8. You don’t choose your friends or your family
1014 Words
A village.
This was where the Bhrean pack lived.
When we arrived, several young children surrounded the vehicle.
If Koran triggered smiles and laughter, I was entitled to suspicious or at best, curious looks.
Suddenly, I had only one desire: to flee and go back to my old hometown.
Koran unfastened his seat belt, I imitated him.
“Welcome to the Bhrean pack, the first branch,” said the blond giant, a little sarcastic.
“You're so kind, I’m touched,” I replied, in the same tone.
Then we got out of the car at the same time.
The houses of the inhabitants of this micro-town formed a circle, so I followed Koran and crossed what looked like the main square.
A slender young teenager, whose appearance was immediately familiar to me, came forward to meet us.
Once I could make out the features on his face, I was shocked: it was Erwan’s almost perfect double, three or four years younger. No doubt, I had before me one of his younger brothers.
He stared at me with an impenetrable look, which quickly darkened.
“Is this her?” he asked Koran while still looking at me with his dark eyes.
The blond giant simply nodded an answer while continuing to walk.
Behind my back, I could feel the look of Erwan’s younger brother stabbing me between the shoulder blades.
I wasn’t at all popular around here.
Koran led me to a larger house, and then knocked on the door before entering.
I hesitated at the doorway, but two chocolate eyes ordered me to follow him inside. After a long breath, my heart pounding, I entered the Alpha’s lair.
If I thought Koran was huge, his father made me lower my standards.
As big as a grizzly, all muscle.
He had the same blond hair as his son—or rather, his son had the same golden colour. Only the length differed: his father’s, longer, gave him a Viking look.
He was sitting at the living room table, with papers in his hand, which he didn’t even put down when he saw me next to his son.
At the quivering of his nostrils, I understood that he smelled me from afar.
“Hello,” I said, in a very small voice.
Koran’s father ignored me to get back into his paperwork.
“Can we know why you marked her?” asked the Alpha.
Koran stiffened
“I didn’t want male members of the pack to make a mistake during Beth’s first-change.”
“Beth?”
“Elizabeth,” corrected the teenager.
The Alpha nodded.
“Excellent initiative. I trust your self-control much more than the other males. You acted like an Alpha, I congratulate you.”
Koran was startled, and I saw him look away for a split second.
His father congratulated him on his action, he had nothing to be uncomfortable about, yet!
Then, finally, the Alpha abandoned his A4 sheets which had fascinated him so much since our arrival.
His eyes were more hazelnut than chocolate, a much harder glow than in his son haunted them, also making them colder.
“So you’re the puppy.”
Since the question was pure rhetoric, I was happy to keep my mouth shut.
“Tomorrow morning, you will introduce her to Ula.”
“Why not now?” inquired his son while trying to hide his panicked look. “So I can take her home before dark...”
His father looked unforgiving.
“Are you suddenly feeling less confident, son?”
“I didn’t say that... It’s just...”
Then, Koran looked at me, as if my presence bothered him to speak freely.
“I marked her twice, Brunan.”
“I know,” said the Alpha slowly.
The adolescent became pale.
“Linie could always...”
“No,” his father cut him off without losing his icy expression. “You know what three marks on a female means, Koran. You’ve already given her two. Two!”
Anger was simmering under the Alpha’s words, and his low voice gave me goosebumps. The hairs of my forearms were standing up. I didn’t understand. First of all, his father congratulated him, then now, he seemed to blame him.
“Brunan... It’s... the full moon again this evening,” Koran tried to plead in a flat voice. “We can’t do that to her. She’s...”
Again, the teenager looked at me. I’d never known him to have such a worried expression on his face.
“She’s a virgin,” finished the blond giant in a breath, his eyes still on me. “I should never have given her two marks, you’re right, Brunan. It was... very arrogant on my part, even an unacceptable weakness to give in to my anger...”
The Alpha raised an eyebrow: he didn’t believe a word of his son’s explanations.
“Anger? Koran, you don’t have a cub in front of you, but the Alpha of the pack and your father.”
“The first time, she challenged me in front of other metas. Second, she feared me and behaved like prey. We were on the eve of the full moon, Brunan!”
A heavy silence settled as if his father weighed the truth of his words.
“You could have abstained from the second.”
Koran ran a nervous hand through his hair.
“Yes,” he acknowledged.
“You’re a future Alpha. One mark was more than enough to set this puppy straight and keep her away from the males in our pack. The second... You just gave in to your urges and your desire.”
The boy closed his eyes briefly before confronting his father.
“Yes,” he said again.
“So, she’ll sleep in your den and I want her intact in the morning. I find the punishment rather light, so stop trying to escape it. You want to play in the big leagues, son... Fine. But then do it all the way.”
“Okay, Brunan.”
The Alpha went back to his papers, dismissing us.
- Writer
