The Next Alpha

Ume Adair, the eldest of the eight Adair children of the Lunarflare pack, was me. I grew up with the best parents, Gabriel and Malia Adair, the Alpha and Luna of my pack. Malia isn’t my birth mother; she is my father’s true mate and has raised me since I was three years old. My birth mother, dad's first wife and chosen mate, was a traitor and exiled from the pack after my younger brother's birth. We heard she was killed by rogues shortly after the fact. I didn’t care then, and I don’t care now. Malia raised me as her daughter and always treated me as if I belonged to her always. 

Growing up it was my duty to become the next Alpha on the Lunarflare pack if something happened to my father or when he decided to retire. I trained hard; we all did. My father made sure all his children had Alpha training. We all knew how to run this pack just like he did, just in case. Mom always wanted to be prepared because you never knew what was going to happen, especially with werewolves. But I’m the oldest and it has always been my duty, and I was ready and happily accepted my place. I followed my father around closer than his own shadow ever since I could remember. He was my hero and the best leader you could ask for. He was gentle but never backed down when punishment needed to be handed out and I respect him a lot for that. I just hope that I can be half the alpha he is one day. 

Today I was going with my father to meet the Alpha, Luna, and heirs to other packs in our alliance. I have been to many Alpha meetings with my father in the past, but this was different. It would be a one-on-one conversation. I would get to watch how my father acted in a more personal setting and see how they reacted to each other and me. He said it was important that I learn who I could rely on if I needed, and who was just there out of fear or war or some other reason. Some packs were smaller and needed protection from larger packs like Lunarflare, but they were also scared and undertrained, so they would come if called to battle.

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I was super excited and couldn’t sleep the night before, so I decided to get up earlier than usual. My bags were packed so I decided to pull on some nice jeans that flared a little at the bottom with a cute tank top with a half-moon on the front that my sister got me for my birthday. I pulled my long dark hair back into a high ponytail and applied just a bit of makeup to cover the line of freckles across my nose. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, amber eyes staring back at me. “You can do this Ume!” I said to myself with a smile, then headed out of my room, slowly making my way downstairs for breakfast.

Being the Alpha’s family, we live in the pack house. A huge mansion with several floors. The top was all for my family. My parents had their own suits to the far left of the wing and, on the right, had eight bedrooms for me and each of my siblings, being the eldest, I did have my own bathroom. Our dining hall was on the main floor and probably the most open room in the house. It was full of long tables stretched out in a long line, and one table stretched in the other direction at the very top of the room for my parents, siblings and myself. I wasn’t the first to arrive, the tables already had quite a few wolves sitting there who all smiled and greeted me as I walked by. “Morning alpha.” most sang, and I would smile and wish them a good day. 

I smiled a little brighter as I looked up at the head table and saw two of my brothers and one of my sisters already sitting at our table. I walk up behind the girl and give her a warm hug, she smiles and hugs me back “Good morning, Uma.” She says to me, her alluring voice like music when it touches my ears. “Morning Sage.” I reply, taking a seat next to her. I look farther down the table and nod to my brothers as they are lost in conversation talking about a football game or something that I wasn’t at all interested in, instead I turn my attention back to my little sister when I hear her voice again. “So, you and dad are leaving today?” Her melodic voice carried a hint of sadness. I replied with a slight nod. “It’s only a couple of weeks, and mom will be here so everything will be fine.” I tried to reassure her. 

I kept my eyes on her as she took a sip from the juice in front of her. “Are you going to be back before the full moon?” She asked, a little hesitant. I scrunch my eyebrows together on my forehead at her question, thinking about the timeline. “We should be.” I started to answer, then saw my brother toss his arm around Sage’s shoulder. “Don’t worry sis, if they're not back I’ll carry you.” He turns back to his conversation, and I can see Sage’s face brighten back up. I push one of her short brown locks out of her face to better see her smile. “See, they will take care of you, but I am sure we will be back before then, so no worries?” I say to her as one of the older ladies from the kitchen brings me coffee. I smiled and nodded at her before turning my attention back to Sage. Sage was my sister, no matter what anyone said, and people, for a while, liked to talk. Sage isn’t a werewolf. My parents adopted her when she was still a baby, after her coven was wiped out by a rival pack of wolves. 

Sage was a witch, and at first other members of the pack had issues with that, but my dad put a stop to that quickly. I was young when it happened, but mom told me that we were friendly with Sage’s coven. We did business with them, traded goods, etc... When the coven was attacked, it ended quickly. The witches were decimated before my dad and our warriors even arrived. Sage was the only survivor, so my dad brought her home and she has been my sister ever since. Since she isn’t a werewolf, she can’t shift and run with the pack on the full moon, but my dad carries her so she can still be there. Her best friend, our betas daughter, chose to stay in human form to keep Sage company and tell her what’s going on, since she lacked the ability to mind link. 

