Page 1 of Alpha's Claim

Chapter one

Weston

“We’vehousedthepackin Wilkes-Barre since the beginning. We’ve lived here for generations, Weston, talking about moving makes absolutely no sense.” Yari Lupino was my longtime best friend and the woman who would take the role of Beta in the pack when it was my turn to be Alpha. That’s why the argument was even happening- she was completely against the move I was planning from their current home to closer to Philadelphia. Closer to safety and away from the upheaval we were dealing with at the time.

“We’ve also been under attack for months. We’re not getting any closer to figuring out who is behind the attacks. We don’t have the resources to fight back if it’s more than one pack after us, Yari.” I pushed my white-blonde hair back from my face. It was annoying when I caught myself doing it, but it was a stress response. I didn’t like to argue with her, but it happened. We didn’t always get along, like every friendship. It was usually fairly formulaic- we'd argue and get over it no matter how heated they got.

“That’s no reason to run and hide!” She said. Her voice was wavering, letting on how upset that she was at the prospect of getting the pack out of here. I really did understand. It wasn’t as though I WANTED to move the pack, but at this point it was necessary to be safe. We’d had too many pack members attacked by some unknown attackers. Luckily everyone had been retrieved safely after the ambushes.

“We’re retreating strategically so that we can regroup and figure out what’s going on in a safer environment, that’s all. It’s not running and hiding. It’s keeping everyone we care about safe. The last attack was on your brother, Yari. We’re out of options. It’s only a matter of time until this situation ends up in murder. What if it’s you next time? What am I supposed to do if you get hurt, or worse? You’re the only one I can even imagine as my Beta, Yari. It could be anyone. Anyone could be a target and that’s exactly why we need to make this move.”

“I do understand, Weston. I just don’t want to back down. I want to defend our home and hold the line here. We can figure out what pack is attacking us and push back.” Yari’s voice sounded desperate. She was clinging onto the idea of home and family being tied to our physical space even though the pack was home wherever we went.

“We’re not abandoning family, Yari. We’re going to stay together and home is home as long as we’re together and we’re safe.” I was getting that feeling of exhaustion that I got when I began to lose energy. There were only so many ways I could phrase this. It was only one concept. “I don’t mean to pull rank, you know that. But I’m putting my weight behind this. It’s so important to me. I’ll be talking to my mother about this when she gets home. She has trained me my entire life to be our next Alpha. I have to make this decision. I don’t want to leave, but I also don’t want to lose anyone.”

At that moment there was a knock at the door and I turned to face it. It irritated me that I had to turn my attention away from my conversation with Yari. It wasn’t the fault of whoever was behind the door that I was already in a dark mood. I took a deep breath to steady myself and calm down just enough to deal with someone else.

“Come in.” It was more of a command than it was a request. I fell into my role as future Alpha easily. I had grown up in this environment and my mother had taught me everything along the way. I could only hope I could be as good as her when it was my turn. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be for a long time.

“Weston,” It was Clark. He had a terrible look on his face- almost guilt, or desperation. “There’s been another attack.” He paused for just a beat too long. “They didn’t… they didn’t make it.”

I could tell that there was something wrong. Something he wasn’t telling me. It was obvious that he was holding something back. My heart sank at that look, that pause. There was something terribly wrong, he could feel it. I stood taller, crossing my arms over my chest.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Again, it was a demand. Not a question. Whatever it was I clearly needed to know.

“It was your mother.” He said softly. I felt a spike of cold emotion strike me straight in the heart.

“What?” I needed him to repeat the statement, just to make sure I had heard him correctly. Certainly it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. My mother was strong and powerful. She couldn’t be gone. I couldn’t accept it.

“I’m so sorry, Weston.” Yari said, placing a hand on my shoulder. There were no words to make anything better and we all knew that.

I felt numb. It was like there was static inside my body, buzzing softly in the background. I didn’t cry or scream or even get upset- I was just gone. I couldn’t handle it in front of Clark.

“Get out,” I said, moving to brace myself on my mother’s- my desk. “I need space to think.” I said. Yari was smart enough to realize that I didn’t mean her. She stayed while Clark left. I sat heavily into the leather desk chair that she had bought at his recommendation. It was my chair now. It was my desk and my responsibility. “There’s so much we need to do,” I said softly, looking up at Yari. She hadn’t left my side. As I looked up at her she let her hand slip from my shoulder.

