Interview With The Alpha
1540 Words
Jonathan POV
The following morning, instead of going straight to the library, we decided to see if there was anything Alpha Terrance could possibly tell us about the royal Lycan family. Linda dialed the number for the packhouse and handed Jameson the phone. He switched it onto speaker so we could hear too, but honestly, with this new and improved sense of hearing I had, he didn't really need to do that.
A lady answered the phone, and Jameson told her who he was and asked if Alpha Terrance was available. She asked him to hold and patched him through to the Alpha's direct line, which he answered after only one ring. Jameson identified himself and asked if he had a little free time to talk that morning. Alpha Terrance told him he had the entire morning free, as he was just catching up on some paperwork. He said that he did have a meeting in the afternoon, but we were welcome to stop by anytime before noon. It was 8:30 when we spoke to him, and by 9:00 we were sitting in his office.
After the customary good morning greetings and handshakes, we got down to business. Jameson and I both told him what little backstory we knew about ourselves, and Jameson showed him the picture that we'd brought with Linda's permission.
"That's me," Jameson told him, pointing, "and of course, that's Jonathan."
The picture was labeled "RCP Jamisen and RCP Johnathon, on their third birthday."
"Look, the spelling of our names have been changed," I pointed out.
"I wonder why they didn't change our names completely?" Jameson mused.
"They suspect your uncle of the kidnapping, right?" Alpha Terrance asked.
I nodded. "That's what we've been told."
"Well, from the stories I've heard about him, he's ambitious, but lazy, and not too smart," Terrance told us. "Like, he wants the throne - or at least he did, before he was banished - but he doesn't want to put in the work to get it. Kidnapping you two? I'm honestly surprised he'd put in the effort, but I reckon he thought that was his only option besides killing you. Renaming you would've taken more effort and brainpower than he was willing to put in. I very strongly suspect there's someone else involved, someone who likely did all the actual work. And if it was indeed him, then from what you've told me, he himself drove the two of you cross country. The only reason I can come up with that he did it himself is because anyone else might have brought the two of you back, claiming they found you and collecting the reward money he knew your biological parents would offer."
I was impressed. I had known already that Alpha Terrance was smart, but I was beginning to see now how intelligent he really was. He had deduced all of that in just a matter of minutes.
'Alphas have to be able to think quickly, on their feet,' Damien told me. 'It's all part of leading the pack.'
'That makes sense, I suppose,' I replied.
When I refocused my eyes, Terrance and Jameson were both looking at me.
"Sorry, Damien was talking," I told them.
Terrance smiled. "No worries. We're used to that around here. Diesel generally like to insert his opinion at the most inopportune moments." He paused, then he rolled his eyes. "Like now. He says I'm embarrassing him in front of royalty. Oh, stop yammering, you big, overgrown mutt! Nobody called you weak."
Jameson and I laughed.
"Do you ever get used to that?" Jameson asked. "Having someone else living in your head, with their own thoughts and opinions?"
Terrance nodded. "You do. Well, at least, I did. But then again, I always knew it was coming, long before Diesel actually showed up. I've known that I was a werewolf for my entire life. It will probably take the two of you longer to get used to it, since it's not something you were raised to expect."
We both nodded.
"Definitely unexpected," I replied with a laugh.
"But honestly, from what I've seen and heard, you guys are both adjusting a lot quicker than a lot of people would," he told us. "My dad told me a story once about a she-wolf that was adopted and raised by humans who had no idea what she was. She was 26 years old when she suddenly shifted in the middle of a Walmart. Nobody knows why she didn't shift until then, or what triggered the sudden shift. The Council was in chaos, from what Dad told me, having witches go in and wipe everyone's memories."
My interest was piqued. "What happened to the she-wolf?" I asked. Jameson looked like he was listening pretty intently too.
"The last I heard, she'd joined a relatively small pack in Utah and found her mate there. I think he may be the Alpha, but I really don't know. I'd have to ask Dad. This all happened about fifteen to twenty years ago, I think."
"Do you think your Dad might remember her name?" Jameson asked. "I don't know why but I'm curious about her."
Terrance shrugged. "He might know. It was a pretty hot topic for a few days around here. I'd mind link him to ask, but he and Mom are out of town at the moment. They should be back in a couple of days."
I made a mental note to myself to try to find out more about that she-wolf. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something told me that she was important, that she had something to do with our story. I just needed to find out what.
"Now," Jameson said, "going back to the subject at hand, do you have any idea where the Lycan kingdom is located?"
"The last I knew, it was located somewhere in Maine," he replied. "Dad went there a couple of times on official pack business when he was Alpha, but I haven't been yet. I'm sure it's probably noted here in the files somewhere, since he was pretty meticulous about keeping receipts and such. We moved a lot of it into storage when I became Alpha, or put it in the files at the library if it was stuff that affected pack history, like membership lists and such." He stood up, walked over to the filing cabinets behind him, and opened one of the drawers. He pulled out a file fat with what looked like receipts and other various papers. Walking back to his desk, he plopped it in front of us before sitting back down. "When you two called this morning, I figured I might need to know where the kingdom was when Dad went, so I went through some things on the computer and found out his last trip was ten years ago. Here's the file from some of his trips that year. We can look through here and see if we can find anything that gives us an exact location, like a motel receipt. Of course, he more than likely stayed on kingdom grounds, in the palace or something, so there may not be a motel receipt. But hopefully, we'll find something."
"Can you call him and see if he remembers?" I asked.
Terrance shook his head. "He asked that we not call unless it was an emergency. Plus the cell reception isn't good where they are, so even if I tried I very likely couldn't get through. He gave me an emergency number for the campground office's landline, but if I use it and it's not an emergency, he said, and I quote, this pack will be looking for another Alpha."
Jameson and I both laughed.
"Well, we definitely don't want to cause all that," I quipped. "You said they'll be home in a few days anyway, right?"
Terrance nodded. "Yes, they should be. That's what they said, anyway."
I glanced over at Jameson and he nodded at me. He already knew what I was thinking. "We don't have a certain timeline we have to follow or anything like that," I told Terrance. "If it's ok, we'll stick around for a few days until he's back and see what he remembers."
"That's fine. I'm pretty sure Linda and Dave love having you there - she's followed the story of your kidnapping for as long as I can remember - but if, for some reason, you can't stay with them that long, there's always room here at the packhouse," he replied.
"And is it still ok if we use the library while we wait?" Jameson asked. "I'd like to find out as much as I can about the royal family, and see if maybe the library has information not in that." He pointed at the file.
"Of course it is," Terrance told him. "And if my wife has any free time, she may come down and help with research if that's ok with you two. She's already mentioned that, and I told her I'd ask. She loves that sort of thing."
Jameson nodded. "We're grateful for any help we can get."
Terrance smiled. "Awesome. Now, let's see if this file holds any secrets for us."
- Writer
