Seven: Kyle

It’s been nearly an hour since Mom walked up the stairs to the alpha’s office, the alpha who is supposed to be my father. This fact is so hard to stomach and it makes me sick to think about it. The man who fathered me is sitting under the same roof and he hasn’t even bothered to come look at me, his son. I know it wasn’t supposed to surprise me, but it does. This man rejected me and my mom twenty years ago. What did I expect to happen, some miracle in the last couple of years that would prompt him to accept either of us? It was stupid to expect anything because it would only lead to more hurt. Moreover, I don’t need him anymore. I have had a father already. The days I needed my father to help me walk, how to ride a bike, and how to shift are long gone. I’m a man of my own and I’m sure I can hold my own now.

It is extremely strange to think about, and, something I hadn’t even thought of before, but the alpha would surely have a family of his own, a Luna to call his own, children to call his own, and maybe a son to take over the pack when the time is right. Of course, Mom, I, and the twins don’t fit in the picture. We land into this man’s life out of nowhere and expect him to what, forget all of his carefully laid-out plans about the future, and elect me as the next alpha? Even to me, it all sounds unreal and preposterous.

I tightly hold Ariel’s and Ben's hands in mine. Small as they are, they still understand that the situation we are in right now is no laughing matter. So, in contrast to their natures, they sit still and let me be the adult. The beta of the pack, Aaron I believe, has left us sitting in the pack’s sitting room by ourselves. I’m not a fool, though. We’re hardly by ourselves; no pack is stupid to leave three wolves unattended in their territory. I can smell the two warrior wolves in the other room, ordered to keep an eye on us. What harm these six-year-old children can do?

Mom had said that my wolf would feel a change as soon as we crossed this pack’s borders but so far, I feel nothing. My wolf has retreated into the deepest recesses of my mind and when I try to call him out, I get no answer. Is this the incredible change my mom was talking about, not even being able to talk to my wolf?

My ears prick up at the sound of the soft pitter-patter of feet and the gait that I recognize to be my mom. Her scent wafts up my nose and my body tenses in anticipation of what’s going to happen. What I want is for her to say that the alpha has denied us any refuge and has asked us to go back to where we have come from. That way everyone will be happy, we will return to our lives back home and the alpha will continue to live his life like he had planned.  

But I guess some things are too big to ask because I don’t sense the warriors in the other room tensing up or getting ready to throw us out from their pack lands. As disrespectful as that would have been, I would have wanted it much more than I do staying here.

I stand when my mom comes into view and comes to stand in front of me. I can sense the discomfort emanating from her and I try to school my expressions, if only to make it easy for her. “What did he say? Did he reject us refuge in his pack and order us to go back home?”

“You would like nothing better, wouldn’t you?” Mom snorts and I all but flinch at her tired tone. She straightens and tries to hide how tired she is. “He has offered us refuge but instead of granting us our own independent house, he has ordered us to stay here, in the pack house, and live like pack members. Which means, the twins will stay with me but you will have your room on a separate floor.”

This was the first time in my life I would be staying in a packed house. I have always lived in my own home with my family, except for a few drunken nights after partying with the future alpha and beta of the pack. The alpha had the power to grant us an independent house of our own but he didn’t. A pack of this size must have a few empty settlements but he must have wanted us to stay under his nose so that he could keep an eye on us. Well, I wouldn’t begrudge him that. Not that I could.

“And you’ll start school tomorrow.” I open my mouth to argue but she glares at me. I know when to pick my battles and this is definitely one, I would lose now if I were to start it now. “Even you two, Ariel and Ben will start school here from tomorrow. For now, we can unload our bags and drag them up to our rooms.” The twins don’t protest even though I know that they want to. We have all become severely attuned to Mom’s emotions after Dad died.

The packed house has five floors, the top floor being for the alpha and beta living quarters while the rest of the floors are for housing the teenagers and adults. The ground floor has a common sitting area, dining hall, kitchens, meeting room, gaming zone, etc. It is a bit different from the pack house back home but not very complicated. The layout of the pack house is very easy to figure out and it takes me no time to figure out the way to the kitchen.

While all the members went downstairs to have dinner, an old lady delivered my plate of food to my bedroom door. I grudgingly accepted it but it was a clear message that I was not invited to go downstairs for dinner. I was not allowed to mingle with the pack members and as much as it rankled me, I had to remind myself that I didn’t care. I had no desire to mingle with the pack members or dine with them. It would be useless, honestly, because I’m pretty sure we aren’t going to last for more than a month here.

It would have all worked out wonderfully too because I had no plans to walk out of the room assigned to me if it hadn’t been for my fast metabolism. The alpha mustn’t have considered my fast werewolf metabolism because I was hungry again by the time the clock struck twelve. This is why I’m not standing in the empty and dimly lit kitchen, intending to search for any leftovers.

I’m not so surprised to find another wolf my age prowling through the food reserves at this time of the night. He turns around, not at all surprised to find me there because he must have heard me come down the stairs and smelt me minutes before I stepped into the kitchen. He closes the cabinet he was searching in and turns to give me his full attention. “Hi, I’m Noah Strong, the future Beta of this pack.”

“Hey, I’m Kyle Paxton. I’m a warrior back home.” I move to the other side of the kitchen from him and rummage through the refrigerator to look for something. “The beta, huh? I met your father this morning.” I take a loaf of bread and he nods appreciatively at it.

“What did you think about him?” He opens another door and takes out a jar of mayonnaise and chili pepper.

“Well, he pretty much ignored me, which is all I want here. To be ignored.” I watch as he takes out some vegetables from the pantry and I watch as he lines up the cutting board.

“That’s what you want? To be ignored here?” Noah asks me and I nod. He deftly dices the onions and I watch in awe as he cuts up tomatoes and cucumbers.

“More than that, I want not to be here. The next best option is being ignored for as long as I’m here.” I watch him sprinkle salt and pepper into the vegetable mixture and I feel my stomach growling at the thought of a sandwich.

“Well, then you must hate me right now because I’m not ignoring you right now,” Noah says pointedly and I laugh.

“I don’t mind. You’re making me food.” I grin and he laughs too. He spreads the vegetable mixture between the loaves of bread and hands one over to me.

“Thanks.” I take a big bite of the bread and give him a thumbs up. The sandwich is amazing and so much more than what I would have been able to make. He takes his sandwich and clears up the kitchen island. I finish the sandwich and take another one. He puts both of his sandwiches on a plate and turns to go upstairs to his room. “Good night, Noah.”

“Good night, Kyle.” He nods at me. “Oh, and here you’re not a warrior, Kyle. You’re the eldest surviving son of the current alpha. You’re the next best thing to our present alpha and I’m sure everyone will know this by tomorrow morning.” With that, he turns around and I hear him climbing up the stairs. I clench and unclench my fists, the sandwich-like cardboard in my mouth.