Lila and I walked home hand in hand. She talked about how excited she was for the run tonight. I watched her with a small smile. As the house came into view she took off sprinting ahead of me. She giggled as our father opened the door before she had a chance to knock. He quickly picked her up and gave her a bone-crushing hug. She squealed and tried to squirm away. I smiled. I would fight to protect this for the rest of my life. I grinned at my father as I neared the front door.

“Aria won her race!!” Lila screamed. I laughed. My father was rubbing the ear closest to her. She never knew how to control her volume.

“That's great to hear!” My father exclaimed. Pride shown in his eyes. He used to be a part of the pack military before he was gravely injured. He never expected one of his daughters to become the next beta after the shame his injury brought the family.

“AND we get to go on a run tonight. Alpha Dominic said he wanted to join! Aria and him are going to race as wolves!” She said with such excitement. I took another deep breath as I made eye contact with my father. He frowned.

“Why would you race him as a wolf? You know he will win?” My father whispered. I simply shrugged. I wasn’t going to throw little Lila under the bus. She didn’t know any better. Losing anything risks losing my status as future beta. I had to be the best in every way. Alpha Dominic expected me to even beat him. He wasn’t incapable by any means, he just didn't want anyone to be able to bring shame to his inner circle.

I side stepped my father and headed for the shower. I needed to get some of this sweat and dirt off of me. I stopped by the medicine cabinet on the way. I grabbed a healing tonic to help heal my hurting muscles. Hopefully it would help give me a slight edge. I quickly showered and changed into a new set of leathers. I wasn’t certain what this meeting was, but I wanted to be sure that if it got violent I was free to move and shift.I pulled my silver hair into a tight bun. I glanced up into the mirror and stared into my ice blue eyes.I rolled my shoulders and grabbed the healing tonic from the counter.

I took a deep breath before uncapping the tonic and slamming it down as fast as I could. The smell and taste combined made my eyes water. I burped. My body fought to keep the disgusting drink down. I gagged and fought another wave of nausea. I finally took several big gulps of water and breathed a little easier. Despite having taken the tonic a lot in this lifetime, it was the most foul tasting thing I had the displeasure of drinking. I could feel its effect immediately.

I stepped out of the bathroom and made my way to the kitchen. Father was cooking something amazing. My mouth was watering before I even stepped foot in the kitchen. When I entered he wasn’t standing over the simmering pot. Lila was drawing at the bar.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Aria! Dad is cooking.” Lila said with a smile. I chuckled lightly. I leaned over the pot on the stove and smelled the food. The spices combined with the meat smelled amazing. I was excited at the idea of getting the horrible taste of the tonic out of my mouth. I grabbed a spoon from the drawer and took a small bite.

“Hey, that's not fair!” Lila screamed. I froze staring right at her. I could hear my dad shuffling about in the pantry.

“Aria that food isn't done yet. I will cut out your tongue if you keep eating.” Father threatened. I knew he was kidding but it didn’t stop the gruesome image from coming to the forefront of my mind. Dominic had cut the tongue out of one of the girls he sought out. She never stopped talking about how amazing they would be together. Rather than kill her he silenced her. I could still smell her blood as if she was also sitting at the bar with Lila. That girl worked at the library. I regularly brought her stuff for her and her family. My way of apologizing for her pain. I blinked away the memory and stepped away from the food. Despite the amazing smell, I no longer wanted another bite.

Father came back from the pantry with a glare on his eyes. He must have seen the haunted look in my eyes because his face softened. I gave him a light smile and dropped the spoon in the sink. Lila stuck her tongue out at me when I glanced her way and I smiled. I glanced at the clock on the wall. I had about 2 hours before I needed to meet with Dominic. I grabbed my bag and pulled out the folder with his birthday plans in it.

I sat down at the table and began pouring over all possible threats and how many people I needed to have guarding the future Alpha. He always loved extravagant birthdays. He had 2 locations for the party and both would need to be properly covered. It was going to be an absolute pain in my ass to keep Alpha and his son safe. My eyes strained and my neck felt sore after I finished sorting through all the paperwork. I knew what I needed and planned to make the demands tomorrow to the Alpha. I filed it all away in my bag. I glanced at the time.

Shit! I needed to go. Time flew by while I was working. I didn’t want to be late. I waved to my dad who was working on serving up Lila her dessert. He waved back as I sprinted out the house and ran to the business center.

The run should only be 10 minutes top. I had 15 minutes before I was late. I kept a steady pace around the corner and gassed down a straight path. Very few people were out tonight. I sprinted around the last corner and almost slammed into the future Alpha himself. He was standing outside talking with several of his best friends. I slid to a stop and almost lost my balance. I leaned over with my hands on my knees. My heart was absolutely pounding.

I glanced up and Dominic was grinning.

“Sorry. I didn't want to be late. I was so focused on running I didn’t smell you.” I explained. Dominic laughed. Several of his buddies snickered but refused to meet my eye.

“No worries Aria. You are just on time. Let's begin our meeting shall we.” He said too sweetly. My eyes narrowed. I glanced at his friends. Two were supposed to help me run the pack. They would be below me in rank but had their own duties. Those were the two that refused to meet my eye. Whatever this meeting was, it was going to be bad. His other friends laughed as well all headed inside.