2 Alpha Meeting- Spain 1

August 12 2003

Brañosera, Palencia, Spain;

Alaina POV

For my first solo Alpha meeting things are going okay, I think, but I can't help feel as though something is going to go sideways on me before I leave. Tyche, my Lycan, has been agitated since we landed, 3 days ago. Asking her anything has just become frustrating as the only thing she will tell me is ‘you will find out soon.’ What does that even really mean? I mean we are always learning, and finding out, new things, and if something is going to happen, chances are it will be soon, as we are going to be leaving in a little over a week. 

      “These things have always been the bane of my existence” my dad's Beta, Callum, whispered.

      “I don’t know how you do this every year,”

I take a quick glance around the room, seeing just how many Alphas, and their Beta’s, have come.

      “I hope to fack I never have to come to one of these again!” I whisper yelled.

      “Seriously Alaina? You’re lucky your parents aren’t here! You know how they feel about you swearing, never mind swearing around every single Alpha in the world!” 

Callum has always had this way of admonishing me that made me feel worse than if my parents did it. I don’t know if it’s because I grew up with him being more like the ‘cool uncle’, or a MUCH older brother, but the thought of disappointing Cal was most definitely worse than pissing off my parents!

      “Cal, come on, be realistic now, I wouldn’t be reprimanded for my fowl mouth if my parents were here... because I wouldn't be here then! I don’t want to be here, and I kind of want to make sure that they don’t ever send me back to one of these, soooo...”

It feels like someone is staring at me. You know the feeling, the creepy crawly feeling of being watched from the shadows. Looking around no one seems to even be looking in our general direction! Cal and I took a table in the far back corner, neither of us like having our backs exposed, and Cal always taught me to make sure that, no matter the situation, I am always on guard for an attack. I almost punched a kitchen Omega once. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings and he startled me! I have been extra careful, since then, to make sure that doesn’t happen again! 

I try craning my neck, half listening to what Cal is telling me, half distracted looking for whomever is giving me the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Ok, I’m barely paying attention to Cal when he grabs my shoulder so I look at him.

      “SERIOUSLY?! This doesn’t just affect you! Your actions reflect on me as well Al, you piss off these Alphas it's going to be my head because I didn’t ‘control you’ in an effective manner. Before you say anything, I know how you feel about the whole control thing, but there's nothing I can do about how your parents want to do things”

I sat there glowering at the front of the room, as though it might help me in anyway and is just simply refusing to step in. My thoughts turn to how much I missed home, how I wanted to be cuddling with my boyfriend, Fin, right now. We were both disappointed when I turned 18 in May and we weren't fated. However, we promised each other that once he turns 25 if he hasn’t found his mate, I would take him as my chosen mate and lead our pack as his Luna. Fin is already 20, so I have to wait on baited breath for another 5 years to finally get Fin’s mark.

      'Isn't that just wonderful I think as I roll my eyes, I found someone in my own pack, I found someone who has cherished me since the day I was born, who has protected me from my proverbal bogyman, and he’s not even my mate!'

      'A... Al... ALAINA!!!' 

      'What do you want Ty? I want to wallow in my self pity for a while longer, what's wrong with that?'

      'Don’t you snap at me! You’re the one off in la-la land, but if you were paying attention maybe you would have noticed the fact that there's been an Alpha trying to get your attention?'

      'FACK'

      “Alaina? Are you quite alright?” Cal whispered as he gently shook my shoulders.

       “Yes Cal, I am just fine” I snarled. “Sorry Cal I was just thinking about a problem, and I am having an issue coming up with a solution. I didn’t mean to snap at you” I managed to meekly get out as I lowered my head looking at my hands, that had been playing with the hem of my skirt.

      'I hope that he’s not too angry about me biting his head off.'

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have snapped at Cal, and not once has he deserved it!

     'Al... um... you need to pay attention, MATE!'

     'Maybe that’s who I could feel staring at me! Where is he Ty?'

No answer. I swear she does this shat on purpose! Gives me tid bits of information and then hides while I sit here confused, trying to figure her out. I bet she gets her rocks off doing this to me!

I looked up so fast I am fairly sure I gave myself whiplash. Cal was sitting next to a man, that had to be in his 30’s. I have to admit, he’s pretty damn fine, but there’s no way he’s my mate so I try to look around the convention hall.

