Becoming Alpha

Helena / Hope There were hunters in the forest. That's what everyone was saying, but I didn't know what that meant. I only knew that my parents were away and my brother and I were all alone. They had a job to do, a responsibility to the Pack, but I was afraid. "They will be okay," my brother told me. "They are hunting the bad men, and then they will come back and everything will be alright," he insisted, but I had a bad feeling. I couldn't sleep. I kept watch at the window, hoping to see my parents coming back, but I saw nothing. I eventually fell asleep and woke up to a heartbreaking howl. "Is that dad?" I asked my brother. "It sounds like him," my brother sounded scared, and was never scared. "I don't hear mom," I said, expecting her answering howl and not hearing it. "Come here kids," my grandmother called us. "We have to wait for your father to come back." "Something happened, something bad," I said. "I know," my grandmother answered, and it wasn't what I was expecting. I wanted her to say that everything was okay and not to worry. It took another half hour before we could finally see a group of warriors coming to the Pack House. I saw my dad in the front, and he was carrying mom in his arms. I ran out and went to him, but he ignored me. Mom was not moving. I called her, and she didn't answer. "Mom? Mom! Wake up! What's happening?" my dad had a blank look on his face, it's like he couldn't see me. "Dad? What happened?" "Leave him alone," one of the warriors said in a hushed voice. "He is not in a good state of mind. The hunter shot your mom, and she didn't make it." I heard him, but I couldn't understand what he was saying. I followed blindly behind my dad, and it was only later that I realized what everyone was saying. Mom was dead, she was killed. Dad was in mourning, his True Mate was dead, and part of his soul was gone. I was crying, for my mom and for the future, and for whatever was going to happen next. My father hid in his office for three days and only came out in time for my mom's funeral. I stayed by his side all day, trying to seek comfort from him, and I think he was able to find some comfort in me. He hugged me and kept me by his side, his hold at times painfully strong, as if he was afraid I was going to disappear at any moment. Everything was weird for a few days after that, but I didn't realize how much until I tried to get out of the house by the end of the following week. "Where are you going?" dad asked from the door to his office. "I'm going with my friends to the river," after being inside the house for so long, I needed some air, and my friends were willing to try and cheer me up. "You can't go out, it's dangerous," dad said, his eyes a little crazy. "I'm not going far, just to the river," I repeated. "No!" my dad roared, so high that I'm sure he was heard all the way downtown. "You won't go anywhere by yourself. The world outside is dangerous, and I won't lose you too. You will stay here. If you want to go anywhere, you need to let me know with time to spare so I can make sure it's safe, and to get a few warriors to escort you." "It's only to the river," I repeated, dumbfounded by his change of attitude. "It's dangerous!" he yelled, coming at me and grabbing me by the arm, dragging me back to my room. "Stay here, I don't want to hear that you left for any reason, understood?" "But, dad," I tried to protest, but he wasn't listening to me. "No excuses. I'm only trying to keep you safe." He left, and a while later I heard some of my friends coming over. Dad said that we couldn't go out, but we could hang out in the Pack House. I didn't like it, the feeling of being trapped, but I wanted to be understanding. He was afraid after losing my mom. I thought that I could endure it for a while, but it only got worse after that. After a while, I couldn't even go to school, since high school was outside the territory, we were such a small pack. I started being home-schooled, and my dream of going away to college was looking farther and farther away. My brother leaving was the final blow. He was already old enough to go looking for his own True Mate, which meant traveling to other packs. He was also under our dad's control, but being of age, he had more freedom to do what he wanted. He left under the cover of night when dad was sleeping, and unaware. He left me alone to face him, his anger and his fear. And his control got tighter and tighter until I couldn't even leave the Pack House unless it was with him by my side. But dad didn't like to venture outside during the day, and at night, he ran in his wolf form looking for hunters or other threats that were not there. My dad was losing his mind, and I was trapped with him. For the first years, my grandmother was there to keep me company, but then she also died, heartbroken, both for the daughter she had lost, and the power she had missed. Before dying, she gave me my Alpha Name: Hope. She told me I was the hope of the Pack, and that I had to face my dad and make him understand that fear was not the way to lead. The Pack needed a strong leader and Alpha that could protect and guide them. My brother was gone, and he had never shown any desire to become the next Alpha, so it was on me. I had to become the Alpha of the Pack, and for that, I needed to become stronger, something that I had no idea how to do, not locked inside the Pack House, under the watchful eyes of every warrior in the Pack and my dad, who wouldn't let anything touch me for fear I could be hurt.