The She-Wolf Alpha (Book 1 She-Wolf Series)

My jaw fell open. Shocked was an understatement.

“You’re going to have to elaborate,” I finally responded.

My dad was a middle child. This was bigger news than my grandmother just having a child out of wedlock. She had to have been married to my grandfather at the time.

“Grandma did not have an affair,” he read my thoughts. “Stephen did. With your grandmother’s sister. Aunt Jane was not married, and Stephen had no intention of leaving his wife or divulging the affair to the pack. It could have ruined her to be a single parent back then, so your grandma and grandpa adopted me and raised me as their own.

“Shortly before I turned 16, Stephen found me and told me everything. He had to. On my 16th birthday I had my first shift and moved here.”

“You lived here?” I asked.

He nodded.

“For a time. As you can imagine, being the bastard child of the alpha did not come with a lot of perks. Or friends. Stephen and Emilia already had an heir in William, so Stephen really didn’t take much of an interest.

"I trained rigorously and learned all that I could. At the end of the day, my place was not here. When I turned 18, I left again,” he finished with a shrug, “I built a life away from the pack. Normally a wolf choosing to ignore the alpha would be considered a rogue, but Stephen allowed it because it made his life and his relationship with his mate less complicated.”

“Wait. Stephen was the alpha before? Why isn’t he the alpha now?” I asked.

“Once the alpha - for lack of a better term - ages out, the call passes to his heir. William was alpha after him, and William’s son Christian after that,” he let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, Christian suffered a great loss. From what I understand, his wife - or in werewolf terms, mate - died tragically. He took his own life shortly there after.”

I was stunned. I knew what it was to lose your soul mate and how difficult the pain was to overcome. For a moment, I wondered if my being in his life would have made a difference in my cousin’s time of grief.

Dad continued, “Because Christian didn’t leave an heir, it wasn’t initially clear who the next leader would be. The pack can feel a ‘pull’ to their alpha. I think we all assumed it was Luke. I never thought they would come for you two, though. I assumed they would find a way to name someone else rather than have it be my descendent.”

“You thought Luke was the destined alpha of a werewolf pack, and you didn’t think it was worth mentioning?” I accused, once again furious.

“To be fair, your mom and I planned to tell you tonight. William’s lackeys just beat me to it,” he finished with a small grin.

“Yeah, a 33 year long race and you just missed the finish line by a few hours,” I retorted.

“I know, Sam. Since I assumed it was Luke, I thought we had a few weeks before his 16th birthday. The pack didn’t know you were a wolf because of the sp - curse. I’m sure they brought you here to warn you that they would be taking Luke to protect and train him until he came into his own as Alpha. Once you were on pack lands the curse was broken and your wolf was free. And how magnificent she is,” he finished, proudly.

I could feel Ayisha preening in my mind.

“Female alphas are incredibly rare. They are said to be touched by the moon goddess herself,” he quieted his voice to a whisper. “They are also incredibly vulnerable, Sam. You will be pursued endlessly by any wolf seeking a powerful mate, and hunted by any who sense any weakness.”

I swallowed while I absorbed what he was saying. Find a capable man for protection and risk being used for power. Stay on my own risk being killed by someone who thought they could just take the power themselves. Neither option sounded particularly appealing.

“I don’t think I can do this Dad,” I whispered.

“Sammy…”

“No Dad. You walked away. I can, too. Let them find someone else. I have a whole life, a business, Luke. You didn’t want to make me choose then. Why now?”

“Sweetheart… there is not a good option out of this,” he said and I saw desperation in his eyes. “The call of the alpha passes through a bloodline. The only way that is broken is if an alpha is challenged and defeated by another. William was an only child, and Christian was his only heir. If you willingly refuse the call, it will go to the last person in the Redding line. It will go to -”

“Luke,” I finished.

I slumped in my chair. If I chose not to accept the position as Alpha, I would be placing it on the shoulders of my 15 year old son. Luke was headstrong and stubborn. He never turned away from a challenge. He wouldn't choose to forgo his role as Alpha if the responsibility fell to him. Suddenly the decision became a whole lot easier.

“Well, I guess I’m the alpha now,” I stated, blandly.

“I am so sorry, Sam. I never would have kept this from you had I known this was a possibility,” Dad apologized.

I could see the regret in his slumped shoulders and misty eyes, but I had neither the desire or will to tell him it was okay. My life was once again spinning out of control. I was all but powerless to stop it.

“Go to tell Gramps and Uncle William to come back in,” I told him. “I’m sure there is a lot they want to discuss.”

With a short nod, my father - all but a stranger to me I realized - stood and walked to the door. While I understood his reasoning, somewhat selfish though it may be, I still could not grasp how he could have kept this secret from me. We were extraordinarily close my entire life. I thought we had very few, if any, secrets. It turned out he had been hiding half of his identity - half of my identity - from me.

Instead of having time to process the bomb that had just imploded on my life, I watched as my long lost family members filed back in the room.