Lady Alpha

5

We walked in the house and it was like a scene from a movie. Time slowed down and I was the object of everyone's attention. I walked through the crowd, which split like the Red Sea, with Seth at my side.

My mother beamed at me. "My baby girl's all grown up. She's shifted and found her mate all in the same day." She lunged at me, embracing me in a hug. I looked at my brother, begging him with my eyes for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders. I scowled at him, while trying to breathe through my mom's inhumane hug.

"Mom, I don't think you want to suffocate the pack's new alpha." Cassius finally cut in.

My mom instantly released me, sending a sheepish look my way.

"I'm just so excited for you, honey!"

"Mom, you have the wrong idea." I tried to cut in, but my dad's booming voice cut me off.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Darkmoon Pack, today is both a happy and sad day. Today, my son Cassius is due to move to the Pacific Mountain Pack, the pack on our northwestern border, to rule as Alpha alongside his beautiful mate, Isabel. While we may mourn his departure, today also is my daughter's eighteenth birthday, and she will take over the Alpha position with her mate Seth Matthews.

"Will you guys stop saying that, Seth and I aren't mates!"

I am a firm believer that there is a time and place for everything, and this just wasn't the time nor the place for my frustrated outburst. If I thought the place was quiet before, it just got even quieter as the pack tuned in on my correction. It was like the calm before the storm because soon after whispers flooded the room all questioning their new leader's capability to lead the pack without male influence. They were outraged. They all thought I would have found my mate when I went to school, but because I did not, they weren't so sure of my leadership.

"What my dear Samantha meant was that, although we are not mates, we are still dating." Seth's strong voice rang out through the crowd.

I looked at him in panic. "What are you doing?" I hissed at him.

"Just go along with it." He assured me and for some reason, I trusted him.

The crowd came to a calm, accepting this answer. I was disgusted with their sexism, but chose to stay quiet knowing my father would not approve of another outburst.

"My apologies, sweetheart. I should have confirmed your mother's theory with you first." My dad sent me an apologetic look, in which I return with a smile. It wasn't entirely his fault.

"However" he continued "For the rest of you lot. How dare you? How dare you question, my daughter's ability to lead you. Does she not have alpha blood running through her veins? Has she not been training for this exact moment? She has my blood. She is my kin, and have I ever even hinted at a reason to doubt me? How dare you doubt your future alpha. You should all be ashamed of yourselves." My father boomed. His alpha tone lacing his words, dripping like wolf's bane, attacking his pack. They all hung their heads in shame. "Boyfriend or not. Mate or not. She will lead this Darkmoon pack through trial and tribulation and you will obey her every command."

The crowd was eerily silent and I took this moment to slip away, dragging Seth with me.

I pushed him into the kitchen. "What are you playing at?" I demanded.

"Did you hear some of the things they were saying about you? I was only trying to help." He reasoned.

"Help?" I asked incredulously. "You just made another problem. How am I supposed to tell them you lied to their faces about us dating?"

"You don't." He answered simply.

"But we're not dating." I pointed out.

"They don't need to know that. Listen, Sam, you may have forgotten but I'm your Beta. Your right hand man. It's in my nature to help you and in yours to trust me. We're going to be together all the time. Not only do we have to work together, but your brother, my best friend, is leaving and your two best friends just found out they are mates and can't keep their hands off of each other, so it looks like we'll be hanging around one another in our downtime. We just have to make it look believable, which wouldn't be hard."