Alpha Eric: Book 2 of The Alpha Series

2. Birthday Party

Eric

We left school while talking about our day. I carried Josie on my shoulders while Grant carried grumpy Jade. When we arrived at the packhouse, we placed the girls on the porch and they went to the front door. All of us went in and headed down the hall to our parents' office.

Their doors were open and so was Rambo’s. Logan and Madison were already in his office talking with him. We said hi to everyone and I went in search of mom. She was in her office on her computer when I walked in.

"Hey," she said with a smile as she stopped what she was doing.

"Hey."

"How did today go?"

"Good. I just wanted to come see you."

"You feel like you just need to check on me?" she asked.

"Kind of," I said, not fully understanding what I was doing in my mom's office.

I started to walk around looking at stuff she had on her shelves and on the table.

"It's your Lycan checking on me since I'm close. The more you get used to him and he gets used to being out, the better he will be."

"Oh," I said, realizing that she was right.

I looked at the bookshelf and saw the large green crystal she had was being used as a bookend. I remember that crystal was always here and mom was always telling us to leave it alone. She never gave us a reason why we couldn't touch it, but the more we saw it the more we wanted to mess with it. I peeled my eyes off of it and turned back to her. I walked over and sat down on one of the chairs in front of her desk right as Grant joined us.

"Now that my wolf and my Lycan are awake, it's like I have this sense and drive to protect you. Why is that?" I asked.

"I think it's because the Lycan and Forest Wolf were made together as brothers more than a thousand years ago. The Lycans to help and serve beside the Forest Wolf. I think the protecting thing comes from me being a female. All males drive to protect any female. You checking in with me is because I'm accessible to you. The others do it when I’m around them too."

“That’s why dad always stays close,” I said, thinking out loud.

“Yes. Fenrir keeps him close.”

I nod my head and mom looks at the time on her computer.

"I think it's time for you to go get ready for your party. When you're ready, meet us in your dad's office," she told me.

I got up as she started to shut her computer down for the day. Her and Grant got up to go to dad's office, while I climbed the stairs to the top floor to go to my room and change. I picked out shorts and an old t-shirt that I didn't care about. I quickly changed and went back downstairs. I entered my dad's office to see everyone there waiting for me. It was party time.

“Alright birthday boy, let's go to your party,” dad said with a broad grin.

I looked at him with a disgusted look. All he did was smile and walk away holding mom's hand. I knew he did that on purpose, but come on. I wasn’t a little kid anymore.

We all left the packhouse and walked out to the lake. Mom and dad had my party set up with the whole pack there to enjoy themselves. When we arrived at the party, the twins ran off to play with friends, and mom and dad went to talk with pack members as usual. Jaxson found friends to go hangout with, while Grant and I found Logan, Owen, Sebastian and Madison to enjoy the party with. The six of us played games and ate food. Eventually, I made my rounds to see and talk with pack members. Soon, it will be my duty to do this, not my parents' duty anymore.

I ran into mom and dad while they walked around and we had a short moment together. I remember mom and dad always making time for us, even when it was hard to. They never let us feel like we were alone in the world and always made sure we knew they loved us.

“How are you enjoying the party?” dad asked.

“It’s great,” I told him with a smile.

“We see you taking the time to talk to everyone,” mom commented.

“Yeah. Soon enough, it will be part of my duty when dad steps down. I figured I would get used to it now,” I told them.

Mom nodded her head and dad said, “smart.”

I smiled and we walked in separate directions. As I walked through the pack members, I saw the twins playing with friends and Jaxson hanging out with some of his friends not far from them. One of us always had eyes on the twins because they got into trouble if we didn’t.

I walked further into the games to see Logan, Owen and Sebastian playing a game of darts together. I kept walking around and talking with pack members, thanking them for coming, when I saw Grant and Madison talking at a picnic table while eating sweets together. Those two were so close that when they found their mates they would have problems. Their mates would get jealous of how close they were. I shook my head and kept walking around.

When it was finally time to shift, I met mom and dad at the edge of the woods. Everyone stopped what they were doing to gather around to watch. Dad placed his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at his crystal blue eyes.

“Let your wolf take over first. It will hurt, but don’t fight him,” he said in a calm voice.

I nodded my head and took a deep breath while closing my eyes.

“Alright Riot. It’s time to come out,” I told him.