Although she wasn’t a werewolf, she was still powerful. My mother and father made sure she was well educated in magical practices; she had tutors and all the grimoires from her coven at her disposal and when it came to magic, Sage was a natural. Sometimes she even scared me. “I made this for you.” She says, jolting me out of my head and back into the moment. She slips small silver-colored clasps in my hair. “It’s steel, not silver, so don’t worry. I put a protection charm on it to keep you safe while you are away.” She says with a small smile. I scoop the smaller girl into my arms, giving her an even bigger hug than before. “I’m going to miss you.” I tell her, pushing that same curl out of her face as before. “But you are going to be back soon, remember?” She sings while taking another drink from her juice. 

It didn’t take long for the dining hall to fill and the rest of my family to fill up our table. I moved to my usual spot, coinciding my previous seat was taken by my little sister. My grandfather, the former alpha, didn’t live in the pack house anymore. Moving to a house in town with the human woman that has occupied his time since my grandmother passed, he chose not to join us most of the time for breakfast, so at the head of the table was my father, Gabriel JR our Alpha. Next to him was my mother, Malia, our Luna. I was next followed by my younger brother Gabriel III, then my sister Lily, who I can’t even believe was there this morning. She was usually hung over from the night before, then my brother Taiyo, probably the only sibling who was as responsible as I was, if not more. The Sage, next to her in my old seat was my little sister Lyrie, followed by Aiden, her twin and then the baby, Esumi. The last three seats at the table were taken by our pack Beta, Kal. Next to him was his son and my future beta Kreon, followed by the beta’s daughter, and Sage’s best friend Kaylin. 

“Are you all ready to go, Sweetheart?” My father asked as some of the omegas from the kitchen brought food out to the tables. “I am!” I answered hastily, adding a couple of pancakes to my plate before covering them in syrup. “I think I’ve had my bag packed for a couple of days now.” I added, starting to dig into my food. “Well, we are leaving right after breakfast and won't be back until the day before the pack run.” He informed me. I was glad to hear that we would be back before then, knowing how worried Sage had been about it before. I looked down the table toward her, giving her a reassuring smile, knowing that she had overheard what our father said. I really wished I could mind link with her, but so far she hadn’t been able to find a spell that allowed that. I just had to make sure she was always near a pack member in case she needed me.

I finished my breakfast first and excused myself from the table. I all but sprinted up the stairs back to my room. I wanted to double check everything to make sure that I didn’t forget anything and wanted to toss the makeup I used this morning into my bag. I couldn’t meet other packs looking like a hot mess. I set my makeup back on my suitcase when there was a knock on the door. “Come in.” I said as the knob turned and the door pushed open. I looked up to see my mother standing there. She was beautiful. A few inches shorter than me, even in her heels. Long dark hair and piercing green eyes that seemed to look into your soul. She had an amazing tan that I always envied and could easily pass for a supermodel. Though through her beauty she was one of the nicest women that I have ever met, and would kill for any of her children, no questions asked. I smiled at her, and like always she smiled back at me before walking further into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. She picked up a shirt and folded it, placing it neatly on the end of the bed. “You need to be careful, Ume.” She finally spoke, then looked up from the shirt to me. “Just because we are in alliances with some of these packs does not mean that they are to be trusted.” She adds and I sense a bit of worry in her voice. “There are some that may even want to hurt you to get at your father or try to make a power play. You need to remember your training and be strong.” 

She stands from the bed, moves over to be and places her hand on my cheek. “And who knows, maybe you will even find your mate.” She smiles. I make a gagging sound and laugh a little, she just twists her lips and grins at me in response. “I don’t even want a mate. I don’t have time for that, mom. I need to focus everything I can into trying to be a great Alpha, just like dad.” She chuckled a little as I stepped away to grab my bags but spoke again. “You say that now, darling, but if you do meet your mate then you will understand.” She kisses my cheek and walks out of the room.

I started pulling my luggage out of the room, thinking about what my mom said. I was nineteen. I have been able to sense my mate now for over a year and nothing. Maybe the Moon Goddess didn’t give me a mate, maybe she knew that I would be too busy becoming alpha and that I wouldn’t have time to give a mate what they deserve. Whatever the answer, I didn’t need my DNA telling me who and when to love, I was far too busy for that kind of thing. I managed to get my luggage down the stairs where a guard took it from me and loaded it in the back of my dad's SUV. He opened the back door for me, and I climbed in and smiled at my future beta, Kreon, who was in the seat next to me. He was coming along with my father and I as well as a guard, who was driving. 

I didn’t even get a chance to speak to Kreon before my father slipped in the passenger seat and shut the door. “Seat Belts.” He said, and I grabbed my seatbelt, clipping it into place and bringing my eyes back to my father who was looking at the driver. “Our first visit will be to the Crescent Winds pack, to the north. We will head to the airport and fly to Canada, where the pack is located, then we will drive back south from there, stopping at the other territories we are to visit along the way.” Dad sat back in his seat with a smirk. “Hope you kids like the cold.”