Defying the Alpha

Chapter Two: The Eldest Daughter of an Alpha

Catherine

I followed the sound of raised voices down the hall to my father’s office. Peeking around the door jam I saw my sister and my father, practically nose to nose as they argued.

Cecelia was the only person I knew who had the balls to stand up to my father. She was tall for a woman, but Dad still towered over her by several inches. The fact that his graying hair was receding from his broad forehead did nothing to reduce the aura of alpha power that radiated from him. The way he glowered down at her with his nostrils flared and his eyes blazing made me want to cower away.

Cecelia never cowered. She glared right back at him, her hands on her hips, her chin jutted out, her shoulders thrown back.

She was just as much an alpha as Father was. As the firstborn, she should have been next in line, but the council would not allow a female to take the title. The council and my father were all stuck in the patriarchal dark age where only a man could lead the pack.

“You will do this, Cecelia!” my father shouted, a vein popping out in his temple and throbbing dangerously, “Or so help me, I will send Catherine in your stead.”

I froze at the mention of my name. Send me? Send me where? My heart began to thump painfully in my throat, and my hand went there automatically.

The argument clearly involved me, but I was too afraid to enter the room and make my presence known. The energy in the confined space was escalating, and I worried that they might actually get physical. I dared to move a little closer, hoping that they were too focused on each other to notice me.

But just as quickly as it seemed to have flared up, some of the fight seemed to fizzle out of Cecelia, and she took a step back. “No,” Her voice was quieter but still had a hard and unyielding edge, “You can’t do that to her.”

Father’s shoulders also drooped, and suddenly he looked much older. “The agreement has already been signed,” he said, his tone strained, “Alpha Ellis will take...,” he paused to straighten up, controlling his voice. “Alpha Ellis will take one of my daughters as his mate, and our packs will be merged when I retire. You are the eldest, it should be you,” and he nodded with finality.

Now he’s done it, I thought, holding my breath.

“So.” I watched Cecelia’s hands ball into tight fists at her side. “You sign me away like a cow that can be traded among men?” She said, her voice dropping to a dangerous octave. I could feel the air rippling around her as her temper flared again.

“Be reasonable,” there was a slight edge of pleading in his voice as he took a half-step back and raised both his hands imploringly as if in an appeal for her wolf to stay put, “Hear me out. By merging the packs, you will at least return to us as our Luna. And,” he finished, with all the air of someone who had just cinched the deal, “our genetic line will be secured when you produce a son to take over.”

I facepalmed. He had made it that much worse in the matter of a single sentence. Cecelia was slow to respond, and when she did each word came out clipped,with a full stop between, “When. I. Produce. A. Son? Because that’s all a woman is good for, isn’t it Father?” Just when I thought she would reach across the desk and throttle him, she spun on her heel and began to pace the room like a caged animal, which essentially she was. I could practically feel her wolf fighting to get out.

“It's just politics, Cecelia.”

“It’s not ‘just politics!’” Her voice was rising again and her hands went up, thumping herself on the chest, “It's my LIFE!”

Now it was my father’s turn to do some fist-shaking and pointing, “It’s your duty as the eldest daughter of an alpha!”

“And what about your duty as a FATHER?” She stopped in front of his desk and gave it a vicious kick with her bare foot. The wood still cracked under her shoeless assault, and a couple of splinters flew off. If she felt any pain, she didn’t show it.

Father winced as though the kick had hit him rather than an inert antique desk, and his head dropped. Absently, one hand began to twist his wedding ring. “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think it was the best thing for you, and for the pack.”

Cecelia suddenly seemed to deflate and dropped her body into one of the leather chairs that were positioned in front of the large desk. She sat sideways, swinging one leg over the arm of the chair. “If Mom was here, she would never let you do this.”

Father also seemed to have lost his strength. He retreated behind the desk and sank into his chair with a tired sigh. His eyes roamed across his bookshelf, as though he was trying to remind himself of who he was. I ducked back behind the door frame just in time to avoid his wandering gaze.

