Rise of the Underdogs: JACOB

A Delta’s Promise

If anyone reading this thought there was pack trouble for the school incident, you were right. Not from Logan, but from the King himself.

Alan had called it in as soon as he saw the security footage, letting Neil know that I had been provoked into retaliation against two of the school’s top hockey players. It set off a chain reaction of authority intervention.

We’d been held for individual questioning under Veritas, which eliminated any and all possibility of lying. King Neil didn’t just call in anyone, either. He called in the Druid Crown Prince himself: Kaden Cage.

A master at getting people to chirp like a canary, Kaden knew without a doubt when I spoke that I was telling the truth. It was another three hours before any of the Howler crew made it back to our territory, but the guys had been suspended, benched, and under academic review for excessive bullying.

The real chaos began when someone told my older brother what happened. Not Gavin, and not Jackson.

Someone had leaked the information to Paul. He was the one brother who would walk Hades itself to get to me, to protect me, to guard his baby brother. As Beta of the Howler pack, he was also a formidable force of nature and familial loyalty.

It took me, Wynter, the twins, and Maria running interference before Logan was forced to make his best friend submit. Yes, forced. It was something Logan hated making his friends submit because we helped lift him up when his bio-b***h of a father shoved him down time after time. He only ever used his Alpha tone on us if and when we lost control of our perfected dance of power and practicality.

Eating was a mechanical task—fork to mouth, chew, swallow, repeat. The food tasted like nothing. I wasn’t even sure what I’d made after the packhouse kitchen had shut down for the night. It was something warm and edible to my tastes. That’s all that mattered. I just needed to keep my strength up, though the stress of the day had hollowed me out.

The hum of the fridge grated against my nerves, a low, persistent drone that seemed louder than usual. The overhead light cast a yellow glow across the kitchen Ember kept cleaner than some peoples closets. Having not really eaten much and done a partial transformation, I could feel my pulse in my temples from the hunger headache that was threatening my sanity.

Not that I had much sanity in the first place.

I gripped the edge of the counter, knuckles white after I put away the dishes I’d dirtied. Our pack picked up after themselves if we made a mess after everyone else was asleep as a way to show that the ranked members didn’t mind getting our hands dirty. Besides, Mom would beat my ass if I showed any signs of being a jerk to people ‘beneath my station’.

The truth was, Omegas were the backbone of the pack. The ones who watched the pups and cleaned house with a quiet efficiency that was both fluid and fear-inducing. Fear-inducing because they handled everything while moving like ghosts from sunup to sundown.

Oh? You want to know the inner workings? Ok, I’ll tell you.

See, if you get up and want food before six AM, you cook and clean for yourself. Between six AM and six PM, the Omegas were in charge of cleaning and cooking and childcare within the pack. After six PM, you have to, again, cook and clean for yourself.

This was a special system created when Logan was looking for efficient care protocols for a Guardian pack. He was a man who learned young that a leader who provides fairness and practicality within the pack earns more respect.

When a few bucked against the scheduling, Logan’s reply was cutting and curt. “If you want someone to take care of you twenty-four seven, then live with your parents. If that’s not something you want to do, then learn to take care of yourself or leave. I don’t deal with entitled brats. This pack was built from hard work, team effort, and mutual respect. It will be staying that way whether or not anyone likes it because those who don’t like it can see themselves right across the boarder back to Shadow Storm.”

Then the door creaked open. The sound louder than it should have been in the silence of the dimly lit kitchen.

I didn’t look up. Not that I had to. I recognized the hesitant footsteps, the subtle shift in the air, and the gentle calming of healing magic crackling steadily. Heaven’s voice called to me, soft and unsure: “Hey… you okay?”

I laughed. It was sharp, brittle – almost like a bark. I shook my head then asked, “Do I look okay?”

My voice cracked halfway through, tears welling up, hot and sudden. I didn’t brush them away, didn’t make excuses. I just let them fall. No resistance. No apology. Just the raw, unfiltered truth of a moment too heavy to carry alone.

“My best friend is gone, I’m getting shoved around at school again, and the only freaking upside is that we finally got actual working cameras in all classrooms and hallways now.” I blurted, knowing Heaven was the one sister who would listen without prejudice.

Of course, that didn’t save me from a lecture about holding crap bottled up inside like an overstuffed powder keg of explosives.

Taking my hand, she shook her head. “Valik would want you to keep fighting. To keep training, and not let others burden you with their problems. We have enough on the go without dealing with egotistical asshats with a superiority complex and too many energy drink shots to think straight.”

Yup. She totally picked up on my off-the-cuff commentary.

“I just… I don’t want to disappoint anyone. Especially Mom and Logan,” I whispered, pulling my baby sister close enough to hug her with my chin on her head. “You’re short.”

She giggled, the sound alleviating my mental and emotional burden. “I don’t have to duck if anyone aims a fist at me.”

My smile vanished as I gripped her arms, her eyes flashing in confusion until she realized what she’d said. Before she could counter her own words, I shook my head. “If anyone, anyone at all, lays a wrong hand on you, they deal with me. No one touches my little sisters and gets to live to brag about it.”

Her smile was everything I didn’t know I needed. “I know, Jakey. You should go get some sleep, though. With the break coming up, you might be able to go visit Valik in Russia if you play your hand right.”

“Already bought his ticket,” a new voice said.

I turned a half-hearted glare toward my friend and Alpha. “Lo-lo, you don’t need to do that.”

“Yes, I do,” he replied, his voice heavy. “It’s the only change you’re going to get, so grab it. After break, Valik will be entering the more extreme training used to sharpen skills. Trust me, Jake.”

“I do trust you, Logan. Alright, I’ll go,” I relented. “Just one question.”

He raised a red brow as he popped the top on his favourite Mexican soda. “Name it.”

“I bring a care package from the pack founders to our current lone wolf,” I said.

Logan took another deep swig of the Jarritos Guava drink he had imported by the case, lowering the bottle to look at the label appreciatively before relaxing with a heavy sigh. “I miss my brother too, Jake. Unlike you, I can’t just pack up and go halfway around the world to see him. I’m not saying that to make you feel worse – just stating facts.”

I nodded, “I know. You’re not the type to lord crap over other people’s heads.”

He smirked, “You leave in a week, and you are herein granted permission to collect anything anyone wants to include in the care package. Just make sure to pack his favourite snacks. Should you run into any further problems at school prior to leaving, go ahead and handle them, but no taking lives. That’s one line we do not cross unless we absolutely have to. Understood?”

“Yes, Alpha,” I answered, knowing he wasn’t talking as a friend, but as someone issuing orders. “Thank you for the opportunity to travel.”

“You’ve travelled before, Delta,” he commented, dropping the now empty and rinsed bottle into the beverage recycling bin. “Ten years ago, Mexico. Me, you, Wynter, Maria, and Ember.”

Rolling my eyes I shook my head, “Yeah, I know, but this is different. I’m going alone.”

“You will be protected during your stay, Jacob,” Logan told me.

While his tone was cryptic, I understood the underlying, unspoken terms. “I understand, Alpha. As a representative of the Howlers on foreign land, I will embody all you’ve helped us learn over the years. I will not tarnish the name of our pack.”

“I’m holding you to that promise, Jacob,” he replied before vanishing into the hallway and up to his rooms.