No, no, no. That couldn’t be true. My hands were shaking on the table. Mom was sobbing with her head down, and even Luna Irena was in shock. One of her hands was hiding her gasp, but I could see it in her eyes. The fact that even she didn’t know really upset me. Alpha Andrei was close with our pack.

Our sister? That was impossible. The only sister we had was Cici! I felt Richie put his hand on my forearm, and his mere presence was enough to calm me somewhat. Not enough to fully bring me down out of my near-catatonic state, though.

Vira sprang up from the table, her voice shaking as she slammed her hands down on the table with a force that toppled over two of the empty water glasses that sat close to the edge. I could barely hear the shattering of the glass over her shouts and growls. 

“What do you MEAN our SISTER?!” She shouted down at our father. I’d never seen Dad cower like this before. I don’t think it was out of fear either. It looked like...shame. Nikolai was standing soon, trying to calm Vira back down. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she took a minute to even respond to him.  “No,” she said, brushing his hand off of her arm. “No! I will NOT be calm!”

“Alvira please,” Dad pleaded. He sounded so small, so broken. 

I managed to swallow the tightness in my throat and cough to get their attention. Alvira’s eyes were black with rage and filled with tears. Her expression slackened slightly as her eyes glossed over, the same sort of look that we had when mind-linking. When she was attentive again I nodded. 

“I...want to hear what he has to say.” My words were shakier than I’d anticipated. I guess I wasn’t as okay as I wanted to pretend. Did we really have another sister? 

I could see the redness in my twin’s face as she tried to hold her tongue as best she could. Eventually, she slid back into her seat. Nikolai, Goddess bless his soul, was wrapping his arm around her shoulders to try and keep her in one spot. 

Dad took a deep breath once Vira calmed down some and reached to pat Mom’s hand. “Go get the book,” he said to her softly. “They deserve to see.” She looked up at him with tear-stained cheeks before nodding and meekly pushing up from the table and vanishing back up the stairs. This left the rest of us sitting in awkward silence for a minute or two, and I thought that Dad was going to rip the head off of the poor Omega boy who had walked in carrying that day’s mail. Thankfully, the boy quickly took the hint, dropped the mail, and fled.

Not long after, Mom came back downstairs holding a small leather book that was only about the size of a picture frame. I guessed that it was one of those small photo albums, and was proven right when she handed it over to Dad. “Thank you, dearest,” he said quietly, picking her hand up and kissing the back of it. 

Dad’s seat creaked as he leaned forward, the leather book small in his hands. He looked at the cover, worn embossed lettering that spelled out a name and birth date. He slid the book to the center of the table, and both Vira and I stood at the same time to get a better look. We really were in-synch. 

“Amelie,” she whispered. “November 2, 1997.” Vira looked up at our parents in confusion, but I stayed staring at the book.

“Two and a half years before we were born?” I asked, my voice barely reaching above a whisper. “Is it…” When I reached for the book, I saw that my hand was shaking. I said a silent prayer to the Goddess and pressed on regardless. The brown leather book was worn on the spine and edges, clearly from use and movement. My fingers ghosted over the pretty script reading Amelie’s name, and I flipped it open to the first page. 

There, in a grainy polaroid photo, were both of our parents. They were younger then, clearly excited as mom held her slightly rounded belly in one hand and a stick- no a pregnancy test- in the other. On the same page was a small sonogram that looked no bigger than a little gummy-bear. My hand moved to brush over the picture, and I smiled.

“She was our first,” Mom said through shaky tears. I looked up at her, and I could see that her eyes were locked on that little sonogram. I flipped slowly through the pages, all filled with pictures of the pregnancy and progress pictures of the baby. “We were all so excited. We wanted it to be a surprise, so we waited to find out the s*x at birth.” 

Dad hushed her gently when she started to get more hysterical again, taking her hand in his and continuing for her. “When Amelie was born, your Grandfather was there. It wasn’t needed, but I wanted him there.” Dad looked down. “I wonder if things would have happened differently if we’d been alone with the doctor.” 

My heart tightened, and a cry choked in the back of my throat. I had my suspicions already, but I knew that we needed to hear it from them. 

“Her little face was so pink and pudgy. I loved her the second I held her fir the first time.” Mom continued now, turning her eyes away from the book. “But there were...complications.” Both of them looked down now, no longer fighting back the tears. “A few days after the birth, she stopped breathing overnight. And by the next morning, the Doctor couldn't-" Her hand went to her mouth again, and I knew she couldn't say the words. "I was so tired, and so delirious on the medicine they gave me. If only I'd stayed awake...” 

