Shattered Bonds novel Chapter 2

“Mom! You know I don’t like wearing dresses. Richie doesn’t care if I’m wearing a dress.” I say to my mother. This argument is one that we’ve had countless times. My sister, Riley, is the girlie girl. Give me a t-shirt, a pair of jeans and boots any day of the week.

“Emlyn Grace! This is Richard’s Alpha ceremony, and you will dress the part of not only an allied pack member supporting the transition of power, but the Alpha female and Guardian that you are.”

I grab the dress that my mother is holding out for me and stomp down the hallway back to my room. “If I was really an Alpha female and Guardian, I could wear whatever I wanted to wear.” I say under my breath as I get to my room. My brother is just coming out of his room, and he winks at me.

Emerson is a great older brother. He never tries to make me into something I’m not and accepts me for who I am. I wish he was a little bit more relaxed and laid back, but he takes his future role as our next Alpha very seriously. He’ll be great at it.

“It’s one night Emin.” He says, using the nickname he gave me when I was first born, and he couldn’t say my name. The nickname stuck. “I’m quite sure, as an Alpha female and Guardian, you can handle a dress for one night.”

I roll my eyes and go into my room to change. I don’t know why women can’t wear dress pants to big events. It should be a rule that if men can wear pants, women can too. Okay, maybe it’s just my mom that makes me wear dresses. Or maybe it’s because I never wear them unless I’m forced into them.

Thankfully when I turned sixteen a couple months ago, I convinced my mom that, since it was my birthday, I should be able to wear whatever I wanted. We compromised on dress pants and a blousy top. I’m tall, like the rest of my family, at 5’11”, so my mom doesn’t fight me on wearing flats. However, if you’re going to put me in a dress, I’m going to wear heels.

The only ones in the room that will be taller than me tonight are the Alphas. Of course, there are a ton of Alphas now. Besides my father and brother, there is the Alpha of Canyon Ridge, Alpha Rik and his two sons, Cohen and Clint. Clint and I are the same age and I was taller than him until this past summer when he sprouted up to a giant 6’5”. He and Cohen are two of my best friends. My other friend, Cayden, is an Alpha of Shadow Falls pack. He, along with his father Liam and his brothers Richie and Andrew are the other Alphas that will be in attendance.

It's Richie’s Alpha ceremony. I’m happy for him. He’s the first of us to become Alpha. Not that I’ll be an Alpha. Even if I wasn’t a female, I’m the second child. And, while I appreciate the responsibilities that I will have being a Guardian to my mate and their pack, I would never want the responsibility of being an Alpha. I’ve watched my father and I've seen the stress it has caused my brother. No thanks!

Richie will be a good Alpha. Like Emerson, he takes the job very seriously. All our parents worked hard to create the peace that our packs have today. And not just for the werewolf packs, but every supernatural group. They went through a vampire war, a hunter war and then created a supernatural council.

When I finish getting dressed, I grab my phone and text one of the sprites born in our pack.

A few minutes later, I hear a knock on my door.

“Come in, Aspen.”

When the wolves and sprites began mating, no one knew what kind of hybrid they would create. In almost every instance, and there are a LOT of wolf/sprite mates in our three packs, the females became sprites while the males became wolves. There are a couple of exceptions, and Aspen’s youngest sister is one of them. She got her wolf last year. Aspen, however, is a perfect sprite and she’s amazing when it comes to doing hair.