Chapter one - Calista

"Bit of paint, couple of nails and it'll be beautiful. I've already decided my room is going to be teal. Teal walls, teal bedsheets, I might even paint the furniture teal too." Briella, my best friend, re-ties her long black hair up in a bun while trying her best to up-sell the ramshackle house in front of me, but it's a big ask and the more she tries, the worse I know it is.

I could have stayed in my old room in the packhouse, the home I've known for the last twenty years, but I'm making a point.

"To who exactly? Who else will suffer if we're in this hellhole?" Kendra, my wolf, moans inside my head. "I'm going to get fleas. I've never had fleas in my life and I'm already itching "

"I am not staying under the same roof as that intruder." I snap back at her, snatching a box off the pile in the van and storming towards the house.

The floorboards creak under my footsteps and as soon as I open the door, I'm hit with a dusty, musky stench that makes my nose and mouth feel dry and dirty.

Clearly when I saw this vacant house on my run this morning and made the spontaneous decision to move, I didn't think hard enough about why it was still empty. 

"It just needs airing out." Briella coughs, hurrying inside to open every window in the place.

Airing out, my ass! I swear I can actually see the clouds of dust rushing towards the fresh air outside.

Returning the box to the van, I find some cleaning supplies in another one and we get to work. After a few hours of scrubbing, sweeping, mopping and sticky notes indicating the more serious repairs that need doing, we give in and call our other friends for help.

"I'm not going to lie, I wasn't convinced when you said you were going to move in here, but now… I'm starting to see why you wanted to." Olivia places her hands on her hips and surveys the now clean and considerably less creaky property. 

"It's not half bad." I agree. My stomach rumbling lets me know it's time for dinner at the packhouse, but I'm going to have to get unpacked and then find something to cook for myself. "Thanks everyone, drinks are on me on Friday night."

"Actually, drinks will probably be on the new Alpha." Ed says, glancing nervously at me. "That's when he's coming right? On Friday."

Shit! I'd almost forgotten why I was moving out in the first place!

~*~

"Oof." Jaxon grunts as he hits the wall and deep rumbling laughter fills the room.

"Oh Cal, I know you're sour and if it's any consolation you'd have been a great Alpha, if only you were male." Ronan, our pack trainer, slaps me hard on the shoulder, ignoring Jaxon's groans as he drags himself shakily to his feet. "In any case, you'll be a fantastic asset to any husband."

"Be nice."

Kendra, my wolf warns me.

"Thanks." I grimace a smile at Ronan and he laughs again, a deep booming laugh that echoes around the room.

"You're young yet girl, I know mateships are not what you dream of but you'll never be Alpha in your own right. It's a foolish desire that'll amount to nothing and leave you disappointed." Ronan squeezes my shoulder affectionately as he delivers the cruel truth. I know he's right, but I'd let myself get comfortable, so the truth doesn't lessen the sting now my replacement's arrival is imminent. "Now, go on home and get ready. The new Alpha arrives this afternoon and we've got to be ready in the Town Hall to receive his welcome address. That does include you, even if you were planning on ditching it, which you know you can't, right?"

Damnit, Sarah's a traitor! 

"That's hours away, I've still got time." I say halfheartedly, ignoring the comment about ditching but making a mental note never to tell Sarah anything I need to keep secret in the future.

Jaxon is pouring water into his mouth across the room, sitting down as though he's had enough, so I turn my attention to the punch bags, slamming my frustration into them with both fists and feet. 

Three strange males enter the gym and, although they shouldn't be here yet, I'm pretty sure they're part of the new Alpha's entourage, so I keep half an ear open when Ronan hurries across to greet them warmly. 

"Keep your hands up in front of your face, the punch bag won't hit back, but an enemy will." One of the men walks across the gym, his hands behind his back, studying me. I ignore him, it might seem pretty and rude, but today is not the day to bother me. "I said keep your hands up."

"I'm done Ronan, see you tomorrow." I turn away from the stranger without looking at him, nodding at Ronan and Jaxon to say goodbye. 

"Calista." Ronan hisses at me but I'm already out of the door and jogging my way home. 

"You'll get us banished if you continue to behave like a tantruming child." Kendra warns from inside my head. "Did you even feel the authority from that guy back there? Or were you too caught up in being rude to realise he's the Beta? He's probably already told the new Alpha about us already."