“We can do it together. You know I’ve got your back through everything. You’re not alone. We’re all behind you.” Her voice wavered as she spoke. There were tears in her eyes. She had been so close to my mother as well- she had been training her entire life as well. Yari had called my mother her mother as well. She was her child as well. It didn’t take long for the tears to slip free from her eyelashes and I turned away. If I watched her cry I would break. It would become real. That was the hardest part. I didn’t want to think about how she died, alone and in pain and fear.

That image brought the pain forward. My chest felt so tight and I felt such physical pain. I had never understood what people had meant by feeling broken-hearted. Nothing had ever hurt like this. Not a single instance of emotional or physical pain could compare with this.

“We have so much to do,” I repeated, my voice shaking. “We have to plan the funeral. And we have to leave. We’re moving. I’ve already found a place for us in Schuylkill. We’ll be closer to the city and farther away from whatever this is. We have to figure out who did this. Blood for blood.” I said softly. “We can’t let this rest.” Tears were falling down my face, although I couldn’t distinguish whether it was from physical and emotional pain. I focused on the logistics rather than the agony.

“We won’t. We can move and we can still keep an eye out here. We’ll make sure that this doesn’t rest.” Yari promised, grabbing a tissue off of my desk. She wiped at her eyes with it. “I promise. I’ll be right here by your side through everything.” She leaned in and draped herself over my back in a gesture of protection, solidarity, and comfort. I shattered in that moment and sobbed in her arms, terrified of the depths of the emotions I felt. I was used to compartmentalizing everything and I couldn’t do that here. I’m not sure how long I sat there with my elbows on my desk and just wept with my best friend. The one person I could let myself be this vulnerable to. I was the Alpha now. I couldn’t be seen to be broken in front of anyone but Yari, my Beta. My rock, really. She had been there through everything and she would carry me through this as well. She could and would be my foundation as I began my reign.

“Okay,” I finally stopped crying. “Okay. We can do this. I can do this with you.” I said. I sat back in the chair as she released me, taking a step back and leaning against my desk. “This is not how I wanted us to be promoted.” I said softly, looking up at her. “But I know we can handle it.”

“We both spent our whole lives preparing for this, Wes. We can just fall into that pattern now.” She said, patting my arm. She was still sniffing and rubbing tears from her eyes occasionally. I nodded at her. There was no way I could force a smile in the situation, but the wave of pain had waned just enough for me to get control of myself again.

“I’m sorry,” Yari spoke softly. “You were right the whole time. I’m so sorry.”

“We argue sometimes. It’s okay. You had your opinion and I understand that.” I said, running my fingers through my hair. “It’s not about who’s right or who’s wrong. It’s okay. We need to plan the move, though. I’ll send out an email to the whole pack and let them know what’s happening. We’ll have our own space just like we do here. I need to get in touch with the realtor and let them know the land and house I picked will be ours.”

“Get me in touch with her as well,” Yari said, and I looked up at her, confused. “This is gonna be hard and I want to have your back on this, Weston. There might be times you’ll be called to do something else and we’ll still need to deal with the logistics of buying the land and compound. I can help, I promise. It’s not a bad idea to have backup on that side too.” I nodded at that. It was a good idea.

“I have a copy of her card and I’ll send her an email that I want you to be my backup.” I said, looking back down at my desk. I took a deep breath before I got up and went to the chair across the room. My laptop bag was there. I pulled it out and got set up to get in touch with everyone I needed to speak to. “I don’t want a lot of pomp and circumstance about my ascension to Alpha.” I sighed, opening up my email to send out a formal letter that would confirm the death of my mother and my new role as Alpha. “They’re going to say I’m too young,” I chuckled softly, and Yari gave me a watery smile. She had her phone out and was working diligently on something. I trusted her to be doing something that would benefit our pack. We may disagree sometimes but never about that.

“Yeah, well, they can all suck it honestly. If anyone thinks you’re too young or anything else stupid like that we’ll set them straight. We’re gonna kill it.” Her little speech lacked the usual energy behind it, but both of us were still reeling. Trying to work through the murder of my mother and not fall apart. I couldn’t afford that. I had people I had to take care of. Most of them I had known my whole life. I would do anything for them, including getting us out of this place and somewhere safer. Home meant nothing if we were losing lives.

Chapter two

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