Wild Wolves

Chapter 6 – Expectations

Lexis’s POV

I had been Alpha for a year, and in that time, Dad had spent more time awol, drinking and womanising, than helping. I wouldn’t have needed him had it not been for his insanely unorganised filing system.

I spent more time in the office fixing his fvck ups and trying to decipher what the fvck it all meant, than my actual duties. It had taken me the best part of the year to finally unravel the mess he had created.

When I finally discovered what he had been up to, I called him to my office. “You may be Alpha,” he laughed, the smell of alcohol wafting in the air, “but you can’t command me.” He slurred.

I could, and I would if I had to. However, I wasn’t going to push it. He was here, and he had questions to answer. “Dad, I have finally sorted and organised all the paperwork. I know you have been working with the Council, but what is this?”

I handed him a file full of documents. His eyes widened a little and he chuckled. “Oh, nothing for you to worry about, son. Not yet anyway.”

“Dad, there is a contract there. I know we made an agreement before I became Alpha, and I know you have been working with the Council. As I said, I was happy to continue with the deal, but if we have another contract with someone else, I need to know what our involvement is.”

His elusive and vague response did not fill me with any confidence. He had always been a strict and regulated leader. However, he had always seemed reasonably fair. He ruled with an iron hand, but the pack thrived, and no one ever stepped out of line.

He stood, “The contract is between me and a few like-minded colleagues. You don’t have to do anything. Yet. When the time comes for us to fulfil our contractual obligations as a pack, I will be sure to discuss it with you so you can make the command. It isn’t anything we can’t handle. Until then, I am under oath, so trust your old man, eh. Now, if you will excuse me, I have somewhere else to be.”

He picked up the file and took it with him as he left. Thinking he had one up on me, he didn’t look back as he left the office. I stood and locked my office door, returning to my desk and retrieving the copy of the file he had taken.

Looking again at the contract, I struggled to understand what it had meant. The signatures at the bottom were all from various alphas from across the country, but the only one I knew of, was Alpha Aldine, from Coldfell, who had recently deceased.

I was due to go to his pack, to have a meeting with both Alpha Avery, his successor, and Alpha Malachi, the newly appointed Alpha from Scafell. I tried to avoid these types of impromptu and unimportant meetings, but they wouldn’t give up.

To keep the peace between our alliances, I decided it was better to just get it over with. Then we could all move on. I knew they would want to discuss the recent rogue attack, but I really didn’t know why. It had little to do with me.

Yes, we were in alliance, but they didn’t follow procedure, and therefore, they didn’t have a leg to stand on when it came to an argument. I was ready. I put my game face on and had one of the warriors drive me there. I wasn’t expecting trouble, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

Flashback - 11 months ago

Our alliance with the other two fells was a joke. None of the former leaders had considered how outdated and juvenile it was. When I had discussed this with my father, when I had found it and read it, he laughed.

“Dad, this three fells alliance treaty isn’t worth the paper it was written on.” I shook my head, tapping the document on the desk.

“Just the way I wanted it, son” his hollow guttural chuckle echoed through the office walls.

“Why?” I asked, curious as to his reasons.

“Coldfell is weak and pathetic. They are a liability, and I would not waste my time helping them. Even if they needed it. They have nothing to offer us,” he mused.

It seemed fair, if the agreement wasn’t mutually beneficial, why would we consider weakening our defences for them? If they can’t help themselves, how could they possibly help us? “Why not just refuse to sign it then.” It seemed far more open and less complicated.

“It would cause friction. We could take down both packs if needed, but now is not the time.” His wording had me intrigued.

“So, you think there will be a time?”

He glared at me like he had when I was a teenager, asking too many questions about my sister. I instantly stopped talking. He wasn’t drunk enough to divulge any more about that, for now.

“Scafell isn't much better, although they would never come close to….” He stopped talking and instead, stood up. “Keep the damn alliance treaty the same Lexis. Don’t complicate things unnecessarily. Don’t make me regret giving you the title. You are still under my rule, you happily agreed to honour my commitments and until this position is no longer temporary, you will do well to remember that.”

End flashback

It was clear neither Alpha Malachi nor Alpha Avery had read the alliance treaty document. They had only brought it up because there had been an attack. But neither one had an excuse for not having read it and understood it.

Despite only being in power for a few days, Alpha Avery should still have known about it. Training started at 16, he was 25, and he had no excuse not to have read it. The pair of them had clearly formed a friendship, but involving me was futile.

I did not need friends, in particular weak and useless ones. Granted, nor did I need enemies, but I was in the middle of a huge breakthrough in an important situation I was handling, and they were keeping me from it. All the while I was here on a wasted journey, I was not able to deal with it.

