JUNIOR

“Are you sure about this, L?” Delilah asked me.

I nodded my head. “I have to, Lilah. I will never be ready to protect everyone if I don’t start learning how to do it!” I told her. She sat on my bed while I combed my hair in the mirror that hung from my closet door.

“What if Uncle Liam says no?” she asked. “We’re kids still.”

“Dad started training when he was five. Grandma and Mom didn’t know I heard their conversation. That means that I am behind! If I want to be a great Blackfur Alpha, then I need to start learning now!” I told her.

“Okay,” she said, hopping off the bed. “If he says no, I guess we’ll just figure it out together.” I turned to my best friend.

“Thanks, Lilah,” I told her.

“Good luck,” she said. She left me in my room. I turned back to the mirror and took a deep breath. I could make Dad understand. Now that Grandma, Grandpa, and Mr. Austin were gone, there were less people to protect us. Dad needed someone to help keep our people safe, and I wanted to be the one to help him.

I marched out of my room and straight down to his office. I passed Mom on the way, but I couldn’t stop to talk to her; I had a mission to complete. I knocked on the door, and I heard Dad say, “Come in.”

I pushed the heavy door open and walked right up to his desk. “Hey, bud, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Dad, I mean Alpha, we need to talk,” I said.

“Oh?” he said back. His eyebrow raised on one side.

“After recent events, I think it is permanent that my Alpha training begin immediately!” I said. I stuck my chin out like the guys in the movies did.

Dad laughed a little. “It’s pertinent, is it?”

“Yes,” I told him. “You started when you were five, and I am older than that! Grandma said that I am the Little Alpha. There is only one Alpha in our pack, so it has to be you to teach me what to do.”

Dad was smiling, and I couldn’t tell if he was taking me seriously or not. He stood up and walked around his desk. He leaned against it crossing his arms. “And what will you do if I say that you are still too young?”

“Delilah and I will figure it out on our own,” I told him. Now both his eyebrows went up. He let out his deep laugh.

“You know what the first lesson in being an Alpha is?” he asked.

“No?” I said.

“An Alpha must always fight for what he thinks is right, but he must also accept that he might be wrong,” Dad said.

“Wait,” I said. “So am I right or wrong?”

Dad laughed some more. “You came in here ready to defend what you think is the right thing to do. You thought about why it was right and weren’t afraid to defend yourself. If you feel that training to become Alpha is the right thing to do, then I will accept that I was wrong.”

“You will?” I asked, not believing him.

He nodded. “I wanted to protect you for a little longer. Your mother and I wanted to let you be a kid for as long as we could because being Alpha is hard. If you think that you are ready to start learning, I will admit that I was wrong. So do you still think you are ready?”

“Yes!” I said, jumping up excitedly. I stopped and controlled myself again; Alphas were cool and calm. “Yes,” I said again calmly.

Dad had a big smile on my face. “Alright, Wednesdays after school for one hour. Alpha training, me and you.”

“I have another thing,” I told him.

“You came in here more prepared than I thought,” Dad said.

“I want Delilah to train with us,” I told him. “She is going to be my Beta, and the Beta helps if the Alpha is busy, so it only makes sense that she learns with me.”

“I’ll talk to Uncle Damien about it,” he said.

“That is fair,” I said, nodding. “Thank you for meeting with me.”

“Thank you for coming,” Dad laughed. I turned and walked slowly out of the room. When I got into the hallway, I ran as fast as I could to find Lilah. She was going to be so excited.

MADDOX

Missy squeezed my hand as we pulled up the driveway. The Serenity Waters packhouse was far more quaint than the B***d Eclipse one. The entire pack seemed to be built around a sizeable lake that was fed by a river.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked as I put the car in park.

“Yea, I need to do this,” I told her. It took me a long time after the aftermath of the attack on B***d Eclipse, but I finally accepted that I needed to talk to Langston. It was our last day before school started again, and I knew if I waited any longer, I wouldn’t have the nerve.

