Part 2

I sat on the edge of the bed with my back toward Ashley. We were supposed to be at school, but we had ditched the period before lunch. We’d gone to her house, knowing that her parents would only be back at 6 PM.

Her fingertips trailed over my unmarked back and I clenched my eyes shut. Ashley and I had been dating for close to two years. She was part of another pack and even though I knew she wasn’t my mate, I still kept seeing her.

Things had been off with us for the last two weeks and it made me question my feelings for her. I did love her, but for the time being, it seemed we only got along when we were naked. I wasn’t sure where our relationship was going. Ashley had different ideas for my life than I had.

She was pressuring me about life after school. I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d applied to go to university and I’d gotten in. I was going to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and I’d been accepted into the geosciences department.

I wasn’t really sure what the problem between us was, but it was starting to piss me off. Her hot and cold reactions to me were getting old and I wasn’t one to linger around in confusion no matter how strongly I felt about her.

Maybe if we had imprinted I’d feel different about it all. My parents weren’t very conventional and my father always showed his true emotions, whether it was anger or happiness, the full force of it was always present and sometimes overwhelming.

“What’s going on with you?” I asked her as I pulled my shirt over my head.

“It’s nothing,” she said irritably as she started putting her clothes back on.

“It’s not nothing and quite frankly I’m getting tired of this bullshit,” I said.

“You’re part of the royal pack, a prince in fact, yet you won’t claim the position. Your father was the Alpha so I don’t really know why you can’t take the pack back,” she said.

“It’s not mine to claim,” I said in a low voice putting my shoes back on.

“Why not?” She asked me.

“I don’t want to talk about it, it’s not important,” I said.

“Of course it’s important! What happens after college? Are you going to get a regular job like a human? What the hell am I supposed to tell people?” She asked angrily.

“Tell people? What the hell are you on about? After college I’ll come home and see what my next steps are,” I said.

“And that’s the problem right there, you were never ambitious enough!” She yelled suddenly.

“I have ambition. I just can’t claim something that’s not mine to take!” I said back angrily.

“How is it not yours to take? You’re a Sinclair!” She said loudly.

“I was adopted, Ashley! That means I’m not a royal and I’m not the next Alpha!” I said as her mouth opened and closed a few times.

“What?” She asked after a minute of silence.

“Adopted, as in I’ll never be an Alpha, it’s not in my blood,” I said.

“This changes things,” she said as she looked me in the eye.

“No, it doesn’t,” I said.

“You’ll never be an Alpha,” she said.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re breaking up with me because of status?” I asked.

“I don’t know how to feel about all of this,” she said.

I can’t really explain the emotions that went through me at that exact moment. Shock, anger and betrayal, they all came crashing through me, wave after wave. I felt sick to my stomach, I’d been with her for two years.

“Have a nice life, Ashley,” I said and walked out of her room.

I left her house still in shock at that little revelation and drove my Navigator down to the Point. I sat in my car for a few minutes and just looked out over the ocean, trying to come to grips with everything that had just happened.

My phone buzzed in my pocket but I ignored it. I couldn’t talk to anyone right now. I was such an idiot. She had only liked me for what she could get from me. It didn’t matter that I was a nice guy and now I was glad that I had never shared the contents of my trust fund with her.

I drove home and parked in the driveway as I looked up at the house. I had one more month of school and then I’d be moving to Fairbanks. Somehow I had envisioned my life different to what it was now, as stupid as it might sound, I had always wanted to be an Alpha. At the age of six I hadn’t known that you had to be born one.

“How was school?” Adara asked me as I slung my bag over the back of the chair.

“Fine,” I said and she looked up from her book.

“Just fine?” She asked me.

“It was fantastic!” I said sarcastically as she smiled secretly. “Where’s Kiran?” 

“In his study,” she said.

“Sorry, Mom. I had a shitty afternoon and Ashley’s just after status,” I said.

Adara made her way around the corner and hugged me tightly. “It’s better to find that out now than later.”

“I know,” I said and kissed the top of her head.

I made my way down the hall and knocked on the door. Kiran could blow a fuse if you didn’t knock, he had a temper that rivaled none actually. He simply said, “enter” and smiled as I walked inside and sat down in the chair in front of him.

“I’m glad you’re here, Adara and I have something to discuss with you at dinner,” he said.

“Geez, Kiran, I hope I’m not getting another brother or sister,” I said and laughed.

“Piss off,” he said, looking at me in astonishment.

“It does run in the family you know,” I said and ducked as he threw his pen at my head.