*4 MONTHS LATER*
~HUNTER~
"You cannot know better than your parents. Hunter, come back here right this instant!"
My mother's voice carried a resounding boom along the walls of my childhood home as I stormed down the stairs.
"Hunter!" she yelled, "your father isn't done talking to you. If you take another foot off those stairs." The threat in her voice hung thick and unwavering, and I knew better than to test the theory of what would happen if I chose to ignore her.
I turned on my heel, facing back the way I had come, and Mom stood at the top of the staircase. I might be an Alpha, but despite being an Omega, my mom has always been scary. That woman will always give me a run for my money and can be pretty threatening when she wants to be.
"Go back to your father," she muttered, hands on her hips.
"Mom..." I began to say, but she waved her hand, cutting me off.
"I have no interest in what you have to say, Hunter. You'll climb back up these stairs and make your way to your father's office like a good boy. Now." She added in a commanding tone because I wasn't moving as fast as she wanted me to.
"I don't need you both controlling my life," I grumbled as I ascended the stairs.
"Then you should step up and start acting like a grown man. Start taking responsibility for your actions and be ready to face the repercussions. This whole thing became an issue because you couldn't control your temper, and that one decision in a moment of anger spiralled into an entire chain of events that we all have to suffer." My mom reprimanded me as she trailed me to Dad's office.
"How else should I have reacted? Mom, I caught her naked on top of another man." I tried to hold back the sneer in my voice.
It's been four months, and it still feels like yesterday. The pain is as fresh as that first day, and the emptiness won't disappear. I've tried to forget about her and move on, but the hollowness in my heart won't stop growing.
I've often thought back to that morning, trying to imagine what would've happened if I had reacted differently. But how was I expected to keep my cool at the sight of my mate naked on a man that wasn't me?
The need to remind her who she belonged to had clouded my mind, and I had sex with her right in that same spot. Why? It was because the sick part of me needed to prove to Darren that she was mine and remind Jade who she belonged to. But I couldn't look at her after that.
I just couldn't stomach the thought of ever touching her again. Her very existence repulsed me because it had become impossible to erase the image of her on top of Darren from my mind. Each time I tried to think that she might've been right about being drugged, my thoughts always strayed back to that morning and the possibilities of things that had happened between her and Darren overnight.
No.
She betrayed me.
She betrayed my trust and took my love for granted. Yet why do I still feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life by letting her go? I wonder if she's still alive.
I stopped before Dad's desk and cleared my throat, "I'm listening," I muttered, trying hard not to grumble.
Dad raised his head from whatever he was working on, and he dropped the pen in his hand on the desk, reclining into his seat and crossing both arms over his chest. "Are you sure you're ready to listen, or are you just here to continue acting like a petulant child?"
"I am ready to listen."
His eyes narrowed at me. "I don't need you to just listen, Hunter. Because it seems to me like you do not understand the gravity of our situation. The situation you caused." He paused, probably to take in my posture or get a read of my face.
"What happened with Jade isn't something that brought only shame upon us all and this pack. It is more than that. Your Alpha ascension was two months ago; if Jade were still here, you would be Alpha of Blackwood by now. And since that didn't happen, we've been set back a few paces."
"I know," I murmured.
Dad shook his head, "No, you don't. I don't think you understand. Power and power struggles are a constant that keeps our kind afloat. A pack like ours, with an Alpha Heir your age, should already have you as Alpha Head with the promise of an Heir. I shouldn't still be here in this seat running this pack. Not that I am too old to run things. No."
Dad sighed, shaking his head again as he continued. "That's not the problem because I can still do my job as Alpha Head. The problem is that I have an heir way past the normal age of his ascension, yet I am still in this seat like an Alpha with no Heir. You're an able-bodied Alpha, and the longer it takes for you to take a mate and take your place as Alpha Head, the more reason for our rival packs to think you're incompetent. Some of our enemies already have that thought, and do you know what it means when rival packs and the neighbouring packs start thinking I have an incompetent heir?"
"I– I think I do." My reply came out in a stutter because the look on Dad's face was all I needed to know that he wasn't just being the overbearing father that I loathed right now. No, he was dead serious, and right now, he was in his Alpha Head mode, the Alpha whose pack and reputation were more important to him than anything else.
"It means war, Hunter; soon, our enemies will start rearing their ugly heads. They will soon see us as an easy target because the fact that my heir is finding it hard to take a mate and take his seat only means that there's disruption within my household. It means there is a crack in the stronghold of this family, this pack, and the power struggle begins. It will start small, and it has already started."
He flipped through the pages of the file before him, and I realised that it must have been the reports from the patrol team. "Lately, there have been reports of strange wolf scouts loitering around the pack territory. Earlier this week, the patrol team apprehended two Delta wolves on rotation while trying to sneak into the pack. So far, we haven't gotten anything from them to know which pack they're from. But they were here to sniff around. Once these other Alphas are convinced that the crack is wide enough for them, they won't hesitate to try to shatter the wall of strength and fear we've managed to build around the name of this pack for the past centuries."
"If you refuse to do what's expected of you, surely, we will hold our own against these other packs. Undoubtedly, if they bring war to our doorstep, we will trample upon them. But it's a domino effect; if the first pack comes waging war and we defeat them, the second will come. As I said, it's a power struggle, and we Alphas are prideful beings. They won't stop coming because each Alpha wants to prove that they're the only one strong enough to subdue us, and they will keep coming. And each time they come, surely, we will lose men from each attack; we lose pack members. With time, our strength will wane, our warriors will slowly thin out, and we'll become vulnerable. Do you understand the gravity and repercussions of your decisions?" Dad asked, and I nodded mutely as the weight of his words wore me down.
"Do you understand in detail why I have been hard on you these past months?" I nodded mutely again at his question.
"Surely you understand what you must do, Hunter? You understand that you must do the right thing for this pack and the family name."
"Yes, I do, Father. I understand."
"Good, and what is that?" He asked in a steel voice that sent heavy pressure down on my entire body.
"I must take a chosen mate."
He clapped his hands with glee, yet the expression on his face was unchanging. "Great, I'm glad that we came to an understanding. You can go." And with that, he turned back to the report on his desk while I dragged myself out of his office with a huge stone sitting on my fucking chest.
