Chapter 6: Homecomings and Graduations

Dearest American Werewolf Kingdom,

I am informed that the contestants have been chosen and informed, the preparations have been made, and after Alpha Week, the games will begin. Now, we just have to get through what is sure to be a startling, yet exhilarating summer home move in weekend and Alpha Week before we get to watch the she-wolves compete for the heart of our beloved Alpha Prince. Now, this author wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I failed to mention that the most surprising and shocking name on the contestant roster, as well as the Alpha Week roster, is the formerly exiled Stone Hill Creek pack princess, Korrine Prescott. That's right, it seems not only is Korrine Prescott back as a member of the American Werewolf Kingdom, but as the Alpha to Stone Hill Creek, making her THE infamous Female Alpha.

The last time a Female Alpha walked this earth was over three hundred years ago, in the Southern European Kingdom. Ultimately, she was murdered by a group of Alphas who didn't believe that a female should hold the power of an Alpha. So, I suppose the question remains, will history repeat itself? Or will our very own Female Alpha go on to become our Marked Princess and future Queen? Of course, you all do not need this little bird to remind you that our beloved Alpha Prince, Alexander and the former Stone Hill Creek pack princess, new Alpha, Korrine Prescott have quite the history, so I suppose the question is, do they still have the chemistry? Only time will tell.

-The Chirper: May 12th

Korrine POV

We'd waited at the motel for what felt like hours as Marco and Margarita went to get the rental vehicles. Everyone would be flying into the Royal Packlands this weekend, but I hated flying in little tin cans. Put me on the back of a dragon with the open air on my face and I am fine, but shoved in a little tin can, yea, no thanks. Luckily, I didn't need to fly because I could just portal everywhere I needed to go. Creating portals is something only Royal Witches have the ability to do, but the American Witch Dynasty was a part of my very blended, very dysfunctional family, so I never flew in airplanes anymore.

Unfortunately, portalling into the Royal Packlands would be frowned upon, so instead, we portalled to the closest motel, and will drive through the gates like every other packs that was still spending their summers at the Royal Packlands. It used to be a big deal when I was growing up. Summering at the Royal Packlands was the equivalent to the humans summering in the Hamptons. Only the largest, most powerful and awe-inspiring packs came to the Royal Packlands EVERY summer, the others just came when they had members looking for a mate, which in the smaller packs isn't very often, especially since werewolves tended to mate within their packs.

But, growing up as the Stone Hill Creek pack princess, I was used to spending my summers in the Royal Packlands. My family held a summer home on the packland border, and a townhouse near downtown. My father had told me that Caldwell had taken over the townhouse downtown, near the castle, when he became the Royal Beta, but we still had the big old house on the border, surrounded by gardens and woods. I didn't need the oversized townhouse right next to the castle. Afterall, I had spent most of this past year trying to stay out of the limelight, which is why I was at my packland in Nepal when I was made Alpha of my father's pack.

Once my parents, my leadership team and I loaded into the vehicles, we were at the packland gates in an hour. We were coming through the South Gates, but our family home was on the East border so we had to drive through town to get there. I couldn't help but notice that downtown looked like a ghost town. The once very popular center of the packland was now abandoned, with my favorite restaurant and ice cream shop closed for what looked like had been atleast a decade now. The skating rink, bowling alley, lake, park, playground and movie theater were also closed for business, with the skating rink, bowling alley and movie theater all being boarded up for whatever reason. The lake that I had always swam in under the supervision of various life guards was also bare, and the life guard shacks and concession stand all closed down and boarded up. This wasn't the Royal Packlands that I had once known as a child, and I couldn't help but feel as if I were riding through some distorted dystopia.

When we finally made it to my family's summer home I was quite disappointed. I had sent Rodney the money to care for the pack once I started making a good bit of it. Yet, the packland back home and the summer house and land here were all in disarray. Knowing that I had sent Rodney several million dollars over the years and yet there was absolutely nothing around or updated to show for it had my blood boiling, but I knew I couldn't allow it to show on my face. Luckily, I was well versed in hiding my feelings from the public, so hopefully this next week would be rather easy for me to act through.

However, as we pulled up to the big, old, worn down farmhouse that had been passed down to each Alpha in my family over the past hundred and fifty years, fixing my face was more for my father and Diane's benefit, rather than my own. Their embarrassment that I felt radiating from them told me that they had no idea that I had been sending money to my big sister's mate to help care for them and our pack. So, out of respect for the dead, I kept my mouth shut about the funds and got out of the vehicle to assess the property. It was overgrown and wild, so much so that you couldn't even see where the gorgeous gardens that I had always loved playing in as a child were.

