Chapter 1
Tyson POV
These bloody meetings were boring, but Ryker insisted we sit through the Alpha meet every year. We still had a year before we took over Black Moon Pack, so I thought it rather pointless when we didn't actually get a say in anything yet.
They weren't so bad, though. My entire family was here, seeing as we all came from Alpha bloodlines. My aunty Lily was here with her husband Damian, from the Crescent Pack. My older sister Lana and her two mates, Tate and Drake, from the Forest Pack were also here. And of course, my other older sister Arial and her mate Chase, from the Red River Pack were here sitting next to my mother. Black Creek Packs Alpha, Jamie, and his Luna were also here with two other packs, whom I couldn't remember for the life of me. Kind of pointless when my family ran the majority of the packs. Not like the other three packs could argue; no one wanted to piss off hybrid wolf packs. And they sure as hell didn't want to piss off my brother Ryker, the Alpha King, a title handed down from my mother, the former Alpha Queen.
Ace nudged me with his foot under the table, trying to get my attention. Looking over at him, he nodded toward the Luna of the Black Creek Pack.
"Check out the tits on her," he mind-linked, and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Close your mouth. You just drooled on the table," I shot back at him, and he smirked.
"What I would do to those puppies," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
"Fucking nasty! She is old enough to be your mother!"
"Got a nice rack, though," he said, and I sighed. "Think they're fake?"
"I don't know. Why don't you ask her mate?" I told him, turning my attention back to Ryker, who was looking at maps laid on top of the round wooden conference table.
"Not possible," he said, looking at the Black Creek Alpha. He was in his fifties and thought his shit didn’t stink. Couldn’t stand the old fart.
"Why? What could they possibly need all that land for? They aren't even running the pack." Alpha Jamie said before glaring at me. Shit! What did I miss?
Ryker looked at Ace and me before nodding to us. I got up, walking over to him.
The Black Moon Pack, the pack that would be handed to my brother and me next year, ran alongside Black Creek Pack. Only a river stood between the two packs, dividing their territory.
He pointed to the map, indicating the open fields running along the river on our side.
"What about it?" I asked, kicking myself for not paying attention.
"I'll buy it off you."
"Not interested," I told him. That was a large empty space we planned on turning into training grounds.
"What could you possibly want with it?" Alpha Jamie asked.
"None of you bloody business. What do you want with it? You want more land? Go pester him for it. I'm not giving you even an inch of fucking space!" I told him, not liking the prick's tone. Who the fuck does he think he is?
"He has enough. He is just being greedy," Damien said, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest. Alpha Jamie was not liked by many. He was arrogant and stuck in the Stone Age with the way he ran his pack.
Alpha Jamie growled at Damian but soon quietened down with one look from my brother.
" Enough! He said no, and that's it. It is their land, their pack. Moving on," Ryker tells him.
"They are fucking seventeen, for fuck’s sake! And know nothing about running a pack! What could they possibly need it for? This is bullshit! And no longer fair to the rest of the packs surrounding the area, when your family runs over half the packs around here," he said.
His Luna grabbed his arm, trying to calm him, and if looks could kill, she would be dead ten times over. She was a timid woman, she had her red hair tied in a bun and a stern face. Yet the fear of her husband was evident in her eyes as she cowered from his glare. I felt sorry for her, having a husband like him. It was clear she feared him. He tugged his arm away from her and stood up, placing his hands on the desk. His dirty-blond hair fell forward over his eyes before he swept it away with his hand.
"Fine! You want it so bad? I'll challenge you for it," Ace told him, also getting up from his seat. I folded my arms across my chest, sitting back with a silly smirk on my face. The old man had better sit down, Ace would eat him alive. The difference in size alone made Alpha Jamie look like a boy compared to my brother's large frame.
"Well, don't you think you're something!" the Alpha spat back at him.
"You want it, old man? Take it," Ace said.
Ryker sat down with a stupid grin on his face. "Offer is there, Jamie. You want the land? Challenge him for it."
"Sit down, love," His Luna told him, touching his arm. She looked petrified, and he would be an idiot to challenge Ace. Not only would he lose, but we would take his pack. Realizing that, he sat back down.
Ace also went to sit down, but the dickhead just couldn't help but run his mouth.
"Fucking hybrid mutts!" he muttered under his breath. Ace growled, about to attack him, when Reika suddenly stood. Reaching over the table, grabbing his head, and slamming it onto the table. I heard the crunch of his nose before blood splattered across it. My mother snickered in the corner of the room. Mom had a different way of dealing with Alphas when she was Queen, she could usually talk them down with reason. Reika, the new Queen, didn't share those views. Personally, I think my brother has rubbed off on her, she was more the brute-force sort of Queen.
Alpha Jamie sprang to his feet, a growl escaping his lips. His Luna shrieked as blood splattered on her.
