2. Twenty- six

~ Harper’s POV ~

I was frustrated, actually beyond frustrated. I was tired but I wasn't going to have a pity party for myself. Not this time. The pack deserved more from me and I deserved to give more to them.

That didn't mean that I wasn't sad, but ultimately, there was no one else to blame but myself. Like all the other times, I had landed myself in this position.

I huffed angrily and punched my fist into the punching bag, which hung to the roof of the pack house's gym.

I had just come back from a meeting in my father's office, which was peculiar in itself because today was Saturday and he hated working on the weekends. So, I knew it was something important.

My parents and the beta couple were the only ones present in the room, which meant that whatever the reason behind the meeting, it was serious.

Traditionally, when the elders of the pack pass down the ranks to their children, they follow the hierarchy order, which means, that the alpha of the pack passes down the alpha position to his son, followed by the beta, and so on. This is done so that the people acquiring the most important position can adjust to their position as well as learn to give out orders to their subordinates. 

Moreover, when the alpha position is acquired by a new person, the whole pack experiences an influx of energy. This influx of energy is responsible for the smooth transferring of ranks and helps the alpha to establish power and obedience over his pack mates. This energy is also responsible for temporarily strengthening all the pack members so that if they experience any attack during this time, they can easily fight it off. Thus, the transferring of ranks in the pack was a well-oiled machine and everyone had to take a part in it, however subtle it was.

Another important thing about this phenomenon was that the passing off of the ranks happened in couples, which means the alpha and luna positions are passed down at the same time, the beta position is passed down to the beta couple, and so on.

That was why every high-ranking werewolf finds his mate before the age of 25. There has never been an alpha or beta which have been mate less beyond that particular age. 

I had already found my mate, which meant I was eligible to become the official alpha of The Red lakes pack but due to me and Zara not being a mated couple, or not being on speaking terms, I couldn't become the alpha. Without my mate, without Zara beside me, I wouldn't be able to take over my rightful position as the alpha, a position I have trained for my whole life.

And I refused to entertain any thought of taking up a chosen mate. I had already committed that mistake once, I wasn't going down the same road twice.

I jumped on the balls of my feet, to release some tension in my shoulders while I reminded myself why I was here. That I put myself in this position. I took a deep breath and exhaled it. My breathing after that was rapid because I had been exercising for some time now, must have been hours already.

I landed a kick on the punching bag which shook because of the force. The punching bags were designed to absorb a lot of force because werewolves are naturally strong, so when it shook like it was going to fall from the ceiling, my lips tilted upwards in a smile.

"You're going to kill yourself; you know." The voice rang out in the empty gym and made me falter a bit. I took a position in a second and landed a series of fast blows on the punching bag, mixed with a couple of high kicks.

"Harper?" I huffed angrily. I wanted to be alone right now. Could no one understand that? I spun and landed a roundhouse kick on the bag and the bag rattled and fell flat on the ground because of the impact.

I took off the gloves and turned around to face a very pregnant Natalie. She faced me with a sad smile on her face, her hand resting on her belly. She was now twenty weeks pregnant and I was happy that the child inside her was healthy but she wasn't the person I wanted to be around right now.

"I heard what happened." She said meekly, not moving towards me to comfort me, which I appreciated at the moment.

I scoffed. "Of course, you heard," I muttered under my breath but she heard me nonetheless.

"I'm sorry." She said weakly as if that would make everything alright.

I threw the towel I was using to wipe the sweat off my face and turned to face her. "You know what? I am jealous right now. I can't fucking believe that I'm jealous of Aiden but hell, I am. He gets to become beta before I can acquire my position because I made my mate run for the hills, away from me and away from this pack."

I placed around the gym, pouring out my frustration. "Me and Aiden have been best friends since forever. We have always followed a certain plan in our lives. I was the elder one, I was supposed to find my mate before him, I was supposed to fall in love with my mate before him, both of the things I did."