I stepped up the wobbly steps onto the front porch and made my way inside the house. Dad had opened the door and was taking his and Dianne's things to the room he deemed most appropriate for the Dowager Alpha and Luna, claiming that the Alpha suite was now mine. Not that it mattered to me. I would spend most of my summer in the castle. First, I had to go through Alpha Week, then, I would be among the contestants hoping to win Prince Alexander's heart. That was why we came in on Friday evening. I had wanted to assess, begin working on design options and start making the plans for the renovation of the family land. I knew that the Royal Warden's Council wouldn't allow me to bring in anyone to do the work, but I didn't need their permission. Now that I was accounted for at the front gate, I could have my daughter open a portal so I could get my contractors into the Royal Packland.

I made my way through the house with Livie, Charli and Alana in tow, vocally noting all the visible renovations that would need to be made, and discussing the best way to upgrade the entire house. After we all got settled into our suites, the conversation about the house and property continued, with my dad and Dianne interjecting their own ideas for upgrades as well. Saturday morning was spent over a large buffet style breakfast that Yara and Duane struggled to make due to the outdated kitchen appliances and old crusty counterspace. Yet still, we proceeded to plan out every inch of the remodel of each room, before heading out to the yard and gardens to do the same.

After discussing the landscaping and yard work that would need to be done to bring back the beautiful gardens I remembered, me and the girls got to work clearing out and recreating the garden beds that had once sat beautifully in the back yard. My eldest, my daughter Princess Lorelai, portalled in to open portals for my contractors to come through. King Reginald, his Beta, and Wardens wouldn't know it, but I had some of my strongest and most skillfully trained warriors here on the grounds with me just by bringing in my best contractors. We spent the entire day working in the garden as the contractors worked in the house. Lorelai stayed to help for a little while, before returning to her Grandmother's in New Orleans where I had asked her to stay for the summer while I got this Kingdom straightened out. I didn't trust anyone in this Kingdom enough to allow my children to enter it, just yet.

Sunday morning came and everyone was in overdrive, especially me, since I had to go spend the next twelve weeks in the castle. My anxiety was in overdrive so I spent most of the day barking out orders to my pack members about the renovations the house and yard needed. After lunch, however, my parents and I drove up to the academy to attend graduation and pick up my two little sisters. Apparently, after I was exiled, my father and Dianne had two more daughters. If someone didn't know any better, they would think all my father had was daughters, but I remembered my big brother's laugh and smile as if I'd just spoken to him yesterday. He had been my best friend as a child, even if he was twelve years older than me.

Picking my sister's up from the academy should have been a simple, thoughtless procedure, but I knew from experience that this would be the first impression that alot of the other Alphas would get from me, so I needed to look perfect. Not that it was ever a problem. Between Olivia being the head designer of her own luxury design brand, and Alana being the face and brains of a billion dollar make-up line, I was basically covered as far as fashion and style concerns go. So, I got into the SUV in my royal blue, high collared dress and drove up to the academy that I had graduated from twenty years ago.

Just as I suspected, many of the Kingdom's Alphas had shown up for the occasion, though I noticed that the graduating class was much smaller than my own. Of course it was though, werewolf birth rates had been steadily declining up until almost eight years ago. In this particular Kingdom, the birthrates were still steadily dropping, but I hoped to set everything right by the end of the summer. My parents and I took our seats as the graduation started, and I had to wipe the sweat from my hands as Prince Alexander took the stage to speak to the crowd.

I swear he had aged like a fine wine, the salt and pepper in his goatee only accentuating the freckles on light caramel skin. He wore a dark blue suit with a light blue and light green striped tie that brought out both shades in his eyes. I knew the other Alphas were probably watching me drool over our Alpha Prince, but I also knew that the stoic expression I wore gave nothing about my true feelings away, so anything they thought they saw was nothing more than speculation. And, if my history had taught me anything, it was that these Alphas were always speculating, especially when it came to me. Still, I sat through the graduation, and cheered as loud as I possibly could-which was indeed very loud- as the little sister I had never even formally met walked across the stage.

Being a female had taught me to be observant at all times, and as my little sister walked across that stage, I couldn't help but to notice the smug smile Callahan wore as he stood and clapped for her from his seat next to the other Wardens on the stage, which made my skin crawl. I hadn't talked about what he and the other wardens did to me in over a decade, but I never forgot about it. No, they would all pay for their sins against me with their lives, when I decided that it was their turn to die at my hands. The Kingdom's new little gossip outlet, The Chirper, had used her last two columns to write about me, but what she didn't know, was that there was a reason the Moon Goddess had blessed me to be the Female Alpha. One of those reasons was because she, of all the entities in the world, knew best that when I decided someone's death was imminent, there was nothing that could stop me from taking their life. That was the way I felt about Callahan and the rest of the Wardens. They would all die by hand as I watched the life drain from their eyes. All of their packs would be mine by the end of the summer.