Rex POV
“Elspeth, move. You always sit next to me!” I tut, as our dinner arrives on the dining table.
“Rex!” Mum gives me her look as she gestures for Elspeth to sit next to her. She keeps telling me to be nice to Elspeth, but she’s so annoying.
Like now, she’s sticking her tongue out at me as she settles in next to Mum. “You wait Rex…wait until I’m living with Harry and you’re all alone. Then you won’t be so mean.” She huffs holding tightly onto her bunny teddy.
The thing was so dirty, she dropped it in mud earlier but won’t let Mum clean it.
“That’s not happening!” Uncle Noah comments reaching for the salt and passing it to Cassandra. We were eating dinner together also with Alpha Reuben and Beta Nate.
“It will, we are going to have ten babies
“Ten?” Reuben coughs out, choking on his meal. Tonight seemed a special night, they were having steak and fries, whereas Elspeth and I were having burgers instead.
Something didn’t seem right. Mum and Reuben kept looking at each other, were they arguing again? I thought they were now friends.
“Yes six boys and four girls although Harry says he only wants boys.” She’s lying Harry would never have said that. He only puts up with her to keep her happy.
“I need a word with Harry!” Reuben growls which causes Mum to laugh.
“It’s only kids being silly, it’s not real.” She whispers. “What did you both do today with Miss Smith?” Uncle Noah seems keen to change the subject.
“Times-table and phonics.” I reply taking a big bite out of my burger.
I broke out of the lessen earlier and overheard Alpha Reuben and Beta Nate talking about them returning to the Red Stone pack. But I didn’t want them to go, for Reuben to leave us. I liked him…I thought that maybe….
“You alright kiddo?” Reuben looks to me as I stopped chewing on my food.
“You’re leaving?” I place my burger back down on my plate. Instead picking up some fries and dipping them in ketchup.
“Yes, but not for long.” His face looks sad.
“Why?”
“I need to make sure my pack is all in order. Especially with Nate here…”
“Can’t he go?”
“Rex!” Mum tells me off for being rude. I didn’t mean it like that. I like Nate too, I just like Reuben more.
“I won’t be long. As the Alpha King I have a duty to my pack, to my pack members. I need to check things are safe. One day you’ll understand that burden…”
A growl from Mum stops him speaking any further. Mum was the head of the Silver Moon alliance, which meant when I become of age…I’ll take over as head. Does that mean I’ll be enemies with Reuben, or…. My head hurts when I over think it. I like Reuben he plays football with me. I don’t want him to hate me when I grow up.
After dinner we all play a round of snap with a pack of cards. Elspeth refused to play, she said I was cheating…I was but I can’t have her beat me. She was now sitting on Cassandra’s lap reading a book together.
I saw Cassandra and Uncle Noah kissing in the kitchen this morning.
It was yuck!
They pretended she had something wrong with her mouth..I’m four, not stupid!
Too much change was happening. Was Uncle Noah going to leave us to live with Cassandra? I don’t know how I feel about that. He’s my Uncle but also the closest thing I know to a Dad. I don’t want him to leave the pack.
“Snap!” Reuben places his hand down on the pack quicker than me and it irritates something inside of me. Ever since the kidnap I could feel what I assume is my wolf. I was too young to shift, I know this…but the voice keeps me up a lot at night.
I haven’t told anyone. I don’t want Mum to worry about me, she has enough to worry about and I was meant to help look after her, to protect her. That’s why I don’t want Reuben to leave, I thought he might want to stay and help me protect Mum and Elspeth. For us to become a…..
“Snap again!” Reuben shouts out just as Mum’s hand was about to claim the round first. “Reuben that’s not fair…” Mum snatches the pack from under his hold.
“You have to say snap too sweetheart… they are mine.”
“No, sometimes it can be a silent snap She chuckles pulling the cards away.
“Evelyn Bright, you cheater!” He growls, I think playfully, but something inside of me doesn’t like the way he scolds Mum.
A growl involuntarily leaves the back of my throat, I can feel it vibrate like a cough does. Then my eyes start to burn as something tries to take over the vision. As if something was pushing me back…
“Rex?” All eyes turn to me as I shake my head to stop the odd sensation. What was wrong with me? Mum looks to me before she tries to touch me but I flinch away. I don’t want to hurt her.
“Rex, let’s have a chat and a kick- about in the back garden.” Reuben offers, standing up and then helping Mum by pulling gently on her arms. As I walk past, Mum places a kiss on top of my head and tells me she loves me.
I love her too. But would she live me if she knew what was happening to me?
Reuben POV
His eyes had turned black, I remember what it was like. But he is younger than when my wolf first presented itself to me.
