Jacob's POV
The pack took their seats as the clearing became louder and louder by every minute.
I was so engrossed in my thoughts I didn't noticed my mother calling to me.
"Jacob, I've been trying to get your attention from the other side of the room", she pauses and takes a good look at me while sitting down in her seat next to mine, "why do you look so worried??",
"I'm sorry, it's just that dad thought of Beta Eric as his family, his best friend. The look on his face the day he found out…I don't know if he's going to win", my mother holds my hand as she says to me,
"Nonsense, your father is one of the strongest men I know", she holds my face and says, looking at me and smiling like she had seen the future already.
"One thing you should learn Jacob, emotions can sometimes mean weakness", she says while looking me in the eye,
"But it can also mean strength", she finishes with a smile and soon a rush of confidence fills my heart.
"It also depends on having the strength to actually feel the weakness that you so much admire", Richard says standing right next to me and we both shoot him a look,
"What? I have the right to be hungry", he says with a smirk trying to cheer us up,
"Then why are you here then", I ask,
"To say hello like a good little pup my mother always trained me to be, Greetings Luna Lauraline, Greetings Alpha Jacob,", he says while making a quick bow and kissing my mother's hand,
"Greetings Richard", she replies as he turns around and starts looking for food,
"And get double of everything you're getting", I yell as he turns with a playful smirk,
"At least he still knows how to lighten up the atmosphere", my mother giggles at the thought while staring at the back of his head,
"Yeah, he always does", I say as the crowd gets quieter signaling the battle is about to begin,
"Any word from Chris?", my mom asks in a more serious tone,
"No, not since the day we found out about his father. Since then, we've been a little distant, even dad too", I reply while contemplating what's left of our friendship after these series of events,
"You can't blame your father for being a bit distant besides, it's in situations like this that he has to figure things out on his own. It's almost as if, he's experiencing a loss", she says in my father's defense,
"We all are. You know Chris and I, we promised each other that we'd always be friends, that we'd lead the pack side by side. Right now, I'm not so sure anymore", I say with heavy disappointment laced in my tone,
If dad wins, according to pack law his family is forced to find another pack, a nice way of saying they're being banished. If Eric wins, he becomes the alpha, my father gets demoted but he has the choice of staying and following the orders of the new leader or leaving. And these are if one of them isn't dead by the end of the match.
"At least Chris will have a choice to pick me as his future beta, but I doubt he will, I doubt we'll even stay, I doubt any of our dreams will ever happen", I say to my mother,
"Have a little faith dear, though I doubt anything would ever remain the same again. What we do have is hope, hope for a better tomorrow", my mother says as the horns are sounded and the lights are dimmed. I see dad on one end and Eric on the other, both with traditional armors and talismans, the battle had begun.
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10 years later
"The crowning ceremony is only a few weeks away Jacob, are you sure you're ready to be the alpha",
"I don't know dad, I'm actually more worried about finding my mate. It has been tradition that an alpha should rule his pack with his mate, side by side."
"No need to worry then, we've already issued in an all-round search for her a few months ago, she should be found in no time. Till she is found, I can hold onto the position till your good and ready", he pauses before bringing up the question I dreaded so much to answer,
"What about your chosen beta?", he asks as he notices my face changing, being void of emotions,
"Richard will be my beta",
"Hmm, wasn't that your third-in-command, your gamma", I go silent for a while, recalling old memories as emotions once again reach the surface, trying to break loose. But what was done was done and I have to move on from the past.
"What would you have me do, I haven't heard from Chris since the banishment 10 years ago"
"Eric too, unfortunately. Hopefully the blue moon will bring us all together again, it always does. But first, we have to find your mate", my face lits up at the mention of the word,
"I wonder what she'll be like"
"Absolutely beautiful no doubt", my father says with admiration on his face but it soon turns sour, as if remembering a bad memory or event waiting to occur. He turns quickly, excusing himself out of the room.
He seems to be hiding something. It could be about my mate or maybe something else. Whatever it is, I have to know, I have to find out.
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Ashley's POV
Weeks Later,
I'm back from school in my pajamas, lying down on my bed with my laptop and books littered all around me. I'm talking with McKenna and Kaleb on face time because of projects we paired up in doing. One of them was the chemistry project that was due the day after the tomorrow.
It's been boring these past few weeks and all of us have actually been looking forward to this. For some it's a huge boost to their total grade, for some it's just really fascinating while others just want to get it over with.
We had to fill in our parent's blood group, genotype along with ours. Then hair color, race and other stuff that involves DNA grouping and submit the form along with the blood samples from said participants.
Of course they needed our parents' legal consent as well as ours. Besides, it was kind of their idea anyway. It was just one of those efforts to try and get their kids to learn more about themselves and where they come from.
The aim of the test was to show how continuous and discontinuous variation could alter the genes of an offspring and how they mutate through slight changes in each generation. We also had to team up and write an application form requesting for a test from the doctor, not each of us but one for our group. That way collecting and grouping the samples would be so much easier.
