Astronomical (girlxgirl)

Chapter One

Dear readers,

I have spent the past month re-writing Alpha, Hold Me under the new title of Astronomical. Please let me know what you think, and above all else, enjoy the more in-depth version of Rose and Skye's story.

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Chapter One (Rose's POV)

The shop fronts blurred together as I strode angrily down the sidewalk; being in a crowd of bustling humans really wasn't helping me calm down.

I had thought that getting away from home, and leaving pack land would help me get my emotions under control - I should have known better.

My heightened senses were assailed by the busy town centre, a halfway point between my pack territory and the human community.

Werewolves were experts at blending in with the mostly-oblivious humans. As our lives became more entwined with humans, we learnt to adapt, and now it was rare for a human to discover our secret.

Because there is nothing on the surface that distinguished werewolves from humans and the small-minded humans always focus on what was on the surface.

Digging deeper into the lives of werewolves would reveal that we were just a little stronger than the humans, a tad bit faster - as if our whole species were athletes. That our emotions sparked quickly and tended to fade even quicker because our brains were continually processing information and moving from thought to thought.

I have always joked with my packmate, Nate, that the feeble-minded humans must think we have ADHD. We get jittery if we sit still too long, find it harder (but not impossible) to pay attention to topics that don't interest us and tend to excel at physical activities rather than intellectual ones.

Because of this, many of the younger wolves were home-schooled until high school. By this time, they usually learn to get their impulses under control and successfully avoid drawing attention to themselves.

Ugh. Which brings me back to the reason why I was storming through the noisy human populace so early on a Saturday morning.

"You have to grow up, Rose; the Alpha is responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the entire pack - I will not pass on my title to a child who will lead us all to ruin". The quiet certainty of my Father's voice rang throughout my mind, making my teeth gnash, and my fists clench.

Of course, I wanted to be the next Alpha - but the responsibility would not automatically pass to me unless I could prove my worth.

Werewolves did not practice nepotism anymore. As such, my Father was not required to pass on the Alpha title to his only biological child. He was free to choose who would succeed him as Alpha of our pack - and if I could not meet his standards, he would find someone else.

It was unusual for the new Alpha to be announced when they turn eighteen. But, my Father had never been one for the following of tradition. He claimed he was getting too old to run our pack, and could not wait for my twenty-first birthday to step down as Alpha.

Bull-fucking-shit, I thought to myself as I side-stepped a human pushing a pram. He was just determined to push me to fulfil his idea of what an adult should be, using the Alpha title as leverage.

So instead of sleeping in on weekends or spending time with my packmates or even just going for runs in our forest, I was cooped up in Father's office reviewing paperwork on the various structures of our pack.

This morning it had been the home-schooling program for young wolves. The wolf in charge of education - Marrick - had been briefing Father and me on the learning outcomes of those wolves who learnt at home compared to those in human middle school.