Quinn
I was born to rule. I was made for power. I was the next alpha after dad. I was the strongest of the three of us. I was the leader of my brothers and also the future leader of the pack.
Those were words that I knew right from birth. They had been ingrained in me from the start and I held on to it.
As I stood in the cave though and looked at my dad howling on the ground at the disappearance of his enemy, I didn’t feel like I was strong at all. I didn’t feel like I was the leader of anyone. I didn’t feel like I could rise to trouble one day to save anyone in the pack if they were in distress.
I felt like shit. I felt numb as I looked at my dad and knew I was as helpless as my brothers felt. I felt like a fake and all my days of being strong and coming to the rescue of my brothers vanished into thin air in my memory at the sight of washing my father in despair.
How could I dare to say I was the future leader when I couldn’t even protect my father from the pain in his heart? How could I protect the pack if I couldn’t protect my family?
I couldn’t get over the nasty feeling in my chest that the dark wizard had escaped right under my nose and I should be ashamed of calling myself the leader.
I snapped out of it, knowing that was what the dark wizard wanted. Her evil intent and dark magic were already coming to play and we shouldn’t let that happen.
Dad was howling in his human form and becoming a mess of himself at his escape. I was doubting myself and my abilities even though I had saved the day on many occasions. He was filling me with self-doubts and my brothers were standing there, shivering subtly in fright of what was going to happen to them. I glanced at Mia and winced. She looked like the world had been pulled right from under her feet and she was floating in a realm that she didn’t understand. She was in shock and I couldn’t blame her.
If my dad and brothers could be as shaken as they were, how could I expect Mia who was a human and couldn’t protect herself against the dark wizard to not be?
This was what the bastard wanted and I wouldn’t let him have the satisfaction of that. He wanted us to be broken and be a total mess of ourselves. He could have that joy somewhere else but not in this family. We might not know how to catch him again but I wouldn’t let him turn us to dumb wolves who couldn’t pick up the pieces after themselves.
We had to be strong. I needed to take control now. I needed to be the leader again as I had always been and stop doubting myself. I shrugged off the nasty negative feeling hovering around me and made a signal to my brothers.
“Let’s get dad inside.”
They nodded. Jack and John stood at each side of dad and lifted him by the arms. He didn’t even resist their pull and that told me that he was weary more than he let on. I didn’t let that affect me and told my brothers to keep going till they got to the living room.
They knew better than to let the household staff see dad in that condition. I didn’t think that I have to tell them that.
I guided Mia out of the cave and we all moved inside, tagging behind dad. I watched as he was settled into a couch, his expression still troubled.
I called for the head cook and had him make dad’s favorite tea. I knew he couldn’t resist the scent of it and as I hoped, he broke out of his self-induced trance when he got a sniff of the scent.
He exhaled a long sigh when he was done with the tea and set the cup down. I smiled to myself. I was glad that I had decided to get everyone out of the cave or dad would still be there, looking heartbroken and we would all still be rooted there as well, unable to move an inch because dad hadn’t moved.
His expression looked better than it had been when we were in the cave and from the way his eyes were clear as he looked at us, I knew that the alpha who had captured the dark wizard was back and not the one who was down that she had left.
I knew from the look in his eyes that it was time for some logical reasoning and not emotions.
“How did she leave? Did anyone go into the cave? She couldn’t have escaped if she didn’t have blood to strengthen herself.”
“Sasha.” Mia said in a low whisper but we all caught it. I had no doubt that she was thinking out loud to herself.
Dad blinked at her. It was as if he just realized that she was there. “What are you doing here, dear? I’m sorry you had to see that but you shouldn’t have. Could you please excuse us? This is not a matter that concerns you.”
“I know of the dark wizard so you don’t have to be secretive around me.” Mia informed him.
“She does?” Dad shouted as he glared at us. He turned to Mia. “What else do you know of us?”
We all turned to Mia, wondering what she would say. “I know that you are all werewolves. I figured that out months ago.”
Dad sighed. “Does your mum know?”
“No, she doesn’t.” She shook her head.
I could hear dad breathing out in relief and I knew that he was going to be a bigger mess than he had been moments ago if her mum found out that he was a werewolf and left him for that. It was the same way we would all feel if Mia was out of our lives and we didn’t have to imagine how much pain dad would be in. We knew too well how it would feel.
“Don’t tell her.” Dad told Mia, his eyes pleading with her.
“I wanted to…” Mia sighed. “I still do but I don’t want her to be sad at losing you. She is happy with you and I don’t want to ruin that.”
“Thank you.” Dad breathed, interrupting her.
She nodded but wasn’t done with her words. “I want to tell her though. I want her to know what she is up against in case the dark wizard makes a pass at her. I don’t like keeping her in the dark but I don’t want her to know about this world. I’m worried about her.”
Dad nodded. “Don’t worry about her. I will protect her from the dark wizard.”
I nodded, realizing that I needed to support my dad. It was as if my brothers knew what was on my mind as we all echoed the same words at the same time.
“Don’t tell your mum, sister. We will protect her.”
We all looked at each other and smirked at our words. There was always a weird feeling when you said the same thing at the same time with someone, much more with two people.
Mia nodded. “I believe you will protect her. I will try to keep the urge to talk to mum about this to myself. I don’t want her to freak out as well.”
“Thank you.” Dad breathed. “How do you know of the dark wizard?” He turned to her. “Did you tell her?”
I nodded. “I did.”
Dad’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy? How could you tell her about the dark wizard and our world? It doesn’t matter that she is your sister and you are trying to make her feel comfortable as family. What if you have chased her off?”
“I had to tell her when she came in contact with him.”
Dad’s eyes almost popped out of his sockets. “She did? How?”
I sighed. It was going to be a long night of confession. I didn’t think that we were going to sleep early this night. I didn’t think any of us even wanted to sleep.
What a horrible way to end the start of a new year.