"You fucking—"
"I dare you to finish that sentence, Jamie. See where it gets you," Ryker warned him, pulling Reika onto his lap before she let Amanda have him. Jamie, however, refused to sit back down. Reika leaned forward, and I could see Ryker’s grip on her tighten as she gripped the table.
"Sit down, bitch! Or I will make you!" Reika told him, her claws slipping from her fingers and piercing through the desk.
Alpha Jamie finally sat back down, backing away from the argument. Reika looked a little upset, like she wanted him to remain standing just so she could tear him apart. Ryker whispered something to her, and she leaned back, and he kissed her shoulder.
"So. Can we wrap this shitshow up? Or do you other fools want to start some more unnecessary shit?" I asked.
They shook their heads, and I hopped up, glad to be out of this meeting. My mother came over from her place in the corner, following Ace and me out of the room.
"You boys excited for your seventeenth birthday tomorrow? You can finally find your mates. I thought you would have last year, but better late than never," she said.
"More excited about spending time with my family. It's been a while since everyone has been in one place," Ace said, wrapping his arm across her shoulders.
"Feels like yesterday that you were babies. Now look at you. All grown up and towering over me just like your brother," she said just as Lucy came bounding down the stairs. She had grown so much, her green and amber eyes lighting up when she saw us. She was twelve now.
"Grandma!" she squealed, rushing over and hugging her.
"Hey, princess. Where were you headed?"
"Looking for dad. I want to go to the creek with Melena and Josey."
"Dad's busy, sweetie. You will have to tell them not today. Maybe tomorrow, after the birthday celebrations," Mom told her, and she nodded before heading back upstairs.
"I'll take you. Go put on your swimmers," I told her, and she rushed upstairs. My mother gave me a look.
"What?"
"Reika wants her home. You two always give in to her."
"We will have her back before dark," I told my mother, and she sighed.
"Fine. But, if Reika rips your head off, I ain't helping you," she said, wandering off.
"Huh? Yeah, right! Reika will just be glad she isn't up to mischief," Ace said, heading upstairs to grab our swimmers. Ryker usually went swimming with her, because the girl was bottom-heavy. No matter how many times we tried teaching her to swim, she would just sink to the bottom like a stone.
I followed him up to our room, pushing the door open and grabbing a bag to stuff some clothes in. Lucy didn't have a wolf. Her biological father made sure of that when he forced her to shift, when she was eight, killing her wolf and awakening her vampire side. She too, died from the shift before coming back as a hybrid without a wolf.
"Here, chuck these in," Ace said, tossing me his board shorts. I chucked them in the bag. Just in time for Lucy to bound in with her towel and swimmers.
"Who are you going with? Ace or me?" I asked her.
"Ace. Your wolf is too fast," she said, and I nodded.
"Hold this. I need to pee first," I told her, and she grabbed the backpack, and I wandered down the hall to pee. Flicking the toilet seat up and unzipping. Argh, I thought as I let loose, only, I didn't hear it hit the water. Opening my eyes, piss was going everywhere. Like a fountain as I tried to stop midway. That bloody brat! She cling-wrapped it again!
"Lucy!" I screamed before hearing her giggle on the other side of the door. I grabbed a towel, mopping up the mess I’d just made before washing my hands.
Opening the door, she shrieked before rushing off.
"Get back here, you little brat!" I yelled, chasing after her. She rushed down the stairs, and Ace grabbed her before darting off with her, laughing.
"Were you in on it?" I asked him through the link while I was trying to find them.
"No. But, it was pretty funny. We are out back," he said, and I followed her scent toward the back patio. Stepping out, Lucy was giggling, hiding behind Ace and using him as a shield.
I growled at her, and she growled back, baring her teeth at me.
"Eyes closed, Luce. Gotta shift," Ace told her, and she turned around, covering her eyes with her hands while he stripped off before dumping his clothes in the bag.
He shifted quickly into his black wolf, which seemed to be a family trait among the men in the family. All our wolves were black. It would be interesting to see if Rayans would be black when he was older or if he would be snow-white like his mother.
I grabbed the bag. "You can open your eyes now," I told her, and she turned around. Ace's wolf Atticus nudged her with his nose, telling her to climb on him. And she did, pulling on his fur to climb on his back.
"Hang on tight. I will catch up," I told her, and she nodded, gripping his fur. I watched as they darted off into the trees. I stripped off before feeling a hand slap my ass, making me jump.
"Need some sun on that bum, bro," Damian said, coming out the back door and leaning on the railing, watching his daughter Amelia who was on the swings talking to a pack wolf. She is fifteen now. I shifted. Suddenly, Damian growled, making me snap my head to Amelia, who was walking off toward the forest with the boy she was talking to.
"Over my dead fucking body! Is she going off with that twerp!" Damian snapped before storming down the steps after his daughter. I chuckled before running off across the yard, heading for the trees.