Chapter two - Zachariah

I look out at the large gathering of wolves, all chatting happily and eating their way through the enormous buffet they've put on to welcome me and I can't deny it's had the desired effect. Despite living my entire life within the strict boundaries of my old pack, it feels like I've finally come home. 

The entire room is alive with conversation and laughter. They're obviously excited to meet and talk to me and they don't seem to fear me like people do my father, but there's a respectful politeness to the way they behave with me that I think I prefer. 

What surprises me most is the women here. At home they stand quietly beside their mates at gatherings like this, but here, the women are loud and confident, speaking to me as often as the men do. After meeting a group of women my mother's age, I've decided to convince her to move here with me. It would be good for her to be somewhere like this and even better to be able to get her away from my father.

We arrived a little earlier than we'd informed them, intentionally so we could observe the natural state of the pack before they could put on any pretence that this evening, but I have to admit, from everything I've seen so far, they seem to be strong and thriving. 

They've clearly been run well in recent years, which surprises me considering the Alpha was sick for so long. 

My father was concerned about rumours that the previous Alpha's daughter had had a hand in running the pack, but how much she's done remains to be seen since I'm yet to meet her. My father strongly suggested that I take a firm hand in ensuring she knows her place. It's not something I wanted to do, however, Seb, my Beta, reported a wolf being dismissive and rude to him earlier today and, after a brief discussion with Ronan the current pack trainer, it seems this is that same daughter and not only is she less than happy with our arrival, but she's not attempting to hide it. 

I'd hoped to rectify whatever issues would arise with her privately and Seb's promised to point her out as soon as he spots her, but he's yet to recognise her in the throng of new faces that are eager to meet me since I gave my welcoming speech and that was a while ago now.

"She has to be here somewhere."

Rei, my wolf, growls in my mind. Clearly he's aggravated with her blatant disrespect towards us and is less considerate over the fact she's just lost her father. "She wouldn't dare disobey our first order as her Alpha."

"Of course she's here."

I growl back, although the longer it goes without an introduction, the more I'm starting to wonder if she might have skipped it. The idea fills me with anger that Rei shares, but then the training my father insisted upon these last few months filters through my mind and I can feel Rei start to relax. "If she doesn't turn up, we will make an example of her."

"Agreed."

He growls happily.

There are always those who like to question a new Alpha's strength and leadership, as an Alpha's daughter, she gives me the perfect opportunity to display my power, defy any doubts over my position and ensure the respect and loyalty of the pack. Something my father told me I need to impress upon them from the very start.

I'm almost hopeful that she won't turn up now.

"Wait, what's that smell?"

Rei suddenly interrupts my thoughts and I inhale deeply, the scent of wildflowers is faint but unmistakable. I've never smelt something so alluring.

I turn my head to locate its source and see a pretty blonde chatting with a group just to my right. I wander casually over and they fall silent, friendly smiles directed my way but dipping their heads just slightly as a mark of respect.

"Alpha, welcome." A muscular, dark haired boy takes the opportunity to speak for the group. "My name is Edward, this is Mariah, Sarah and Oscar. We're all very excited you're finally here."

"Thank you, Edward." I ensure I'm next to the blonde, but something's off, the delicious smell of wildflowers is mixed with sweet fruit, almost as if she's got two scents, but both are dwarfed by her  perfume which is making it difficult to determine which is hers. "Are you one of the warriors?"

"Yes, Alpha." Edward answers again. "Oscar and I are fully fledged warriors and Mariah and Sarah are still in training, due to complete in a few months time."

"Indeed. Ronan seems a capable trainer. Although, it's highly unusual for a pack to train its female members." My father does not believe women possessed the necessary strength, either physically or mentally, to excel as a warrior, so I've been interested in seeing how well they do in this pack.

"Yes, it's something Cally insisted on when she took over…" The blonde, Sarah, starts before the dark haired girl, Mariah, nudges her and she immediately shuts up. 

"Took over?" Rei latches on to the blonde slip up.

