The Luna's Gift

Chapter Seven: Frustrated Ties

                                                                                            Jake

    “Where the hell is she?!” I slammed my fists onto my desk, my rage seething through in the worst possible way. “This is why we have pack patrols around our borders! Who wasn’t at their post this morning? Whoever it is will be directly punished by me. This is absolutely unacceptable and only validates my father’s worries. If we cannot even keep our own Luna in our gates, how the hell do we plan to keep our enemies from coming through it just as easily?”

    Priya was standing across from me, along with a few other Hunters that she has been working closely training. I didn’t enjoy having a screaming match with her or least of all having to use my Alpha title over her or anyone in this pack, but this was something I could not overlook, not this time.

    “If you are looking for someone to blame Alpha, you can force that blame onto me. These gentlemen weren’t at their posts because I pulled them early for training.” Priya kept calm, still unable to look me in the eyes like any good Beta would do, but that only added to my anger. I wanted her to snap back at me, to give me something, anything that would cause me to lose my s**t even worse than I already had. Nothing. She didn’t even blink her eyes. “I understand this was a mix-up on my part, which, again, I take full responsibility for. It won’t happen again.”

    She was damn right it wasn’t going to happen again. “Do you understand the importance of the Beta, Priya?” I asked, standing to my feet and circling around my desk until I was standing in front of it, staring at her with new eyes. “Your job is to handle things when I am otherwise occupied. Priya, if anything should ever happen to me, you will step into my position as this pack’s new Alpha. Woman or not, you have a responsibility to uphold here. These small little mix-ups mean the difference between that happening or not. The Elders will not have an issue overthrowing you regardless of your place as Alpha or not. It is your lack of responsibility that they will see.”

    “As opposed to you?” Priya finally perked up that attitude that I have known was there since we were pups.

     I made her my Beta because I knew she wouldn’t put up with anyone’s s**t, and she wouldn’t let someone walk all over her. This was different. I had the right to put her in her place after what she just allowed to happen.

    I squeezed my eyes shut for about half a second before opening them and acting as if I heard her incorrectly. “What did you just say to me?”

    Priya stepped forward, the Hunters now fading into the background looking very uncomfortable with where this was going. Most knew our closeness, but they knew that I was still Alpha at the end of the day, and not one person in this pack could question it. “I said, as opposed to you. Our dear Alpha, who pretends to have his s**t together but would easily sink if put in a body of f*****g water. Do not speak to me as if I am the lesser of you. You will speak to me with decency and respect, Alpha Jake. As your equal.”

    The Hunters behind her began whispering quietly, but I could hear them. They thought I was a joke, thought that I wasn’t strong enough to even stand against my Beta when she opened her mouth with such disrespect. I love Priya like my sister, but even then, she was still my Beta, and if my Beta had been anyone else, I would have put them in their place. She should be no different. I walked up to her, almost laughing until I wrapped my hand around her throat. Her feet took off the ground as she scratched against my arm, but I fought back the pain from both the physical scratches she was leaving me and having to stoop to this level of authority with her.

    “Learn the word respect, my Beta, or else your position will be renegotiated with someone more capable to handle the pressure. If you have an issue with the way that I run this pack, you come to me privately from here on out. Is that understood? The next time you disrespect me in front of company, your title will be stripped, and you will be placed in the chambers below the packhouse. This is something that I will not tolerate, from least of all you.”

    When I placed her back on her feet, I half expected her to hit me. I deserved it. For me to lay my hands on my oldest friend was the worse thing I could do, even if it had to be done. The Hunters instantly grew quiet. I don’t think even they expected me to do such a thing. That goes for me too.

    Priya let out a low growl before slightly turning away from me. She let the Hunters walk out in front of her. When they were safely out of the room, she whispered so only I could hear. “You will regret doing that, Jake.”

    Hearing those words, I knew it was my friend talking and not my Beta. Priya was hurt, shocked that I would do such a thing. I knew the instant I did it, my personal friendship with her would be at stake, but I figured she would forgive me, knowing that I was punishing her the same way I would any other person selected for this position.

