The Alpha's Beta

Chapter 18

Well, not exactly like me, but really, really similar! We stood there, staring, for what seemed like forever. Then she opened her mouth.

"Astrid?" She whispered.

I just shook my head. I couldn't figure out what to say. Who was this person?

"No, this is Raven. Not Astrid." Lucas answered for me. 

I looked to my mom, who had tears streaming down her face. Noah was on one knee, facing the look-alike. She shook herself out of the daze she was in, and looked around.

"You may rise," she said. She turned to my mom. "Who are you?"

"I am Astrid's Guardian." My mom knelt in front of the woman and bowed her head. "I see that she is yours, and I relinquish my duty to you."

What. The. Heck.

"May I ask what the freak is going on right now?" Lucas asked.

"I apologize. I am Elise Rane, Alpha of Storm Pack."

"I thought Nick was Alpha." My mentor interrupted.

"He is, but only of the Wolves that are 100 and younger." Elise explained. "And, please, stop kneeling."

My mother stood. "Are you going to accept?"

"As tradition calls, the guarded must agree with the terms." Elise looked at me. 

"Stop looking at me like that! I have no idea who you are, who Astrid is, what a Guardian is, or what the 'terms' are or what 'tradition' is!" I burst out.

"As I said, I am Elise Ra- "

"I know!" 

"Then I will skip that question. Astrid is my daughter whom I gave away sixteen years ago. A Guardian is the person entrusted to watch over any orphaned Shifters, or ones with parents in hiding. The terms are agreed upon when a Guardian takes a charge. And tradition is the ancient laws binding all Packs, Flocks, and other groups of Shifters."

"Okayyy. But how does that have anything to do with right now?"

"Raven, you are Astrid. I was your Guardian. This woman is your mother." My mom said. But she wasn't my mom, was she? 

I backed away from my 'moms.' Lucas backed up with me, letting me know that he was on my side.

Nick and Noah started to walk towards me, but Elise stopped them. "Let her go. She needs time to process."

And so I ran. Lucas grabbed my hand, allowing me to lead him through the trees. I don't know how long we ran, but when we stopped, I dropped to the forest floor from exhaustion. 

"This doesn't make sense." I told Lucas. He sat down next to me.

"I know. Trust me, I know." He picked up my hand and squeezed. "My parents died when I was a baby, so I didn't really know them. I mean, I grew up with my aunt - who pretended to be my mom until I was twelve - and she told me a little bit about my parents. But it wasn't the same as actually knowing them."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't! We only met a couple days ago! And it's fine. Hey, would it help if I told a some stuff about Elise?"

"You know her?"

"Well, I know of her. She's pretty famous. She was born a Shifter, in 1928, I believe. Not many Shifters are born these days, too many of us have died out. Only the 'royal' bloodlines remain that way. Anyways, Elise was born a Wolf, but was later turned into an Eagle as well. Back then, stuff like that didn't happen. Like, at all. If it did, the Shifter in question would pick a place. And Elise chose the Wolves, but she always had a special connection with the Eagles."

Lucas was cut off by Elise walking over to us, continuing the story. "Especially the Sky Flock, the ones who changed her. Even more especially, the specific Shifter that gave her his blood. They got pretty close after a while, and Elise got pregnant. She had her baby, but had no clue what to do with it, as there was a war going on. She tried to send the baby to the father, but was warned by her best friend not to. So Elise stole her baby back, and sent it with a Guardian. The Guardian was instructed not to submerge the child in Shifter life until the child actually Shifted. As the date neared, things were interrupted, and the child was stolen once again. But now you are back, and able to take your rightful placed in the Pack!"

And, once again, I was speaking impaired. I mean, I think I kind of made a strangled cat noise, but I can't be too sure.

"You're a crappy mom. Just so you know. This girl has spent her entire life thinking that that -" Lucas points to my mom (Guardian, whatever, she's still my mom). "- woman was her mom. Then you show up, saying 'Omg, you're my long lost daughter! Raven tries to comprehend this, but as she's doing that, you show up again and start telling your life story to her. And then you say 'Oh yeah, you're also going to be in my Pack, because I say so.' No consulting whatsoever." By the end of his rant, my mentor is breathing heavily and his face is red.

"Oh, god. What have I done?"  Came the same voice from earlier. I don't think it was trying to say anything to me, though. I think it was an accident.

An Eagle's cry from above drew our attention away from Lucas. Our heads turned up, and our mouths dropped open. Well, mine did anyways.

The lead Eagle let out a piercing shriek, which was translated by - apparently - one of my abilities. The shriek said, "Come home now. I command it."

Great. Dylan was here.

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I'm sorry if the plot line is really roller-coastery right now. I'm trying to put my brain story to paper (computer, whatever, close enough) and sometimes it just doesn't work. But I'm tryin' here, guys. 

To all of you ghost readers out there that are silently reading along:
I appreciate you, I really do. But if you guys could maybe vote on a chapter once in awhile, just so I know people actually like this book? That'd be awesome!

Have an amazing day/night!! :)