The Alpha's Progeny [The Alpha's #3]

MALIK VLADIMIR

He couldn’t begin to describe the ambience of the pack these past few days. Ever since he had announced the impending return of his father after his own return from the Lupum Griseo pack this past weekend, the atmosphere had been indescrible. The pack and all of its inhabitants had come alive in a way that Malik had never seen before.

And to think all it took was the news of his dad coming home.

With all the preparations required that came along with the news, the past few days had been hectic but it was nothing compared to today: the day of arrival.

Malik had tried to insist that he personally go and collect his dad from where the council had kept him locked away all these years, but Beta Clayton had been rather adamant that that was not what his dad would have wanted. So, instead, he was doing all he could to keep himself busy and not count every passing second.

Easier said than done.

“What is this?” Malik frowned in confusion as he glanced down at the kitchen counter. He blinked once and then twice, but the cupcakes in front of him still remained and didn’t magically transform into another dessert.

“Cupcakes,” one of the cooks smiled brightly, evidently proud of her hard work. If today wasn’t such a special day for Malik, he would have held his tongue.

“Why were cupcakes made today?” he frowned, trying not to single her out. “We always have cupcakes.”

“They’re Beta Clayton’s favourite,” the cook’s voice trailed off, her statement sounding more like a question.

“Yes,” he confirmed with a frown. “Clayton is the Beta. It was fine to make cupcakes when he was the acting Alpha but my father is coming home today. Do you know what that means?”

“Yes Alpha,” she murmured as understanding began to dawn on her. “I’m sorry Alpha. Making cupcakes for dessert is a force of habit.”

“That’s fine. It’s not a big deal.”

“Do you want me to throw these away? If we get started now, we’ll have enough pancakes done just in time for lunch,” the words rushed out of her mouth as she began reaching for the batch of cupcakes closest to her. Before she could throw away some perfectly good food, I was quick to take them off her.

“That’ll be a waste of some perfectly good dessert,” Malik was quick to deny before she began panicking. At the bewildered, slightly disappointed expression on her face, he regretted saying anything in the first place. But it was the need to have this day be as special as it could possibly be that pushed him to continue. “If you could make a few portions of pancakes for the Alpha and his immediate party, that would be very much appreciated.”

“We’ll get that done. Sorry, Alpha,” she bowed her head in shame.

“No, thank you for your efforts. I’ll get out of your hair and leave you all to it,” he smiled brightly at her and the rest of the cooks before heading out of the pack kitchen, not wanting to cause any more problems.

How can we make ourselves useful? his wolf asked as he walked aimlessly around the pack house, looking for something to pass the time.

I don’t know. We seem to be getting in everyone’s way, Malik frowned as he dropped himself on the bottom step.

Speak for yourself. I’m not in anyone’s way, his wolf snorted.

That’s because you’re only in my head.

Transform and say that to me again.

I think I’m good, Malik chuckled. You’re too uptight. Makes it too easy to rile you up.

And you need to start being more serious. You spend far too much time making fun of me, his wolf complained.

If I was as serious as you, then we’d be the most boring alpha for there to have ever existed.

We’d be very efficient though.

I’ll take being liked over efficiency, Malik chuckled.

Father is the opposite.

There’s no way of you knowing that.

I remember him more than you do, his wolf reminded him as he loved to do. Dad couldn’t care less what people thought of him.

A lot can change in fifteen years.

And a lot can stay the same, his wolf pointed out like the stubborn creature that he was.

That’s what Malik was most worried about: what his dad would be like now. The last memory he had was him distraught and broken over his mum’s death and then what felt like almost immediately, he had been taken away from the council. While Malik would never forget his mum, he had been able to make peace with her passing over the years but feared that his father wouldn’t be able to do the same.

There were very few things that he remembered about his dad and over the years, so much more could have changed. Would they have that strong connection like they did when he was a child or would things be awkward? Would they be able to move past the elephant in the room that was the passing of his mum? Something which they never got to discuss as his dad had been locked away for over fifteen years now.

“Sorry Alpha. We could come back at another time,” a voice called out from behind him, forcing him out of his thoughts.

