Chapter 0003

Only a few months left of school and I’m done. I’ll turn 18 in a couple of weeks and if all goes well, I’ll meet my mate, and then dad can hand over the title of Alpha to me after I graduate.

I meet up with Chase, my best friend and my future Beta when I walk into the kitchen of the pack house. “Hey man, what’s up?”

“Morning Alpha, how’s it hanging?” he asks me with a smirk. Bastard must have seen Sheila sneaking out earlier. I smirk back as I sip my coffee, “no blue balls here.”

He laughs outright. “Yeah, you know if your mom catches you…”. He doesn’t have to finish his sentence, we both know my mother would skin me alive. She wants me to wait for my mate. “She won't,” I reply. “What were you doing up so early anyway?”

He takes a sip of his coffee looking sheepish before answering. “No blue balls on me either my friend. But, at least I’ll walk the girl to her car.”

I smile at my best friend before grabbing my keys, ignoring his jab. “You riding with me today?”

“Yep”, he answers as he follows me out.

The ride to school is short. It’s on the border between our pack lands and the Shadow Falls pack. It's about a 15 minute drive from the packhouse where Chase and I live. He lives on the 3rd floor with his family, the Beta’s floor. I live on the 4th floor with my parents, the space allotted for the alpha family. Our Gamma family lives on the 2nd floor. The floors for the ranked wolves are all on the left side of the pack house. The right side also has rooms on the second through fourth floors for guests and unmated warriors that choose to live here rather than in a separate home. The first floor has a large kitchen and dining room along with a rec room, living room and conference rooms for when we have large gatherings in the pack. Omegas who choose to live in the pack house are provided housing on the first floor as well.

Our pack, the Canyon Ridge Pack, is the 2nd largest in the country with well over 500 pack members. And, even though we’re not the largest, we are by far, the strongest. My father is a powerful alpha, I am a strong and powerful alpha heir, and technically, we have two guardians, although I’ve never met the daughter of the man and woman that saved my family’s life. I’ve heard the stories my entire life. My mother created a memorial for Lily Nelson, the Guardian that gave her life to save both my mother and me. She visits the memorial at least once a week to leave fresh flowers and, as she says, to let Lily know that her sacrifice is not forgotten and was not in vain. I say my own silent thank you to Mrs. Nelson and I promise to look after Cara for her.

My father has dinner with Clint Nelson every week. I’ve attempted to join my father, but he says this is his time with Clint. Even my mother does not join them. Dad has been trying to get Clint to become more active in the pack for years, even offering him a position as lead trainer for our warriors, but he won’t budge. Somewhere along the line he was labeled as ‘The Broken Warrior’. While my father threatened to punish anyone that called Mr. Nelson by that name, it didn’t matter, the name stuck. I can understand why. He was the best warrior in our pack and now he's a paraplegic. He’s been in a wheelchair for nearly 13 years. He and his daughter live right on the edge of our packlands and the entire pack has been ordered to give them space. The daughter is around my age, according to my mother. I guess she spends all her time taking care of her father.

We pull into the school parking lot and head into school. Chase and I are immediately surrounded by females. They are all hoping to be the next Luna or Beta female. Most would just be happy to say they slept with one or both of us and we’re happy to oblige. However, I would never take any of them as my Luna, unless she was my fated mate. But I’d be hard pressed to take a mate that had happily slept with me and/or my Beta and who knows how many other men.

Is it a double standard? Yep. Do I care? Nope.

“Hey Rik. Got any plans for the weekend,” a red-head asks. I think her name is Jessica and I’m pretty sure she has slept with both Chase and I. One look at Chase and I know I’m right. “Not yet, why?”

“Well, my friends and I are going to Dark Moon on Friday and we were hoping you and Chase would like to join us. It’ll be a lot of fun.” She tries to give me a seductive look and I know what kind of ‘fun’ she’s referencing. I look at Chase again and I can see we’re in sync. “Yeah, I think we can make it.”

Her face lights up like I just gave her the best present ever. “Excellent!” Her friend leans into me, “You won’t regret it” she whispers to me. I look at her friend, “I’m sure I won’t.”

They turn down one of the side hallways, Jessica walking backward, “See you later Alpha, Beta”. I wink at her, “Later”.

As Chase and I head to class, he looks over at me, “Well that sounds promising.” I smile at him, “Definitely”.

…….

After lunch, Chase and I are surrounded by a group of friends and even more females. The girls are all chatting away about going dancing tomorrow night. Now it looks like half of my pack and half of the Shadow Falls Pack, our neighboring pack, lead by Alpha Liam, are all going to the club tomorrow night.

I feel like someone is watching me and I look up and I’m locked in to the most beautiful green eyes. My breath catches and I forget how to breathe for a minute. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Beautiful brown hair with big thick curls, eyes like emeralds and a mouth made for kissing. My wolf, Kai, sits up and tries to push forward.

‘Kai, what’s going on?’

‘I don’t know, I like her,’ he responds, and I swear he’s wagging his damn tail. Since Kai has never shown an interest in ANY female, this is surprising.

I turn to my future Beta, “Chase, who’s that girl?”. A nod my head in her direction as I see a guy wrap his arm around her neck and the two of them walk off together. I have to clamp my mouth shut as Kai tries to growl.

‘Seriously Kai, what the fuck?’

‘I want to meet her, go introduce yourself. That boy is no match for us, we’re alphas.’

‘Dude, calm down! We’re in the middle of school.’ I push him into the back of my mind when Chase responds, “You mean the brunette? No idea but she’s definitely your type. She’s got that curly hair you go for.’ He’s right, I love it when a girl has their hair in those loose curls. And hers looks like silk.

He looks back at me. ”Want me to find out?” he asks.

“Nah, I’ll just ask her myself when I see her again.” I give him a grin that says that I’ll have her eating out of my hand by the end of the day as the bell rings and we all head to our next class.