The King's Alpha novel Chapter 2

I turned off the shower and got out, rubbing myself down with one of the towels hanging from the rack. As I dried off, I grabbed my sweats and a shirt from my bag, throwing them on. Out the door, I started to explore a little. The house was small, only two bedrooms on the top floor. With an office as well.

Opening up the other bedroom, I looked in to see the bed unmade, a stuffed bunny laying on the bed, and some clothes tossed on the end. My mom definitely made herself at home. My dad was the neat freak of the two of them. Outside the kitchen, of course. Mom in the kitchen she was a cooking goddess and everything had a place. More than once my sisters, Freya and Syf, got in trouble for messing up the kitchen.

I headed down the stairs and sat at the kitchen island with Grandpa. He had a glass of tea in one hand, his cellphone in the other.

“Frankie’s made his move.”

My mom turned from the pot she was leaning over and signed: “What happened?”

“Took over the southern region. Managed a full blown takeover operation of six difference locations at the same time.”

Mom shook her head and turned back to pot. It was easy to forget that my grandpa was the great Morgan Russo. Vampire and mafia boss who was feared and revered in the supernatural community. He ran the biggest and the most unforgiving crew. Every so often, he would work with the High Council but he would never go to the castle. Not even when they dangled information to take out the Mexican mafia boss. He did it, but he refused to come into the area for the information we had. He said he couldn’t forgive the High Council, even if no one from the old High Council was on it anymore.

My mom was no slouch either. She was known as The Huntress in her younger days. She picked the name back up a few years ago when she started doing missions for them again. She had been hurt pretty bad in a previous war. There are still details she wouldn’t tell me, but apparently Grandpa and Dad saved her. For a long time, she had to take steroid shots but now, she was just as strong, if not stronger than she used to be. Grandpa was pissed when he found out she was going back into the field. But honestly, it would pale in comparison to Dad finding out. He would be livid.

“Is Frankie a threat?”

My grandpa chuckled. “No no. He’s a human. A crafty one at that but still human. If anything, I might cut a deal with him. He’s already encroaching on some of my territory but the stuff he’s getting into isn’t really my forte. So I might just allow him to work for a cut.”

Shaking my head, I saw a glass had magically appeared in front of me. I smiled and took a sip of tea. Now, I felt like I was home.

Mom turned a bit and her hands came up, signing ‘Are you staying tonight?’ before going back to the pot.

“No. I mean…you know I won’t say no to dinner, but I have a meeting tomorrow overseas. So I need to get on the plane tonight.” He looked at me and ruffled my hair. I growled at him but he laughed. “I just wanted to see my Grandson that I haven’t seen in forever and my wonderful daughter.”

Mom snorted. She turned fully this times and signed faster again. I wrinkled my nose.

“What? I don’t just come by for food and leave!”

I laughed and shook my head. “You absolutely do. You used to do it when we were kids too!”

“I gave your mom breaks when I took you pipsqueaks out for play dates. Hell, who was the one who taught you to shift like your mom? Me. I bet you were conceived while I was taking your brothers and sisters out.”

A towel slapped him in the face and I laughed harder. Mom was trying not to smile and absolutely failing.

“Princess! What the hell?”

She shook her head and started to pull bowls and plates. Serving us up with some of her loaded potato soup and a side of cheesy bread, we ate at the kitchen island together. I talked about a few things happening with the High Council, including reading up in the library. A lot of what I handled was not allowed to be aired outside the castle walls but some of it could. Mom and Grandpa asked a few questions here and there but we moved on to other subjects pretty quickly.

Werewolves right now were experiencing a time of peace. Most packs had peace treaties with others, and so it was only rogues that were an issue sometimes. Even that was rare and nothing like the stories of when my mom and dad first were running the pack together. Rogues, in my opinion, weren’t all that bad. Some were, of course, but so were some bad packs. I’d run into enough good rogues and bad packs that I felt evened out the scales. A pack protected it’s land but outside of the territory, rogues tended to live very human lives. I wasn’t going to judge them for that. It was a choice. But not all packs, even the good ones, shared my sentiments.

Getting up, I refilled my bowl for the third time and sat back down. My mom and grandpa were looking at me with an expression I didn’t like.

“What?”

“When are you gonna meet your mate?”

I nearly choked on my soup. “What?”

My mom snickered by Grandpa continued. “Your mate. You know. Goddess ordained other half of your soul. The person you are to have pups with and rule beside you as Luna?”

Every question I winced slightly. I stirred my soup a little, before finding a huge piece of bacon and chomping down on it.

'You okay, Vale?'

I shook my head. “Dad didn’t find his mate till he was twenty-three. I still have a few years before then. Plus, I don’t get out much. The only time I ever come into contact with more than just the High Council and the people who work at the castle are when we have meetings.”

I took another bite, staring down at the soup that I had tried to replicate so many times but always failed to make as good. It was my favorite or at least in my top three of meals my mom made. It was home. But I knew this trip wasn’t a homecoming. Not really. I was running away.