The Human Alpha

Christian’s POV “Don’t forget, your sister is coming home today,” my mother, Marlie, reminded me once again while we were on our way down from the Alpha floor of the packhouse to get breakfast. My older sister, Abbie, had gone on a trip with her best friend Jayce a few months ago and had traveled around the world a little bit, and my mother had reminded me about ten times over the last two days that she would be coming back home. It was starting to get a little annoying. “I know mom. You don’t have to tell me over and over again like I am a child,” I sighed, stepping into the elevator with my parents and my little sister, Averie. “I’m 26, remember?” I added it for good measure. “I know, my babies are growing up so fast!” My mother turned to look at Averie, whose eyes went wide as she knew exactly what was about to happen. “Even my littlest baby is about to head off to college!” She pinched Averie’s cheeks before pulling her into a hug as her eyes filled with tears. “Mom, stop,” Averie whined, pushing our mother away from her. “You act like I am going across the world, I’m not even leaving the state,” She grumbled a few words under her breath, rolling her eyes a little. “I know. It’s just that one baby is coming back to me and the other is about to leave. Why can’t all my kids stay with me forever?” My mom looked at my father, who pulled her in for a hug and kissed her forehead. I don’t understand how he can’t see how ridiculous she is being. “I’m not going anywhere, Mom,” I assured her, and she gave me a genuine smile that lit up her eyes. We were silent for a few minutes, and Averie was the one who decided to break the quietness that had enveloped us. “Do you think Abbie is going to bring a mate back home with her?” She asked our little group and we all looked at her curiously. “I mean, she’s been traveling all over the place, surely she has been around many other packs. I wonder if maybe she found her mate finally.” My older sister Abbie is thirty now and we don’t think she has found her mate yet, but none of us can be too sure. She refuses to even talk about mates, no matter how much someone insists. If the topic was even brought up, she would leave the room. When they were growing up, everyone thought Jayce and Abbie would be mates since they were inseparable. They seemed like the perfect duo, but as far as we know, they aren’t mates. Abbie hasn’t said anything about it yet, at least, and going more than a decade without marking your mate after finding them is unheard of in werewolf culture. In fact, most mates mark each other on the first day they find out. I shrugged as the elevator doors opened and we all stepped out and headed toward the dining hall. As always, we were the last group to arrive for breakfast, and everyone bowed their heads down at my family as we walked toward our chairs. It wasn’t until we got close to our seats that I realized that nobody had given Averie an answer. “Guess we will have to wait and see.” When we took our seats, the Omegas rushed out with the food and set it out on the tables for everyone. Once we were all served, I took a bite of my food, savoring the taste for a moment before motioning for everyone to begin eating, just like my father had taught me. I glanced at him and smiled at his nod of approval. For most, the action would come as instinct—knowing the eating order is determined upon ranking is one of the most natural things for werewolves—but I’m not like most of the people around me. I am the only son of Alpha Damian and Luna Marlie of the Blood Creek pack, meaning that I would be the heir to the Alpha title. Being 26 years old now, I would usually have already had the title passed down to me, but my father still has the formal title even though among the pack I do a lot of the Alpha duties. It’s a little frustrating, but I do understand his reasoning behind it so I don’t argue with my father about his choices. He wants me to have found my mate before taking over the pack. That way I don’t have to run it alone for as long as he did after his father died when he was 16. Along with preparing me for everything I could possibly need to be ready for before taking over the pack, there’s also one major thing that’s keeping me away from the title. I am a human. My father, of course, was a werewolf, but my mother was a human who was born into a werewolf pack, just like I was. Most people believe a human cannot be the Alpha of a pack of werewolves, so my father worries that if he passes down the title to me and I somehow wasn’t 100 percent ready for it, it would cause an uproar among all of werewolf-kind. It all kind of makes sense though. I mean I'm just a human. I can’t shift and lead runs and hunts, I can’t mindlink with my pack members about issues, and I won’t even be able to mark my mate when I eventually find her. How am I supposed to be an Alpha?  I guess the Moon Goddess had enough faith in me to have me born for the position; I can only hope I find enough faith in myself. Either way, now is not the time to worry about my Alpha responsibilities. For now, the only thing I need to focus on is breakfast. *** My mother paced back and forth around the dining hall, which had long ago been vacated and cleaned up by the Omegas. “Abbie insisted on getting a cab ride here from the airport, so that gives us time to set up her welcome home party.”  Averie and I glanced at each other, both shaking our heads at how dramatic our mother was acting about this whole situation. Abbie didn’t need a welcome home party, but of course, our mother insisted that not only it had to be thrown, but we as a family had to get it set up by ourselves. “How about you go make sure that the Omegas have the right meal being prepared for the party while Averie and I go upstairs and get the decorations out of your office,” I suggested, to which my mother quickly agreed before rushing off toward the kitchen. Just before Averie and I took off, our father stepped in front of us. “You guys better not be bailing on us, I can’t deal with your mother’s chaotic energy all on my own.” He joked, and I just rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, we will be back down here soon.” I grabbed Averie by the wrist as soon as he moved away, pulled her into the hallway, and rushed toward the elevator. We all loved our mother, of course, but sometimes she went overboard with certain things and it could be a handful to deal with. The elevator doors closed behind us and Averie looked at me with a gleam in her eyes that I knew all too well. “Abbie doesn’t even like to party. Mom could easily just be putting all of her attention into my going away party for when I head off to college, but no, she has to throw Abbie a party too.” I knew she was being playful, but it might not seem that way to others. She was definitely the one sibling that was different from the rest. Averie was a big-time party girl, and I think that’s secretly the only reason why she applied for college. “Trust me, Mom is going to go all out for your party as well, don’t you worry about that.” I nudged my