Seth’s POV
We were out on yet another job, our third this week. Siro just couldn’t say no to these stupid things, something about making our own way. With our pack duties and now all these extra jobs, Siro was leaving no time for much else. As we stood leaning against the door, I linked to him “after this one we are taking the weekend off!”. He looked back at me disapprovingly as I added “come on bro, we are twenty seven not a hundred and twenty seven, live a little”. He just rolled his eyes as he looked away groaning. The moon goddess must have thought herself funny giving my twin such a serious demeanour, we looked exactly alike but couldn’t be more different.
Once Markus was finally done with his ‘meeting’ he paid us, plus tip. His jobs were always easier than his brothers, Michael’s nearly always required the use of our ‘skills’. They liked to call it business dealings but we all knew what was truly happening behind those doors and being half were we could hear it too. We drove back to the pack house and when I reached my room I immediately collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep quickly.
I woke in the morning to Squirt banging on my door, hollering about being late for training. I rolled out of bed and dressed sleepily. As I walked out, I saw Squirt and Siro standing there and I hated how much mornings agreed with them. As we waited, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and yawned. Squirt nudged me and teased “ You’ve been doing this for how long? Shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”. I slapped the back of his head for his cheek. Usually I would have more patience, but my brother also should have known better this early in the morning. As Sofie walked or more dragged herself out, I thanked the goddess that at least my sister joined me in our disagreement of mornings.
When we arrived at training, we took our place on the podium. Being Gammas children and trained warriors, we often lead training but it was the Betas turn today. We started with a warm up before a run and then some sparring, sometimes with weapons, sometimes in wolf form, but mostly just hand-to-hand combat. Today was just hand-to-hand, thank f**k. Zach was awake but he was feeling worse than I was with the lack of sleep recently. When he heard it was just me sparring, I could feel his relief as he teased “I think I might just have a little rest”. I groaned back to him “gee thanks”. “You’re the one who can’t say no to Siro”. I sighed, knowing my wolf was right but not wanting to admit it.
I survived training and headed into the dining hall for breakfast. Pancakes, my favourite. I thanked Gabby, the omega serving us, before gobbling them down hungrily. I still don’t agree with the idea of omegas, generations of wolves kept at the bottom of the pack. Treated like cooks, cleaners or worse, personal servants. But my father had made us all promise to keep our heads down and not bring attention to ourselves. Our secret took priority over all else. As my siblings sat down beside me, we were soon joined by Louisa and Jamie too. They were siblings and, knowing them since childhood, they were easily classed as family to us too. But not even they knew our secret, the superstitions running too deep to risk telling anyone about us. The importance of its secrecy had been drummed into us since we were mere toddlers. A single slip up and we would be forced to turn rogue, or at least that’s what my father told us. See, my mother is not a were, she was born into the fae. A fairy of the unseelie, better known as a dark fairy. Wolves and other supernatural creatures believed dark fairies to be innately evil, their only ambitions to bring chaos and sadness. But my mother’s family was one of the few exceptions. They rejected the teachings of the unseelie, choosing to abandon their herd and live peacefully in the human world. And this is where my father found her. They are true mates and to make their union possible, my father had introduced her to the pack as a human. He had covered her scent with the help of a witch. Revisiting Dana each time one of us has come of age. Sofie was the only one left unmasked now.
The one hiccup had always been my mother’s inability to lie, a blessing she had, of course, passed down to us. Over the years, however, we have learned clever ways to avoid answering unwanted questions whilst still telling the truth. Such as when mum asked ‘what did you get up to today?’ instead of saying ‘oh nothing much, just guarding for the mafia again’, we would finish our reply at ‘ Oh nothing much’.
“You coming to the party tonight?” Louisa asked us all. I looked over to Siro before looking back at her and answering “ Yes we are” with a smile. As if clock work Siro went to object but before he could I linked him “nah ah not after all those jobs you dragged me on. You’re coming”. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as Louisa looked at him. She didn’t ask but you could see she wanted to. “Yeah, whatever, for a little while” he replied gruffly, always the party animal that one. Louisa lit up like it was Christmas but Siro didn’t notice, he never did. Sofie quickly distracted her, talking about what they would be wearing and ... and honestly, I tuned out a mere moment after they began. As I continued eating, dad came over to give us our patrol area for this afternoon. We used to do patrols every second day, but with the recent scaling up in the war against the vampires, it has become daily now. I nodded along as Siro concentrated better, taking in carefully all of what he was saying. Boy Scout. My dad then looked from Siro to me. “ You get all that?”. I nodded, swallowing my mouthful “yeah .... and if not he did”. Dad groaned, “you shouldn’t rely on your brother listening, you should be too”. “I was. Western border. Got it” I replied with a playful salute. Dad leaned over to tap my cheek playfully “you’re lucky you’re my son”, he said before walking away. After I finished breakfast, I took my time walking back up the stairs and down the hallway to my room. My family all shared the same floor, but since us pups had gotten older, mum and dad renovated it so we could each have our own mini apartments, still being together but having some privacy. Or at least the illusion of privacy. Cause you know, every single time I bought a she-wolf back here, one of them always seemed to notice, no matter how discreet I had been. And once one knew, they all did.
Back in my apartment, I took a quick shower and not bothering to dress, I immediately collapsed on my bed, setting an alarm before catching up on some much needed sleep.