“What’s going on?” I calmly ask as we start to pass the football to each other. I’ve noticed with Rex if you distract him slightly he’ll tell me more.
The football technique seems to work well, he told me a lot at the party that I don’t think he would have told me had Noah or Evelyn been present. He was a bright kid, of course he was…he’s mine. But even in the short time of being with him I could tell his wolf was pressing forward.
His annoyance with Elspeth was a sign of being impatient with people. Something he’ll have to work on before he becomes an alpha.
“I don’t know…” He shrugs his shoulders and places his hands into his front trouser pockets.
“Sure you do, you just think I won’t understand. I promise I’ll understand.” Because I went through the same thing.
“Ever since the kidnapping, I’ve been feeling different.” His head looks to his feet, unable to keep my eye contact. I’ll teach him to be able to. He must always look a werewolf in the eye.
“That’s your wolf trying to protect you. It’s unusual for the wolf to come out so early…”
“So I am weird…”
“Unusual but not unnatural. You’ve been through a lot Rex, you’re wolf is showing early signs of consciousness to help protect you. You just have to learn to start reining him in.
“How do I do that?”
“With patience and not being too hard on yourself…or your sister. It’s not her fault, she hasn’t done anything but worry about you.”
“Did your wolf come early?” He asks, considering me for a moment. I think behind those eyes he already knows but hasn’t given his mind a chance to digest the information.
“Yes, not as early as you…but early.”
“When?” He eagerly asks.
“I was eight!”
“What happened to you?”
“I went through some things as a child like you…some trauma.” Memories of a long time ago start to rear their ugly heads.
“What did your Mum do to help you?”
“She was no longer around.”
“Your Dad, was he around?”
“Yes.”
We look at each other as a silence forms between us. Should I tell him? I should tell him…but that would be cruel especially as I am just about to leave.
“Where’s your Dad now?”
“My father is retired from the pack. I haven’t seen him in years.”
He looks at me again, as he stills the ball under his foot. I wish I had the mind-link with Evelyn, to say that we need to tell him now. That it is only confusing him.
“Elspeth calls Uncle Noah daddy..”
“Yes so I’ve heard…” I keep my voice an even tone. I’m not willing to give away any emotion in my voice. He’s clever, he’s trying to catch me out.
“I always called him Uncle. Something inside stopped me from calling him Dad. Mum said our dad is very important and had things to do. But that when we were older we might have the chance to meet him.”
She said that? My heart breaks. She held on to so much hate for me thinking I was responsible for the atrocities against her parents and pack. Yet she might have been willing to give me a chance to meet them, to know them. She was the purest soul I have ever known.
“Rex, Harry is here.” We hear her sweet tones calling from inside of the house, announcing the arrival of Rex’s best friend.
Rex runs off into the house keen to get to Harry before Elspeth does. They come back out and I pass them the ball to let them continue together. I have something urgent that I need to do. I walk into the house, not giving anyone my attention until I find her. My wolf keen to hunt her out.
I find her at the bottom of the stairs looking at her phone. In an instant I take hold of her hand and start walking her up the stairs.
“Reuben what on earth?” She gasps at my sudden determination to get her alone. I walk her to the room I have been staying in and once inside, make sure the door is closed behind me. Before pushing her up against it and entrapping her in my arms and between my body. Her scent flowing into my nostrils.
“I don’t deserve you. You’re the purest of souls and I’m afraid I’m going to darken you. I think the last four years have already darkened your soul. I won’t rest until all danger is eliminated from your life. This is my vow to you, until I can mark you and you can feel it for yourself.”
“Reuben..where’s this all come from.”
“He knows, deep down he knows I am his father. It won’t take long for him to finally understand who I am to him, to them. His wolf needs to be trained,
with your permission I would like to do that. I’ll be gone a week and then I’ll be back. We can plan ahead Evelyn, we can buy that land because there is no other life I want to live. I want to be with you and the children, to make more children. I love you with you always.” and I want to be I can’t stop the words that are coming out of my mouth, it’s like something has finally connected between my heart and my head.
That I can finally realise that I love her. Fuck, I fucking love her more than life itself. She’s raised them without me yet didn’t once tarnish my name to them.
I can feel her chest rising too fast as I speak my truth. Her own body reacting to my truthful words. Her hands still trapped in mine, I take a hand away ensuring both are still held by my other hand. I grip tightly onto her hip as my lips crash into hers, creating an explosion of sparks across her lips, then her neck and collarbone… wherever I kiss her. I run my tongue along her silky smooth skin wanting to claim it as mine.
“When I get back you need to be prepared that I will want to mark and mate with you. My wolf will not be able to hold out much longer!”
