The Wisteria Alpha

CHAPTER 2~July~

Lotus

     I turned my head from the window and looked at my sisters in relief. We haven’t sensed anyone following us in months. Lily was sprawled out on the king-sized bed that we shared in our tiny hotel room. Her eyes were closed and she was humming a song that she made up. She was finally putting on some weight, we all were.  Knowing we weren’t starving, and constantly running all the time made my heart happy.  

       Lila came in from the bathroom and beamed at us. “I’ve decided what I want for my birthday!” she squealed, jumping onto the bed with Lily. Lily sat up and snuggled close to her, “Is it that thing that we talked about?” she asked while tilting her head to the side and wiggling her eyebrows. Uh-oh I thought. “It’s exactly the thing we talked about” Lila replied and mirrored Lily’s head tilt. 

        I groaned out loud when I saw them start to wiggle their eyebrows at each other, a sure sign that what they were about to ask for was nothing but trouble. “Ok, what are you two up to?” they stopped wagging their brows and looked at me. Lila cleared her throat, “We have an idea.” “And we know you will not like it.” Lily chimed in. They looked at each other and nodded, “but we want to go to Japan.” they both stated as they looked back at me. “You were right, I don't like it.” I said as I glared at them. 

          They knew how expensive and dangerous this trip could be. Lily started to pout, sticking out her plump bottom lip. “But you haven’t even heard the whole plan!” Lila shouted and crossed her arms. I rolled my eyes and sighed, “ok what's the plan?” They both started jumping up and down on the bed, their eyes lighting up. “It’s only for four days…” Lila states, “And two of them are for travel!” Lily finishes. I raise my eyebrow. “We just want to go to the festival, the one mom always talked about.” Lila said while Lily nodded her head. 

     I stared at my sisters. They were identical twins and absolutely stunning. Both had light brown, loose curly hair, heart shaped faces, dimples in both cheeks and adorable button noses. All of those beautiful features are set on warm coco skin. But my favorite thing about their faces was their eyes. Lila’s right eye was hazel with specks of green just like mom’s, while her left spilt with two colors; silver gray and hazel. Lily’s eyes mirrored hers, with her right eye being the split of gray and hazel, and her left eye being hazel. 

            I remember the elders in our pack being stunned when they saw them. They said it was a trait that was passed down from generation to generation. But when there were no identical twin girls born in over a hundred years, the elders thought the trait had died out. My sisters were the first to bring back the tradition. Mother would always beam with pride and say that it was to be expected, considering our genes. My sisters were staring back at me. They were putting on their best pleading faces, making sure their dimples were in full view. You would think they had no effect on me after 20 years.       

     “You do know that it's only July right? Your birthday isn’t even until September?” They started to squeal and jumped up towards me, pulling me into their hug. I laughed at how happy they seemed. “So, why do you want to go now? There are plenty of festivals in fall, why not go then?” I asked. “Because you goose, our life is always so uncertain. We don't know what's going to happen in a few months. We could be on the run, or we could still be here.” Lily said. “We know that we are currently safe now, and we can plan now. Our life is too full of uncertainty. We should seize the opportunity while we still have the chance.” Lila stated. They were right. Even though we had peace now, doesn't mean we will have peace in the future. “Besides, we’re turning 21, we want to experience the festival stress free without having to worry about running into our mates.” Lily commented in a low voice. 

     There are two things a wolf looks forward to in life once they turn 21; finding their mate and shifting for the first time. Shifting was obviously the easy end of the deal. Once your turn, your dormant wolf half will awaken and your being becomes whole. Your consciousness is no longer just your own, but shared with your wolf who has their own thoughts and personality. 

       Finding your mate on the other hand was much more difficult. A mate is literally your soul-mate, and they are picked by the moon goddess herself. Loving your mate was supposed to be as easy as breathing. They were supposed to smell like your favorite thing on earth. Their touch was supposed to be electrifying, and seeing them for the first time was supposed to take your breath away. At least that's how mom described the mate bond. 

        She always told us how precious it was and to cherish it. She had warned about the dangers of rejecting a mate, since it resulted in physical pain. Rejection for regular wolves could make them suffer from unbearable pain and a possibility of hospitalization, even with our ability to heal fast. It's even worse for ranked members, who risked death if they rejected their mate. 

       We try not to bring up the subject, knowing that we could never reject them, but be forced to live with the curse of not being able to accept them. Our lifestyle does not allow it. We couldn’t knowingly put our future mates lives at risk. At the age of 22, I’ve accepted this. It would be selfish of me to bring the threat of death to my mate’s door. I will be ok. My sisters and my wolf were all I needed.

          “Enough of that talk Lil, we are going to celebrate our birthday.” Lila waved her hands, changing the subject. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, “Ok, you're right. So, I'm assuming we are leaving soon.” “Yes!” They chirped. I laughed, there was only one summer festival I knew of that started around this time, Mitama Matsuri.  

