Too Tempted

Enzion (5)

As soon as Phoenix had allowed the words to fall out of her mouth, I begged for it to be all wrong. My life had to be a humorless.

But what she had said was true. The oldest child of the Alpha almost always inherited the title and it just happened to be that Partius was born a little earlier than myself. Partius laughed as if it was his idea of a humorous joke, which it most definitely was. The gleam in his eyes told me that he was determined to crush me, one way or another.

"And anyways," Partius sneered. "What kind of Alpha would you be if you couldn't even turn into a wolf?"

Phoenix seemed rather occupied, thinking of someplace far from here. Her face looked dazed as if she did not expect something this obvious to occur. Noah looked uncomfortable, as if he was caught up in somebody else's family business, which he was.

"Wait," Phoenix interrupted my train of thought. "That's not always correct."

Our eyes met for a few seconds and I could see that she was processing something.

"An example was the twins Gariff and Fred. They were also arguing over who gained the title of Alpha, so exactly a week later, they had a vote," Phoenix informed us, clearly still processing it herself. "During the week, Fred was Alpha as he had been beforehand. Gariff won the vote, however. He also happens to be out great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather."

I gulped, thankful for the thread of hope that Phoenix had provided me with. But I was certain I was going to fail, dread washing over my new found hope like sea water flooding the sand.

Partius seemed taken back by this information, but smeared his face with confidence before anybody but myself saw.

"By then I hope to have gotten to know my pack better, like I should have known them," Partius smiled, seeming to aim this entirely at me. "Good luck, brother."

My mind was racing as Partius laid down on the grass almost three meters away from our little group. I sat down, my heart thudding, next to Noah and Phoenix.

"If I can vote, you already have mine," Noah grinned. Phoenix nodded, as if confirming that he had the right to vote.

"Mine too," She said with a slight giggle. "Partius is unlikely to get any votes at all."

I nodded back, even though I had the theory that Partius was going to turn everyone I loved against me. Jade had finally woken up, her hair a bird's nest as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. I noticed how Noah watched as well, in a deeper way that he had before. When they greeted each other, no disagreements arose, making my heart lighten.

"Any plans for today?" Jade yawned halfheartedly. "Please don't say vampire hunting because I feel I've done enough of that for a lifetime."

I spent a few moments recollecting my scattered thoughts before answering.

"Some shopping, I feel," I replied. "We will all need to buy a change of clothes and afterwards, we'll need lunch."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and much to my surprise, Partius did too.

"I've got to say, Brother," He admitted, his tone light. "It'll actually be a shame if you don't win our little vote."