Alpha Rising

Chapter Four

Alvira's P.O.V.

I had to have been standing under the scorching water for nearly an hour; by the time I managed to peel myself out of the spacious shower, I could hardly see through the heavy steam that clung to the tiled walls and slicked the countertop. In the back of my mind, I could feel a pull and a calling. Initially, I’d been so lost in my thoughts that the sensation almost didn’t recognize the sensation. But as I toweled off and let my mind settle back into a calmer spot I could hear Alban’s voice in my mind. 

‘You ready, Vi?’ He asked over mind link. 

Looking down at the towel I still wore, I huffed out a sigh that only I could hear before responding. ‘Five minutes. Meet you downstairs?’ The floorboards on the steps creaked in response as I heard him move quickly down them. Left alone to my devices, for the time being, I stood and stared at myself fully in the mirror, trying to piece together this odd feeling roiling in my gut. Smooth skin, kissed by the sun, was hardly marred by marks and moles. Though the large birthmark on my right upper thigh was clear with how warm my skin was fresh from the shower. 

My hand fell, fingers running over the mark, not unlike a splotchy wolf’s paw. Mother had always asked me to keep it covered, growing up, and up until the other night I wouldn’t have ever guessed why. When I withdrew my hand, I felt my lips fall into a more tired and defeated frown. My birthright. My whole life. It had all been played with and twisted up by some archaic bullshit that should honestly have been outdone at the turn of the last century.

It made a growl roll in my throat, even as I quickly pulled on my usual training garb; snug black yoga pants, a sports bra, and a loose teal tank. They were comfortable, and if given permission I would like to actually hit the training grounds after our meeting with Dad. I hadn’t gotten to yesterday, and my wolf was nearly screaming with how much she wanted to rip and tear at something. 

Brown curls still clung wetly to my head, so I quickly pulled my hair into a tight braid as I descended to find Alban waiting at the bottom of the steps. Seeing him brought a smile to my lips, regardless of the circumstances. He had that effect on me, after all. We were connected in a way that even the Moon Goddess herself couldn’t break. I could feel his support radiating from his very core, and didn’t need to ask before he pulled me tightly into his arms and hugged me to his broad chest. “We’ll be okay,” he said, ever the optimist. And honestly? I hoped he was right. I needed his little brand of positivity today. 

But, of course, I had to keep up appearances and give a playful little scoff while gently elbowing him in the side once I pulled away. “Of course we will be.” It was false bravado, and I didn’t try to hide that. But bless him, Alban didn’t call me on it either. 

We were suddenly startled by a clattering crash that came from the kitchen, followed by a soft whining that sounded a lot like - “Nell…” my eyes went wide and I bolted from my brother’s hug towards the kitchen doorway. He was hot on my heels though, and it was only our Uncle that stopped us from running full on into the kitchen by half blocking the doorway with his bulky frame. “Nell!” I called past him. “What’s going on?”

Uncle Ethan’s shoulders drooped just a little bit as he turned to face us, holding up both of his hands as he urged us not to panic. “Your Aunt Emily came over,” he started with a smile. “Joey’s home from school, and. Well.” Ethan moved out of our way and we were left fully exposed to the display in our kitchen. Mom and her sister Emily were standing on the other side of the kitchen island, one broken mug of tea on the granite countertop already being cleaned up by one of the maids. 

But in front of them, frozen in place not three feet apart, stood Nell and our cousin Joseph. Joey had his father’s fiery red hair and the same warm eyes that my mother and aunt both shared. He was only nineteen but already stood a statuesque figure. His father Samuel was our pack's Beta, so the young wolf had been focusing on his education before his training began. He had spent the first year of college in an accelerated study program in Wales, and this was the first time he’d been home since turning eighteen. 

He and Nell stood perfectly still, their chests heaving in almost unison as the air in the kitchen grew thick with tension. Mom saw our concerned looks and just shook her head, not daring to speak yet. Eventually, I watched as Nell took the first step forward, her chin tilted up slightly as she audibly sniffed at the air around my cousin. It clicked in my mind what was happening, and my breath came shallow. 

Almost unanimously, the two finally spoke. “Mate,” their voices meshed to say. They sounded like a perfect harmony, gifted cohesion, and grace by the Moon Goddes. The word itself held power over them, and once it was spoken into existence, the heaviness in the room seemed to cut and the rest of us breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

This wasn’t the first time they’d met, by any means. But it was the first time they’d seen each other since they were both over eighteen. So them not realizing their fated bond actually made some semblance of sense. To find one’s mate, both parties had to be over eighteen for the bond to be recognized. It was hardly rare to behold something so closely like this, as most pack members usually found their mates within our territory. Some had left to other packs, and a few even to other continents before. 

