Jordan: The Rogue Alpha

#musicvibe - Concerning hobbits, Howard Shore * Jordan POV The morning sun streamed through the windows of the packhouse as I made my way through the dining hall after breakfast. The whole packhouse was bustling with activity and when I opened the front door to head outside, it seemed like the Blue Eclipse pack village was no different. “Hi Alpha!” I waved at Mrs Brady, one of the school teachers in the pack elementary school, as I walked by. “Good morning, Alpha.” Mr Darius greeted me as he opened up the pack bakery. “Good morning.” I replied. I walked through the village, stopping from time to time to say hi to my pack members, all of them being very cheerful and happy, even if it was only seven in the morning. Since there was a lunar Eclipse coming up, the pack was about to celebrate the Night of Light, lighting up the night with fires, candles and lights to compensate for the lack of light from the full moon. Everyone seemed to be excited about it, and it warmed my heart every time the pack members were this kind of gleeful. A pack of wolves ran past me, and I waved at Elijah, my new Head warrior as the group came to a halt. He let out a small bark before he shifted back. “Good morning, Alpha.” He greeted me. “Are you joining us in training today?” I shook my head. “Not today, I have some other things to attend to.” I replied. “But we’re back at it tomorrow. And don’t think that I’m going easy on you because of the party tonight.” I jokingly added. Elijah chuckled. “Of course.” He said. “I’m sure that we can both party and kick some ass, so we’ll be ready for you.” “We’ll see about that tomorrow.” I chuckled too and watched as Elijah shifted back and commanded his team to follow him as they took off towards the forest in the west. I left the village and walked along the small paths in the forest towards the lake. When I reached the shoreline, I sat down on a boulder and looked out over the still water. I leaned forward and saw my reflection with the short light blonde hair and deep blue eyes stare back at me in the reflection of the water. For some reason, my own appearance made me chuckle as I realized how much I had changed since I left the pack I grew up in. At age 32, I was the Alpha of the fastest growing pack in the country. People were contacting me every day, hoping to become members. I had to say that it made me happy knowing that people all over the country had started to realize that pack life as it used to be wasn’t working anymore. When I created the Blue Eclipse pack, I was adamant that we do things differently. No pack member should ever feel alone or excluded just because they were different. A wave of sadness washed over me and I looked to the sky as I was reminded why I started all of this in the first place. * ***16 years ago.*** * I tugged on the neckline of my suit and glanced around the crowded room. The Alpha summit was in full swing and everyone was enjoying themselves. Since my father was the Alpha of the Sky Band pack, the whole family was attending the summit. The Alpha summit was at the Crimson Crest pack this year, about an hour by car from our pack. I knew that these gatherings were important for the pack’s alliances, but I still hated to be here. My little sister Avery came up to me. “This is boring.” She whined. “There’s no one to play with.” Just as I was about to answer her, my father walked up to us. He looked angry, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. “Where is Carly?” He growled. “We’ll go see if we can find her. I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.” I hurriedly said and pulled Avery with me before he could say anything else. My father was always like this with Carly. She was… different. Even though she was destined to be Alpha, she was always extremely introverted. She had a hard time making friends in school and she couldn’t keep her grades up. She had trouble speaking, and the words often came out slurred. After my father sent her away to train, she never spoke again. I never knew what they did to her, but she stopped talking altogether. Carly showed no interest in becoming Alpha and any kind of confrontation made her break down crying and screaming or lash out. They couldn’t figure out what it was at first, until they took her to the pack doctor when Carly was seven and she was diagnosed with Autism. My parents tried to hide it from the pack. They sent Carly away to train at other packs, hoping that her Autism could be “cured”. It didn’t work, instead, it made Carly even more quiet and I found her crying in her room more often when she came