Alpha Rising

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Alvira's P.O.V.

I was standing in my bathroom just before sundown, folding and pinning a long sheet of creamy gauzy silk around my body in a makeshift dress. Had I known before today, I likely could have gotten a shift dress customized for the occasion. But that was wholly unimportant. 

As I fastened the thick pin at my shoulder to hold the ensemble together, I heard my bedroom door open and my brother’s voice came from beyond my bathroom door. “Are you ready?” Alban asked me, excitement clear in the way his voice rose and bounced.

“No,” I had to admit, pulling more of my curls over my other shoulder and playing with the hair that was still unstyled. I swallowed hard and called back to him. “I’m scared as hell.”

“Yeah?” There was a thump as Alban leaned up against the door, and I heard his knuckles rap gently on the frame. “Could have fooled me.”

Goddess above, he was insufferable sometimes. Only my twin could truly get under my skin like this, and I loved him even more for it. But I still made a face at the door and moved closer to lean against it myself. “f*****g yeah, Al,” I said with a huff. I recalled one of our last days of class when people were giving me those shitty, dirty looks. “You know that people never really liked me.”

“Hey hey.” His tone softened, and I knew that he would have hugged me had a whole-ass door not been in the way.  “Don’t think about that.” 

Tears were starting to form in my eyes, and I clenched them shut to keep from smearing the eyeliner that Cecilia had put on me. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and took a few deep calming breaths. “What am I supposed to think about then?” I asked genuinely. “When we get out there and people learn that Dad is naming me and not you,” my words started to run together, and I started fiddling with the fabric at my thighs. “There’s going to be a lot of angry people.”

I could hear Alban’s sigh, and I could feel the shift in weight against my door as I let my forehead thump softly against the wood. “I know,” Alban admitted. “But Mom and Dad know that too. And if today was any clue, I don’t think they’d ever let anything bad happen to you because of this.”

I knew he was right. But hearing him say it made the sentiment stick all that much more. I nodded to myself and knocked twice to get him to move. Before I swung the door open, I wipes the corners of my eyes gently with a tissue.

“So,” I said, stepping out into my room, fully done up for the ceremony. “How do I look?”

“Beautiful,” he said honestly. He was in crisp white pants to match dad before the shift, but he was still dressed up with his hair finely styled and a chain cuff clipped to his pierced ears. 

He adjusted the fold at my shoulder, helping it lay better, and I just shook my head in disbelief. “This isn’t even the official Alpha ceremony,” I said.

“And?”

“And that one will probably be ten times more complicated.” The look on his face led me to believe that he’d thought about that too, but he had the benefit of already expecting this his entire life. I didn’t. 

But his answer still stunned me. Alban reached up and booped my nose with his finger, flashing me one of his signature sweet as sugar smiles. “Then don’t think about it.”

“What?” I asked in absolute shock.

“Don’t think about it,” he repeated. “Focus on tonight, and then move on one day at a time.” It was so simplistic, and so...perfect.

“Wow,” I managed through a chuckle. “You really did get the family brain cell.” My brother held his composure for a moment before his grin broke into a laugh, and soon enough we were both nearly doubled over in infectious laughter.

Mom’s voice came from the hallway as she had Omegas running this way and that with the dinner preparations for after the run. But I could still pick her voice out as she came to the top of the stairs to call for us. “Okay okay, Alvira!” She came up to my open door and stood in the doorway, her hand to her chest and a soft smile on her lips. “Honey are you ready?”

“Yeah, she is,” Alban answered for me, his comforting hand on my arm. 

Mom and Alban helped lead me out to where the run was going to start. It was at the other end of the field from the night before, where the stage was. We walked in single file, moving up the stairs to stand on either side of my father. At the back of the stage stood Beta Stephan, Gamma Samuel, and Elder Duke. All three were ready for the run, and Elder Duke met my eyes with a warm grin. 

“Black Opal!” My father boomed. As his voice echoed out over the now hushed crowd, you could see the pack members file at attention. Their Alpha had called their focus, and they answered with their everything. “Last night we celebrated the step into adulthood of my eldest pups!” He rose his arms as Alban and I stepped forward on the small stage still left over from last night. Dad looked between the two of us and grinned. 