      “ALAINA! For the love of all that is holy would you PAY ATTENTION?! I don’t know what’s gotten into you today but, come on, give me a break kid! Alaina, I’d like to introduce you to Alpha Ashton Lupin from the Blue Moon Pack in Canada”

I couldn’t decipher what Ty was feeling, or doing, I don’t think Ty even knew, and I didn’t really have time to ask before a hand was suddenly in front of me.

      “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Morgan.”

      'Ahhhhhh SHIIIIITTTT TYYYYY!! What the fack man, seriously!? HE’S, my mate?! Why didn’t you say anything you arse?'

Silence, crickets, pretty sure I could hear someone humming Bohemian Rhapsody, on the other side of the hall, it was so quiet in my head... thanks for ditching me Tyche. I’ll remember that next time you need something!

      “Alpha Lupin, I have heard nothing but good things about you” I bluff as I extend my hand.

FACK, I was hoping that something had gone haywire and he wasn’t really my mate, but with the electrical current running up my arm there is no denying it.

      *Quick Cal, who the h3ll is this guy? 5 second run down.*

Thank the goddess or whoever thought of mind linking! It has saved my arse I don’t know how many times now

      *Did you not pay attention to the less... who am I kidding, of course you weren’t. Alpha Ashton Lupin of Blue Moon Pack, he is the Crown Prince, next in line to be the Lycan King Alaina. For the love of the goddess PLEASE don’t mess this up!*

      *Fack, fack, fack, fack, Cal what am I going to do?! He's my bloody mate!*

Cal sprays water everywhere, including across the front of Alpha Lupin’s suit jacket, and starts choking, giving me a reprieve from Alpha Lupins unwavering, and extremely intense, gaze. As Alpha Lupin bends down so he can attend to Cal, and making sure he doesn’t unalive himself, I take a good look at his appearance. Short hair, not buzzed but nicely faded to where the top looks just long enough to get a good hold of, is that brown or black? He’s kneeling in front of me and yet I still have to look up to meet his eyes, he must be close to my dad's height in order for that to happen. My dad is 6’ 8” and I look like a doll standing next to him! I can’t tell much more physically from under his suit jacket, but... oh my goddess, he looked up at me and his eyes. I have no words! They are this amazing dark blue with, what looks like, a white snowflake laid over top of the irises. I have never seen eyes like that, I couldn’t look away.

      “Ms. Morgan, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me and discuss our future.”

He said breaking me out of my trance. How could someone's eyes hold so much power over the actions of another. Had he not spoken I don’t think I would have been able to do anything other than stare at him. Then I realize what he said, no, no, no, there can’t be a future! I am going back home to Fin, and he is going to be my chosen mate, we have already talked about this. I need to end this now!

      “Uh, what future would that be exactly?”

Pretty sure Cal is ready to jump over Mr. Hottie, way too old for me, Alpha to strangle me, based off the look on his face and that he’s half leaning out of his chair, fists clenched, his normally light blue eyes black as his wolf, Hephaestus tried to take over. I give him my signature ‘you can’t do anything’ look, and then turn back to Alpha Lupin.

      “Um...”

He looks around as though he doesn’t want anyone to overhear this conversation.

      “OUR future, together, side by side, you as my Luna?”

Thank the goddess I didn’t have anything in my mouth, I almost choked on air. Usually, thanks to the mate bond, it’s not uncommon for those in the Were community to mate and mark each other within hours of meeting, I am so not ready for that! I also had a teensy bit of hope that the, very obvious, age gap would be an issue for him as well, and he would reject me! My palms are sweaty, and I try to, subtly, wipe them dry on my skirt.

      “Oh, that.”

I tilt my head to the side, and squint my eyes a little.

      *Alaina... DO NOT! DON’T YOU EVE...*

Cal yells at me through the mind link before I block him.

I subtly turned my head and gave him the best “I am going to skin you alive” glare that I could muster while trying to figure out the right bitck to angel ratio so he gets the point but doesn't try to rally everyone else to attack our pack for being rejected by me.

