Golden Destiny

Chapter 6. - Character

"Tell me more about this Adam guy," Alexei told me as the two of us were waiting for Harper and the guys to join us for lunch. It was Wednesday and Alexei and I had the same class before lunch.

"What about him?" I asked, avoiding his eyes. I always tried to avoid his black, almost blue eyes, they were so intense, I felt like they could look right through me.

"Everyone here seems to think he's a big deal." I saw him give a shrug out of the corner of my eye.

I laughed lightly at that and looked at him. "Well, that's because he is kind of a big deal. He's the future Alpha, you know."

"So?" He shrugged again.

"I'm sure that's not a huge thing for you, Your Highness, but everywhere else, it is. He's the future leader of the pack. his decisions will either lead to the demise or the success of the pack."

"The way he's going, the first one seems inevitable. It's not as if his father has paved the way for success, either," he huffed.

I didn't say anything for a while. Sure, Adam, the way he was now, would be a detriment to the pack rather than a boon. He doesn't exactly scream "responsibility," and seemed to just be an all-around jerk, but that could just be because he was still a kid. We all were. We all had some growing up to do.

What he said about Alpha Andrew though, I couldn't agree with. "That's unfair. Alpha Andrew has always been a good leader. He has always worked towards making the pack stronger."

"I'm sure he has. I wasn't talking about his leadership, though, but his character. It's not the way a person leads that his character should be judged, but how he treats those he sees as his lessers."

I thought about it. Ever since my sixteenth birthday, I was never invited again to gatherings in the pack house. Before that, I spent almost every waking moment there, playing with the other children of the Alpha's guard. Being there all the time, I also was witness to the fact that Alpha Andrew always had his people talk to those who weren't in his circle. While he did the usual speeches and wrote letters to pack members when there were special occasions, you would never see him talk to some random wolf on the street. In fact, when my family used to go out with his, he would always sit in the deepest part of the room, away from the doors and my dad always had to intercept pack members from approaching their Alpha.

I thought about the past two days I had been having lunch with Alexei. After that one unfortunate meeting with Adam and Tawny, he had been gracious about meeting some of the other kids, curiously, after silently consulting with Harper. Yesterday after school, I even saw him, Micha and Dima helping the janitor carry the gym equipment back to storage while having a laugh with him.

"What are you guys talking about?" Dimitri asked as he swung a leg over the side of the bench across from us.

Alexei gave me a handsome smile before turning to high five his friends.

I felt movement beside me and saw Michail moving to sit beside me.

"So, are you ready for your trip on Saturday?" He asked the group.

I looked at Harper and saw that she was busy snuggling with Dima.

"You know about that?" I asked Micha.

"Harper told us. You're going to the mountains? Are you sure it's safe?"

"My mom's going with us," I explained. "She's the baddest warrior of the pack."

"I'm sure she is," Alexei put in, throwing his arm around my shoulder and giving me a squeeze. "Still, I think you should have our numbers so you could call us if you ever need help."

"Doesn't Harper have them?"

"Yes, but I like the idea of you being just a call away," he winked.

I felt blood rush to my face. He had been flirting with me off and on the past days but I decided it was just his personality.

———0———

In was in the ladies' room washing my hands when I felt a shove between my shoulder blades and looked at the mirror to see Tawny behind me.

"You must think so highly of yourself, hanging out with royalty. I didn't think they'd come all the way here to slum with the runt of the pack," she sneered.

I didn't say anything. I guess my brain had been trained to not fight her back, whatever she did. I rinsed off and went to dry my hands when my head was slammed into the tissue dispenser. My feet also slipped in some water on the floor and I found myself laying on the cold tiles, with Tawny and her minions laughing at me.

"That's right. Do not ever forget your place in this pack again. Just a few more days and you'll be officially out of Adam's life, we can officially announce that I'm the future Luna, and you, my dear, will be officially relegated to the caves to clean up the rogues' filth," she growled.

She was talking about the caves the pack used to imprison rogues, to keep them far from the pack while they were being interrogated. It was never cleaned and the trash and waste piled up, serving as additional torture for prisoners, given how keen wolves' sense of smell was.

I still wouldn't put it past her to order me to clean them once she had secured the Luna position.

I walked to my class, which I shared with Harper and Adam with my head down, avoiding the stares of the other students.

"What in the hell happened to you?!" Harper exclaimed.

"I slipped," I said in a dead voice.

I saw Harper's fist curl up in a ball and she set her glare on Adam.

"I suggest you tell your little girlfriend to stay the hell away from Mia or I'll personally make sure she loses use of her arms and legs."

Adam stood up, towering over.

"What did you say to me, mutt? You don't have the right to talk to me or about your future Luna that way. You're nothing. No, in fact both you and her," he flicked a disgusted glance at me, "are worth less than nothing," he growled at her.

I stood up and moved beside her but she also stood and placed her body between mine and Adam's.

"You need only wait a few days, Alpha," she said the last word with extreme distaste and continued, "before all is revealed and you and your own will regret all those things you said about and did to her. You think you're getting the better end of the stick with the Severance Ceremony?" She laughed. "You couldn't be more wrong."

The teacher entered the classroom then and we all three sat back down.

What the heck was Harper talking about?