Before I could say anything, Mom and Aunt Emily were clearing their throats. Aunt Emily was looking at her son with the biggest, widest smile ever. She’d only had one child, so the idea of gaining a daughter through bond was always something that she looked forward to. Mom, however, looked a little worried. Her eyes met my Uncle’s, who seemed to take the unspoken hint and just turned to shuffle the two of us out and back towards the garden. 

Alban and I shared some amazed and shocked glances as we were unceremoniously shoved from the kitchen, and could hear the beginnings of a conversation started by Aunt Emily, and what sounded like Mom on the phone with Nell’s mother. “Don’t you worry about that,” Ethan said to us with a wink. “Your mom filled me in on what happened. You two have more important things to worry about.”

I could see Alban open his mouth to protest, but Uncle Ethan gently knocked him on the back of the head and just continued to follow us to the back door. He paused with us for a moment, reaching a hand out to rest on each of our shoulders as he gave us this oddly comforting, yet pitying look. It didn’t surprise me that he knew. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if Aunt Emily knew too. Actually… Emily had probably known since the day we were born. She’d been one of the pack midwives for as long as I could remember, and if this truly was as covered up as it felt, then that would make sense. The panic in my stomach returned at that thought though. How many people knew about this before we did? 

“Thanks, Uncle Ethan,” I said with more forced bravado than I realized I had. Hopefully, it would be enough to get me through whatever this conversation with Dad was going to entail. I turned to look out the small window on the back door before opening it and felt my nostrils flare with a heated breath. Finally, all of the stalling in the world couldn’t hold us back anymore from the task, and I held the door open for my brother. 

We both saw Dad there, seated in one of the dozen or so matched large wooden chairs that sat around the great fire pit that was the center of the backyard. He looked up when he heard the door shut, and the deep bags under his eyes let slip the truth of how well he’d slept the night before. Yes, he was our Alpha. But at this moment he looked far more like a defeated and concerned father than anything I’d ever experienced before. 

When his eyes fell on us, he stood and motioned for us to come and sit with him. Already I could tell that this was a conversation that he'd been dreading just as much as either of us had been. Up close, I really got to see the weathering that time had started to do on his features. Age had darkened his hair, though it still held the same fluffy texture of our brother’s even now. Salt and pepper speckled patches faded in at the edges of his beard, and there were a few more creased lines around his eyes and on his forehead than I remembered. He was only just fifty-three, but being an active Alpha for almost thirty years had started to take hold on him physically these last few years. 

Silence only remained a short while after Alban and I sat near him, looking on with an unspoken fear and anticipation that melded into one. Alpha Zachary struck a truly imposing figure with his hard cut jawline and the burly physique that had come from years of training and fighting. He was the unquestioningly loyal pack leader that Black Opal deserved; every choice he ever made was for the ultimate safety and progression of our pack. So when he finally took a hissing breath in before speaking, I was paying close attention. 

“You ran off,” he said in a stern and almost cold voice. “That was perhaps one of the most reckless and idiotic things that you could have done, Vira.” There was the hint of a concerned father in his tone, which wasn’t rare at all. But he had to push it back behind his duty and his obligations. “If one of the raiders had found you like that..” he leaned forward, shoulders resting on broad thighs as his hands were held clasped before him. "Or a hunter! What would you have done against a silver bullet?"

The thought didn’t need to be finished before I croaked out an apologetic “I know.” But honestly, I didn’t feel bad. I didn’t think I needed to. Not with the bomb that had been dropped on me. I wasn’t thinking clearly. When I looked up to meet his eyes, they were soft. He wasn’t angry, but he was scared. “Why did you and mom lie to us?”

Alban shifted in his chair beside me, and I could hear the breath that caught in his throat. The creak of the wood beneath him meant he moved to sit on the edge, though I didn’t look at him to confirm. “She said it was because of the Elders,” he said, backing me up. 

“Is it true?” My voice broke, and it felt like bile would rise in the back of my throat. “Were we-”

“Switched,” Dad said, low and ashamed. “Yes.” 

My hand instinctively came to my thigh, the birthmark beneath felt almost hot to the touch. In my mind, my wolf paced and howled, hurting still and wanting to be set free. I think Dad could sense it too because his eyes fell on me and he shifted to tug up the short sleeve of his shirt. On his shoulder, clear as day, was the same splotched birthmark that he knew I had. 

Dad’s eyes fell again, and he shook his head slowly. “I don’t agree with all of the Elders’ charters,” he said. “If the Moon Goddess chooses a wolf to lead, then she chooses that wolf to lead.” He spoke with such finality that it was clear he’d experienced much more in his life than we ever knew about. “But I can’t quite change them.” There was a pause in his statement as he heavily weighed his options. “Yet.”