“But tonight we celebrate the pack!” The crowd roared in reply, their cheers and whoops rising with the beat of their feet on the ground. Once they quieted back down, he continued. “Tonight we begin the young Alpha’s official training and recognition.” Murmurs and jitters of excitement rippled through the crowd as the men and women of the pack geared themselves up for the announcement and run. 

For most of these young men and women, this was going to be their first. Pack runs were always the most exhilarating. Unofficially, they could happen. But ordinarily, there was a series of three runs in the cycle. There was one at the naming ceremony, the Luna ceremony, and the Alpha ceremony. 

The crowd was ushered silent once again as this time Elder Duke stepped forward. He was well known and well respected among the packs, and Dad was hoping that having his word there as an indicator of my right would help ease the confusion and the tension.

“Friends,” he said, his warm voice commanding without being stern. “The Alpha training is a right that all young Alphas must overcome before they are given their chance to lead you.” he took a deep breath in and stepped forward. “Sometimes those trials are for the whole pack, and not just the training wolf.”

“We have entered into a new Era, my friends. Times change, mistakes are made right, and the will of the Moon Goddess is respected in all choices.” He stepped back, letting my father have the center stage again. “So please, keep an open mind and know that it is with the support of the full council of Elders that this announcement is being made.”

“Elder Duke is right,” Dad said. “Especially when he speaks of righting our wrongs.” My father drew a breath in and stood proud, all the while my wolf was pacing and bounding, excited to be let free. “All questions will be answered in due time,” he added when he saw some questioning looks turned his way. “But for tonight, please join me in celebration as I present to you for the first time, your new Alpha in training.” The air grew deathly silent, not even the skitters and calls of night creatures were present in that pause. 

At his beckoning, I stepped forward, my dress flowing with the wind and showing off the strong and confident stride of my legs. The slit of the dress fell open enough to reveal the mark normally hidden by my athletic wear, and those in the front row already started to whisper behind their hands. 

“My daughter, our true first born child. Alvira Yvette Lundine.”

As I stood there, beaming with pride to a crowd of shocked faces, my confidence didn’t waver. I had my true recognition. It wasn’t a secret anymore, and I could finally learn to be the real and true me. 

Slowly, the whispers turned to scattered applause. And with time, the excitement grew until the crowd was cheering with exuberance once again. I saw the brightness in some of the young she-wolves’ eyes, and knew that this would pave the way for so many more changes to come.

My father stepped back, and let me have center stage. I raised my hands up to quell the noise, but it took a moment for people to either notice or recognize it as an unspoken order. “Black Opal,” I said, my voice carrying over the crowd with ease. “I do not expect you to blindly follow me.” My admission came at a shock to many, but a welcome one. “I do not expect this change to be easy.” A smattering of nods and acknowledgments made their way across the crowd, intermingled with the grumbles and disappointed glares. 

“But what I do expect is strength. Strength to grow and strength to learn as a pack.” I wanted to turn and look for Mom or even Nikolai for comfort, but I held my resolve and stayed facing the crowd. “Help me learn, help me grow. And in turn, I will help you and keep you safe.”

From behind me, I heard my brother whistle in excitement, loudly clapping his hands to help hype up the crowd. And surprisingly, it worked. 

My lips spread into a wide grin and I addressed the crowd again. “Shift with me. Be my pack, and be my strength.” I waited until I had the most eyes on me before I hunched forward to begin the shift. The thin gauzy fabric fell from me as I undid the pin holding it all together at my shoulder. 

All four of my paws hit the stage floor with a thud, and I threw my muzzle to the sky and loosed a howl that rose long and high into the night. All around me stood a pack of fully realized wolves, and as I bounded down into the center of the crowd, they parted for me just as they would for my father. 

I sensed my father behind me, and my brother behind him. But as we neared the edge of the crowd, Nikolai’s silvery ashen-colored wolf joined me at my flank and ran with me to show his devotion and support. This was my– no. This was our pack, now. Just as his was mine, mine was his.

And we would take down any obstacle in our path.