Born Alphas

Chapter 1

I was in the middle of drumming out the guitar solo to Carry on My Wayward Son on my knee when my father burst out of the parent-teacher conference room with a smirk on his face. My eighth grade principle, Ms. Lynch, looked dazed and a little glossy eyed as she scurried after him. I rolled my eyes and followed them, letting my mother catch up to me. The effect my father had on women was known to both of us and we both sighed through our noses before picking up the pace and reaching my dad.

We got there in mid-conversation, and Ms. Lynch looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"But, Sir, you cannot just pull her out of class now. Final examinations are next week, and-"

"Listen, Maria," my dad started, "I understand. But family emergencies come first, no matter the risk to her education."

I almost snorted at this. Family emergency my ass. And who even cared about education? Secondary school would just be a waste; I needed to concentrate on things like how to run a pack, not the fundamental theorem of calculus. I was actually excited to finally be pulled out of school, even though it was so sudden. Truthfully, I would miss the few human friends I had made here, but they weren't as important as training with the pack was. Although it was customary for pack members to leave school only the summer before ninth grade, the children of the alpha always left one week before their fourteenth birthday. I was just lucky enough to be born in May.

"If it's necessary, I suppose we can print all of her official documents right now," Ms. Lunch conceded. I frowned and sighed through my nose again. This would take a while.

***

After that night, I waited and waited until my birthday, pacing back and forth across my bedroom. I was put in confinement- no males were allowed near my room except direct family. It didn't really matter. All of my friends were busy training when they weren't at school. Normally, I was expected to train with the other kids in the pack, regardless of rank. But that didn't matter this week. Only the children of the Alpha knew when to expect their wolf to appear, and only the children of the Alpha had such difficulty containing it. Even though I knew my wolf would appear on the eve of my birthday, the Heat was still unpredictable. For most, it happened after they received their wolf, but mine could come at any time during the week before. If I acted on my lust, it would fray the bond between my mate and me. The mate that I would have to wait three more years to meet.

Finally, on the night of May 23rd, I dressed in a thin, cotton, white summer dress with no pattern and simple thin straps. It came down to just above my knee. Everything else was completely natural. I was wearing no nail polish and no makeup, and I had just taken a shower and washed my hair.

The process of earning my wolf included the official admission to the back. Of course, by my rights and inheritance of title, I was already considered a member. But the ceremony connected your mind, body, and soul to the pack. I was ready for it.

I walked into the clearing in the woods behind the house barefoot, keeping my head held high. I was nervous, but I was happy that I had not gone into Heat the week before. It would have made my emotions unsteady, and joining the pack would have been much harder. All of the pack members formed circles; the men formed the outside ring, the women formed a middle ring, and children under the age of seventeen formed the inside ring. A mated werewolf was automatically considered an adult by pack law.

I stood at the edge of the male circle, waiting for my calling. Only my mother and father would be on the very inside. No one had explained to me what this would be like, and I had been a child when my older brother, Ian, went through the process. I knew I would feel something strange, but I didn't know exactly what to expect.