Alban spoke up before I could, his melodic voice shaking with anxiety. “What do you mean, their charters? I thought they were just a bunch of old fogeys who gave input on trials.” 

I looked over to him, trying not to swallow so hard that they could hear. My mouth was dry, and I felt the anxiety start to re-circle through my system again. “They offered you a seat,” I said without question. “If you didn’t make waves, they promised you a voice in the council.”

“It’s not that simple,” he replied with a gruff sigh, leaning back in his chair. “Or that selfish.” He spoke the last word with some pain laced in his eyes and in the crease of his frown. “I agreed to it to spare your mother the pain. And you Vira.” Dad looked between the two of us with some hesitation. “That lie saved your life.”

“Mom said that too,” Alban said, clearly frustrated with the roundabout way we were being tossed through this damned ordeal. “But what do you mean? They were actually going to-”

“Don’t,” Dad said firmly, holding up his hand to stay my brother’s question. Clearly, it was a painful and sore topic. “Just. Don’t.” The shake of his head finalized that, and we both knew we weren’t going to be able to get him to say the words. "That is a theory and a story for when Katherine is ready." My father’s rigid jaw wavered slightly and he gently shook his head. "There is no solid proof that it would have haopened, but we couldn't risk it."

“Who knows?” I asked him, though I already had some idea. 

He drew a deep breath, running a hand back through his short-cropped hair as he weighed the gravity of my question. “Emily...Ethan…” Dad’s expression fell, and his shoulders shook with the deep ragged breath that escaped him. “I refused to tell your grandparents. Your grandfather, he...was on the council when you were born.”

My hands tightened on my pants, and I heard my brother let out a low predatory growl. We’d always stood starkly against our grandfather. He was well over eighty years old by the time he took his place on the council, and his moving to the council thirty years ago was a dark day for the pack. They adored Grandpa Yancy as an Alpha because of how strong he had made our fighters.

But the pack hadn’t seen him as we had. He was cold, darkly prejudicial in his decisions and in his mindset. And to hear that he would have-

I couldn’t even think about it. It felt like we sat there in silence for hours before I had the courage to speak. “So what do we do now?” I finally asked. “I keep feeling this pull… My wolf, she’s restless.”

Dad reached out to grip firmly at my shoulder. “I know. And I wish I could help more but…” He looked to Alban. “Once the rite is performed with your brother, those urges will pass.” Dad withdrew his hand and rubbed at his beard. “The Alpha bond will shift, and you won’t feel this restlessness anymore.”

“What?” Alban said, seemingly more offended than even I felt. “Are you serious?” He stood, almost knocking his chair back in the quick action. “Dad, she’s leagues better than I am in the ring. She’s stronger, smarter.”

“But she isn’t-” He cut himself off, quickly looking to me and then away, holding his tongue before he said something stupid. Dad stood, towering over Alban by nearly a full head. “Trust me on this, please. I want to change it, I do. But I can’t change anything until I’m up there with them, and can pull the right sway.” He reached for me, to run his hand over my still damp hair, but I withdrew just a fraction of an inch. It was just enough for him, though, and he pulled his hand back. “Please,” he pleaded. “Don’t ask me to do what you know I can’t.”

“I get it,” I said after a moment, staring at the dirt and trying to quell the anger and the fire rising in my chest. Those words caught him off guard, apparently. “You have a position to gain. We couldn’t risk that.”

“Alvira,” my father hissed, narrowing his eyes at me in frustration. “Don’t you dare-”

“Dare what? Lie to you?” It was my turn to stand now. “Lead you to believe one thing for twenty years, only to be told that your entire life is a lie?!” 

“You don’t-”

“No, you don’t!” I was nearly screaming at him now, the rage coming too hot and too fiercely for me to control. “Do you know what they say about me behind your back? Do you know the insults and the calls I’ve had to endure because of my fighting? I had to rip and claw my way to the top, above Alban, above your Beta’s son too. Just for them to consider respecting me as more than a breeder!” My chest rose and fell with such intensity that I feared my heart would pound out of my chest. “And you’re telling me now that the answer to all of those problems is right there for me to hold and take.”

“Alvira, I can’t name you as-”

“The hell you can’t! You’re the f*****g Alpha!”

“You watch your tone with me, young lady.” He demanded, a growl in his tone as I felt the push of his dominance roll into my mind. It was the push of an Alpha. And one that, for the first time, I could push back against. Alban, on the other hand, felt it and immediately cowed in submission. My father’s eyes met mine as we were held in a stalemate. My shoulders squared and my lip curled in a defiant snarl. He seemed almost shocked that I was able to resist his aura as an Alpha.

“Name me,” I commanded after a solid shuddering breath in. “Name me your heir, or I walk.”