Chapter 6 - A promise

Knocking on the door woke me up and one of the omegas told me that the Alpha wanted to meet me in the living room. I groaned a little but forced myself to sit up.

“Yeah..I’ll be down in a minute..” I answered

Despite yesterday’s events, I had actually slept well. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and dragged my feet to the bathroom. The Alpha will have to wait a bit, I have a morning situation to get rid of first.

As I enter the living room I see the Alpha is not alone. Mike and his parents are there as well and they are not happy. Mike's face is still severely bruised and his nose is swollen..his wolf should be able to heal him..maybe they don’t agree on what he did so he is being punished. I turn to the Alpha and I am met with a very disappointed look.

“James, do you want to explain what happened? Why does Mike’s face look the way it does?” He says in a very authoritarian voice. Fuck! If I tell the truth I will expose my lie from last night, I will also strip Cathy of the chance to tell her side.

“Mike was being his usual self, an asshole, so I put him in his place…about his face, well I think I improved it,” I said and glared at Mike. I could hear his mother drew her breath and his father let out a low growl.

“James! Enough! I want you to apologize immediately!” The Alpha's voice was loud and angry.

“No.”

“Now James!” I could feel his Alpha aura but it didn't effect me.

“NO!” I stood my ground, there was nothing that could make me bend and give this shithead an apology.

“How dare you take that tone? You should be whipped for talking back to the Alpha!” Mike's father roared and his mother seemed shocked.

“He is not my Alpha..” I answered them. I saw a shadow of hurt passing the Alpha's face and I felt really bad. He took us in when we needed it, he treated us like family, made sure we were fed and clothed and went to school...but I was still not going to do this.

“Good morning everyone!” Cathy’s chirping voice could be heard in the room as she entered. Finally, maybe she could turn this around.

“Oh, my Goddess! Mike, what happened to you?” She runs up to Mike and carefully touches his face. What the fuck is happening? She looks around the room and her eyes land on me. At first, she is just looking for an answer, but then she gives me the same disappointing look as her father.

“James? Did you do this? Why do you always have to be so mean to Mike? What did he ever do to you?” I can't belive the words coming out of her mouth..did she forget? How can she not remember what he did to her?

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I growl at her between my clenching teeth and see the questioning expression on her face.

“James! Watch your tone!” Now the Alpha was getting really mad…well, I was not taking all the heat alone.

“Fine! I will tell you what happened. I saw Mike trying to force himself on a drugged girl, so I stopped him. If you don’t believe me, ask his wolf why he hasn’t heald him yet.” With that, I left the room and I smiled as I heard Mike stutter as he tried to come up with a lie.

I slam my door shut. I need to get out of here, I will never fit in and I could never bend to another Alpha will..as soon as Kevin comes home we will leave. We will become the rogue brothers, I will take care of him..we’ll be fine. Cathy and Mike can live happily ever after, I don’t give a fuck. I take out a big trunk from the closet, It’s big enough to hold the things we need. I have some money saved from the Alpha and I can take jobs along the way..it will be okay..we will be okay. There's a knock on the door and before I have time to ask whoever is on the other side to leave me alone the Alpha steps it..great, just what I need, another scolding. I sigh and sit on the bed and wait for him to release his anger. At first he doesn’t say anything, he just stands there scratching his head and pulling his beard. Then his eyes land on my half-packed bag and he frowns. “James, what is that? What have you planned to do?”

“ I’m sorry Alpha..we can’t stay here..I’ve tried but it won’t work..I’ll always be incredibly grateful for everything you’ve done for us..you’re a good man and a good Alpha.. but this is not for us.” He takes a deep sigh and to my surprise, he sits down on the bed next to me. Sitting so close to him makes it clear what a big man he is and I instantly feel very small, even Argus tries to look the other way.

“I didn’t know your parents well James, I met them at several gatherings and had a couple of affairs with your father..but we never became more familiar than that. What I do know about them, however, is that they were both Alpha-born, they both had Alpha blood in their veins, which makes you a very special young man. You are a pure Alpha, stronger than others who only have it from their one parent. For a born Alpha to fit into a pack they don’t come from, to take a lower rank..it’s incredibly difficult..but for a pure Alpha to do it..it’s impossible. Your wolf will never accept that, it’s in his nature to want to take over the pack you live in. Even if he wouldn’t come after me, it would be impossible for him not to challenge Callum for the leadership in this pack.” He looked grim, almost sad and inside I knew he was right..Argus knew it too.

“More reasons why we better leave this pack” I replied while giving my fingers and hands a lot of attention. The alpha stands up and walks over to Kevin’s bed. He picks up a teddy bear and straightens the little coat it’s wearing. “ Kevin is young James, just a kid..he doesn’t have as strong alpha blood as you and he is not a firstborn or a born alpha so his wolf won’t claim an alpha position, to be honest, he wouldn’t want one..but he needs a pack..he needs to grow up in a pack.” He let his words hang in the air, waiting for my reaction.

“I’m not leaving my brother..I’ve taken care of him all his life and I can continue to do so, he doesn’t need a pack..we don’t need one, we have each other.” The thought of leaving Kevin here made my heart ache and I felt a little nauseous.

“I have a suggestion..stay the semester out, and make sure to leave with a good grade if you decide to continue at another school. In the meantime, keep an eye on Kevin, I mean, really keep an eye on him. Does he have friends? What is he doing in his free time? How is he doing at school? Is he enjoying himself? Is he developing? If after the semester you think it’s a good idea to take him with you, I won’t stand in your way.” He put the teddy bear back on the bed and looked at me, waiting for my answer. There were only six weeks left in the semester...six weeks...six weeks under the same roof as Cathy...in the same school as Mike. Could I handle that? I clenched my jaw at the thought but I gave the Alpha a nod. For Kevin, I could handle anything.

“Good, that’s good...well then, I let you change, training starts in half an hour.” With that, he left the room. I fell back on the bed and closed my eyes..how could my life become such a mess in just a few days? But okay, I would keep my promise to the Alpha, I would keep my head down, stay away from both Mike and Cathy and watch Kevin...it shouldn’t be too hard. My first test came just minutes later when I literally ran into Cathy in the kitchen.

“James, I want to talk to you about what you did yesterday...I don’t understand why, but then I came to think that maybe it was Argus who was angry and hurt after I rejected him and it would be more understandable even though I think you should have been able to stop him. And I don’t know why you told such a lie about Mike, he was with me so I know he wasn’t trying to take advantage of any girl, it’s a very ugly thing to lie about James.”

“Cathy...” I said when she paused to get some air in her lungs.

“Yes?”

“Move.”

“What?”

“You are in my way and I’m late, so move”. She slowly took a couple of steps to the side and I pushed past her and headed for the training ground, proud of myself and Argus, we passed the test and kept control, maybe we could do this after all.