Quinn
It was here. Finally. The day of the fight. The day I was either going to be crowned as an alpha or scorned as a loser. I was determined to not go down though. I was going to fight with my nails and my teeth till I win.
I looked around the cave, looking for one particular person but I didn’t see her. I could my dad, my brothers, the elders, Tyrex and his father but Mia wasn’t there. Of course, she wouldn’t be there. She wouldn’t be invited yet to a ceremony as grand as this, even if she had been introduced as our mate and accepted by the pack which we hadn’t done yet. She wasn’t an elder and neither was she family. Yet.
The pack had strict and ancient rules that guided our ceremonies and conducts. Mia wasn’t a natural wolf and biological sister and so wouldn’t be considered as family member of anyone of us. She wasn’t mated to us yet too so she had no reason to be here.
I sighed as I moved my eyes away from searching the crowd and focused on what was needed here. She wasn’t here as much as I wished that she was and I shouldn’t let her be my distraction. She shouldn’t. I had to focus. It was time to fight and win.
I smiled, thinking of winning and going back to the mansion to tell Mia that I had won and she would become the next Luna. I couldn’t wait to see the smile on her face. That would be sweet.
I knew she would be curious to know what was going on and her mother would definitely wonder what was wrong with her as they kept each other company without knowing that there was a cave at the far side of the house and a fight was about to happen there to decide who the future of the pack was going to be.
I nodded to myself, realizing that I had something else to protect. The house. The house we lived in. The house was the home of the alpha of the pack and the most coveted building among the pack members for its opulence, tradition and status. I wasn’t about to let Tyrex have it. There was a lot of memories embedded in the house that couldn’t possibly let me hand it to anyone else.
It was the house that Mia and her mother knew to be home. It was the house that I saw Mia again and dealt with all the drama that we had to suffer before we got close again. I couldn’t let anyone have that for any reason. I was going to protect that home. I had to.
Dad walked up to me, placing his hand on my shoulders in a light pat and breaking through into my reverie. “Son, are you okay?”
“Yes, I am.” I nodded, seeing my brothers walk up to me.
He nodded. “Don’t be nervous.” He said.
“I am not and I won’t.” I replied.
I scowled as I saw Fredo talking with Tyrex and rubbing his hand on his shoulder to ease his tension. I hid a smile at the thought of Tyrex being tense. That was good news for me. A tensed opponent wasn’t one who wouldn’t think properly and would make mistakes. Judging by that, I felt I had won him already and we had to fight to make it obvious.
I could hear what Fredo was telling him and so could everyone else. He was telling him to be calm and not be nervous and I couldn’t help the low hiss that escaped my throat.
It was the same thing that dad had told me but I was angry all the same. An elder of the pack wasn’t meant to talk to anyone of the contestants before the duel. That would be unfair and they weren’t meant to show that they had their favorite choice of alpha candidate before the win was declared.
Even my dad was here to cheer me up as my dad and not as the alpha. He wouldn’t have been here with me, regardless of it if I wasn’t his son. Kehlan and Albus also liked me and saw that I was alone and yet didn’t come here to cheer me up. Only Tyrien was allowed to stay with Tyrex as his present biological family and yet Fredo was crossing his boundaries and doing more than he was to do.
I wondered what he was trying to achieve by desperately wanting Tyrex to be the alpha of the pack. Fredo might seem sly and manipulative but I didn’t think also that Tyrex was someone who was going to be a puppet. I couldn’t help wondering why Fredo was desperate and daring to break the rules they were meant to uphold as elders just to support Tyrex.
Fredo was breaking the rules as he wanted because of his preference and I wondered if there was no law that would punish him for that or make his contestant lose because of that. I realized that I was acting petty and quickly banished the thought from my mind. If I was going to win, I wanted to win fair and square.
Dad noticed where my gaze was and sighed. “Don’t be bothered about that.” He said, turning to me. “Fredo never liked me and would have supported anyone against you just to get back at me. Even if it wasn’t Tyrex, he would have still supported the person.”
I sighed. That explained it. I finally understood what was going on. I had thought that Fedro was a respectable elder, it was shocking to know that he was nothing but an old man who knew how to keep grudges.
I rubbed at my temple to ward off an incoming headache at the depressing thought that I was going to have to deal with him and his animosity if I become the next alpha.
I could see the expression on dad’s face. I knew that he wanted to talk about what Fredo was doing and reminding him of how it wasn’t right. He wanted to correct him as the current alpha of the pack but he was concerned and reluctant to do so because he was afraid that Fredo would push it back on him that he was trying to chase him away from Tyrex’s sake because of me and was afraid that his son would lose.
Dad wasn’t a fan of dramas, much more political ones and I knew that he wasn’t going to do anything about it. He wasn’t going to interfere and watch Fredo do whatever he liked till the duel was to start.
Albus must have seen dad’s struggle and finally decided to intervene. He turned to Fredo, his scowl as deep as the wisdom in his eyes as the oldest elder in the pack.
“What do you think you are doing, Tyrex?” Albus scowled at him. “You know you shouldn’t be there.”
Fredo was unrepentant. “I am only trying to balance out the equation. The star boy, Quinn, over there has his brothers and his father to cheer him up before the fight while Tyrex had only his father. I thought it would be nice If I added to the number on Tyrex’s side so he would feel supported.”
Kehlan snorted. “Rules are rules, Fredo. You shouldn’t have broken one regardless of how you feel. Are you sure you are doing this from the kindness of your heart to show Tyrex more support or because of your personal bias? Do you think that we don’t want to show support to anyone of them and keeping ourselves back from doing anything? Rules are rules, Fredo and they must be followed.”
Fredo hissed. “Oh, please. We all know that rules can be broken.”
Albus hissed. “I think you have been getting used to too much humans. These are the rules that we have been using for centuries and you can’t come and say you want them changed.”
I sighed. I was getting bored with this conversation and could sense that Tyrex was uncomfortable as well. How could he not? After all, he was the main topic of this conversation.
Minutes after, I was left alone by my family and Tyrex was left alone as well. I sighed as I watched Albus take charge and declare the duel open.
Thank goodness. Finally. The future was about to start.