“Ready for dinner, Baby Girl?” Dad asks through the mind-link. “We will be there in a minute,” I reply, and as I look at Alastor, I already know Mom has linked him at the same time. The six of us stand up as one, and Melia bursts out in laughter.
I sit down at the head of the table as Ione sits to my right. The chair on my left stays empty, and Melia sits in the chair next to it. Rhea takes her seat next to Ione, and Eos sits next to Melia. Mom and Dad sit next to Rhea, while Alastor sits down next to Eos, with the chair next to him remaining empty.
Officially, the chairs to the left of Melia and Eos should stay empty, just like the chairs to the right of Ione and Rhea. The empty chairs symbolize the lack of a Mate by our side, and after discussing it, we decided to leave only two chairs empty.
Omegas walk into the dining room with plates filled with food, while others place dishes on the table filled with even more food. By the time we are done, every plate and dish will be empty. Once everyone has a plate, the Omegas sit down at their own table.
Theseus
My eyes stare at nothing in particular as I stand in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office. Behind me, I hear the voices of my best friends as we wait for the Elder to be escorted to my office.
My baby brother, Damien, had already told me he hoped it was the invitation for the Alpha bloodline competition. His Mate, Penelope, had looked at him and said he would end up in the top five, at least.
My Delta, Xanthos, had turned around just to make sure he wouldn’t laugh in her face. My Beta, Ajax, had not hidden his laughter, and her reaction to it had been hilarious. My Gamma, Apollo, and my Delta, Midas, had kept straight faces, but I knew they were struggling to keep their laughter inside.
A knock on the door makes me turn around as Apollo walks to open it. Elder Ezra walks in with a smile on his face. “Alpha Theseus, thank you for making time for me,” he says, and I gesture to the chair in front of my desk.
I sit down behind my desk as Elder Ezra sits down as well. He grabs a file and an envelope out of his bag, and all of us know what this is about. Damien had been right-it is the invitation to the Alpha bloodline competition, and I know that he will enter.
Elder Ezra doesn’t stay long, as he still has a few other Packs to visit, and I, for one, am grateful that he leaves quickly. Ajax grabs the file from my hand as soon as the door closes behind Elder Ezra and starts reading the rules and regulations.
With Damien entering the competition, this will be the first time in decades that a member of my family will participate. I’m not sure if I should curse him for it or be proud of him for taking a chance.
“Theseus, open the envelop. There is a list of Packs in there and maybe we can determine how long this shindig will take or make bets on how long Damien will last.” Ajax says with a smirk on his face, sending all of us in a fit of laughter.
I pull the list from the envelop as someone knocks on the door, this time it is Damien that walks in and the moment his eyes land on the envelop he yells “Yes.” Apollo tells him to sit down so Ajax can go over the rules and regulations.
For once he actually sits down and listens as Ajax reads the document to him, surprising me as he even asks a few questions. Damien thanks Ajax and after that he leaves my office with a huge smile on his face.
I open the list of Packs that will also receive an invitation and my Pack is at the top of the list, I read every Pack name out loud as Xanthos writes down the number of Wolves from an Alpha bloodline.
Three of the Packs on the list are allies and I know I will at least show up for the first round, just to see how they are doing. “Last on the list is White Cresent Pack.” I say and four heads snap in my direction. They are the largest and strongest pack and I remember why Dad didn’t participate last time our Pack got invited.
Alpha Atlas is a force to be reckoned with and Dad didn’t want to get embarrassed by losing to the guy. “Okay, that is at least one. How many Pups does he have?” Xanthos asks and for a moment I am at a loss for words, I wouldn’t know if and how many Pups he has.
I link my Dad and he tells me that he has two Pups at least and that one of them is female. When I tell Xanthos he writes down two and I ask him how many that totals to. If our calculations are correct this could take the week the Elders picked and now I am glad I didn’t want to enter any way.
Rogues are a daily problem for us and I want to spend as less time away from my Pack as possible, I know almost every Pack deals with them on a regular basis. However, I never received a request for help from White Cresent Pack, none of my allies have ever been asked for help by them as well and sometimes I want to watch their eastern border to see if I can figure out why they never call for help.
My name is Theseus, I am a thirty year old Werewolf and the Alpha of Dark Mountain Pack. My Pack is the second largest and strongest Pack there is and according to the history of our bloodline chosen Mates are the reason for the decrease in strength. My parents are chosen Mates unlike my Grandparents, fated Mates are the best thing for every Wolf and as far as I know every Pup is raised that way. If it had been up to my parents Damien and I would have been raised with the believes that a chosen Mate is the best option.
Luckily my Grandparents from my Father’s side didn’t allow it and to this day I am still grateful for that. When I was twenty I met my fated Mate and ever since that day I wondered how my parents could have settled for anything less, but then tragedy struck in the form of three Rogues.
They had gotten on to our territory by crossing the western border and they had run in to my Mate and her best friend, they had raped and killed them before they were caught. I still feel the anger inside me, even though it has been nine years and Apollo’s hand on my shoulder pulls me from my thoughts.
“Calm down, Theseus. Just breath.” He says and as I concentrate on my breathing I feel myself calm down. They all know how much her death has affected me and I am grateful for their support through all of it.
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