"Seriously guys, we need to finish this application so that tomorrow we can start collecting blood samples", I say to my partners McKenna and Kaleb who were watching me from McKenna's room. A yawn escapes my mouth as I was already feeling sleepy.
"Tell that to Kaleb", McKenna says exhaustingly,
"Oh please, forgive me if I'm making this group session a bit more fun and not some kind of nerdy book club", says Kaleb voicing out sarcastically,
"You do realize that you guys are siblings right?", I point out the obvious,
"So?" replied both McKenna and Kaleb,
"So, you guys can just come up with something on your end and send it to me. Then, I'll just edit the work and add my contribution"
"That's exactly what I said, but noooo, Kaleb just had to go watch soccer", nags McKenna at her annoying brother,
"I was eating while watching soccer", Kaleb defends,
"Well how would I know that? Besides we've got a television, internet, obviously laptops, but you just had to go outside the house", complains McKenna,
"Every guy knows it's always better to watch soccer with other guys, besides I wouldn't have gone outside if I had something to eat inside", Kaleb continues as he puts the blame on his sister,
"How is that my fault?", defends McKenna,
"You said you were gonna to cook", voiced Kaleb,
"I was working on the project, I was going to cook later. Why didn't you just go cook by yourself", McKenna counters,
"Because you said I wasn't paying enough attention to the project. So I started working on the project, thinking that I would just take over and you would go cook", says Kaleb displaying his innocence,
"You never entered my room", says McKenna,
"Never had too, cause I was working in mine", defends Kaleb,
They'd keep this up for hours if I didn't intervene. I was getting tired of their constant bickering. Sure they're siblings but it was getting out of hand and time was running out.
"Well why didn't you ask me for clarity?", McKenna asks,
"I didn't need clarity cause I got the message clearly already", bickers Kaleb,
"Or you just really wanted to go watch soccer", McKenna accuses,
"Or you're just covering up for your inability to cook", Kaleb counters,
"My inability to cook?", exclaims McKenna,
"GUYS, please it's a few minutes to midnight and we've got nothing but constant bickering and dirty shame, so ARE WE DOING THIS OR NOT???", I interrupt angrily, fed up with the situation,
"Yo, Ash chill", Kaleb says trying to calm me down,
"Yeah, we're just kidding. We actually spent all day working on it, we just needed a little break. You know what, I'll e-mail you a copy of our work of the application so you can just cross-check, put in your name and other info in the spaces we made", explains McKenna,
"Did you really think we weren't serious about the newest thing our school has to offer", Kaleb says,
"Whatever, it wasn't funny, next time you guys should just start with that instead of annoying me to death", I say and sigh in relief,
"It's no fun that way", whines McKenna,
"Yeah, plus you always make that face when you're mad", Kaleb points out,
"I DON'T", I exclaim,
"Hey, she's doing it again", McKenna says.
While both McKenna and Kaleb erupt in laughter, a notification appears on my laptop because of a new mail, but it isn't the project.
"Seriously guys?", I say being fed up with the jokes,
They stop laughing and stare at me with puzzled looks,
"It's one thing to make fun of me but now what? Prank emails?",
"What do you mean?", asks a confused McKenna,
'Dear Customer, we are pleased to inform you that your contract with us has expired and you're in current debt of $25,000. We know you do very legitimate business with us and the town's museum is evidence of that fact. We are eager to continue working with you and if for any reason you are unable to pay off said debt, we have also sent this message to your next of kin. Please send our regards to your family and wellbeing.
Signed,
Your Personal Insurance Company ', I read out loud summarizing the mysterious email as I realize it might be more legit than I first thought,
"Yeah, I totally remember signing up with an insurance company, or at least owning one", I say to the twins feeling them out, just to be on the safe side,
"For real Ash, maybe it's a sign you should go own one" Kaleb suggests as I shoot him a glare,
"Yeah I should totally do 'legitimate businesses' while paying off 25 grand", I say sarcastically,
"Yeah you should totally do that", replies McKenna sarcastically as well as they erupt in laughter again,
Another notification appears again, but this time the file is different, it's the project. I pause at the other screen and looked at McKenna and Caleb curiously.
"Wait, you seriously didn't send me this message", I ask,
"No, we would totally prank you with a lame ass insurance email then lie about it straight to your face", replies McKenna still in the sarcastic mood as well as her brother,
"Yeah, way to go Ash, thinking so lowly of us", adds Kaleb while pouting,
I giggle at the thought. These two certainly needed a psychologist, "Very funny guys but it's getting pretty late", I say tiredly,
"Yeah, we should probably go to bed. We'll text you first thing in the morning though." says Kaleb,
"Sounds good to me" I reply,
"Bye Ashley" McKenna says as they end the call.
After I said goodbye, I decided to take a closer look at the mysterious email. Maybe I should send a message back to them saying they got the wrong one. My birthday is around the corner, I mean I'm almost eighteen. Did they mistake me for someone's next of kin? As I observed the email closely, I started thinking about other theories that later made absolutely no sense to me.
I got ready for bed. I was switching my off my laptop when I coincidentally noticed the date.
"Oh my God, it's my birthday".