Chapter: 3

Elizabeth. 

I make my way down the actual staircase to the first floor of the castle, trying not to wring my fingers with nerves. I don’t know why I feel so anxious about this lunch, it’s not like I’ve never done this before. I do think that it’s the nerves that are meant for tonight setting in early, what other explanation do I have?

I got along with my family alright. I loved my father, although he could be difficult sometimes, I adored Carol. Carol could be a little too submissive to my father, easily giving in to his whims, but I tried not to hold that against her. She liked to see her family happy, and sometimes she went about it in the wrong way. Otherwise, she was a delight to talk to. And of course, she had filled the role of my mother ever since I could remember.

My relationship with Easton was that of a typical brother and sister. We used to be very close when we were children, we only had a three-year age difference between us, and both of us could look over that. But as time went on, we began to discover our separate interests, and that started to create a sort of…rift between us. I wouldn’t call it a rift exactly, but we began to interact less and talk less. After Easton discovered his wolf, he began to run more and more with his own adult circle of friends, but that was alright with me as I had my own circle of friends and acquaintances.

We were not really bitter about it; it was just how life went sometimes. We weren’t the first siblings it happened to, and we won’t be the last. And I was certainly not bitter about it.

Well, not all that much.

I stop in the hallway that leads to the main dining room and lean on the stone wall so I could take a deep breath. I feel a bit lightheaded all of the sudden. The walls of this particular hallway are lined by portraits of my ancestors, the Alphas of the Mannering pack. Except for the very first Mannering, who was exiled from his pack due to being the second born who was also the Alphas, all of them were firstborns of their parents, and I had been told ever since I was a child that my portrait would hang after the one of my father a the very end, and there was still plenty of space on the walls for many, many more Alphas that were to come.

My own children, and their children.

But all of it would only be possible if I become an Alpha. What if I don’t? What if my tier turns out to be Delta or Omega? It’s not unheard off. What if I disappoint my family with my tier? Easton was a Delta. There were no Alphas in our pack except for my father.

What’s going to happen to the pack if I turn out to be anything other than Alpha? Who is going to take over after my father? My father and Carol would have to have another child. But they can’t have another child at their age! I mean, they can, but by the time that child becomes eighteen, my parents would like their grandparents! People would mistake me for the child’s parent rather than Carol.

I nearly slap myself. What the hell was wrong with me? Why am I thinking about such things at a moment like this? I was alarming myself with nonsense for no reason.

I shake my head and straighten my spine. It was just lunch with my family.

I enter the main dining room through the massive doorway. There is a long table in the middle capable of sitting twenty people at once. The only time the table had been used for its full capacity was at my father’s weddings.

On the head of the table sits my father, with my stepmother at his right. There is a spread of food in front of him, various kinds of roasted meats and one large, roasted fish, freshly caught from the Genecy river as one of the maids had said, freshly baked bread rolls and some steamed vegetables drenched and drizzled in various sauces were present. Also, my pink-colored cake stood lonely in a corner, meant to be eaten as a dessert.

And my stepbrother was nowhere to be seen. The table was only set for three people, and my parents looked…stormy. My stepmother was looking down at her lap while my father was sipping on his wine, his eyebrows furrowed.

Judging by their expressions, I have a feeling that my brother had ditched the family lunch.

“Hello, mother, father,” Although I call Carol by her name everywhere else, when I’m in her presence I call her mother, “I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting, my training went on for longer than I estimated.”

Carol shoots me a smile, “That’s alright, Elizabeth, no worries.”

Oh, no, she used my full name. That meant things were pretty serious.

I smile back at her, feeling awkward. On one hand, I’m hungry and want to dig into the food, but on the other hand, you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. I got no idea how to proceed from now on, so I try to break the ice in the room.

“Everything looks really great,” I comment, “It’s been ages since we sat down together for lunch, huh?”

“Yes,” Carol replies in a demure voice, “It is nice. How are you, Elizabeth? Are you feeling nervous?”

I glance at my father who is still glaring at his goblet, “Not as much as I thought. I would say I’m more excited.”

“Elizabeth,” My father growls suddenly, making me jump on my seat, “As you can see, your brother hadn’t joined us on this family occasion, no matter how much I asked him. Not only did he directly disobey his Alpha, but he also disrespected you as well.”

He glares at both of us, “And this is not the first time he had done it. That boy is becoming increasingly vile, arrogant, and disrespectful by the day. Which is why I’m telling you now, once you become the Alpha of the Crescent Moon pack, you will not be choosing your brother as your Beta or your Gamma.”