Zac
I was setting up my new bedroom at the Blue Lightning pack. The bedroom I had chosen was a deep blood red in color with white trim around the window, ceiling and door trims. The ceiling was white, and the floor was carpeted in a shade of cream. My mom had gotten me a set of curtains that had the image of a spider in a web. The curtains were red, black and purple in color. They also had a matching floor mat that was now on my floor between my bed and the door.
I had a timber queen-sized bed that was painted black, and I also had a black-painted study desk, a tall chest of drawers, and a matching bookshelf. My bed had a colorful game pad bed set on it. I looked at the bags and boxes that were sitting on my bed waiting for me to unpack them. I began emptying the bags of clothing onto the bed so that I could sort through them. I was checking the clothes out while I removed the tags and set them into piles. I had an assortment of long and short-sleeved t-shirts, shorts and cargo pants, hoodies and sweatpants, and socks and jocks.
I had just finished sorting the clothes into piles when I heard a voice behind me say, "What the hell do you think you're doing boy?"
I turned around and saw my cousin Caleb standing in the doorway, grinning at me like an idiot.
"Hey man, how are you doing?" I asked, as I went over to him and hugged him. He hugged me back and said, "Damn, it's good to see you man."
"Yeah, it's been forever," I replied as I walked back over to my bed.
"Your room looks good. You have gotten a lot done, considering you only got here this morning," he told me, as he looked around my room.
"Yeah, we just set up everything as it arrived. I think mom is glad that she had all hands on deck to get things sorted out instantly. If she had to do it alone it would have taken a lot longer," I explained, as I went back to putting my clothes away. I started packing my clothes into my chest of drawers, and I put my hoodies and sweatpants into my built-in wardrobe.
"My dad told me what happened to your pack man. I am so sorry," Caleb said, looking at me intensely.
"Thanks man. I had a girl there. I was certain she was going to be my mate. Now she's dead," I told him.
"Man, that sucks," he replied.
"Yeah, and the worst part was, I couldn't even get her body to bury her," I said, feeling my anger at my father's decision to not go back growing once more.
"Why? Could you not find her, or...?" Caleb asked.
"No. My father wouldn't let us go back. He was worried that the attacking pack might still be hanging around and that if we went back, and they were still hanging around, they would kill us too," I told Caleb.
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds like he had a good point," Caleb said.
"You don't understand, man, we just left them there. We left their bodies lying on the ground for the animals to eat," I told him.
"Look Zac, man, I know it's hard, but, your father is a trained Beta. He knew what the risks were. If the force that attacked your pack wiped them out, then your family alone wasn't going to be enough to handle them. He is a trained Beta who was put in a position where he had to think like a father," Caleb replied.
"I know, and I understand what you're saying, I do, man, it's just that I feel so angry about it, you know?" I said as I tried to explain to him how I felt.
"I get it, but sometimes, we have to make the tough choices," he stated.
"We?" I asked, looking at him.
"Yeah, we. Alpha's and Beta's," he replied.
I watched him for a second before I started laughing at him, "You aren't an Alpha dude, and I ain't no Beta," I told him.
"Not yet, but we will be. Thats why it is inportant that we learn these lessons as our parents teach them to us," Caleb said.
"I feel like all my dad has shown me in this case is how to run away from trouble," I replied.
"Look, I get it. Beta's protect the pack. But at that moment, your father was thinking like a father, not a Beta. That's why he made the choice to get you guys out of there while he was able to," Caleb pointed out.
As I thought about what Caleb had just said, a part of me realized he was right. My father had been thinking like a parent that night. He had wanted to get his family somewhere safe. But he was also protecting Honey. And I couldn't help but think that if Honey hadn't been staying at our house that night, my father would have been more inclined to carry out his duties as a Beta. And if that had been how the evening had played out, maybe I could have found Corrina, maybe I could have got her out of there, and she would be here with us, safe. As far as I was concerned, it should be Corrina here instead of Honey. Corrina would have been the next Beta female of the Midnight Sun pack if she had lived. She would have been my mate. She had so much to live for, and her life had been cut short. Now I am sharing a home with a self-righteous little bitch who thinks she has the right to look down on my parents after all they have done for her. I was determined that I was going to make her life hell, even if it killed me!