We climbed out of the car, and someone our age came out the front door. “Welcome, you must be Maddox and Missy!” he said. “Alpha has told me a lot about you!”

I shook his hand. “Hi,” I said.

“Sorry, I should introduce myself. I am the Beta’s nephew, Ronin, ” he told us.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Missy said.

“Alpha is waiting for you,” he said. “He would have come outside, but we are still working on making the packhouse a little more accessible for him.”

My stomach felt heavy as we followed Ronin inside their packhouse. The inside was surprisingly large; I hadn’t expected it based on the outside of the packhouse. When we stepped into Langston’s office, we were greeted by Emma squealing.

“Oh Missy, you get prettier every day!”

Missy let go of my hand to hug Emma. When they were done, she held my mate at arm’s length smiling. “Having a mate looks good on you, dear,” she said fondly.

“Thanks,” she smiled.

“Why don’t we go down to the kitchen and find some snacks?” Emma said. “We can leave our mates to talk.” Missy nodded. “Ronin, sweetheart, would you mind going to help your uncle?”

Ronin nodded his head and left the office. Emma pulled Missy along with her and closed the door. I was left alone with Langston. He sat behind his desk, but he wasn’t in a regular chair; he sat in a wheelchair.

“Maddox, glad to see you looking so good after the attack,” Langston said. Reflexively, I rolled my shoulder. I still had a scar from where my arm reattached, and it felt stiff sometimes, but otherwise, you would never know I lost a limb.

“Luna Azalea really came through for our whole pack,” I said.

“She is quite amazing,” Langston nodded. “Why don’t you come have a seat?”

I stepped forward to one of the cozy chairs across the desk from him. I sat down gingerly, more nervous now that I was actually in front of him. “Liam said you had something you wanted to talk to me about,” Langston said.

I nodded my head, but I couldn’t meet his eyes. “Alpha-”

“Langston. No need for formalities after our little adventure,” he laughed.Belongs to - All rights reserved.

“Langston,” I corrected. “I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I should never have left you to fight that Sire on your own. If I would have just stayed-”

“We may both be dead,” Langston interrupted me. I looked up at him, confused. “Son, you have nothing to apologize for. I knew that we were both facing an impossible situation when that Sire arrived. I know I am no spring chicken while you are in your prime. Even so, more training wouldn’t hurt you. Telling you to leave was a calculated move to give us the best possible outcome we could hope for.”

“I did it, though,” I said. “I killed Bygrave. If I had stayed, then you wouldn’t have had to get hurt and….”

“You killed the Sire after seeing what he had done to me,” Langston said. “You went into a blind rage, and your instinct took completely over. I don’t believe that would have happened if you had remained with me for the entire fight.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Maddox, when you realized that my spine was snapped, you’re entire demeanor changed. Without reading your mind or seeing your thoughts, I can only assume that it shifted something inside you. You were possessed with revenge and ending that vampire. You have a lot of power and strength inside of you that seemed to break from its cage at that moment. Not many ever experience something so high stakes, so they don’t unlock their potential in the same way.”

“It doesn’t feel like that,” I muttered.

“I am sure it doesn’t,” he smiled. “I have been an Alpha for a very long time. I have seen many strong warriors and trained with many stronger Alphas. You are letting your guilt hold you back. If you cannot forgive yourself for something I do not hold against you, it will consume you. If you can let it go, I promise, you will be an incredible wolf, warrior, and man.”

I met his eyes and realized he was giving me a thoughtful look. “Bygrave had a destined, like a mate. I killed her when she came after Missy.”

“Liam sent me a copy of the report. It seems like you have the perfect partner to support you,” he smiled.

Then, the girls walked in, ending our conversation. Emma carried a tray of food while Missy had drinks in her hands. “How are we doing?” Emma asked.

“Great,” Langston said. Emma came around his desk, setting the tray down on it before sitting in his lap. She kissed his cheek affectionately. “I was just about to ask young Maddox what his plans were for after graduation.”