I couldn’t help but snap at them, I had somewhere else I wanted to be, and they were acting like a pair of jumped-up gorillas. I was done. Before I had left to come here, Dad reminded me of a few important factors. As if I didn’t remember.

I knew Scafell was not part of the work the Council did behind the scenes, but Coldfell had been. Dad and Alpha Aldine had been quite close at one time. More recently, Dad and Alpha Aldine had had a lapse in communication.

However, before his untimely death, he had assured Dad that his son, when he took over, would be ready to sign and join the Council's team. Dad had asked me, while wasting my time at this meeting, to be sure of the new Alpha’s Allegiance.

I was almost certain he was none the wiser. Clearly, his dad hadn’t trusted him. After all, at almost 26 years old, he still had not been given the Alpha title willingly. As I left, I said the phrase used for us to recognise one another.

He looked at me as though I had 6 heads. His confusion was evident. I left in a hurry and returned to the car. We made good time on the return journey, and I sat quite smugly as I considered that all in all, it wasn’t such a wasted journey after all.

Alpha Avery gave me the answer I was hoping to get. I didn’t want to work with the fool. I knew I could handle the workload from the council without him and his pack. Dad had always said Alpha Aldine was a weak and pathetic Alpha. It would seem his son was the same.

Dad wouldn’t be happy, he always said having a bumbling fool as a sidekick was useful. An easy target for a scapegoat, he had said. But I had recently learnt that he wasn’t always right, as I had grown up to believe. I didn’t need Coldfell. Or their useless Alpha.

In the last year, Dad had royally gone off the rails. His constant affairs had ruined mum. She was addicted to pain medication because of the amount of time she had to take it to ease her broken heart. Mum spent more time in hospital than she did in their home.

Dad didn’t care, he was hardly there either. When he was, he usually had a woman with him. Dr Connors said he had never heard of a werewolf addicted to drugs before. That about sums up how fvcked up this situation was.

Floyd Connors had been our resident doctor for years. He was the only person I allowed near Mum and Dad when it came to medical treatment. Dr Kathryn Quinnel was nice enough, and Dr Connors said she was trustworthy, but she was his junior Intern and not originally from this pack.

I didn’t know her that well. No one in the pack could find out how messed up they both were, it would cause unrest. They refused to reject each other for fear of it killing them, yet they were both dying anyway. Mum from a broken heart and the drugs, and Dad from the heavy drinking and severe highs and lows he put his body through.

We hadn’t heard from Elisha, my older sister, in a little over ten years. Dad had said she had got a scholarship for her gift in tracking, at a special private shifter academy in Scotland. Offered on short notice due to a cancellation by the Council, she had to leave immediately.

I thought it strange she didn’t say goodbye or ever call, but he had an answer for everything, and at times, even Mum did. I figured she was being trained hard and had no access to a phone. I stopped asking questions when he said that after she gained her training, she had abandoned us.

She had put shame on the family and had gone rogue. He refused to allow us to mention her name. It was as if she had never existed. I had no reason not to believe what he had said. She and Dad had a volatile relationship, and she goaded him. She had always been eager to prove herself.

I had always thought that it had been her way of trying to make it on her own. I was angry with her. She was selfish. The Alpha title was hers if she wanted it. She wanted glory without responsibility.

I was left to deal with Mum and Dad. Mum was a fvcking mess and Dad was beyond help now. I was almost out of patience with him. There was just one more clause in the oath I had taken that proved to him I no longer needed him to oversee me, and then I would be free from his overbearing ways.

I didn’t disagree with the way he had run this pack or the things he had implemented, but I was ready to do this without him breathing down my neck.

***

I had missed attending the Games because of my fvcking i.diot father. Mum ended up in the hospital again and Dr Connors wasn’t sure she was going to survive this time. Luckily, the Council let us bail. They wanted me to send the rest of my team, but Abe needed to remain here, to take over my duties while I stayed with mum.

Robbie said he had a family emergency, and we weren’t close enough for me to pry. I wasn’t in the mood to question him. With him out of the equation, there weren’t enough of us to make it worth going. Even Cal, who, in such a short space of time, I trusted with my life, couldn’t go.

With Robbie awol, we needed Cal to take on his responsibilities in the pack. Cal was solid, he had more than proved himself, but even if he could have gone, we wouldn’t be our strongest team without any titled members going to represent us.

Truth was, Robbie was an ass, and Cal would make a far better Gamma. He was clearly a far superior fighter, strategist, and all-around person. Both Abe and I had spoken to Cal on the side, not that long ago, about challenging Robbie for his position. He refused to fight Robbie for it though.