sister and we stepped out of the elevator. “We both know she is just excited to have Abbie home again; this party is her way of expressing that.” “I know.” Averie opened the door to the office and headed over to the pile of boxes, picking one up before motioning for me to do the same. “Come on, let’s just hurry up and get back down there. The faster we get this over with, the better.” That was something we could both agree on, even if our reasons for it were different. It took right at two hours for us to get the party set up and ready, which worked perfectly because Abbie messaged us right when we finished preparing everything saying that she and Jayce had just gotten off the plane. This gave us enough time to get ourselves changed and be back downstairs before they got back to the packhouse. Once I had gotten myself dressed, I stepped out of my room just in time to see Averie exiting her own. We looked at each other, and I glanced at her dress with a disapproving expression. Her dress was a medium purple skin-tight minidress with a deep v-neckline that went halfway down her torso. Both the neckline and the sides of the dress had strips of fabric holding them together, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover her body for the type of party we were going to. “Geez Averie, could you be showing any more skin there?” I rolled my eyes as she innocently looked down at her outfit. “I mean yeah, I could be wearing different shoes.” She motioned to the black thigh-high boots she was wearing before looking at me with a devious smirk. “If this is what you are wearing to pack parties, I don’t even want to know what you will be wearing to the many frat parties that you will be attending when you head off to college.” I inwardly cringed at the mental image of my little sister in an even skimpier outfit before I felt her grip my arm. “Come on, let’s just get down there before Abbie and Jayce get back.” She pulled me into the elevator, hitting the button for the first floor before leaning back against the wall. As soon as the doors opened, I could hear the sounds of music and people from the direction of the dining hall, and I took a deep breath to prepare myself. Being an Alpha meant putting on a fake facade and acting like you always enjoyed whatever it was you were doing. It wasn’t that I didn’t like being around my pack members—I truly loved each and every one of them—it was just that parties always overwhelmed me. As soon as I got into the room and greeted everyone as a group, I quietly made my way across it and quickly exited into the hallway that led to the front door. I was surprised to see that the sun had already set and the dark sky was plastered with beautiful white speckles. The time seemed to go by a lot faster than I had expected, but I guess that was a good thing; I was happy that I would be able to see my older sister again. It felt like it had been forever since we last hung out, which, I mean, it had been several months since I last saw her, so I was happy that I would be able to talk to her in person and receive her hugs when I needed them. Abbie was truly the best older sister anyone could ask for; she was always supportive and believed in my ability to become Alpha, even though I constantly worried that I would fail, and that was something that was nice to have. The low rumble of an engine caught my attention and I looked up to see the headlights coming down the driveway and quickly stood up from where I was sitting on the steps. As soon as the car pulled to a stop, one of the back doors swung open and my sister jumped out of the car and came sprinting toward me. I was quickly pulled into a hug and I peeked over Abbie’s shoulder to see Jayce walking toward us, dragging both his and Abbie’s suitcases behind him. “We should probably help Jayce,” I whispered to Abbie, who quickly let go of me with a guilty expression, and ran over to her best friend, grabbing her bag from him and carrying it up onto the porch. As soon as both of their bags were set down, she turned back to me and looked at my face, smiling widely. The porch light slightly illuminated her face, and I could clearly see the joy it displayed. “I’ve missed you guys so much!” Abbie sighed, quickly hugging me again. I returned her hug with just as much enthusiasm. “I’ve missed you too.” Looking up at her face, I silently cursed myself for being shorter than her. “When did you do this?” I motioned to her hair. The natural blonde tone was accented with deep purple strands, and it honestly looked really nice on her. Abbie shrugged. “I had to do something exciting before coming home.” “Well, it looks nice.” The smile on her face showed that she appreciated the compliment, which made me feel warm inside. I was always glad to make my sister happy. She did so much to help me, so any little thing I could do to improve her day seemed only fair. “Are Mom, Dad, and Averie inside?” Abbie asked after a moment of silence, and I was quickly brought back to reality. “Yeah, they are…” I paused, not wanting to ruin Abbie’s mood at all. She wasn’t a big party person, and I’m sure she would much rather go straight up to her room and unpack, but instead, there was a party we would have to attend. “So, listen, I tried to convince Mom not to but-” “She threw me a big welcome home party anyway?” Abbie interrupted me, a playful grin on her face. “Yeah, how did you..?” I glanced at the door and then looked back at my sister as the realization hit. “You can hear the music from here, can’t you?” “And smell the food.” She giggled. “At least the party is Paris themed. That will make it a little more fun.” I took a step back, my arms crossing over my chest. “Alright, I know you can’t smell the party's theme from here.” I looked at Jayce, who shook his head and chuckled. “Averie has already posted ten selfies on social media of her at the party.” I honestly wasn’t too surprised by his comment, and instead just found myself laughing with him and Abbie about it. Of course, Averie has already been showing off her dress to everyone; it would be surprising if she hadn’t posted any pictures anywhere online.  Abbie looked at me and Jayce, trying to hide the fact that she was not wanting to go to this party. “Anyways, the sooner we get in there the sooner the party can end and we can go to bed.” Jayce grabbed Abbie’s hand with one hand and picked up his suitcase with the other before they both went inside the door. Looking down, I picked up Abbie’s suitcase, which she clearly forgot about, before following her and Jayce’s path through the door. I left the suitcase by the entrance to the dining hall and made my way into the crowd to mingle with the pack members. It didn’t take long for me to get lost in conversation and find myself actually enjoying the party. If this is all that being an Alpha was, then I would consider the task easy and not have a worry in the world about how my future may turn out. Unfortunately, being an Alpha means a lot more than having fun with pack members, and I would soon get to experience the hardships of the role as well.