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“Not exactly.” Luc sighed again, this time staring into his glass like he wanted it to swallow him whole. “I used to think like you until Dad came to see me one time. He told me the future of this pack was on me, as I would be named alpha after him.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I’m the oldest male of Mom and Dad.”
Brandon leaned back against the wall with me. “I always wondered why Dredge didn’t get the position. He’s definitely family.”
“But from a father who was a maniac,” Luc said.
“That’s no reason he can’t be alpha. Dredge would protect any one of us with his life,” I said, upset that Dad was a stickler for pure born tradition.
“It wasn’t all about being pure born or having a maniac father, though. And no need to look so embarrassed at talking about me behind my back,” Dredge said, entering the room and taking a seat next to us.
We were too shocked to say anything more, and there was a long silence before he continued, “Dad took Pac and me aside one day and told us I was going to be alpha.” He looked at Luc and smiled. “If not for Pac, you would have gotten away with not having to be alpha of the pack one day.”
“Unless something ate you,” Luc interjected.
“That was a weak joke!” Dredge laughed anyway, then patted Luc on the back and squeezed his shoulder. “I wish I could take the stress of being under Dad’s shadow away from you, but it’s too late now.”
“Why? What happened?” Luc asked.
“Pac was knowingly upset.”
“Just upset?” Brandon asked.
“Okay, livid. He demanded a fight. He wanted to prove who was the strongest of us both. Dad forbade it. Said he had made his decision for precisely this reason. Pac was too hardheaded, and few respected him in the pack. Dad tried to placate him, saying we were both his sons, but it was too late. Pac stormed out of that meeting and never treated me the same ever again.” He took a drink from his cup. “I lost my first ever friend that day. He had shown me so much care when Mom and I first arrived at Cory’s house, what with her unconscious and both of us skin and bones. If not for Pac, I wouldn’t have survived that period of my life. The same could be said of Dad. Pac was instrumental in allowing Dad to win a fight against my biological father and his pack. I truly believe that if Pac could just get out from under his own shadow, he could do so much good.”
“But this still doesn’t explain why you can’t be alpha,” Luc said.
Was it just me or did Luc sound hopeful? I’d always thought he wanted to be alpha, but maybe I was wrong.
Dredge sighed. “I can’t anymore.” He held up a hand to halt our questions and added, “I tried to talk to Pac. I told him I’d talk to Dad on his behalf about him being a better candidate for alpha, but he wouldn’t listen. He kept spouting that he was going to have his revenge. You have to understand that Pac was always the one who voted for physical force or some sort of retaliation as a way to solve any problem. We thought this would just be another one of those times he was upset, and that after a while, it would all blow over.”
He sighed; his eyes lost to the memory. “I found a time to talk to Dad anyways. I was afraid—”
“You’re never afraid of anything!” I cried.
Dredge laughed. “That’s not true. I’ve just put up a good front. Glad it’s still working.”
The three of us looked at each other with questions in our eyes. Dredge was the strongest of all of us. There was no question about it.
Seeing our expressions, Dredge said, “I’m plenty afraid, and if you’re smart, you would be too. There’s a lot in this world we don’t know about, including other creatures we’ve never seen before. But that’s for another discussion, and I’m digressing off the topic I want to share with you all. Where was I?”
“You were going to go talk to Dad about Pac being alpha material,” Luc prompted.
Dredge nodded. “Yes. You knew my biological father was cruel, right?”
We all nodded.
“Did you know he was cruel to the point of hurting his own wife and daughter?”
“Bubbie and Mom?” I said, feeling my fists clench at the thought of anyone hurting Mom.
“Yes, Bubbie and Mom.”
A roll of growls filled the air, and I found myself howling alongside my brothers. When we settled down, Dredge continued his story.
“I was afraid that I would turn into him,” he admitted. “I could already see I had tendencies to lash out in anger whenever I got stressed or didn’t have enough sleep, even if someone bested me or I did something wrong, like put the fork on the wrong side of the plate.”
