Chapter 3

I walked with my father’s guards up the tree-lined drive to Iceclaw Packhouse. The walk through the spring flowering trees had always been my favorite. The pink and white petals whose sweet smells would give way to leaves as summer approached was highlighted by the sounds of birds chirping and bees buzzing. For whatever reason, this part of the walk home was always peaceful no matter what was happening in town or on top of the hill.

As we walked up the drive, past the iron gates inlaid with golden trees, the brick facade of our expansive packhouse came into view. Omegas hurried about, making preparations for tonight’s ceremony, the ceremony where I would be made Alpha-in-Waiting and officially begin training to take over pack leadership.

I had prepared my whole life for tonight. When my mother and step-mother had failed to produce a male heir for my father, he began to include me more in pack business, even taking me with him as a representative of the pack in recent years. It helped that my cinnamon gold wolf had the stature and air of an Alpha.

My father made a bold step in deciding that I would be the next leader, and Fenrir assured me I had an aptitude for it. He was the only one who had known my father’s plan who was not bound. When my father had been away in battles, he had trusted me to lead in his absence, and it was Fenrir’s responsibility to carry out my decisions. If someone had been paying attention, it shouldn’t have been that much of a shock that I will be made Alpha-in-Waiting, but it would upset tradition.

Past the gates, there were several black Rolls-Royce Droptails with their chauffeurs synchronously opening the suicide doors. My step mother gave a small smile and wave in my direction, and I was hurried past the delegation.

“They’re trying too hard,” Aurelia commented on the gaudy display of wealth sitting in the driveway. I didn’t disagree with her, but it was also hard not to be a little impressed. “Humans,” she scoffed as she retreated back in my mind.

Almost as soon as she left, she sprang forward again, locking eyes with, who I presumed, was their Alpha. Curly black hair, muscular, strong jaw line, my eyes ran down his torso to the outline of a bulge in his pants. I felt a knot form within me, and as I looked him over, I felt his eyes boring back into mine, they burned red-orange like embers. I had never seen eyes the color of fire. I bit the corner of my lower lip, wondering why I had never seen him at our packhouse or other events before.

He flashed a smile, and – “Miss, we really must be going,” the guard said and I turned to walk through the arched wooden doors of my home.

Walking up the stairs to my father’s office, I heard muffled shouting, heavy footsteps, and a door slamming. Viti was bolting down the hall, hunched with his coat pulled around his shoulders. When he looked up and saw me, his eyes glowed yellow, he flashed his fangs and snarled, lunging toward me before running off. I could only guess what that was about, but I had a good idea that he just learned officially about my father’s plan.

It was no secret that Viti had openly been saying he would be the next Alpha because “who else could it be?” Viti had even been bold enough to say that my father chose his mother to make him Alpha. The truth of that though is that my mother, my father’s destined mate, the only woman that ever bore his mark, died when I was young. I had since been mostly raised by my Omega, Claire. Viti’s father, however, was unknown, but my father was a good man. Many men would see a woman who bore a pup from an unknown wolf, especially one who was not a true Iceclaw, and think she was a slut.

My father saw the world differently than most. That’s what made him a good Alpha. Viti’s mother had been known to many in and out of the pack, but my father saw more. They met under a Mating Moon, and while she wasn’t his true mate, she has been a good Luna to the pack and a devoted wife to my father. “People change after all,” my father frequently told me. Sometimes, though, I wondered if she filled Viti’s head with fantasies about him being Alpha. Viti and my father had never been especially close, but most of the pack assumed that the Alpha would pass to either Viti or Fenrir. With Fenrir dead, Viti was, in the pack’s mind, the next most likely candidate. It wasn’t that Viti was a bad guy, he was just bad to me.

I knocked at my father’s door. “Come in,” he barked. I pushed the door open tentatively, not sure if it was man or beast that I was meeting on the other side after the exchange he had just had with Viti.

“Hi, Dad,” I smiled my brightest smile, “You wanted to see me?”

“So informal for the next Alpha,” he held me in his stare to reprimand me, but then waggled his eyebrows back and forth, got up from his chair, pulled me into a hug, and ruffled my bright blonde hair, laughing.

“Hey! You haven’t done that since I was small! What gives?” I grinned at him.

“Sometimes, it’s hard not to see you as that little awkward pup just finding her running legs. I cannot believe how time has passed and that we are hours away from your becoming Alpha-in-Waiting. You’ll never be too big for me to hug you, though, Alpha Katla,” and he pulled me into another hug. “I am so proud of you.”

“Ok. ok, Dad. I get it. Who’s being informal now?” and a tightness began to form in my throat. I was the only one who ever saw this side of my father. To the pack, he was a ruthless warrior who protected our pack and acted swiftly and justly. To me, he was a doting father who loved to laugh behind closed doors and my mentor. “I’m to be Alpha-in-Waiting, but you're the next Alpha's dad. You know you’ll always be my dad, no matter what, right? You’ll always be by my side to help guide me. Nobody knows the pack better than you, and I need you now more than ever,” I said truthfully, and our wolves locked on each other saying to each other’s souls what our human voices couldn’t, that the bond between father and daughter was unbreakable. “You wanted to see me?”

“In these past 21 years, how have you become so wise? I remember an unruly teenaged pup that used to tell me that she was grown and didn’t need any more dad advice –”

“Or jokes, don’t forget the dad jokes, Alpha,” I laughed. The relationship with my father had always been easy. I was lucky that way.

Suddenly, he was all business. “We have our New Moon Ceremony this evening, I trust that you are prepared to address the pack?” I gave a quick nod, and he continued. “We will hold Council in three hours to discuss the investigation. I am hopeful that we have made progress in identifying his killer and reasons behind the slaying. Once we are sure, I would like you to be the one to announce the findings to the pack and determine the consequence.” I nodded again, this time more sullenly; to determine the punishment for our Beta’s killer was heavy, but I was ready and more than that, my father believed in me. I knew he wouldn’t allow it if I were still a weak pup. “Katla, what do you know about our alliances?”

“I know that we have alliances in the human lands, which is why we protect them from rogues, but in turn we are able to have trade partnerships with them that benefit us and them. We also have alliances with most packs in one form or another. It’s those alliances that keep the delicate peace between us. Our most advantageous alliance militarily is with Lunarpaw. Our strongest trade partnership is with Moonbeam Pack. Our most strategic alliance is with Silverburn, but you don’t talk much about them. I’m looking forward to meeting their delegation.”

“Yes, that is true, but how to we maintain those alliances?”

“Different ways. Some through trade, others through protection. We have a large and well trained guard, and they often are deployed to help others when needed. We also have helped build healing centers, schools, and other infrastructure in others, to help us with soft power. The final way we form stronger alliances is through marriage, usually a Beta’s daughter, to a high ranking member or Alpha of another pack,” just then, I realized that it was the new moon, a delegation from Silverburn had arrived, and often alliance marriages were announced on New Moon Ceremonies. “Dad, is Hekla being married to Silverburn Pack?”

“No sweetheart, you are.”