"Indeed, perhaps this Calista took on the Alpha's role fully for her father. No wonder she's causing difficulties already, she must think I'm taking her position." I reply to Rei, watching as the group in front of me shift nervously, clearly mindlinking one another. Something I won't be able to do until the new Alpha ceremony during the next full moon.

"We need to know everything about her. So we can know how to manage her." Rei seems to have changed his tune, his interest in the old Alpha's daughter is obvious. He's never shown an interest in anyone before, but I can feel his desire to know more about this mysterious and rebellious girl.

"Continue." Rei and I both say to the blonde at the same time, causing my voice to come out sounding aggressive. Sarah glances at her friends nervously, so I force Rei back and point at her. "You. Follow me."

"Um…" She hesitates again, looking at her friends for help, but when I walk away she has no choice but to follow. The excitement she had in her demeanor fading quickly to fear as I lead her into an empty room. "I'm so sorry Alpha, I misspoke, Cally didn't actually take over, take over, she just… um…  she helped her father. I promise, she knows you're the new Alpha and she accepts that. She even moved out of the packhouse so she wouldn't be in your way. Please Alpha, I'm really sorry." 

I hold my hand up and she falls silent. Her eyes dart around in panic, but her head faces the floor submissively.

"At least we know she's not a troublemaker."

Rei chuckles in my mind.

"Tell me, Sarah, is it?" She nods nervously, her hands clasped together in front of her and her whole body rigid, like she's ready to run away as soon as I allow it. "You have two scents, are you mated?"

"N-no, Alpha, I'm not yet." She shakes her head, her brows creasing together as she automatically sniffs herself.

I stay silent. For longer than is necessary. A trick I've found useful to make someone who is already nervous, feel the need to fill the silence. If this girl feels guilty about anything at all, she'll admit it without me needing to say a thing. 

"I… um… I borrowed a dress, it's not my dress it's my friends, maybe that's why… it could be her you're smelling on me. I haven't been with another male yet tonight… not for a while actually." She blushes at the admission of not waiting for her mate, little does she know that's not a practice that's upheld in my pack.

"Except for some people." Rei's mocking makes me growl out loud and Sarah flinches in front of me.

"Behave." I mutter back to him, he knows full well why I won't sleep around with other women. Having a father like mine, who sleeps with whoever he chooses and keeps my mother as one of his many women, to be called on as he sees fit, killed off any appeal in casual sex for me. 

I realise the blonde is still standing there, waiting for me to dismiss her or say something else, so I refocus, wanting to know who the delicious scent belongs to, because I'm fairly certain it's not the girl standing in front of me.

"Perhaps." I lean forward and inhale, sure enough the wildflower aroma is only on the material, not from the girl in front of me.

"Ask her who the dress belongs to." Rei perks up again. His interest is unusual but obvious, he suspects it may belong to our mate and his desire to find and claim her is taking precedence over everything else.

"In a minute." Despite also wanting to find out who the mystery girl is, I need to find out more about this Calista first, to understand how much of a problem she's going to be for me.

"Tell me what your friend stopped you from saying earlier." I say, making my voice soft and smiling gently as her, she blushes again, raising her head to look into my eyes.

"It's nothing really." I cock my eyebrow and she bites her lip, looking around furtively as though she's going to tell me a secret. "It's only that Cally believes everyone should be able to defend themselves. She believes in equity, she knows we're all capable of defending ourselves and doesn't want the women to be weak and relying on the men to protect us. Equally, she knows some of the men aren't interested in fighting, so as long as they know the basics to keep themselves safe, they don't have to become warriors just because they're male. It's brilliant and everyone's really happy. She said it will make us stronger as a pack if everyone is given the opportunity to be in the roles that best suit them, regardless of gender."

"Is that so?" I muse, not wanting her to know that I find that reasoning quite sensible. 

I can't allow this Calista to believe I rate her as a leader, not when she's showing such disrespect towards me already. Sarah nods emphatically but drops her eyes to the floor, clearly picking up on my lack of enthusiasm towards the information she's just given me but struggling to hide her own. 

A knock on the door interrupts and Seb enters with a large man similar in age to my father.

"Alpha, I wanted to introduce Ronan. As you know, I watched his training sessions earlier and I believe his skills may even outweigh Leith's." Seb tells me and I reach out to shake the man's hand. 

