Animalistic

25

"Here" the low grumble of Atlas' voice whispers in my ear as he places a blanket around my shivering, wet body huddled on one of the golden love-seats in the stately living room. My eyes flash to my mother as I draw the blanket closer, a gaunt shadow cast across her face by the dim light of the fireplace, her form curled up on one side of an otherwise empty sofa. She hadn't said anything on the way back, hadn't looked at any of us yet. I'm not quite sure how I should feel, worried, upset, confused, yeah, definitely confused; but more than anything, there's this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that terrifies me. While Lady Alpha takes a seat on a cushioned chair across from my mother's mostly vacant sofa, Atlas stands to the side the love-seat, hand on the armrest next to me. All is still and quite, a tense air permeates through the mostly dark room, shadows cast over the multitude of luxurious seating, letting my eyes play tricks and make harrowing figures in the dark corners of the room, a slow spread of unease crawling through my head, until Alpha Horne, deep age lines cut into his lively face, cast by the flickering firelight shadows, warily emerges from the shadows.

"Now," a deep rumble like far off thunder encapsulates his words "please, start at the beginning." He takes a seat in a chair next to his mate's, leaning forward, hands clasped and a severe expression across his face as he warily looks at my mother. She doesn't shift from her closed off look, arms crossed, huddled at the edge of the large sofa to take up the least amount of space, staring into the lightly shifting flames, but she does nod lightly.

"My name," the immense void of emotion and feeling in her words cuts through me like a jagged dagger, "my real name, is Catherine Beth O'iasa." My eyes shift to the two Alphas as they turn to each other with a knowing knitted-brow look, yet say nothing as they turn back to her. "Only child of Ruth and Edward O'iasa." She gives a slight breathy chuckle "I was a little surprised you didn't recognize me Mary, you were always one for knowing everything about diplomatic relations. Even if we never got to meet before-" she stops herself, "well, I'm getting ahead of myself."

"You and I were actually in quite a similar, Mary." She continued, eyes still on the low crackling fire. "Only heir to the pack, yet unfortunately female. In my case, I was always forced to follow my father around at an early age to all of his boorish meetings, forced to focus on learning the ins and outs to leadership," lower she sighs "no matter how much I hated it" before continuing "my only friends were usually the kids of other alphas who would sneak off with me while our fathers were busy, but other than those few encounters every few months or so, my whole life was simply preparation, after all, my father believed I was going to become the first female Alpha, so I had to be the best...at everything.

"As a result, everything became utterly boring and more than anything, I was always alone with my achievements, pianist, fencer, mathematician, they were all just appraisal stickers to add to my value, but when they all peeled off, there wasn't really anything left. And so the thought of becoming alpha, mating some stuffy hand-picked high ranked boy, pop out a heir, and work til the day I die, live like my father, it disgusted me.

"When I turned 18 and was sent off for Mating Season, my father sat me down and told me 'bring back an acceptable mate.' Though he never specified, I was pretty sure what he meant by acceptable: some high ranking idiot I had nothing in common with but added to my glorified image. You can only guess as to how excited I was about that prospect. I arrived and while being completely disinterested in everyone, it didn't matter that much (they'd try to claim me anyway for my rank and I'd just have to pick the highest number), I ended up running into one of my old friends--Thomas.

"He was sweet and an Alpha and high ranked, so I knew father would approve, and as an added bonus he could actually carry on a conversation with me and didn't act like another one of those snobbish types that seemed to flood the ranks of young Alphas at the time, he was the best choice, one I could settle with. However, I didn't really want to settle, and that's when Cain crashed into my life, quite literally.