–

I felt a lot lighter when we returned home that evening. Langston assured me he had a plan to step down and was putting it in motion slowly. Emma told Missy that she was just grateful to have Langston alive, knowing that his extended tenure as Alpha put him in more and more danger all the time.

When school resumed the next day, it was weird. Sol was still pretty quiet and far less smiley, but we were all trying to give her the time she needed to grieve her twin. Emmett was quieter, but at least there wasn’t a second enormous gap left in our group.

The weirdest part was that all of a sudden, people were being friendly to Missy and I. There were no more whispers or giggles, no more accusing looks and eye rolls. When we got to lunch, I was expecting the other shoe to drop. I just felt like we were missing something.

“Why is everyone so nice all of a sudden?” Missy asked, looking around.

“It’s the stories,” Julie said like it was obvious.

“What stories?” I asked.

“You guys don’t know?” Julie asked incredulously.

“Know what?” Missy asked.

“Spit it out,” I told her.

She rolled her eyes. “There are all kinds of stories floating around about you two fighting all the vampires,” she said. She gave Emmett a pointed look. “I think someone was bragging a little too loudly in the clinic about how badass his best friends are and the vamps we took down.”

“Wait, so they know what happened?” Missy asked.

“Well, some version of it. I heard one girl talking about you cornering one and biting off each its limb before burning it alive, so clearly, things have been dramatized,” she said.

“Wow,” I said.

“I think the main thing here is they all don’t think we’re misfits anymore. I think these stories have earned us some respect and maybe even a little of a badass rep,” she smiled. Emmett scoffed.

“You know what? If it means I don’t have any more drinks poured on me, I’ll take it,” Missy said, shrugging. She dug into her lunch, and soon the conversation shifted back to school and what was to come for all of us.

It felt normal, and I decided, I liked normal.

DAMIEN

Lily and Azalea were in the kitchen baking cookies. It seemed like since the attack was stopped, Azalea has been doing everything in her power to bring normalcy and peace to everyone. She was watching the kids like a hawk, making sure they weren’t struggling too hard with the loss. She was visiting the mates of lost pack members; she was baking and feeding everyone. She did her best to keep an eye on Liam, but he had to work through some of this on his own. Slowly he was coming back around.

I came to the conclusion that she was able to heal everyone because of the Harvest Moon. There was no other explanation for it. Her pink, nurturing aura remained in the sky until the sun had fully risen the next day. Yesterday, Delilah banged her knee pretty hard while the kids were playing. Azalea rushed in to help, but I could see it made her tired. She didn’t seem to want to talk about it, but she looked disappointed that her power had its consequences once again.

“Brownie?” a voice asked. I snapped out of my trance to realize Azalea was standing right in front of me, holding up a napkin.

“Thanks,” I said, taking it from her.

“Everything alright?” she asked.

“Yea,” I told her. “We just got Felix settled into Austin’s office. I am going to take his things to Abigail in a minute.”

She nodded. No matter how strong she was, no one could bring back the dead. “I’m sorry I couldn’t reconnect your wolf,” she said, looking down. “I really hoped….”

“It’s okay,” I told her. She looked up at me with doubt. “I think it will all work out in the end. I have Lily to help keep Cage grounded, and now I can fight without him.”

“Still, it must be awful having your other half ripped away from you,” she said. “I wish I could help Emmett and the others that were bitten too.”

“I could guess that it must be pretty awful never to have the chance to be with your wolf,” I told her. Her eyes softened. “I can be grateful that I had Cage with me all these years. He isn’t gone, just not with me. Maybe we will find an answer; maybe we won’t.”

“Quinn called,” she changed the subject.

“Yea?” I said.

“She and Michael will be coming back next week. She wanted to make sure you were up for some intense training. She wants a go at you with your axes,” she laughed.

“I’m not sure that is a good idea,” I said, thinking back to accidentally dismembering Maddox.

“Yea, for you,” Lily laughed, joining us.

“You don’t think I can handle the blue-haired hobbit?” I said. Both the girls looked at each other and laughed.

“Guess we have a show to watch,” Lily said, smiling radiantly.