His Hidden Luna

Two

Jackson 12 Years Old

I sat next to my father in his office. It was past 9pm and I honestly couldn't think of anything worse to be doing. Most of my 'soon to be' Alpha, Beta and Gamma buddies weren't going to get involved in their pack business until they reached at least 13. My Dad had insisted I started to come to meetings when I turned 10. I'd complained a few times but then one day I'd gone too far and got the hiding of my life. After that, I learnt when to speak and when to hold my tongue. The more I learnt about how my dad conducted Pack business the more I vowed to be a completely different Alpha.

There was a knock at the door and the Gamma came waltzing in with one of the Orphans. I knew that her name was Rose because my Dad made me hang out with her for an hour a day. He said it was important for the future Alpha to be seen mixing with the lower ranked children, and she was the lowest ranked of them all! I hated doing it! Not because there was anything wrong with her, but because the other kids in the pack didn't mix with the Orphan's and my friends gave me a ribbing for it.

"Ah young Rose, do come in." My father said in his fake nice voice. It was the one he used on me just before my beating. I'd had no idea what was coming when he'd stepped into my room that day, but he'd looked friendly. The truth was, when he used that voice he was anything but. I had started to notice him using it on my mother more and more recently.

Rose kept her head down. Her brown, almost black hair hung like a thick curtain around her face. She was really small, I doubted very much she'd be much of a wolf when she eventually got it.

"Rose, do you know why your here?" My Dad continued.

"No Alpha" She all but whispered from behind her hair.

"Rose, please look up at me, dear." Dear?? When did my father ever show any signs of affection towards lower class wolves? Something was definitely suspect and I found myself paying more attention than usual.

Rose looked up, staring at him with her big brown eyes that were only a shade or two lighter than her hair. They seemed to hold a tinge of guilt in them and her cheeks were flushed. She was shaking like a leaf and I wondered if she did, in fact, have a small inkling as to why my dad had dragged her out of bed.

"Now Rose, I noticed that you turned 12 today" 'Liar', I thought to myself. I didn't know it was her birthday and I'd spent time with her today. "And a little birdie told me that you may have already connected with your wolf."

"Her wolf?" I questioned out loud. "But-" My Father cut his cruel eyes towards me and I shut my mouth immediately.

"So have you?" My father turned back towards Rose. Her face was positively glowing now.

"No A-Alpha" She stuttered. "I thought I heard my name being called but it was my music, and then I kept asking Henry as a j-joke."

My father growled, he did not believe a word she was saying.

"Rose, when I found you on our borders next to a heap of trash did I toss you to the Rogues?"

"No Alph-"

"No! I took you straight back to our pack house, raised you, clothed you and fed you. You are educated at my school and you are looked after by our pack doctor. There is no other Orphan that gets regular monthly check ups. I do all this for you and yet you stand here lying to me."

"I'm not lying, Alpha, I swear", she cried desperately.

My father sprang out of his chair and jumped across the desk, grabbing Rose by the throat. Holy hell, what was he doing? He pinned her against the wall. I watched in horror as his claws started to extend out from his fingers, piercing Rose's flesh. She tried to scream but he was cutting off her air supply.

"Now Rose," He spat through gritted teeth, drops of saliva hitting Rose in her now purple coloured face. "I consider myself a very tolerant Alpha, but you are really starting to test my patience. You are speaking to your wolf one year ahead of time."

Her eyes were bloodshot and I noticed that the pressure he held her with had burst a blood vessel in one of them. The red was starting to bleed through into the white. And still she shook her head.

My Dad screamed out in blood-curdling rage and slammed her head against the wall with such force I thought it would kill her.

"Wait!" I yelled at the top of my voice. "Just stop one second, she's telling the truth."

My Dad dropped Rose to the ground, her head was bleeding and her throat was covered in bruises, but at least she was conscious. She was tougher than I thought.

He turned towards me, "And what do you know of this boy?"

"She tried it on me this morning. Claiming that she could hear someone calling her name. She was doing it for attention, which is really pathetic. She said she was going to do the same to her roommate, see if he fell for it. Maybe he's more gullible than I am."

My father's eyes bored into mine. Luckily, I'm a much better liar than the mess of a girl on the floor. I didn't blink, I didn't drop my eyes, I stared back until the door flew open and the Gamma appeared for the second time.

"Take that," My father said, referring to the bloodied and bruised Rose "to Richard. Get her cleaned up and back in her bedroom before morning. I need to talk to Jackie here alone."

I hated it when he called me that. My Mom used it for me when I was a baby. Whilst she and I had grown out of it, my Dad used it to belittle me in front of other wolves.

"Spending time with that girl is over!" He growled. "You don't go near her anymore, is that clear?"

"Yes Alpha." No point in calling him father at that point. He was in full Alpha mode and my head was weighing heavy on my shoulders.

"Good." He responded in his nice voice. "Now let's talk about the fact that you interrupted me twice and the fact that you defended that orphan much later than you should have."

He kicked his office door closed as I started to sweat. Saving that girl's life was about to make the next few hours of mine very painful.