Alpha, Not

Chapter 17

Alpha Not - Chapter 17

A/N: Warning, this chapter has a brief mention of suicide.

Avery

Teagan has been stopping by at night after his patrols are completed so we can talk. We sit on the park bench across from my apartment and we talk about the differences between human society versus werewolf society, relationships and our personal lives.

"How come you're the Beta of your pack and you're so much younger than Alpha Andrew?"

"Well, actually, I ended up taking on the role when my father, who was Alpha Andrew's Beta, passed away unexpectedly from cancer a few years back. I will be the Beta to Alpha Damien, Alpha Andrew's son, when he takes over the pack, which he will do later this year when he completes his master's degree at university. Until then, Andrew will continue as Alpha."

"Damien and his mate, Christine, met at university, and when he takes over as Alpha, she will take on the responsibility of Luna. I'll still be the Beta when that happens. Normally, we would all take on our roles at the same time; I'm looking forward to it, Damien and I have been best friends since we were in diapers. There will be a big ceremony to transfer the power of the positions at that time. The entire pack, including the humans in the pack, will attend the ceremony."

"So, your next Alpha has a mate already, what about you? You've never said anything about one; I hope that I'm not being inconsiderate by asking that."

"No, that's okay. I haven't met my mate yet." There was a wistful look in his eyes when he spoke.

"Once Damien gets back, I plan to visit other packs and see if I can find my mate. Visiting other packs like that also helps build and maintain alliances between packs and travelling around like that helps us broaden our views as well. We can be somewhat insular at times; it comes with being part of a tight-knit group."

As I've gotten to know more about him and werewolves in general, I've come to realize that there are really only four differences that stand out to me. In every other way, we're more alike than not. We each care about family and friends, we work for the same reasons, and our daily lives are pretty much the same. The differences between our species may be striking, but when it comes down to it, they're not a reason to be afraid.

The first, and in my mind, the main difference is that they can shift into a wolf. There are certain abilities that come with being a wolf (beyond the obvious physical attributes, like enhanced hearing, sight, strength and speed). Those are the Alpha, Beta and Luna powers, which I guess permit the leaders to lead and guide an entire pack. They can be misused, as Pete misused his Alpha power to compel his men, but for the most part, they're simply used to maintain order in the pack and prevent trouble between pack members.

Second, they have strong mate bonds, although, Teagan says that humans sometimes feel mate bonds too; we just don't usually feel them as strongly as supernatural beings (apparently other supernatural beings have mate bonds too). When you hear about a person who dies soon after their spouse, it might be an indication of a human pair who had a very strong mate bond between them. Frequently, when a human and a supernatural are bonded mates, the human will feel the bond more deeply than when it's with another human.

Third, males can have babies, which is probably the most shocking difference of all; even more so than shifting into a wolf. Their legends are that their Goddess blessed them and gave them this ability because their species was slowly dying out due to conflicts with humans, other species and different packs.

And finally, they have a pack bond that lets them communicate with other pack members with their thoughts. Teagan explained that it's because in their animal form, they wouldn't be able to communicate with one another without it. Interestingly, not all of the other types of shifters have this ability, except perhaps with their mates. Shifters like bears, tigers, mountain lions, and other solitary species don't have a mental bond with anyone other than their mate, and sometimes, even that isn't much more than being able to sense their mate's emotional and physical state.

After talking about mates some more, Teagan brought the conversation back around to my relationship with Pete.

"Have you made any decision about you and Pete yet?" He began. "I know you still like him, and you miss him. It's obvious by the look in your eyes when you're talking about him."

"I think I have," I replied after a brief pause to collect my thoughts. "I miss what we had before I found out about your world, and I think I'd like to try and get it back again."

"I've been thinking about it a lot, and while I believe what he did was terrible, perhaps even unforgiveable, when someone accepts the consequences of their actions, and shows they have truly changed, in human society we do give them another chance. We don't forget what they did, but we don't hold it over their heads forever either. Although, in our society, he would normally go to prison for what he did."

"That's true," Teagan agreed, nodding vigorously.

"In werewolf society, an Alpha is kind of like a king, and they often get away with doing a lot of things that humans, and even other wolves couldn't. That's why we have the Werewolf Council, which is led by Alpha Andrew. The council is there to deal with things like that."

"I suppose the reason the council didn't condemn Pete to being a rogue, which they could have easily done for his actions as an Alpha, was that his wolf, Levi, gave up his Alpha authority and suicided. Without a wolf, being a rogue means nothing really. Someone without a wolf can easily go live in human society, but Levi's leaving broke Pete completely. Alpha Andrew and the council weren't even sure that he would recover. That's the main reason they didn't pursue additional punishment."

"One good thing that came about due to Pete's actions, and the council's own failure relating to that whole situation, is that the council began taking petitions from lower ranked wolves instead of just dealing with issues between packs and Alphas."

"Jaxon's parents repeatedly appealed to the council for help, but they didn't get involved because his family wasn't high ranking wolves, and Jaxon was just an Omega. As part of those changes, Jaxon was invited to join the council as a representative of Omegas, and other ranks when their cases are brought in front of it. The council failed Jaxon by ignoring his parent's pleas for help, and they're working hard to ensure that something like that doesn't happen in the future."

"Does that mean that Jaxon will be coming here for council meetings? Will he run into Pete if he does come?" I asked Teagan.

"No," he replied. "The council meets in neutral territory further South than our territory. It's land that doesn't belong to any pack, and it has been the council's for generations. There are wolves living there to protect and care for it. They answer directly to the council and nobody else. When Damien returns from university, he'll take over this pack and Alpha Andrew will go live at the council. There are a few elder council members who also live there, but most of their meetings are conducted via teleconferencing. They only gather once a year unless a case requires personal attention, which doesn't happen all that often."

"I think I'm going to go talk to Pete," I told Teagan as he arose from the bench, before he left for the night. "It's about time to move forward now."

"I think that's a good idea," he stated. "You've changed since you first started talking to me; you're more confident with the idea of werewolves now than you were before as well. At first you were nervous about it and kind of dazed. And I think you understand our society enough to understand Pete as well. Good luck, I think you're ready for it."