“Oh no! I’ll just get out of your way.” Malik shook his head as he jumped to his feet and moved to the side, allowing two pack members continue carrying what appeared to be a heavy sofa.

We’re in everyone’s way, his wolf chuckled. At this point, we might as well just lock ourselves in a room.

That’s actually not a bad idea, Malik laughed, moving to the closest door as soon as the hallway had cleared. If he was paying attention, he would have realised this was his father’s old office and never entered into the room in the first place. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with the room but being here, without him, going through all of his things that hadn’t moved other than some light dusting in the past eighteen years felt wrong.

Over the years, Malik had been in his dad’s office only a handful of times; all by mistake.

You say it’s a mistake but we both know you come in here on purpose, his wolf made sure to correct him. You and I both know you like being here, surrounded by all his things.

It sounds creepy when you say it like that.

Always the immature one, his wolf sighed.

One of his has to be, Malik shot back before closing off the link.

Unlike most of the other rooms in the packhouse, this one wasn’t very large. On the contrary, there was just enough space to walk to the four corners of the room, with a desk in one part, an old sofa and tall bookshelf in another two with the last part occupied with just enough space for the door to swing open. All in all, it was a very small room and Malik had no idea how his dad used to get any work done in here.

Other times he had gone riffling through the doors to find some old paperwork that was never filed, a laptop that no longer turned on and a few post-its with random doodlings, but not much to learn anything substantial about his dad. Today was not any different, other than a few missing cobwebs from when he had pointed them out last time.

It’s so claustrophobic in here. I’m going to go for a run, he told his wolf, already halfway down the hallway. With so much pent-up energy and angst to burn, he stuck to his human form and started off into a light job. The plan was to break into a sprint as soon as he neared the forest but he never got that far. Instead, he found himself by chance picking up on a conversation he definitely wasn’t supposed to hear.

“I’m not sure Alpha Orpheus returning to the back is such a good thing,” one of the warriors spoke aloud. He was obstructed from Malik’s view by the circle of warriors surrounding him.

“How can you say that?”

“Shouldn’t we be happy about the Alpha returning?”

“That’s what Alpha Orpheus and Beta Clayton want us to think,” the same warrior preached, as if he knew a single thing about what he was talking about. “We’ve all heard the rumours about the Alpha murdering the Luna. What if they’re not just rumours?”

“They’re fucking rumours and that’s that!” Malik roared loudly, unceremoniously pushing his way through the crowd to get to the centre where the perpetrator was preaching about his family like he knew anything. “How dare you speak about my family like that! How dare you spread rumours!”

The warrior’s mouth parted as if he was going to speak but no words came out. This just angered Malik all that much more until he could hold himself back no longer. He leaped through the air and squeezed his hands around the warrior’s neck.

When the warrior kicked at his legs, Malik slipped and ended up sending both of them tumbling to the ground. He rolled over to leverage himself on top, throwing punch after punch for the nasty rumours this warrior believed it alright to spread.

Just thinking about some of the vile things he had said made Malik all that much angrier.

“I was hoping that I would be greeted with a warm welcome but I have to admit, this is far more spirited than I would have liked,” a loud, booming voice commandeered everyone’s attention, giving the ground beneath their feet a light tremble. The voice held enough power to force Malik off the warrior that hadn’t been able to land a single punch on him. “Clayton, see to it that this warrior spends some time contemplating his behaviour in the dungeons. A few days down there should teach him not to spread rumours.”

“Yes Alpha!” Malik heard Clayton reply like an obedient pup followed by more deafening silence.

The voice was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. While he struggled to make up his mind which it was, he pushed his way through the crowd of warriors to get to the front.

In front of him stood a man he hadn’t seen in over fifteen years. His hair was darker and his skin lighter. The lines around his eyes and mouth were more prominent than he remembered but it was the depth of his dark eyes that really stood out to him. It mirrored his own but it didn’t quite feel like he was looking into a mirror.

It was only when the man’s lips twitched up at the corners the same way his did that Malik snapped out of his previous daze.

“Hello, son.”

-

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Layla Knight

03.08.2021