Alpha Rising

Chapter Forty-One

Brianna’s P.O.V.

The scars still stung, and the doctor said that they would for a while. My small frame had been pretty mangled given the circumstances. While I healed, the doctor ordered me to bed rest. I had to let him run those damned tests on me to see why I resisted the wolfsbane antidote, so they had to keep me close for monitoring. 

Thankfully, at least, I was allowed to spend that time in a guest room in the pack house instead of further away in my townhouse. I didn’t much like being confined to the bed, though. As much as I could, I would walk my way out to one of the main living areas and just sit in one of the large wingback chairs that flanked the scattered bookshelves. 

I hadn’t seen many of the other pack shoppers and secretaries since I got back, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. They didn’t like to hang about when the house was so devoid of the ranked members.

Beta Trevor was still off coddling his newborn pup, and Gamma Philip only just arrived back with Miss Irena. But where was Nikolai? I felt a growl in my throat as I thought of him coming back with that other she-wolf. It was insane that he had been saddled with that silent doldrum of a b***h. 

Daddy had promised me when I was six that I’d be beside Nikolai forever, even after Alpha Andrei died. He told me that my place was in this pack house, up in the ranked member’s floors. And yet now I lived alone. In a one-bedroom apartment on the Eastern edge of the pack territory. I was lucky enough to even have that, at this point. 

“Hey, Bri! How are you feeling?” one of the Omegas said to me, her chirpy voice as bright and as annoying as a songbird’s. But I had to make nice. People knew I’d gotten hurt, but nobody had really paid much attention. If I ate up some of the sympathy, that might make Nikolai feel even more guilty for leaving my bedside than I was sure he already felt. 

I looked up to see the short mousy frame of Nadine. Ugh. Irena had taken Nadine off of our shopping detail and had given her to that harlot as an assistant. Traitor. But still, I smiled. “Nadine,” I said, stretching a bit and feigning a wince of pain that wasn’t really there. “It still stings some.” To show off a bit, I raised the hem of my top enough to show the other my raking scars on my side. “Doctor Cassian said they must have had silver-tipped claws,” I added to her shocked and astonished face. 

Nadine was easy to sway with emotions, I’d always found. And now was no different. She tucked her little bag back behind her and sat perched on the edge of the chair to my right and reached for my hand. “You poor thing,” she said, patting my knuckles. “Do you need anything brought to your apartment?” Nadine continued, reaching for her phone to make some notes. “Snacks? New movies?”

“Nadine, unless you can send me the pack’s most eligible bachelor,” I half-joked. “I think I have everything I need.” She had no idea who I meant, of course, because she was fully supportive of Vira. But she laughed anyway. Simple b***h. It took all I had in me not to roll my eyes when her gaze glassed over and I knew that she was being mind-linked. 

“Oh shoot,” she said, hopping up to her feet and quickly smoothing out her pencil skirt. “Sorry Bri,” Nadine said. “Vira’s back, and I have to help her get settled into the new Luna’s office.”

My smile twitched, erring on the side of a wince that I played off to the pain. Dammit, she’d made it back. “That took them a while,” I said, forcing myself to stand. If Nadine was going to greet Vira at the door, that meant that Nikolai would be alone and able to talk to me again. “I’ll walk with you,” I added with an over-exaggerated huff. “I’m sure the Alpha will want to hear how I’m progressing.”

Nadine, sweet as syrup and as dumb as a box of rocks, simply hooked her arm in mine and helped me stay standing while she nodded excitedly. “Great idea!”

The two of us made our way towards the grand entryway and stood off to the side as we heard the clamor of Omegas outside the door helping unload the Alpha’s belongings. I had expected to see one of them open the door for him, but no. To my shock and horror, Nikolai was the first one through the door with his hair done up in a sexy disheveled style and a cocky smile to match. He was smiling! It had been almost a year since he’d beamed that much at anything. 

Just when I thought he was going to come and greet us, I watched as he stopped to specifically hold the door open for Vira. My smile dropped to a thin-pressed stoic line, and my eyes fell like a hawk’s on how he placed his hand at the small of her back. He was supposed to be mine, not hers. Their cute and coy behavior actually made my insides burn with a rage that threatened to set my skin ablaze.

“Nadine,” Nikolai said, walking over to us hand in hand with that she-wolf. “Very important news. Do you think you could help Alvira into one of the dresses that mother sent up for her?” 

“Yes, Alpha,” Nadine chirped obediently. She looked over at Vira and seemed genuinely pleased by her return, which truly stunned me. The pair of them chattered away like old friends as she whisked the intruder off up the staircase.

How anyone could get along with such a closed-off and moody person like Vira was beyond me. She was far too muscley in my opinion, too. It was like she was trying to be the Alpha instead of Nikolai, which was just disrespectful and disgusting on so many levels. 

But more importantly, this had left me alone with Nikolai now. He had his back to me, going over something or the other with two of the other Omega men who had followed them inside. I cleared my throat once, but he didn’t budge. So I waited a moment and did it again. This time it caught his attention, and he turned to look at me with a very...bland expression. The same way he had looked at me ever since his father died, and ever since he had officially rejected me. 

Well...okay. We were never officially mates. But I still hadn’t found mine by the time Nikolai became Alpha, and we were so close when we were little…

“Brianna,” He said to me with no more devotion than would be offered to a common cashier at the store. “I’m happy to see that the Doctor released you.”