      “Yeah, as far as I am concerned there is no future for... us” I said as flatly as I could, while motioning between Alpha Lupin and myself with my hand. “I want to thank you for the invitation though, you might find someone a little more... suited to your pack, in Canada though” 

I stated as I stood up, smoothed out my skirt, then walked off with my head held as high as I could tilt it without seeming like too much of a snob. I managed to catch a look at both his, and Cals faces, before heading to the door. Both looked utterly gob smacked that, that entire conversation just took place. Alpha Lupin looked down at the floor, brows furrowed, shaking his head, like he was trying to figure out the DaVinci code, more likely the Sunday crossword, and was stuck on a part.

      *Alaina, I don’t care you are my Alphas daughter right now, I. AM. GOING. TO. STRANGLE. YOU. YOU. BOODY SPOILED LITTLE FACKING BRAT!*

At the risk of that threat being literal, and being the shat disturber that I was, clearly, born to be, I decided to turn around and give a cheeky little wave, over my shoulder, before throwing open the doors and walking out of the convention hall onto the main highway through town. Needing a run, I walk across the street and start up the hill to the hiking trails. Once I get into the tree line, I quickly transform into Tyche’s white Lycan. 

Most Lycans are brown, or grey, Ty, however, is almost completely white, with the exception of the black full moon on her forehead and the two crescent moons on her chest, with the waxing over her heart and waning on the right side of her chest. My parents, being a normal Alpha and Luna Lycan, were beyond surprised, as Tyche’s colouring is the symbol of the Lycan Queen. Not just any Queen, no, of course not some rando Queen, I had to be the high Queen. As far as anyone knows there is no royalty in my family, so that should mean that there is no way I am the next Lycan Queen, and yet here is Ty. Unfortunately, that means that I wasn’t born to be the high Queen, I was chosen, and for that to have happened, the prophecy is supposedly now starting. This has been something that the elders in Scotland have been trying to figure out since I first shifted at 13. They haven’t wanted to get the council involved, as they know that once the council knows I will have no choice but be mated to the Lycan King, or at this point the Crown Prince as the King is still alive and hasn’t handed the kingdom over yet, even if he’s not my fatted. I have been hoping, and praying, and begging the Moon Goddess to take this away, to make me a normal Lycan, to not put so much responsibility on my shoulders... since the day I first shifted and nothing! I have to give her credit though, Ty is BEAUTIFUL!

Unlike some of the stories out there, we do not first shift at 18. We are born with our Lycans/ wolves and are able to communicate with them immediately, then we first shift during the first full moon after we hit puberty. For me, that was 3 months after I turned 13, for Callum, from what I was told, was at 11. So, it varies from person to person, even our shifts vary. Mine was almost instantaneous, and relatively pain free, whereas, my best friend Lochlynn, was almost 14 and in agony for hours! There doesn’t seem to be any correlation to age, rank, or anything else in how long, or painful, someone's shift will be. There have been wolves who have taken hours to shift, and had almost no pain, and others, like me, that were able to shift quickly, but said that it felt like they were going to die! Some of the stories are correct though. We shred our clothes if we are wearing them when we shift, so we either strip beforehand, or head to a location that we know has clothes before we shift back. 

      'Al, why did you do that? Why are you running away from our Mate?'

      'Ty, really? We have been over this a million and one times, we accept HIM as our mate we leave home, we leave Fin, and go where? To Canada?! I THINK NOT! Plus, HE’S the next Lycan King, I am not doing the macho tough guy stuff, he is going to be all ‘MINE’ and ‘No one can touch you’ and ‘it’s too dangerous for a woman’. No facking thank you, I would rather be locked in the cells, chained in silver and doused with wolfsbane, for the rest of my life than deal with that shat! Fin... Fin lets me be me. He’s not possessive, he cares but he knows that he can show it without expecting me to follow his commands, he RESPECTS me! There's no way Lycan hottie is going to respect me enough to not order me around, like my dad does my mom!' 

      'I think you are wrong Al, you should at least give him a chance and go to dinner with him. What’s the worst that can happen?'

    'Oh, you know, just throws my over his shoulder like a caveman and takes me back to his pack without me actually accepting anything.'

And with that... complete silence and Ty puts a block between us. There’s no way that I am going to allow anyone to disrespect me and order me around, mate or not!