"And?" I snap, upping my pace so my muscles scream and I don't have to think about what she's saying.

"You know perfectly well what I mean. You'll make a bad impression and get us punished. Goddess knows what this new guy's like and what he'll do to us if, or when, you offend him." She's right, but I won't accept it, not today, tomorrow maybe I'll listen to her, but today I'm reverting back to the sulky teenager that I've never been allowed to be.

"You worry too much." I say flippantly, although I think her worries are making my stomach churn because I've felt on edge and unsettled for the last hour.

"You don't worry enough." She snaps back just as flippantly and I grin, thinking that she's tantruming just as much as she says I am.

"I'm still not going and you can't force the shift to attend because it'll be seen as a threat to the new Alpha. I have the last word, deal with it."

She retreats moodily to the back of my mind, I can almost feel her turn her back on me in a huff. 

And she thinks I'm the one who tantrums.

"Where are you? It's starting." Briella's voice seeps into my mind. 

I can feel that she's excited. It seems almost everyone's excited at the prospect of a new Alpha and new warrior wolves being brought in from another pack, except for me.

The excitement of a new young Alpha, bringing with him the possibility of new mates, new friends and families, is enough to have had everyone volunteering to help with tonight. 

"Home. Are we still going out tonight? I need a drink and a dance." I send back, stretching out on my new bed. 

It's smaller than the one in the packhouse, everything is smaller here and at first I thought it was a bit claustrophobic, but now that I've unpacked, I quite like it, it's cosy.

"You're at home?!" She shrieks and even in my brain it hurts. "The new Alpha is speaking to us all, he's looking at us all. And you're not here? Have you got a deathwish? Seriously Cally. He's going to be furious with you. It's not like you can go unnoticed. You're the previous Alpha's daughter, he's going to want to speak to you."

"Bri enough, please, you can tell me what he said later if you feel you have to, but right now I'm going to take a pre-night-out nap." I yawn, feeling Kendra bristle as though she's ready to continue Briella's rant. "I'll meet you at The Haven at nine though, yeah?"

"Fine, ok. I think you're making a mistake though." She sounds distracted, then makes a sort of appreciative whistling sound. "Oh Cal, you should see this guy, I've never seen such an attractive Alpha."

"Thankfully, since the only Alpha you've seen before is my father." We both giggle, but I can feel her attraction to this new Alpha through the link. My curiosity spikes a little and part of me is almost sorry I refused to go. Almost, but not enough to actually go and welcome the man who is replacing me. "I said we should go, just so we know what we're dealing with." Kendra says snarkily.

"And I said no, I will not even pretend to welcome someone in to do a job I was doing perfectly well for years." 

"I know, I'm with you, but your father wasn't, this was arranged for years. You knew it was coming. He might be…" 

"I swear Kendra, if you say anything about him being a good Alpha I will drink you into oblivion later." Although I suffered for it, this is a threat I've followed through on before and neither of us want that again.

"Ok." She chuckles inside my head, settling down while I search the house for something simple to eat.

In truth, I know it's not this guy's fault. I don't even know if he wanted to come here and take my pack, but my father's no longer here to blame and as much as I know I'm being a pain in the ass, I'm angry. I've lost everything: my father, my home and my job. It was so much more than a job. It was my purpose, all I've ever known and I'm genuinely worried. I've researched his previous pack and they're so different from ours. They supposedly think women have no place as warriors or leaders or to be anything other than breeding machines in fact.

How long will it be until he tries to force those changes to happen here? Until the women and girls of our pack are given no option but to sit at home, while the males are all forced into fighting roles, whether they're suited to it or not.

"He might not." Kendra is just as worried as I am but she's clinging to a sliver of hope that this guy won't want to rule exactly like his father.

"But what if he does?" I'll have failed to protect my entire pack and I can't think of any way to stop this from happening.

So, for tonight, I'll make it clear I'm unhappy, just to see how he'll react.

"We're going to be punished, that's how he's going to react." Kendra laments, shuddering at the reminder that we have no idea who this man is or what changes he will make.

"Probably, but it's better we see how he does that first hand. Then we know what the rest of the pack will have in store if they mess up." Finally Kendra and I agree on something.

Carrying my single sad portion of noodles up to my room, I sit on the bed and try to ignore the buzz of excitement filtering through the pack link.