I angled myself so that I could still see the room in the large gilded mirror. This wasn’t my first time spying on my father in his office. In fact, it was Cessy who had taught me the mirror trick.

Regaining his posture, Father placed his palms flat on the stained pine surface and looked at Cecelia. “You are right. But she’s not here,” he said without emotion, a managerial formality clipping his words, “So who is it going to be Cecelia, you, or Catherine? Because one of you has to do it.”

I held my breath, even though I knew in my heart that Cecelia would never throw me under the bus. She was my champion, my protector, my guardian. Although she was my sister, she took over my care when our mother died and more or less raised me.

“You put it in writing,” Cecelia finally growled, swinging her legs back around and settling her feet firmly on the floor, “Catherine will never be forced or coerced to mate with anyone against her will, neither by you nor the council.”

Father looked offended, his back stiff, his eyes flashing again. “Do not presume to tell me what to do, young lady. I am still your alpha and your father.”

I couldn’t see her face in the mirror, but I could only imagine it was set in the same hard, stubborn lines as my father’s. She stood up, planted her hands on the table, and leaned over the desk so that she was invading his personal space. She snarled, “You put it in writing, and sign your name at the bottom.”

“Or what?” Father challenged.

Cecelia straightened, slowly sliding her hands off the desktop. “Do you really want to find out?”

She turned and stomped out of the office, but since she was barefoot, it wasn’t very impressive. Her soles slapped against the wooden slats. Once she entered the hall, she gave me a look as though she had known all along that I was eavesdropping on the conversation. She took my elbow and steered me back down the hallway toward my bedroom.

Although I was going to be nineteen next month, I had resisted all Cecilia’s suggestions that I should redecorate. My bedroom still looked like a little girl’s room, an explosion of pink and white princess motif. Cessy threw herself down on my canopy bed, her dark wild hair spilling across the pillows, and covered her eyes with her forearm, the way she did when she was brewing a headache. I went to the medicine cabinet behind the mirror in my bathroom and got some aspirin and a glass of water. I brought it to her and nudged her gently to get her to take the pills.

She groaned and sat up, popping the tablets in her mouth and washing them down with a big gulp of water. Then, instead of setting the glass down, she drained it, not caring that a little escaped her lips and dribbled down her neck. When it was empty, she slammed it on my nightstand with a bang that could have easily shattered the glass. “This is a disaster,” She mumbled, flopping back against my frilly pillows.

I crawled onto the bed and lay down beside her, staring up at the lacy net canopy. “Are you really going to do it?” I whispered, “Are you really going to join Dark Rising?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Looks like it.”

“But...you don’t even know Ellis.”

“He’s only been the alpha for a few months, nobody knows him,” she said, but I knew that she had heard just as many rumors about the new alpha as I had, and the gossip didn’t paint the man in a very flattering light. Both of us were quiet for a few minutes, mulling over the situation, and I wondered if Cessy was thinking about the report that Ellis was aggressively ambitious and mean.

The heaviness in the room was stifling, so I tried to lighten it. “He’s only twenty-something. I wonder if he knows he’s getting a cougar?”

She groaned and pulled the pillow out from under her head so that she could smack me in the face with it. “Shut up.”

Sputtering, I tossed the pillow aside, looping my arms around her body, snuggling close, but feeling a sinking feeling of guilt. She was going to join herself with a man she didn’t know, and probably wouldn’t even like, just to protect me. If I was a stronger woman, I wouldn’t let her do that. I would go in her stead, and let my sister have her freedom.

Or better yet, I would stand up to Father, and we could present a united front. What would Father and the council do if we both stood up and said, “Hell no, we won’t go!”?

The thought made me shiver. Father would surely disown us and throw us out of the pack, at the very least. Or worse. There were still cells in the basement with silver-plated bars. Our father might not go that far, but I wouldn’t put it past the council.

Closing my eyes, I buried my face in her arm like a child. What would I do when Cecelia was gone from the packhouse, and I was left alone with my father?

I would be lost without her.