Cruel Alpha

Robin’s alarm was loud enough to wake her neighbours. But Robin stayed unmoving, still enjoying the last moments of sleep. Loud banging on the wall made her groan and open her eyes. She moved to the new Pack House building purely because they had larger rooms, but apparently, the noise isolation was worse in there. “Sorry!” Robin yelled back as she violently tapped on her phone, hoping to silence the alarm forever.    After another few minutes of laying and staring at her greyish ceiling, robin gathered enough courage to drag herself to the bathroom. As she was in the process of drying her hair, Margo called her. Robin answered after a moment of battling with whether she should just ignore it. She already knew what Margo was going to say anyway.    The video call opened, it displayed Margo’s ceiling and she leaned in to look at the screen for a moment. “You are still in the pack, Ro, we are going to be late!” Robin chuckled and tossed away her towel, moving to oils and brushes with hopes of fixing her curls as fast as she could. “We won’t. Well, hopefully, you won’t. It would be awful if you run late to your own graduation.” Robin chuckled at that thought. Margo smiled, but her eyes told a different story.    Today Margo was graduating from university with her arts degree. Robin felt proud of her, recalling all the lows and highs of her art submissions and creative process. For the past year of it, Robin was there to support her and sometimes guide or even inspire. Though by the end of the year it was hard to guess whether Robin inspired the Happiness of a Sunflower or the Nights of Anger. Margo was particular in naming her pieces with the exact emotion she felt.    “I will be on time, but It would be rather embarrassing if I thank my girlfriend for all her help and she is not even in the audience,” Margo complained as she picked the phone to check her reflection. “I won’t be late, I promise.” Robin leaned into the screen and smiled. “You look gorgeous, I love you, now I have to go and not run late.” Margo smiled and nodded. “Love you, see you in the audience.” They hung up.    Contrary to her promise, Robin was close to running late, she sped through the pack area only to get stuck in the city traffic. Finally, as Robin made her way to the big auditorium full of people in blue gowns and square hats, she easily spotted Margo. She was next on the line of receiving her diploma, or whatever it was humans exchanged in these ceremonies.    Robin pushed through and sat down on the spot Margo’s friends saved for her. Robin showed thumbs up to Margo who sighed in relief and smiled back. Robin stood up and clapped for Margo when it was her turn. Robin whistled and called, “that’s my girl‼” Margo blushed and went on with her speech. “And lastly, I want to thank my amazing girlfriend, for staying by my side through all the projects and deadlines, offering her support and advice on every step. Thank you, Ro, for everything.” Robin beamed as Margo used her favourite nickname. After the initial ceremony was over people hugged and exchanged pleasantries and then finally, they went to a bar. Robin draped her arm around Margo and kissed her cheek. “I am dating an art scholar now.” She teased and Margo hid her face on Robin’s shoulder. “Stop! Your limited understanding of academia hierarchy is funny.” Robin just rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I am a wolf, it doesn’t matter anyway.”    Margo rolled her eyes, “It wouldn’t hurt to learn to be more human, dear. There is life outside of your little forest community.” Robin sighed and leaned her head on Margo’s shoulder. This was the argument that they kept having over and over again. For this night, Robin chose to let it slide and only replied with “You have tamed me enough to fit in both worlds.”    They moved on to ordering cocktails and cheering for the newly graduates, Robin leaned on the counter and watched as Margo and her friends cheered and threw their hats to the air again, blue gowns swaying left and right with the rhythm of the music. Margo called Robin over. Robin initially disagreed but seeing the way other guys kept staring at Margo, she went on to join the dances, one arm possessively pushing Margo closer to herself.    “You are squeezing me too close, Ro. Somethings might happen.” Margo teased, mouth too close to Robin’s ear. Robin chuckled, her eyes shining with excitement. “Let them happen then, darling.” Margo shook her head and pulled away. “Not here, maybe at home.” Robin nodded and kissed Margo. “No ‘maybe’s. In an hour, we leave for your place and you let me congratulate you the way I see fit.” Robin said as she pulled away. She twirled Margo around one more time before going back to her spot on the bar stool. She wasn’t big on dancing.    The next day, Margo woke up to loud ringing, she heard a growl from next to her as Robin extended her arm hoping to shut the ringing down. Unfortunately for her, it was a phone call. “Yes?” Robin answered, her voice dry and in immediate need of water. “Yikes, you sound horrible,” Iris joked and Robin tried to laugh which only ended in her coughing and getting up. “What’s up, Iris?” she asked, Margo rolled to the other side of the bed, it wasn’t the first time Iris woke them up with some ‘urgent’ news or announcement regarding the pack.    Robin was busy with helping Wren manage the museum as well as work on her commissioned paintings that kept coming more and more these days. So, she asked Iris to call and inform her in any new events or developments that robin otherwise would miss or forget about. “Today is Wren’s birthday, thought I should remind you before you go and accidentally embarrass yourself in front of her.” Robin felt more awake than before. “Already? I thought it was weeks away. What are the plans?” Robin got up and started pacing to the length of the room. Iris chuckled on the other side of the line. “You know, the usual, Pack dinner and then we think of going to a bar or a club to have the actual birthday. I texted you the time for the dinner and location for the rest.” Robin nodded. “Thank you, Iris, you keep saving my ass.” Iris chuckled “That’s what friends are for.”      They hung up and robin turned to Margo. “I forgot about Wren’s birthday.” Margo sat on the bed and looked at Robin who was trying to move her hand through her hair, but due to the morning state of it, it kept getting tangled in. “It’s okay, you have had a busy couple of weeks. I think with that much work in the museum even Wren would forget about her own birthday.” Robin chuckled and nodded. Recently they opened the second exhibition in the museum and the human community seemed to have more questions than Robin and Wren thought. So, they had to upgrade and add more details than they initially thought, which ended up taking more time out of Robin’s schedule.    “Yeah, I guess we have been pretty busy,” Robin said and sat down on the bed again, she laid down, her head leaning on Margo’s lap as Margo tried to tame Robin’s hair. “There’s going to be a pack dinner for Wren, she would love to see you there,” Robin suggested and tried to glance up at Margo.  Margo shook her head, “I am so tired, I need a day of rest and sleep. Maybe I’ll join you in whatever you guys end up doing next.”    Robin tried her best to not show her irritation. They have been together for a year and the number of times Margo has joined anything pack related could be counted on her fingers. Margo was only half-human after all, Robin expected her to be more in touch with her wolf side. Meanwhile, Robin joined all of the human traditionary celebrations and even went over to Margo’s house this Christmas. “Alright, but I really want to show off my pretty girlfriend to all those suckers, girls haven’t seen you in a while as well. It would be nice to catch up.” Robin suggested tentatively.    Margo chuckled and leaned over to kiss Robin. As they pulled away she shook her head once again. “I am not in a mood. Besides, if the girls want to catch up, I am always here in the city. We could get brunch somewhere and maybe even discuss our plans.” Robin sighed and nodded. It is always Margo and the city and the humans. Robin never complained about how she sometimes got tired of seeing tall buildings and hearing car engines. She missed the forests the vast openings she could run through but she still spent her days in the city for her.