Correct Answer

Darius’ p.o.v.

The entire week I keep thinking about Ruth’s remark, why hadn’t I thought of it myself?

“Too busy with ignoring them, too busy with avoiding them.” Camus, my Lycan, says.

He is right, Daxton and I have been busy with keeping our meddling Mother at bay. If we could stay away from our Mother and Daniella, we would.

“Preston, we need to talk after dinner.” I say, knowing that he will understand that I don’t want anyone else to hear what I have say.

I walk into the dining room to see that our Mother and Daniella are once again sitting at our table, Daxton is standing near the window and the look in his eyes is murderous.

“Daxton, just know that I want what is best for you. You will never find that connection, you are too old and a chosen Mate is your only option.” Mother says and I get brought back to Ruth’s remark.

I know that history tells us that Shifters usually find their connection between eighteen and thirty, but ever since we found our new way of finding a Mate, the age of finding that connection has shifted a lot.

“Mother, stop. I am getting sick and tired of this.” I growl, as I walk over to my seat.

“Darius, I wasn’t talking to you. I was just discussing something with your Brother.” Mom says with an annoyed voice and I want to respond, but I don’t get the chance.

“I have had enough of this, stop bugging Daxton about taking a chosen Mate and using his age as a reason is Bullshit. Preston and I met two years ago, Rayden and Ruth met a year ago and both of them were the same age as Daxton and Darius are now.

You are no longer welcome at this table and I don’t care that you are their Mother. You and Daniella can leave right this minute and if I ever hear you talk to Daxton like that again, I will ban you from the Pack-house. Is that clear?” Luna Pearl asks.

Daniella is smart enough to get moving, after she has acknowledged that she understood Luna Pearl. Mom is unwilling to bow down, but I know who this is going to win and how this will probably end.

“Am I clear?” Luna Pearl asks again, her eyes locked with those of my Mother and I hear her softly mumble a Yes.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?” Luna Pearl roars and everyone around them takes a step back.

“Yes, Luna.” Mother mumbles, not that she is happy with it. She doesn’t move from her seat though and I can already feel the anger radiating from Luna Pearl.

Two Elite Warriors rush over to pull Mother from her seat, but she tries to fight them and that is a totally wrong move.

“Get her the fuck out of the Pack-house. Madeline, you are banned from the Pack-house for the entire week. One more mistake after that and it will be permanent.” Alpha Preston says.

It takes a while for things to settle down, but once everyone has settled down dinner gets served and it seems to be the cue for all Pack-members to start talking again.

It is quiet at our table, none of us is too happy with the events of the evening and it might take a while before Pearl is back to her calm self.

After we have gotten our dessert, Pearl is finally able to respond again to everything around her and the first thing out of her mouth is “that fucking Bitch.”

We chuckle as she starts cutting in to her slice of cake and it doesn’t take long before we are finished with dinner. We follow Preston and Pearl up to the Alpha floor, I hope that Ruth can shed some light on the remarks she made.

“Okay, Darius. Out with it, what is on your mind?” Preston asks the moment the door closes behind us.

“I have been thinking about Ruth’s remarks. It has kept me preoccupied all week and I don’t understand why I never thought of it myself. Why is Mother pushing Daniella on Daxton and not me? Why does Mother keep pushing Daxton to a chosen Mate and not me?” I ask.

It is quiet for a moment, before all of them start talking at once and I smile as I hear the cacophony of voices.

“Okay, can we do this one at the time?  I can’t make head or tails out of this.” I say and suddenly it is quiet again.

“I have always found it strange and that is why I gave it a lot of thought. Always listening to what Madeline said or how she said it and that is what led to my questions.” Ruth says.

“Dad told me that she made the two of you believe that you were born a year apart and that Darius is the oldest, but he couldn’t get her to tell him why she did it. Just to make this even more interesting, Daxton is five minutes older.” Preston says with a smile.

“Hold on, he is older than me?” I ask, not that it matters to me. It just makes things a bit stranger that is all, Mother always acted as if I was the oldest and now I find out that I am not.

Everyone has a dumbfounded look on their faces, it is hard to understand why a Mother would do that to her own Sons.

“I might have the answer though and I think it has to do with your Mother’s upbringing. In her Pack the oldest of a twin got the position of their Father, the youngest got nothing. I am assuming that your Mother believed it works the same here, but we all know it doesn’t.” Preston says.

It would explain why she favored only one of us, but not why she chose me over Daxton.

“What if your Mother is afraid that Daxton will get the Beta Position? After all she is unaware of the fact that I made both you my Beta, she might fear that I will find out the truth and hand over the position to Daxton.” Preston says.

“If she knows our Pack-laws, she will know that a High-rank with a chosen Mate is not accepted.” Pearl responds.

That could be why our Mother is trying to force Daxton to take a chosen Mate, but I don’t believe it is the correct answer.