    Seconds after she left, I heard my door slam open. I hoped it was Priya walking through that door to yell at me some more, but it happened to be the last person I expected to see her. “Aren’t you going to welcome me home, Alpha?”

    “Savannah?” I ran over to her, picking her up in my arms and into my embrace. “Ah, it feels like a lifetime since we last spoke.” After our little adventure together, when she found Dorian, Savannah and I have been close ever since. It was like a kick to the gut when she left with Dorian, but I accepted it because she was happy. “Where’s your brother? I haven’t seen that face around here in a long time either.”

    “Well, my brother is off doing god only knows what,” she chuckled. “He met someone, and she has him wrapped around her little finger. He only calls once every few months, so I can hear that it is doing okay. I’ve been begging to see him with Dorian, but he isn’t exactly okay with the idea of me with a vampire quite yet.”

    I smiled at her, seeing the hurt behind her eyes talking about her brother. She loved him a lot, and as far as I knew, the two were always inseparable. “It will get better. You just need to give him some time.”

    Savannah smiled at me in return, placing her hand on the side of my cheek before walking around my desk and plopping down on my chair. “So, why in the hell are you chewing out your Beta? Priya has done a lot for you, Jake. It isn’t like you to push that aside and be so ruthless. Everyone has heard the stories about how your father was before he met Roxy. Do you really want to be that guy now after all these years? Besides, you have a mate and a perfect little pup to go along with your incredible family. Why do you need to be so stressed out?”

    “Because, Savannah, Stella left earlier this morning. She left me a note, a f*****g note! Like she didn’t even have the decency to wake me up and tell me. That s**t hurts, Savannah. The one person that is supposed to tell me these things feels like she can’t. There were supposed to be guards on the lookout over the pack border to top it all off. She just slipped right past them because they couldn’t follow simple f*****g rules.”

    There it goes again. My rage was getting the best of me, but I couldn’t let it subside. I was pissed off at Stella, with Priya, with this pack's inability to take me seriously as their leader. It was all beginning to be a little much, too much for even me to handle. Maybe I wasn’t capable of being the leader this pack needed. Perhaps the Elders got it wrong when they agreed to make me the Alpha.

    “Come on, Alpha.” Savannah leaned forward, placing her arms on my desk. “Get your s**t together. You have the potential to be the best damn Alpha this pack has seen in decades, but you have to want it. As far as Stella goes, you shouldn’t worry too much about her. Did you think that I would let her go out there alone? No, not on her first trip.”

    “Dorian?” I asked, realizing for the first time that he wasn’t attached to her hip like he so often was.

    Savannah grinned and nodded her head. I did have to say that it made me feel a little better knowing that she wasn’t out there alone. Dorian could be trusted. He had come such a long way that I knew deep in my heart that he would have Stella’s back under any and all circumstances, but I still wished it was me she chose to be there with her. This was her first trip to possibly mate potentials. I wanted to be the one with her, to help her succeed.

    Before I could open my mouth to say anything further, Isabel entered my office, bringing in little Elias. Savannah gasped, jumping up from my chair and running over to the little guy. “Oh my, look you at you, sweetness.” Her eyes started to prickle with tears the instant she held him in her arms. Motherhood looked good on her, something I wish she could have. “He is getting big. Little Elias here may be Alpha material even before his father is,” Savannah joked.

    “Ha, very funny.”

    Savannah ended up taking off with Elias. Only god knows where doing whatever it is she did with my pup. I was left in my office trying to figure out where I went wrong with all of it. I knew that I had to make this up to Priya because losing her friendship forever was too much for me to lose right now. As far as Stella goes, I would have to find out why she felt as if she couldn’t trust in me enough to tell me before she left. However, I knew in my mind that she would probably end up saying that it was my duty to stay here or that all I would do is worry about her safety. She is right because that is all I am sitting here doing now. Then there was the part of me stepping it up as pack leader. If a possibility of a war was soon coming our way, the warriors within this pack had to see me as the leader I knew that I could be. It’s time that I get my hands dirty and prove to them they didn’t make a mistake choosing me.