As she spoke, the pictures added credence to her story. The sonograms stopped after a few months, presumably so they wouldn’t be able to tell if it was a boy or a girl. But there were still progress photographs of the baby bump and of the nursery- our nursery. There was one with Mom and our Nana Rose, both of them beaming wide and putting a hand on the now much larger belly. And even one of Dad and Grandpa Yancy smoking cigars together with their arms around each other.

“I don’t remember seeing you and Grandpa Yancy like this before,” Vira said, tugging the book closer to her so that she could see better.

“That’s because we stopped talking after Amelie,” Dad replied. We watched as his face contorted in a pained scowl, and his hands clenched tightly into fists. “He said that it was the Goddess’ plan,” Dad spat. “That our next one would be a strong and healthy boy to be my heir.”

That just made my stomach drop even more. The darkness of his growl held so much more than words could ever say. “Wasn’t he just trying to make you feel better?” I asked hopefully.

“At first we thought that,” Mom said, looking up at Dad.

“We thought that your Grandfather was just processing the grief differently.” Dad's jaw clenched tight and I saw him swallow hard. "But after your sister came out and he saw she was a girl, his whole demeanor changed. He started talking about the future of the pack, and asking how quickly we could start trying for a boy." 

"He did not," Irena said in shock. I could tell that she was beyond angry at this, her small frame was trembling with rage, and I swear she would have stood up and marched to the Elder halls right then if she could walk. "How dare he, why I-"

"Mother," Nikolai said in a forceful whisper. And though she held her tongue, I could see the she-wolf fire blazing in her eyes. 

"It wasn't until nearly two years later when we managed to get pregnant again," Mom said, looking at the both of us in turn. "I knew that the Goddess had blessed me with her kindness when we found out that you were twins." Her smile nearly made me choke on the cries that longed to escape my throat, and I wiped away the barely formed tears with my free hand. 

Vira looked down, her shoulders slumped and her head shaking side to side. "Why did you really lie about our birth order?" She asked. 

The one question that the both of us had wanted for the past few months now.

Mom swallowed and looked between us. I assume that both of our pleading eyes wore her down. "When Duke finally had his ceremony, he came to your father talking about how his wolf was one of the ones that became sentient." She looked directly at Vira with an apologetic stare. "And he told us about how he found out from his mother that he, too, had an older sister." 

I sat back down, my breath heaving out in a gasp as my eyes were fixed on our parents. "Was it-"

"Complications at childbirth," Dad said. "But things didn't add up to him. He started digging and found that it was incredibly suspicious how it happened. It almost wrecked his chances of moving up to the Elder council this past year, too." 

"So," Mom continued. "He told us his theory. That the Elders had something to do with it. And when I saw that one of you was a girl, I knew we had to protect you just in case."

"So you switched us," Vira said, sitting back down herself now. The look on her face was nearly blank. Her eyes were glassy for a moment before she snapped her attention back up. "She doesn't blame you," Vira said. "And she still loves you." Her voice cracked as she spoke, and I could see the tears start to fall. 

Mom and Dad paused, reaching over to lay their hands on Vira's arm together. "And we never stopped loving her," Dad said.

"But...wait," I grunted, running my hands through my hair and gripping tight. "How does this tie into them not banishing me from Black Opal?"

"I think I understand," Vira said, looking at me. Our eyes met, and it was like a spark went off. "We're going to make them accept me as a female Alpha," she finally said. 

"Exactly," Dad agreed, breaking to reach for the photo album and draw it closer. "It was Amelie's birthright, just as it was Vira's. And we have reason to believe that this was all a part of a grander plan."

"A grander plan?" I parroted. "You mean like... The Moon Goddess wanted you to have a female Alpha this whole time?" Dad only nodded, and I slumped back in my chair. Goddess above, this was one hell of a wild ride today. 

I went to say something else again, but it was Richie who spoke up this time. "Please don't let them banish us," he said in his meek and soft voice. "My father disowned me last month. We wouldn't have another place to go."

I swear you could have heard a record scratch in real time with how quickly everyone's attention shifted to the pair of us in that moment. I could see their eyes burning with confusion and anger, and stood up to clarify. "We weren't hiding it," I said defensively. "But we didn't want to talk about it until after the full moon ceremony."

"Then I won't make you go into it further," Mom said carefully with that motherly look that said 'but you'd better believe I want more information.' 

"And that settles it," I heard Vira say with conviction. "I will f*****g fight every crusty old man there if I have to."

"Language!"

"Sorry mom," my sister added. "But I think that we've earned a few f***s at this point." My sister met my eyes and flashed me a wink. "Now. How are we going to convince them?"