"Sarah, why are you in here?" Ronan asks after a perfunctory greeting aimed at me. He looka between the two of us with suspicion and while I don't know how much these people know about my father, he's well known for taking whatever women he chooses and I can tell by the look on Ronan's face that he assumes that is what is happening now. I'll need to correct that.

Rei starts laughing in my head at the idea. He mocks me, but he's never shown any interest in anyone either.

"Daddy, I…" Sarah starts nervously, making it look even worse. 

"Yeah, he's her dad, you definitely need to make sure he knows you weren't trying to sleep with her." Rei is suddenly serious, mirroring my own thoughts.

"Sarah here was telling me about the female training programme, it seems Calista has made a number of changes since she took over from her father." I emphasise the offending words, dropping the girl in immediate trouble with her father but it's enough to rid him of any thoughts that I'm interested in violating his daughter. 

The glare Ronan sends her is unmistakable and she reacts immediately, her hands clasping in front of her and her head firmly facing the ground.

I cover the smirk that tries to creep onto my face. Seb is not so careful and meets my eyes with a wide grin.

"Sarah, go home and wait for me there, tell your mother what's happened." Ronan orders, switching his attention back to me once she quickly leaves the room. "Alpha, Calista helped her father out often during his period of sickness, she influenced many of his decisions but he always had the final say. She can be hot-headed but she is as loyal to the pack as any other wolf."

"That sounds great Ronan, but I'm yet to meet her, perhaps you could fetch her for me and do the introductions?" His sudden look of fear confirms that she definitely did not attend this evening. 

"I… I'm not sure exactly where she is right at this moment, Alpha." He stutters. "She will be at training tomorrow morning at seven sharp though, she always is. Never misses a session, no matter what. Or I could contact her and request her presence if you would like?"

He has a hint of pride in his voice when he talks about her and my interest and irritation in this girl grows.

"That won't be necessary, thank you. You can relax Ronan, Seb has spoken highly of your abilities and your daughter is not in trouble, I simply brought her in here because her friends tried to stop her talking about the changes Calista instigated. Changes I have no immediate plans to alter." He breathes a sigh of relief and I give him a friendly smile. "Go and enjoy the rest of the party. I'll pop into the training tomorrow. I'm anxious to see what has Seb raving so highly."

"Thank you, Alpha." He dips his head and leaves the room quickly, closing the door behind him.

"Find out where this Calista is, it seems she had more important things to do this evening. I want to meet her and find out what." I say to Seb, who nods and leaves the room.

"Alpha." Seb mind-links me from across the room while I'm talking to a number of the existing pack members about housing issues on the west side of the territory. It seems Calista was helping to extend some properties after a recent surge in births, so they wanted my reassurance that she'll still be allowed to do it. Instead, I gave my own promise to assist which seems to have pleased them. "The girl. The previous Alpha's daughter She indeed chose not to come this evening, however, she is meeting her friends at a club just outside the territory as soon as the meeting ends."

"What's the name of the place?" I had hoped perhaps she was working or on patrol, not showing blatant disrespect on my first day here.  

"The Haven, Alpha. Would you like me to arrange someone to go and retrieve her?"

"No need. This is something I would like to attend to myself."

"Yes, Alpha." I can see his smirk from where I am.

Seb has been my best friend for as long as I can remember, although we've argued about trivial things over the years, he's the man I trust most in the world, which is why I immediately chose him for my Beta when my father agreed I would take over this pack.

"Ladies and gentlemen." I step onto the platform and all eyes turn to me. "Thank you for the warm and friendly welcome, I look forward to getting to know you more as time goes on. Please excuse me as I have matters to attend to, but do stay and enjoy the evening for as long as you like. If there's anything you need to talk to me about, my Beta, Seb, will be here for a while longer, or come and speak to me tomorrow in my office."

I stroll to the doorway, exchanging brief pleasantries with the individuals I pass, the nerves and insecurities I had about my ability to be a good Alpha have somehow disappeared, replaced with a determination to find this club and the disobedient girl inside.