Page 21 of Beginning Fate

“It's good. Surprisingly, I've settled easily into my new role. I officially gave allegiance before Tulok stepped down. He and Amka are enjoying retirement. It's nice to have their guidance during this transition. Not all Alphas have that luxury.”

“Because a lot of them fight for that position. It's rarely just handed off to them,” I reminded him.

“That's not true. The biggest of the Packs pass the title down by bloodline as long as there's an heir. And it's becoming more common for the elder Alpha to step down and pass the role to the next in line instead of waiting on death to do it for him. It's much more peaceful this way. I can't even imagine Upa dying and then having to deal with the transition while mourning. How awful that must have been,” Karis said.

“Fortunately, we'll never know. There's certainly some trials having the former Alpha so very present, but we're working through it.”

“Our Pack adores you.”

He gave a look that told me things probably weren't going as smoothly as rumors have told.

It's only been in our generation that two Alphas could even exist in one Pack. Before that it was kill or be killed, or an heir simply waited for the death of their predecessor. The first I knew of this change was Jason Westin. He'd basically died, and in that moment his power had transferred to his heir, Kyle. But then they were able to resuscitate him and instead of fighting his son to the death to regain his Pack position, he'd stepped aside and taken on a more administrative role while allowing his heir to rise within his lifetime.

Since then, the former Alpha of Collier had willingly stepped aside in order to mentor his heir as well. I still couldn't fully comprehend how that could possibly work, but supposedly Thomas Collier's wolf was growing stronger quickly and would have inevitably tried to fight his father's for Alpha before his time. This way, neither of them allowed it to go that far. And it seemed to work for them.

Most Alphas were too self-centered and dominant to ever allow that to happen. Or maybe wolves in general were evolving over time and our more logical human natures were growing stronger and better able to control our animal instincts. I wasn't sure, but Damon was the third Alpha that I knew who was reigning over his former Pack Alpha.

“It's still hard to believe you're an Alpha. The tales of Damon Rossi are legendary here and definitely not very Alpha-y.”

“Alpha-y? That's not even a word.” Damon chuckled. “I certainly had my moments here, but the love of one perfect woman changes everything.”

He nuzzled his mate's neck as she sighed.

“I'm far from perfect,” Karis said.

“Maybe, but you're perfect for me.”

The longing to feel that closeness and connection to a mate hit me hard.

Lauren.

An image of her was vivid in my mind and I couldn't help but smile.

Involuntarily, I looked over at the kids laughing and talking over the movie they had put on. Kylie was right there in the middle of it, and she looked happy and content. I didn't want to take that away from her, but I also desperately needed her sister to stay.

“The deaf girl?” Damon asked. “Is there something going on between you?”

I gave him a horrified look. “What? No. Why would you even say that?”

“Sorry, it's just . . .” his voice trailed off.

Karis rolled her eyes. “It's just that we thought you seemed a little off today during the tour. Like, distracted off.”

I frowned. I'd tried so hard not to react to my mate's presence.

“Dude, you kind of gave off mating vibes. Not totally, but like early stages. I know you've found your mate,” Damon said.

“You can't possibly know that,” I blurted out.

“Actually, he can. Let's just say it's an Alpha thing.”

“What? Is that true?”

Damon nodded. “Yeah. It's pretty cool. It gives Alphas warning about possible unstable males. In a Pack it's actually super hard to tell at times because there are so many other mated or even mating males in the area, so it's not easy to tune into which one right away. But here there's a bunch of pups making it crystal clear who the potential problem could be.”

I stared at him for a minute and then shook my head. “Bullshit. I'm calling bullshit. You're just messing with me.”

“Though you haven't actually denied it,” Karis pointed out. “We’re already sure you've found her. We just haven't been able to determine who. Is it Kylie?”

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