The Alpha Trials

Chapter 4

"Tristan, you need to hurry up and stop sulking around in here. You know the new recruits are bound to arrive any moment now," Xavier said loudly. My little brother was unfortunately never frightened by me and had never even pretended to act as though I frightened him.

That didn't stop me from growling at him to try and force out some semblance of respect.

All I got was a half amused snort. "Come on you big bad alpha wolf, the little newbies are going to all out of line, so save your growling for them. I personally don't want to hear it."

I looked up at him from my paperwork to find my not so little brother practically laying on the front of my desk. "Xavier, I understand that you don't have the mind of an alpha, and probably never will, so i can't expect you to understand everything, but I do ask that you try your best to follow along and not question my orders."

His greyish colored eyes seemed to practically light up at the idea of a challenge. "I solemnly swear to try my best not to be a dumbass, so long as you promise not to be a dick to me the entire night."

My wolf stirred inside of me, eager to respond to his blatant challenge, though I held him back as well as his thoughts. The last thing I needed tonight was to be responsible for killing yet another one of my siblings.

"Tristan, that little brat is trying to challenge us again. How long will you let this go on? How long will you let him speak to us however he wishes? It's time for you to put some manners on that boy." The wolf growled his words into my head with such force that I couldn't help but wince.

Sharp eyed as ever, Xavier noted my pain and straightened up off of my desk, momentary concern flashing across his face and all signs of teasing and rebellion vanishing with it. "Is it your wolf again?"

I growed softly to myself and let my own anger respond to the words of my wolf. "You fool, he's my little brother, not some enemy to be challenged. He's barely 17, not even an adult yet. Of course he's lacking manners, he's nothing more than a child." My words seemed to be enough to convince him based on the silence that greeted my silent scolding.

"Did you get him back under control?" Xavier asked lightly, his head tilted to the side with concern still lingering in his eyes.

After pushing myself to my feet with a weary sigh, I looked back up at him and forced myself to smile at him. "Yes, that was my wolf. He's not taking too kindly to you apparent disrespect for him."

My brother smiled slightly at my words. "Well then, you should tell that wolfy of yours not to be quite so snobby and perhaps stop trying to see enemies where there are none. I'm only teasing, nothing more."

"I know, and he's usually not this jumpy, I just think that the new arrival of the recruits might be setting off all of his alpha senses into a high alert. I'm not the first born son of an alpha, so perhaps this is the price I'm going to pay for being the second born," I told him, nodding my head in agreement.

Xavier studied me for one more moment before laughing to himself. "Hopefully that mutt doesn't decide to give you a blistering headache for your denial of his wishes. The gods only know that Tyler and Logan are going to need your help tonight. Those two idiots can't get anything done once you put them together."

"They're my beta and my captain, Xavier. They're also both good strong wolves with clear heads and loyal hearts. I could ask for nothing more from my closest chain of command. But I do feel a migraine coming on already. I'm going to need you to act in my stead tonight. Just tell Ty and Logan to proceed with the running and then the informal dinner. We can change the schedule a bit and host their first formal dinner tomorrow after they are issued their uniforms. They'll look more put together that way."

He laughed at my words and nodded slowly. "You're starting to sound like dad, you know? All bossy and in charge with a plan at all times. If only you could get the scary alpha part down as well then I might actually be afraid to challenge you," Xavier teased lightly, starting to move for the door.

I didn't say anything, but I did smile at him in response.

As much as his praise warmed me it also felt like someone had solved ice into my heart. The thought of my dead father always found a way to chill me.

The dead father that I had killed.

"I'll go and link up with the others to let them know that I'll be taking your place tonight. Just go and try to get some rest, will you? The last thing we need is an alpha who's too weak to care for himself," he teased, before leaving the room.

Only in his absence did I realize that I hadn't even been able to tell him the best news of all. The news of my supposed mate. Or at least the girl that Tyler thought could potentially be my mate.

I couldn't help but growl at myself in frustration.

Dammit.

I could've asked Xavier to keep a lookout on the girl. He had sharper sense then any other wolf in the pack, and he certainly would have kept an eye out for her when I wasn't able to.

Oh well, I could only hope that he would be sharp enough to pick up on the same signs that had Ty so eager to contact me. Perhaps they would all see how she did in The Running. It would be their first true test in the trials. One last chance to back out of the choice they had made to sign themselves up.

"Hey, Ty. How close are you to the pack?"

I had to wait a moment for a response. Tyley slowly reached out to fully connect our link in order to respond back to me.

"And here I thought you were out and about, too busy to be bothered with common wolves like myself."

"Stop being an ass and just listen for once in your useless life." Despite his sharper words and my own, I could tell that he was still amused with me. Just as he could tell that I was only messing around with him.

My earlier foul mood had faded at the prospective idea of my mate finally being here. I wasn't going to put too much faith into the idea, but I would certainly hold on to the faith that Luna had still saved someone for me. That she had set aside another female wolf to possibly act as the other half to my very broken soul.

"I'm listening alpha man. You should hurry up though, the busses have almost arrived at the front gates."

His voice sounded light and happy but I knew he was stressed. This would be his first trials as captain, and not being born into this pack only added more pressure onto him to do everything perfectly right, or risk harsh criticism from older pack members.

"The girl, I need you to keep an eye on her for me. My schedule has suddenly seemingly cleared up. I'm going to take a peek at her during The Running. Make sure she keeps on the path and out of the way of others. She should be easy to pick out from the others."

Tyler laughed at me through our bond and I could almost see him shaking his head at me. "You need me to split her off from the others? What kind of big bad alpha wolf are you that you can't even track down a potential mate? Did you not learn how to track as a child, or were you too busy being a rebel and killing things?"

"Don't be an ass, Ty. I'll be there tonight, just make sure everything goes smoothly. Let Logan know that I'll be there as well. Now go boss around your new people."

He didn't respond to me, but I felt his agreement nonetheless. Ty never wasted too many words on linking someone. So different from when he was in person and could easily threaten to talk your ear off.

This was so much change all at once. I almost couldn't believe it was all happening so fast. I just needed to reign myself in and ensure that I stayed in character. The touch alpha role was one that was required in a pack of warriors.

The pack of New Blood would stand for any signs of weakness. Not from their newest recruits, and most certainly not from their feared alpha himself.

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