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3

He sat at his desk waiting for his son to come into his office. He’d already sent the pack off on scouting missions to make sure that Mystic Cove was safe. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, so the only thing that he needed to concern himself with now was his son. That should have been his main concern now but that didn’t mean that it was.

Maven had been a habitual overthinker since the day he could actually think for himself. His father always said that his overthinking was a bittersweet character flaw. Sweet because it meant that he’d never be snuck up on, but bitter because he would never get a peaceful night’s sleep because of his paranoid mindset. His beloved mate, however, told Maven that his constant weariness would cause an early death.

There were very rare days where there wasn’t a lot on Maven’s mind. One would think that it was always that way for an alpha, and for the most part it was, but there was a special reason why Maven’s mind had been bogged down with concerns. It wasn’t often that he didn’t think about this particular thing, and today was no different. He counted the seconds until his door would open so that, for the time being, at least, he could put his paranoia on the back burner. Until then, the alpha would just have to overwhelm himself continuously with the idea that today could be the day that everything came crumbling down.

“Dad?”

Maven’s son’s voice was like a beacon over the cloud of concerns deafening his thoughts.

“You are going to be the death of us both, Mav,” His wolf said in the deep recesses of his mind as the alpha’s son came into his office.

Maven brushed his wolf’s remark to the back of his mind with the rest of his concerns.

“Everything alright, dad?” asked his son, coming closer into his father’s office. He settled against the wall near his door.

“Fine,” Maven retorted in short. “How was school?”

“Fine,”

“That’s funny,” replied the alpha, though his expression said otherwise. “Because I heard that you didn’t attend classes today.”

His son was caught, and while that would have immediately pushed anyone else into frantically trying to find yet another lie to be caught up in, Maven’s son just shrugged. “I’m sorry,”

“I wish I could believe that Colsin,” said Maven to his son, an impatient expression on his person. He leaned back into his executive chair and just watched his son. “Care tell me why you’ve decided to miss class?”

“I don’t have a reason that would be good enough for you since I’m being honest, dad,” he said honestly. “I can say that whoever told you this was painfully misinformed.”

“Is that so?” retorted Maven with clear irritation lacing his voice.

“I was at school today, dad. The guidance counselor will tell you as much.”

“And exactly how long did you stay before left the premises?” Maven knew his son’s tricks.

“I did go to like one and a half classes today, dad.” Colsin ditched halfway through the second phase of the day.

“And again, I’m going to ask, why.”

“Like I said, I really don’t have a good enough excuse, dad. I jus-“

“I didn’t ask whether the reason was good enough. I asked why.”

Colsin’s steel blue eyes shifted up to the ceiling, arms crossed, he simply shrugged. “Got a lot on my mind.”

Maven knew what was on his son’s mind before he felt the need to elaborate. “Your eighteenth,” said the alpha. “It’s fast approaching.”

“It is,” said Colsin. Elaborating beyond that was something that Colsin wasn’t sure he was ready to do yet.

“You’re no longer just the alpha’s son. You’re my right hand. You’ll be taken the reigns wherever I cannot. Have you been keeping up with your training?”

“Yes sir,” replied Colsin.

“I expect, I’ll be seeing proof of that soon enough.”

“Probably,” said Colsin. Although, proving himself as an alpha was nowhere near the young alpha’s concern. That wasn’t his concern at all.

“And your mate,” mentioned the alpha, as he knew full and well that any mission that he’d give Colsin concerning the wellbeing of the pack and efficiency of leadership would be aced without question. Self-efficiency was something that he could control. There was thing that the young alpha could not control, however, and that was his mate.

“Shadow hasn’t sensed anyone yet.”

“You’re not sure that you want him to,” said the alpha.

“What if I don’t like her?” asked Colsin.

For the first time, Maven saw the concern hidden beneath his son’s almost expressionless expression.

“What if she’s not a high-titled wolf?” he asked the question that his son was burning to ask him.

“What if the goddess finds a low-caliber wolf as my mate? What am I supposed to do about that?”

“Low-caliber wolves can be made great in their positions,” said Maven.

“All due respect, dad, that’s easy for you to say. Mom was of the highest caliber.”

Only part of his son’s compliment was bias because the woman was his mother, however, Maven had to agree that his beloved Ophelia was of high caliber. She wasn’t the only one, however.

“That is true,” the alpha greed.

“And what if she wasn’t?” Colsin asked. “What if her title was lower? What would you have done?”

“The fact of the matter is, she wasn’t. So, I never had the arbitrary task of rejecting her and finding better.”

That wasn’t the answer that Colsin felt he needed to hear. “There has to be a clearer piece of advice than that,” he impatiently remarked.

Maven sighed. “The pack must go on, son. Even if that means that the alpha will never be with his true mate.”

“So, in other words, I’d be most miserable if I chose to stay with Sara.”

“Depends on how you feel about her,” Maven shrugged.

“I like her well enough,” said Colsin. In truth, Colsin could almost say that he loved Sara, but he knew that it wasn’t a deep-down type of love. If she was in trouble, he’d do his best to get her out of it, but he couldn’t say that he’d move mountains to make sure that Sara was the priority, however. If it were that kind of love, he’d have been far more faithful than he was. The young alpha didn’t make it a habit but every now and again, there would be a girl that he just wanted to have. Most of the times those desires centered around the blood running through her veins. In cases like that, Colsin always thought, he’d kill two birds with one stone.

“To lie next to her for the rest of your life?”

“If it keeps the Stone name as well as the pack where it should be then that’s all that matters,” agreed Colsin.

“Then why are you so concerned?” asked Maven, bringing the subject back to the root of his concerns.

“I just needed to know that you’d be okay with it if that’s what it has to come down to.”

“Well, now you know,” replied Maven. He wouldn’t express aloud for caution of his son becoming too arrogant, but he was certainly proud of the young alpha wolf that he was maturing to be. “Whatever it takes to keep us strong is what needs to be done. Are you ready for your Ascension?”

The Ascension was what the wolves would call the ceremony of a young alpha coming, officially, into his own. It was usually carried out on one’s eighteenth birthday, and on this day, an inhuman and their beastly counterpart will officially become one soul. It is then that their senses are heightened and only grow from that point. It’s also on this day that one is awakened to their true mate’s scent. It was often that an ascent would find their mate on this day.

Maven couldn’t help but wonder who the goddess mother had in store for his son or even if she was in the Mystic Cove pack. Some inhumans had to trek the globe to find their true mate. Some gave up on their search but that was a rare occurrence.

Colsin shrugged. “A little nervous, if I’m being honest. Slim pickings in our pack.”

Mystic Cove pack was known for their attractive pack members as well as their cunning and known brutality. The females were especially beautiful, and some inhumans would make special trips to Mystic Cove in hopes that they’d be paired with one of the pack’s females. Males too.

It wasn’t their beauty that was the problem, but their titles. Most of the females were born with low-level titles and while their standing title may have been low, their genes were strong. Sometimes stronger than that of higher-ranking pack members. Colsin could not and would not afford such a risk.

“Is that why you’ve claimed Sara” asked Maven. “She was born with the alpha gene.”

“She was born with the gene,” he said. Sara was one of only two females in the pack with alpha blood in her genes. The other was already mated to another. Truth be told, Sara was more Colsin’s type anyway, so it wasn’t a big loss for him. That was aside the fact that her father was of a higher ranking, being the beta of the pack. “She’s liked me for a while, and I like her. It fits.”

“Well, let’s hope her true mate doesn’t come along.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

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