Chapter 1 - Hunter

I felt my eyelids flickering as they became heavier, the sound of the pounding feet of the staff within the large lounge in which I had been requested to wait as they prepared the room for my parents’ arrival was the only sound I could hear as my head bobbed heavily while my body appeared to attempt to succumb to the sleep it was craving. Perhaps staying out once more until the early hours was not the best of ideas…

But, ultimately, I was to be the next Alpha of this great pack, if I was not allowed to enjoy myself then who the hell was? And, right now my father was not prepared to hand his title of Alpha down to me, clinging on desperately to his youth if you asked me by remaining Alpha as long as he could. So, in that way I chose to enjoy my youth, and the freedom it brought. With not having the title just yet meant I had less commitments hanging over me and a greater sense of freedom than I imagined I would when I finally became Alpha, so I was out every evening living it up. And I had no intention of stopping. I was Hunter Hayes. Soon-to-be Alpha of Silver Shadows Pack.

People knew who I was. They wanted to be around me. And I loved it. I would be a fool not to take advantage of that. I allowed my eyes to close momentarily. The release of pressure upon my eyes and my head as I did was divine...

“Hunter Hayes can you not be respectful even for a moment?” My father’s voice boomed from the direction of the doorway causing me to all but jump out of my skin and my eyes darted open instantly, my moment of rest gone. My wolf, Ace chuckled hysterically to himself. I was sure he intentionally allowed me to suffer after our many long nights out just to amuse himself. I had not been paying attention to the sounds around me, but he must have heard the approaching steps, or noticed the scent of my parents as they approached and could have given me a warning. But no, instead, my wolf chose to allow this chaos to ensue...

“Good morning Dad.” I stood from the large black leather sofa on which I was partially lounging which was sat below one of the large bay windows in our beautifully decorated packhouse lounge. Going off the expression upon my father's face there was not going to be a way to fix this, but still, I would be as polite as I could. My head felt like I had a band playing in there right now, after not being able to sleep off the after-affects of the drinking sesssion, so the last thing I needed was more lectures from my Dad. Why my parents decided meeting here was any better than meeting at their own home I had no clue.

I smiled at both of my parents as neither one spoke to me, and I became aware of the critical eyes of my mother looking me up and down. “You could have made more of an effort.” Mum grumbled, as her big grey eyes looked me up and down once again, this time with a look of disdain upon her face. Surprise, surprise I had pissed off my parents. I shoot and I score! Over the years I seemed to have refined that skill...

All intentions of being polite seemed to slip right out of my mind as I replied. “You asked me to come and speak to you, so I am here, am I not? Be grateful for that. I want to be in bed.” I snapped, a little disrespectfully considering this was my Mum, but I had yet to have a coffee and my patience was already running out. The gray sweatpants and black t-shirt I was wearing were perfectly fine. I mean, they were clean, was that not good enough? It was not like I turned up in my underwear.

'Oh, please do that next time they call you to a meeting!' Ace chuckled. 'I can only imagine their faces!'

I held back a smirk. My wolf was an ass, he truly was, but in this he was right, their faces would be a picture...

I could see my father’s eyes narrowing as he looked across at me, so I tried harder to hide the smirk my wolf was causing. I did not need my Dad thinking I was laughing at him or else that would cause a whole other lecture about respect and such like, another topic I did not need before a coffee. My brain was already struggling to process anything. But before my Dad had the opportunity to say another word to me we were both aware of the presence of Elijah Dalton, Anthony Barker and Andrew Stanfield – all three of whom were part of our pack council. Pack elders in essence. And, going off the way in which they were looking me up and down, not one of them looked massively happy to see me either. Marvelous. Today was truly getting off to a wonderful start.

But the warm smile my parents offered told me they had known the three men were due to arrive; and in that alone was my explaination as to why we were meeting in the packhouse. Irritation bubbled beneath my skin...

‘Thanks for the warning.’ I mindlinked my parents angrily, who clearly knew this was happening, and now my Mum’s disappointment in my choice of outfit also made sense.

‘Sit down and shut the fuck up.’ Dad snapped right back, just as Elijah sat himself down on one of the armchairs, pulling a laptop from his bag. My eyes narrowed as I studied the man's movements. He appeared to be setting up a video call. Was this some form of business meeting? Either way, I knew nothing about it and that seriously infuritated me. I was due to be the Alpha of this pack one day yet they told me fuck all...

“Let us get this meeting underway shall we?” Elijah spoke calmly, like he was discussing the weather. Meeting? So my guess had not been far wrong... but what type of meeting, and why? An unease settled over me. My father may well be Alpha of our pack, but these men, and the others within our pack council still held some sway within the control of our pack. What concerned me more was that it was evident that my parents and the council had been discussing something that clearly concerned me, yet I had not been informed, at least not yet…

‘I guess that is what is about to happen.’ Ace told me cheerfully.

‘Hmmm, Why do I have a feeling I am not going to like this?’ I replied, a sinking feeling settling over me, as my parents joined us all around the coffee table at which the council members now sat.

Elijah was fiddling with his laptop when suddenly I heard a video-call dialling tone, and then my brother’s face appeared upon the screen. Ezra. So his presence had been demanded too? This was definitely not going to be good if it involved both myself and my brother…