He wouldn’t tell us why he wouldn’t challenge him, and we didn’t push it. He was young, and Robbie could be vindictive. Maybe he was just biding his time. We respected that; Cal had always been straight up with us.

Robbie took his place as Gamma after winning the right, but he was unpredictable and confrontational, unlike Cal, who was a good asset to the pack. Cal was a little cocky and arrogant, but he reminded me of myself at his age. Behind his cheek and confidence, he was reliable, rational, and diplomatic.

Driving to Scafell, I was already in a bad mood. The last meeting was a waste of time and this one was likely to be as well. We were discussing the alliance treaty, and while I was interested in seeing the pack, I had no intention of facilitating any amendments to the treaty.

When I arrived, the blundering giant and his sidekick were waiting for me. They were i.diot’s, the pair of them. We were all the same age, but having met them once before, they both seemed ill-prepared and self-righteous.

I was hoping it was a simple case of signing the contract and leaving. Abe’s incessant cheer was, as usual, driving me mad. When we were kids, I used to find his comedic ways and banter hilarious and refreshing. However, as we got older, I found he never knew when to shut the fvck up.

Now, I put up with his constant optimism. Mainly because, underneath his irritating happiness, he was a good Beta and a loyal friend. He was likeable. His relaxed and cheerful attitude seemed to put people at ease. He was an efficient, dependable, and skilled mediator.

He never judged me, and while he did question me on occasion, he always stood by me. People were often surprised by our friendship, but they didn’t know him as I did. Abe was ruthless. He kept this side of himself well hidden, even the pack were unaware of the things he had done and was prepared to do.

That was the way we liked it, because he was my secret weapon. Everyone expected and knew Robbie to be malicious and an a.sshole, they were careful around him. No one would have believed Abe was actually worse and people were loose-lipped around him.

When we finally walked away from the meeting my blood was boiling. They had completely rewritten the entire treaty. I needed Dad to sober up so I could discuss what our next move was. I didn’t want to cause conflict between our packs, but signing this was not beneficial to us in any way.

It would be a mistake. Not only that, but Dad was adamant we keep our distance from both packs. Especially after the rogue attacks. I had one more hoop to jump through before he backed off. He said my time would come in the next week or two, and I was more than ready.

As Abe and I stepped outside, Dumb and Dumber didn’t even bother to see us off. I stormed right to the car before a faint scent caught the back of my nose. Nyack, my wolf, stirred in my head, and my feet moved of their own accord.

Abe tried to stop me, but I wasn’t paying attention to him. The scent was now thick in the air and intense, yet fruity, warm with hints of honey and citrus. It was alluring and heady, and there was no way Nyack would let me stop until we had found it, even if I had wanted to.

Following the scent I recognised as honeysuckle, we reached the door. Nyack was pushing forward, and I banged on the door. No one answered, so I banged louder. My mate was in that house and they were deliberately keeping her from me.

When Alpha Mal came behind me, my heart sank. Of course, it had to be a member of his f*****g family. It was bad enough I had found my mate now, and in this pack, of all places, but to be his sister. This literally could not be any worse.

I wanted to find my mate. But not yet. Not like this. I had no intention of rejecting her, but the entire family, all 300 of them, were trying to run rings around me. I would not be intimidated by them. When she finally stepped forward and I caught her eye, I felt my heart skip a beat.

She was stunning. Her voice was soft but firm. She was calm and fair, despite the situation and conflict we found ourselves in, and I dared to hope this wouldn’t be so bad. I needed her. I needed my Luna. I had always known that, but I didn’t know how much I would actually want her.

Taking the situation as it was, I had little choice but to play their silly games. If she needed a short time with her family before we left, then so be it. Their arrogance, snide looks and comments were making my blood boil, but I tried to keep calm.

I had always been good at keeping a straight face when situations felt like they were out of my control, but I could feel my resolve weakening. I linked Abe and told him we needed to leave before Nyack took over.

I was strong and more than capable of holding him back in any normal circumstances. However, right now, he seemed to have a mind of his own. I wasn’t sure how much longer I would be able to control him.

‘They want her to reject us’ Nyack was growling in my head. His anger was palpable. ‘Our Mylee. OURS.’

Dad had made it perfectly clear if I was mated to someone undesirable, he would make me reject them. In a few weeks, he would have no choice. I could do what I wanted. However, it wasn't in a few weeks. It was now. And she was from an undesirable pack.

I was not rejecting her unless she rejected me. If she rejected me, then I at least had a chance to be blessed with a second chance mate. If I rejected her, then I could kiss that option goodbye and be weakened by the lack of a fated bond.