KYLE

#Chapter9 KYLE It’s been nearly an hour since Mom walked up the stairs to the alpha’s office, the alpha who is supposed to be my father. This fact is so hard to stomach and it makes me sick to think about it. The man who fathered me is sitting under the same roof and he hasn’t even bothered to come look at me, his son. I know it wasn’t supposed to surprise me, but it does. This man rejected me and my mom twenty years ago. What did I expect to happen, some miracle in the last couple of years that would prompt him to accept either of us? It was stupid to expect anything because it would only lead to more hurt. Moreover, I don’t need him anymore. I have had a father already. The days I needed my father to help me walk, how to ride a bike, and how to shift are long gone. I’m a man of my own and I’m sure I can hold my own now. It is extremely strange to think about, and, something I hadn’t even thought of before, but the alpha would surely have a family of his own, a Luna to call his own, children to call his own, and maybe a son to take over the pack when the time is right. Of course, Mom, I, and the twins don’t fit in the picture. We land into this man’s life out of nowhere and expect him to what, forget all of his carefully laid-out plans about the future, and elect me as the next alpha? Even to me, it all sounds unreal and preposterous. I tightly hold Ariel’s and Ben's hands in mine. Small as they are, they still understand that the situation we are in right now is no laughing matter. So, in contrast to their natures, they sit still and let me be the adult. The beta of the pack, Aaron I believe, has left us sitting in the pack’s sitting room by ourselves. I’m not a fool, though. We’re hardly by ourselves; no pack is stupid to leave three wolves unattended in their territory. I can smell the two warrior wolves in the other room, ordered to keep an eye on us. What harm these six-year-old children can do? Mom had said that my wolf would feel a change as soon as we crossed this pack’s borders but so far, I feel nothing. My wolf has retreated into the deepest recesses of my mind and when I try to call him out, I get no answer. Is this the incredible change my mom was talking about, not even being able to talk to my wolf? My ears prick up at the sound of the soft pitter-patter of feet and the gait that I recognize to be my mom. Her scent wafts up my nose and my body tenses in anticipation of what’s going to happen. What I want is for her to say that the alpha has denied us any refuge and has asked us to go back to where we have come from. That way everyone will be happy, we will return to our lives back home and the alpha will continue to live his life like he had planned. But I guess some things are too big to ask because I don’t sense the warriors in the other room tensing up or getting ready to throw us out from their pack lands. As disrespectful as that would have been, I would have wanted it much more than I do staying here. I stand when my mom comes into view and comes to stand in front of me. I can sense the discomfort emanating from her and I try to school my expressions, if only to make it easy for her. “What did he say? Did he reject us refuge in his pack and order us to go back home?” “You would like nothing better, wouldn’t you?” Mom snorts and I all but flinch at her tired tone. She straightens and tries to hide how tired she is. “He has offered us refuge but instead of granting us our own independent house, he has ordered us to stay here, in the pack house, and live like pack members. Which means, the twins will stay with me but you will have your room on a separate floor.” This was the first time in my life I would be staying in a packed house. I have always lived in my own home with my family, except for a few drunken nights after partying with the future alpha and beta of the pack. The alpha had the power to grant us an independent house of our own but he didn’t. A pack of this size must have a few empty settlements but he must have wanted us to stay under his nose so that he could keep an eye on us. #