At least that much seemed true. “Just yesterday,” I said as I gave Nikolai a little nod, trying my best to seem as sweet as possible. But he was still distracted. When I brought my head back up, I caught a scent on him that mingled with his own, and nearly gagged. I could smell her on him. “What were you mentioning to those-”

“I really am sorry,” he cut me off with a polite raise of his hand. “I have an announcement for the pack to prepare for. I am happy you’re better, but I really am busy.” 

I paused, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from sassing him. I knew that wouldn’t bode well for anyone. “Of course, Alpha,” I said. But he didn’t even wait for me to finish before he was already walking away. My lips turned down into a scowl, and I felt the hair on the back of my neck bristle with anger at the very notion. 

I would have to see what this whole announcement business really was all about.

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Alvira’s P.O.V.

Nikolai had only been home for a few hours, but already I was being zipped into a short black dress with a full cut-out back and lace sleeves. Nadine managed a quick half-up hairdo for me, and she was putting the finishing touches on it just as Irena was being wheeled into my office. 

“I know this is all so sudden,” the former Luna said. Looking me over with a soft gaze of approval.  “But I think you were right when you said that we couldn’t let people talk.” She broke from her aide and wheeled herself closer so that she could take me by the hand and give it a gentle squeeze. 

“I know,” I replied, nervous but still very much excited. I was riding the high that was the naming ceremony earlier this week, and wasn’t about to let anything else bring me down. “Nikolai and I were talking about it on the drive up,” I added. “And I know we’re waiting to mark each other until I get through my first month of training.”

Irena nodded at my words, seemingly unsurprised by the decision. But before she could comment on it, Nadine spoke up with a clearing of her throat. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But I think he’s ready for the announcement.”

“Well,” I sighed, looking at the two women. “Here goes nothing.” 

Nikolai was next up to intrude on my office space, standing in the doorway in sleek black dress pants and a black button-up with the sleeves cuffed at his elbows; the top few buttons were undone to show off the chain and pendant that hung from his neck. His eyes fell on me and he smiled like a schoolboy facing his boyish crush. It was beyond endearing, and I was feeling those same butterflies in my stomach.

“You look beautiful,” he told me, closing the space between us and bringing my knuckles up to his lips gently. 

“Think this will work?” I asked, looking out towards the window. I knew that there were countless wolves in the back yard, waiting to see Nikolai and I step out onto the balcony attached to our bedroom. 

“I know it will,” he replied, still holding tight to my hand and giving a nod to his mother. “You and Nadine head down. We’ll be down for the dinner after.” 

“Of course, dear,” Irena hummed as she passed us by. “Trevor and Philip are already waiting for you,” she added. “Best not keep them waiting.”

My mate looked at me and waited for me to give him a nod of approval before he led me out of my office and back down the hall to our shared bedroom. He held the door open for me and across the room I could see the glass french doors open wide, Trevor and Philip flanking the exit on either side of the balcony. “You ready?” Nikolai asked, looking at me with a nervous air about him.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to quell the racing of my heart. After a few steadying breaths, I nodded. “I’m ready.”

He stole one quick kiss before taking and marching us both out onto the balcony to a wave of applause from his pack. This was my first real exposure to him as a full-fledged leader, and I was eager to see how he acted. 

“Star Garnet,” he called. His voice was not as deep and powerful as my father’s but it was still commanding and alluring. “As many of you know, I found my mate just a few short months ago.” Nikolai looked to me, his lips turned up in a proud and eager grin. “And by now, some of you will have heard the gossip coming from our southern neighbors.”

I saw a few of the wolves in attendance nod and whisper amongst themselves. To my left, Philip shot me a look of confidence and a sweet smile of acceptance that helped ease my nerves. Nikolai gave the crowd a moment to settle before he continued. “I am here to tell you that those rumors are quite true.” He slowly drew my hand up until it was raised high above our heads. “My mate, your Luna, is the right and true heir to the Black Opal pack.”

The whispers rose to a crescendo of questions and gossip in a matter of seconds. A few of the fighters along the border of the crowd shifted, and the crowd quieted. “As I was saying,” Nikolai continued. “She has been named and recognized as the Alpha of Black Opal.”

One young she-wolf spoke up when a moment arose in the speech. “Alpha Nikolai,” she called. “Will she be able to stay our Luna?”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself,” Nikolai said. My mate looked at me and nodded, ushering me towards the edge of the rounded balcony so that I could speak for myself. 

I looked down at the bright young face just a story below and smiled as I imagined my mother might. “I fully intend to still act as a leader alongside Nikolai here. You are my pack now just as much as Black Opal is now his.”

“Will we be merging?” One male asked. 

“Ah. That, we have not yet decided.” A nervous lump rose in my throat at the idea of mounting questions, but I swallowed my pride and stayed strong as an Alpha should. 

“What about your Betas? Will one be getting demoted?”

I could have sworn I’d felt Trevor prick up at that question, but I didn’t turn to look. “Hold, my friends,” I said. “Hold. I know that this is trying, and I know that this is confusing. This news only comes to me just this same week, so I am still reeling quite a bit. But I have faith in you- in us as a pack. We can come together and do what is right for our pack and our family. Nobody will be forgotten, nobody will be demoted.”

This seemed to quell them for the moment, and Nikolai stepped back up to address them yet again. “I will be maintaining my open-door policy throughout this transition,” he said to his people. “I want you all to have your voices heard in this shift.”

He was a young leader, but he was a good one. I could see the genuine love and care that he held for his land and his people. And I couldn’t wait to raise these packs up to new heights beside him.