Devlin

           I sat in my office, my eyes closed, feet on the desk and hands behind my head. This was the first time in months that my office wasn’t crowded with people. The Crescent Wood pack has been trying to recover from a multi-million-dollar debt that my grandfather so graciously stacked. For years he had neglected to pay for our property taxes and evaded the audits on our pack hospital. I took over the pack when I turned 21 and it has been hell these past 4 years. Two years of paying back debts and 2 years of making money so that Crescent Moon could stand on its own. We’ve come a long way and our net worth is rising with every deal we make. Due to where we live in southern Colorado, we are secluded within the forest and had plenty of land that helped us make a profit. My team and I were able to sell off some land that was far off the territory. With that money we slowly started buying random plots of land in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. This made us the largest property owners in the Four Corners area. 

         The land itself has no long-term monetary value, but the royalties from the companies that wanted to build on them was what made us successful. Companies from all over the nation wanted to rent out our land to set up renewable energy plants, including windmill and solar plants. They were building everything from casinos to resorts. Some companies wanted to mine off the land which offered oil, natural gas, gold, limestone, gravel and more. Our land was worth billions and was about to go global.

           I smirked to myself. This meeting in Tokyo would be the largest and most lucrative deal not only for Crescent Moon, but for the state of Colorado. Kaze Industries wanted to rent more than 300 acres of land to put up windmill plants, and it‘s projected revenue was 15.8 million per quarter. One year with Kaze and the pack would be set for the next 50 to 70 years.

      I heard my door open and I saw my Beta, Brantley, walk in, bringing my peaceful time to end. “Hey Dev, are you already packed for the trip?” he asked as he slumped down into a chair. “You know I am,” I said, taking my feet off my desk and leaning forward. “Have you finalized everything for the hotel and transportation?” “Of course, I did,” he said. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. I nodded, leaning back in my chair. 

      Brantley stayed quiet, which was very unlike him. ‘What’s on your mind B?” I asked. He turned his head to me and looked me in the eye. “When are you going to start looking for your Luna?” I closed my eyes and groaned. This again? “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you; I’m never going to have a Luna.” he scoffed and shook his head. “What about our pack?!” “What about it?” I replied, shrugging my shoulders. He looked at me like I had grown three heads. “Our pack needs a Luna! Our domestic organization is s**t, our food is trash, and we have no one besides me to help you with official Alpha business!” 

   I grinned as I leaned over and grabbed his hand. “B, you're all an Alpha ever needs. You're the best Beta in the entire world,” I said in the sweetest tone I could muster. He looked at me and yanked his hand back like I burned him, his cheeks turning red. “You bastard, you know what I mean. A woman’s touch. That’s what our pack is missing. You also cannot ignore the fact that you still don't have an heir.” I sighed and rubbed my face. “I already told you that when it's time to hand the pack over, the Beta heir would take over and become Alpha. If anyone needs to hurry up and find their mate, it's you.” Brantley shot to his feet and started pacing. “That's bullshit and you know it! Don't shove off your responsibilities onto my offspring, just because you can't get over what Marie did to you.” 

     I growled at the mention of Marie. Marie, the woman who had said she loved me then led me on for three years. She was 21 at the time, I was 18. She said that she could feel the mate pull, she said we were destined. I had wanted to save myself for my mate, but she told me I no longer had to since it was her. She was my everything, my first kiss, my first love, and I lost my virginity to her. She always wanted me to mark her, to make her officially mine before I turned 21. I had told her that there is no rush. 

         When my birthday finally came, the first thing I did was go look for her. I looked all over the territory and found her at a cottage on the outskirts. I was so excited to see what she would smell like, what she would feel like now that the mate bond was able to be felt on both sides. I had rushed into the cottage only to find her bent over the couch where a guy was f*****g her brains out. 

         She was furious when I confronted her. She had told me it was all my fault, since I refused to mark her, she had found her real mate and had loved him now. I was speechless, how was this my fault? She approached me, she tainted me! She took everything I had to offer my real mate. She had grabbed my hand, pushing me out of her cottage. With venom in her voice she told me that she has moved on from her first love because of her mate and that I needed to do the same. She slammed the door in my face and left me there while my heart was breaking. 

        Throughout the whole encounter, I had not smelled my favorite scent, I had not felt any pull to her, I felt no sparks of electricity when she touched me. But most importantly, I felt no love for her. Never again would I let another woman claim my heart. If I did find my mate, I had nothing to offer her. I would reject her; I was not worthy of her. I knew I could possibly die from the pain, but I didn't care, that's why I had Brantley as my heir.

     “I didn't mean to bring her up Dev,” Brantley was saying, pulling from my own thoughts. I waved him off. “I know you didn't, and I understand your concerns.” Brantley was my best friend and I loved him like a brother. I know why he is concerned but he is still worthy. He was 24 without a mate and he was becoming desperate. He looked for her every time we had to leave the territory. 

       “I’ll drop this for now,” he said. I exhaled, thankful for this conversation to be over. “Ok, call in Cyrus. I want to make sure the plans for home are settled before we leave.” “Yes Alpha, also here is a brochure for the after signing ceremony.” Brantley said as he laid down a paper pamphlet on my desk and took his leave. The Mitama Matsuri Festival, huh… it looks like fun.