"I was supposed to mark my mate first and make a family. I was supposed to get the alpha position before he got his position." I turned towards her, my anger pouring off of me in waves.

"But I can't do that anymore because I wasn't fucking supposed to get my mate's best friend pregnant!" I exclaimed while pointing my arms towards her. I ran a frustrated hand through my sweaty damp hair and closed my eyes to calm down my wolf, who was begging to go for a run.

I opened my eyes to see Natalie crying silently. "Oh shit! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." I took a step towards her but stopped when she held up her hand.

"Don't. I'm not mad at you. It's these stupid hormones which are making me cry all the damn time." She sobbed while I just stood there, not knowing what to do.

I sat down on the floor feeling like a lost puppy when suddenly, she started laughing. I was surprised at first but then I started laughing with her too. 

"Everyone is ready for the training sessions." She said while rubbing her palm over her belly.

I nodded. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

After the attack on me, it was clear that a rogue group was targeting our pack which led to the implementation of a lot of safety measures. One of them included training all the pack members the basic defense techniques as well as training the warriors to their limits. Our pack trainer had taken over the self-defense classes while I had taken over teaching the warriors.

Our warriors were some of the best in the world which meant I enjoyed sparring with them because they proved to be a challenge and kept my mind off of my shitty and pathetic life. By the time the sessions were over, I would be too tired to think about anything and end up sleeping like a dead wolf. Pun intended.

Natalie left the gym and after a while, I gathered my stuff and myself and made my way to the training ground where everyone was gathered around. Aiden and Samantha were there too because they were high-ranked wolves and I didn't want to face them right now.

Everyone knew how frustrated I was because they didn't question me as I pushed every one of them again and again. By the time I was done, we had run for miles and practiced hand-to-hand combat for hours.

I think I overdid it though, in the end, I felt as if my arms were ready to fall off of my body. It pained everywhere and I cringed about realizing how everyone else must be feeling. I vowed to never let my emotions rein in the future like I had done today.

It was a miracle that I was able to move enough to eat dinner and climb up the stairs to my room. I didn't talk to anyone after Natalie and I was glad the pack knew that I wanted to be by myself for a while.

Sleep overtook me as soon as I hit the bed and I was grateful for it because I was sure I wouldn't like the direction my thought would take. 

Karma is a powerful thing because the torture I put my pack mates through increased tenfold in my sleep. I gasped as waves of pain hit me again and again. I howled in pain as I woke up from my slumber and clutched my chest as I felt a stabbing pain in my heart.

It must have been the dead of night because when I opened my eyes to look out the window, the world was still shrouded in darkness. I stumbled out of bed as another wave of pain hit me. I howled again, which shook everything in my room and I was sure pretty much alerted everyone in the pack house that I was in pain.

The pain felt like boiling water was being poured onto me. It concentrated in my chest and I felt like I was going to pass out any second. I clutched my chest, closed my eyes, and curled myself into a ball.

Tears streamed down my face as continuous waves of pain hit me relentlessly. I kept howling on my bedroom floor, not being able to feel my wolf at the back of my mind.

I didn't hear when the door opened but I knew my mother had come because she was sitting on the floor, trying to hold me. It registered in my brain that she shouldn't be sitting like this on the floor during her pregnancy, but no words came out of my mouth, only screams of pure agony.

"Harper, what's happening?" Mom asked frantically. I had no idea how I was able to hear her but I howled again as the pain now seemed never-ending.

"Needles," I gasped, "in my chest." I cried out in pain once again and thrashed on the ground, trying not to hurt my mother.

"Oh dear!" She said, “Sebastian, I think Zara just cheated on the mate bond."

I was hearing words but I could not comprehend what the words meant. My brain was busy helping me get through his life-ending pain.

"Yes, Eva. I think she did." Dad’s voice rang out in my bedroom and that was the last thing I heard before I passed out.