Becoming a Possession

• three •

Those who once knew me, the me before the death of my father and the painful blinding of my own brother, the rightful Alpha, the leader that should have been.

But most of them had stopped trying to get through my new exterior a long time ago, the only people who hadn't given up were my family, Izzy, Jason, and my mom, well what was left of my mother.

My father's death had stripped her of her happiness. Some days she couldn't even make it out of their bedroom because she was too weak emotionally to leave the only place that still had his fading scent.

I called out to Jackson through our link. "I'm going to take Jason out on one of his training sessions, make sure the guard schedule is set."

"Yes sir." Jackson replied. Although Jackson was supposed to be Jason's beta, when the elders decided I was  to take over, mostly due to his disappearance after the attack, he volunteered to be my beta, he was reliable and one of the few I trusted.

Though it is tradition for the Alpha's beta to take over, this was different. If the Alpha becomes unable to lead, the position would fall to the Beta, who would become a steward for the pack, someone who kept the position occupied until another heir could be found or a new bloodline is formed.

But in our case, I was still part of the bloodline and so the council decided I would continue our long line of pure bred royalty.

I began stacking the numerous files on my desk and got ready to head down to Jason's floor.

I stood up, unclasping my watch and dropping it on the desk. I grabbed a backpack to shove my clothes in before the run.

Once I'd collected everything I needed I headed out into the hallway and over to the elevator.

The walk was short to Izzy and Jason's apartment and I used the time to organize and prepare my emotions.

"Jason?" I called out with my façaded tone.

"In here!" His voice sounded relatively cheerful which was a disposition he saved mainly for his daughter or wife.

I rounded the corner to the family room, its walls covered in pictures of Zoey and Izzy as well as Jason before that faithful day all those years ago.

I shook myself out of my thoughts as I approached Jason on the couch. His hands were feeling across a page of Braille in a book.

Jason's nose stuck out into the air, "Bray? Is that you?" He replied, the corners of his lips turned upwards.

Generally I tried not to stare at his eyes but today they were covered by dark Ray-Ban shades.

"Yeah it's me." I replied tiredly as I sat in the chair next to the sofa.

Jason laughed. "What're you doing here? It's been almost 4 weeks." He replied as his fingers went over the last few lines and he flipped the page, inserting the red ribbon attached to the binding and closed the book.

"Your wife decided to let it be known what a terrible brother I am." I replied cooly.

    He chuckled, "Izzy won't stop fussing about you, I told her she needed to give you time." He shrugged.

   I kept my gaze to the floor, "She said you sent her," I sat back against the soft upholstery of the chair.

    Jason sighed. "So I might be a bit worried, I mean what would dad say?" He asked sternly, reminding me of him.