“I’m not in a closet fucker,” he snapped at me.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little, then took another deep breath to calm myself. I completely surrendered to him and felt him come forward from the depths of my mind. I let the shift take over my human form; one bone, one muscle and a piece of skin at a time. It happened quickly and with more than one bone breaking at a time. I grimaced and groaned with my teeth clenched at the feeling of the pain. I felt more bones break all over my body, my skin started to stretch and grow fur, and my muscles started to stretch to incredible lengths. I heard my clothes rip apart and fall from my body onto the ground beneath me. The searing pain made me groan more in pain before it was all over.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked down to see pure black fur all over my wolf’s body. I looked over to my parents and siblings. All of them had big smiles on their faces. Mom and dad stepped forward and quickly shifted into their wolves, Noah and Zara. Noah was a black Alpha wolf with specks of white in his fur that seemed to be getting larger as he aged. Zara was a pure white female Alpha wolf with green eyes. She was amazing to watch run through the woods.

Zara and Noah came up to Riot and led him off into the woods for his first run. The three of them took off at an incredible pace. Running through the birch and pine trees like every wolf did. We ran for a few minutes before the three of them turned back to go back to the party area. Everyone would want to see my Lycan next.

We arrived and Grant had shorts for me and dad. The three of us shifted back; dad and I pulled shorts on while mom shifted back into her clothes as always. Now I see why dad was so jealous of that. Talk about convenient.

Dad turned to me and said, “Alright, shifting to let your Lycan out will be just like letting your wolf out.”

“Will it feel just as painful?” I asked, remembering what I just went through a few minutes ago.

“Yes. If you need to wait until tomorrow to let him out, you can,” he told me.

I stood there and thought about it, then shook my head and took a deep breath. I wanted to shift now. I was ready.

“Hati, it’s time.”

He took over like a giant wave crashing into me from the ocean. My bones were now breaking again along with my skin and muscles stretching in a new way from before. New fur grew and I cried out in pain as this shift happened. My cry turned to a howl that sounded deadly, even to my own ears. My final transformation of the night was done. I stood tall in front of everyone on long hind legs. My arms were larger and more muscular than normal. My hands were covered in short dark gray fur and had long black claws.

I looked at dad and he had the biggest grin on his face. He wasted no time and shifted to let Fenrir out. The two of us headed off into the woods, leaving everyone else behind. Fenrir showed me a lot of what we could do with our Lycans, like climbing and travelling through the trees.

After about an hour in the woods, we headed back to where the party had been. The pack members had cleared out and our family and close friends were still there waiting for us and cleaning up the last of the trash. Dad and I shifted back and pulled our shorts on. We helped clean the last of the party up before heading home for the night.

“How was it shifting?” Grant asked as we walked back.

“It was painful yet amazing. Freeing even. You’ll love it,” I told him.

He smiled at me as we climbed the porch to the packhouse. It was a long day but I was happy to have met my wolf and my Lycan.

~

The next morning was Saturday and we heard dad get up early to go down and head for the training field. I got up and got dressed so I could go train with him for the first time with full access to my warrior and my wolf. This would start the long process of training to be an Alpha that could keep and protect the Hunter’s Moon pack.

I headed from the packhouse and out to the training field to find dad out there looking over a few of the warriors already. I heard feet running from behind me and turned to see Grant and Jaxson running to join us. The twins will be able to start training next year when they turn thirteen. I could see Jade wanting to train but not Josie.

The three of us stopped on the edge of the training field and watched dad until he was ready for us. We watched him for a few minutes before he turned to us and smiled. He always seemed to smile when he saw us. You should see him when he sees mom after she's been gone without him for a day or two. Talk about a smile that could light up a room at the sight of her.

“The three of you are up early,” he said, walking up to us.

“Yeah, we heard you get up and head out here,” I told him.

He nodded his head and said, “Grant, Eric, warm up with each other while I teach Jaxson his next set of techniques.”

“Yes, sir,” Grant and I said together.

We moved off to the side and warmed up while dad trained with Jaxson. Once dad was finished with Jaxson, he turned his attention to Grant and me, teaching both of us at the same time before he started training with Grant, leaving me for last. I made sure to watch some and pick on Jaxson when I could.

When it was my turn, he trained with me in human, wolf and Lycan form. It was a grueling morning of training that had us sweating and panting when we were done. Grant handed us both water bottles as we sat down under a large shade tree on the field.

Dad sighed and said, “I feel old.”

I laughed and said, “You just trained three teenagers and kicked all of our asses.”

He chuckled and said, “True, but you need to watch your language.”

I grimaced and said, “Yes, sir.”

He sighed and said, “after you graduate high school you’ll need to go see Curt at Crimson Moon. He will be able to teach you more and push you harder than I can.”

I nodded my head, already knowing that was the plan for me. We drained our water bottles before the four of us went inside to have breakfast with mom and the twins. Weekends were our favorites because mom and dad would do their best to not have any work, but pack duties were still a thing.