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Prologue
Have you ever had to grow up in the shadow of an older sibling? Well, I did, and it sucks. Not only did I not measure up to him in size, but I was not well-liked within my pack either. My entire life of being picked on and bullied by my peers became normal for me since I wasn’t big enough nor strong enough, even though my status should have kept them from bullying me.
My name is Nolen, and I’m the second son to the leaders, the Alpha, and Luna of the Rhyolite pack.
Being born small, everyone called me the runt of the litter. My brother Archer would be the next Alpha of the pack once he finished up his Alpha training. My father, the Alpha, had been training him since he could walk. He’d started to train me, but when it appeared that I would not be as agile as Archer, he just let me do my own thing.
So there I was, at the edge of the roof, looking down at the pack walking around below me. The lush green forest of the Cairn surrounded us as I glanced over it from my spot. This was my favorite spot to get away from the rest of them. That way, no one could bully me. They wouldn’t dare bully me around Archer because he was the next in line to become alpha and they wanted to stay in his good graces. He’d been trying to train me to fight, but it wasn’t going anywhere.
Archer continued to push me to be better, even when I was crawling on the ground to move away from him. You see, I wasn’t built like my brother. I was thirteen years old and as scrawny as a sewing needle, and I’d been told I hit like a girl.
I didn’t know what girls they were fighting, but I knew for sure that I didn’t punch like some of the girls in my class. Those girls packed a wallop, and I tried to stay away from them. I was only five foot eight inches, but my mother kept telling me that I would grow taller as I aged. She liked to console me when she thought I was depressed, but I could care less; it didn’t hurt anymore.
“NOLEN!”
The sound of my mother’s voice calling for me in the house floated up to me. No doubt to tell me I needed to come down off the roof. Like she had told me many times. If she only knew why I came up here. I glanced around and jumped from the roof to the balcony. Making my way through the doors and down the stairs to my mother’s office. I stopped at her door and knocked.
“Come in, Nolen,”
My mother stood by her desk talking with my father and my brother. My brother’s future Beta and best friend stood beside him, and I slowly made my way to them. My mother smiled at me while my father shot me the same look he’d aimed at me these last three years—one of dissatisfaction that I could not seem to erase from his features. Oh, he loved me, but what he wouldn’t do to be blessed with two heirs like Archer. I walked up to her, holding my head up, “Yes, Mother?”
Being only an inch taller than her, I would be considered short for a male wolf, whereas my brother, half a foot taller than me, was giant. My brother grinned at me, but his Beta scowled; I continued to stare at him, and he decided to glance away from me, my rank over him winning out, at least for the time being. I would pay for this stare-down later, because once alone, he would beat me, but at this moment, I found pleasure in making him turn his eyes. You see, since he was beta, he was a step down in rank, even though I wouldn’t be the next alpha of the pack.
“Your father and brother have to go to Dolostone pack. I need you to stay close to the packhouse and not go running around.” My mother surveyed the others in the room, giving them her mom/luna stare. My mother was technically second in command since she was my father’s fated mate and Luna. When my father and his beta left the pack for business, she was the one who kept the pack in line. Not like she had to try hard, as with one of those Luna looks, the pack did whatever she wanted.
I gazed at my father and then my brother; he smiled and winked at me. I turned back to my father, and he came up to me, placing both of his hands on my shoulders. My brother and I took after him in our appearance; both possessing his dark blue eyes and dark hair. My brother got his build, but I don’t know if I would ever be built like him. I met his eyes with my own and nodded to him. He smiled at me, and with a nod and a motion of his hand, he, my brother, and the future Beta walked through the office door. Leaving my mother and me there in the room. Since they were taking the beta’s son with them, my dad’s beta could stay here and help my mother with the pack.
Three weeks passed since my father, brother and the future Beta departed from the pack. Mother showed no concern for them, but something appeared off to me. A week had gone by with none of the usual bullying from my peers. Which was odd in itself because they all loved to make my life miserable every chance they got. Something deep down in my soul felt absent, but each time I brought this up to my mother, she would tell me how ridiculous I sounded.
Sitting in my room reading a book, I heard cars pulling up the drive to the packhouse. I stared out my window and observed that the once polished SUVs now showed signs of deep claw marks down their sides. I spotted my dad getting out of the middle car like always, along with the future Beta Axel. They were both in only shorts, meaning they’d recently shifted to their wolf forms at some point during their trip back. My heart sank when I spotted the blood on their skin, and they snapped the doors shut.
Where is Archer? I thought to myself as worry laced through me. He hadn’t gotten out of the vehicle.
Sprinting from my room, I raced down the stairs to where my father stood on the steps outside so that I could find out where my brother was. I had never run that fast through the packhouse in my entire life, and when I got to the front doors, my mother sat on her knees, my brother’s body splayed out with his head in her lap.
I sensed time standing still as I stood there in the doorway looking at the scene before me. My heart rate increased at the sight; he wasn’t moving and wasn’t breathing. She continued to wail in sorrow, pulling him closer to her as she rocked him back and forth. His blood stained the steps and her clothes from the deep gashes on his torso.
My father studied me as I went to my mother and brother. I dropped to my knees beside her, grabbing his limp, cold hand. I couldn’t help but cry out, and hot liquid tears bubbled in my eyes as I gaped up at the sky. My brother, who I’d admired all my life, now lay there lifeless because some other wolf took him from my family and me. Unable to believe that he no longer lived among us, anger rose inside of me. Why would the Moon Goddess do this to me, to my family, when we had been loyal to her our entire existence?
What would happen now that Archer, the heir, went to be with the Moon Goddess? I looked back at my father, tears streaming down my face. He just stood there as more of the pack ran up to the packhouse after hearing my mother and my yell of anguish. The howls in the distance told me that the entire pack now realized that the next Alpha had passed into the heavens.
Chapter One: Alpha Training
Two weeks after my brother’s funeral, I made my way south to the Quartzite pack with my mother and father. Since the funeral, no one had messed with me; I was primarily ignored. I sat in the middle SUV, glancing out the window as we rode by the lush fields of flowers and trees. They all looked dull since he’d left.
I hated that they had killed him. If anything, it should have been me—no one would have minded if I’d died, being nothing to the pack but a disgrace. Archer, though, had kept them together and made them proud. He would have led them until his heir took over, and so forth.
We pulled up to the wrought-iron gates of my father’s friend’s pack, and the two massive wolves guarding it let us pass with a nod of their head. The packhouse stood about the same size as my pack’s, and its tall white columns and stone sides looked like they gleamed in the sunshine. The first-floor windows took up the entire height of the first floor.
I caught sight of the massive Alpha and his beautiful Luna standing on the river stone steps waiting for us, his son and daughter stood on either side of them. The Beta stood to the son’s left, the Delta stood beside the daughter. They all appeared happy that we were coming, even though I dreaded these four years.
The vehicles all stopped, the wolves in front of our SUV got out, letting me, my mother, and my father out. I glanced around the place, noticing nothing about the area had changed since coming here as a tiny pup, and the Alpha and Beta still scared me. They were still massive, even though I had grown since I was here last.
I walked forward with my parents and recognized the daughter hiding behind the Luna’s skirts. I stared at her, and she gave me a tiny grin, but I couldn’t reciprocate her smile, which didn’t deter her one bit as she sized me up. Her amber eyes took in my appearance before she brought them back up to my eyes. She was cute, but there was no sense getting close to her. I was here to train and hopefully become better than what I was.
“Alpha of Rhyolite, my old friend. I wish this visit could have been under better circumstances,” said the Alpha of Quartzite.
“Same, my friend. This is my second son, Nolen. He has grown some since you last saw him.”