home again. I was sure that Carly had gotten overwhelmed by the crowd and was hiding out somewhere. When I pulled Avery with me outside, I ran into Flynn and Florian. They were twins and Flynn, who was the oldest twin, was supposed to take over the Crimson Crest pack when he turned 18 next year. “Hey guys.” Florian said. “What’s up?” I shrugged. “We’re looking for Carly.” I replied. “You guys haven’t seen her?” They both shook their heads. “We’ll come help you look.” Flynn offered and I gave him a grateful smile. We walked around the garden together, looking for Carly. “Does she usually go missing like that?” Florian asked. “You know, she’s supposed to be the next Alpha. Doesn’t she like the attention?” I shrugged. “Carly isn’t that type of girl.” I replied. “She hates the attention.” “I kind of understand her.” Flynn sighed. “I’m not that much of a fan when it comes to attention either. Everyone keeps telling me to be strong and grateful and all that, but it just sucks.” “Being Alpha is an honor.” Florian reminded him, and Flynn rolled his eyes. “Well yeah, I’d rather be a doctor.” Flynn muttered. “Being Alpha isn’t for everybody.” I shrugged. “You shouldn’t have to be forced just because you're the eldest child.” Florian huffed. “Yeah, and it’s not by a lot.” He muttered. “Only thirteen minutes.” A cracked branch startled us, and I instinctively pulled Avery behind me. “Well well.” A dark voice said, making us all freeze. “Uncle Sebastian.” Flynn sighed. “What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be enjoying the festivities?” A tall man with dark hair and blue eyes emerged from the shadows. “I could ask you the same thing.” He muttered. “What are you doing out here?” I cleared my throat. “Umm…” I said. “We’re looking for my sister. Have you seen her?” He raised an eyebrow and smiled in a way that almost made my hair stand on end. “Your sister hmm.” He said. “Is she pretty?” I frowned at him and suppressed a growl while Florian rolled his eyes. “We’ll just keep looking.” He said. Sebastian nodded and walked off. “He’s kinda creepy.” Avery mumbled. I quickly shushed her before anyone could hear it, but both Flynn and Florian started giggling. “Oh yeah, he’s a real creep.” Flynn chuckled. “He’s our dad’s brother, but they don’t really get along so he took off to live in another pack and just shows up when there is something he has to gain from it. I don’t even know why he showed up tonight.” “Urgh.” Avery groaned. “Let’s find Carly before he does.” We kept walking through the garden, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I saw that there was a starry sky above us, so I was sure that she was out here. When I turned my head, I saw a figure crouched down at the edge of the garden. I squinted my eyes and recognized Carly’s hair. “There she is.” I said and pointed at her. “Thanks for the help, guys.” “No worries.” Flynn shrugged. “Have fun.” With that, they walked off, and I took Avery’s hand and we approached Carly. “Hi Carly.” I said. Carly didn’t acknowledge us. Instead she was gazing up at the stars. I stifled a chuckle as I figured out what she was doing. Carly loved stars. She could sit for hours staring at them. No one seemed to understand this weird obsession, but I figured that she found some peace in watching the stars. I sat down next to Carly and Avery curled up on my other side. We sat in silence for a while and Carly didn’t stop looking at the clear sky above us. My father had forbidden Carly from bringing her tablet to the party. I gathered months of lunch money and bought her a tablet after my parents refused. After some research I found some communication apps and showed them to Carly. It had been a long time since I saw her eyes light up like that, and for the first time in years, we could communicate. Since then, Carly brought the tablet everywhere she went. Without it, it was harder for her to talk to us since she rarely spoke anymore. So we kept sitting in silence, watching the stars together while Carly fidgeted with the hem of her dress and hummed to herself while her eyes were glued to the sky above us. We stayed like that for quite some time, ignoring the party going on inside. I lifted my head when I heard cars starting to pull up in front of the packhouse, indicating that people were starting to leave. “I think it’s time to go back inside.” I whispered. Before we could get up, I heard someone clear their throat behind us. I turned my head and froze when I saw the stern look on my father’s face. “We’re leaving.” He said curtly. My heart sank when I got the feeling that we were in a lot of trouble.