Eclipse Child |✔|

|51|

"It won't make a difference," Vincent said.

"It will."

Vincent grins evilly at me, "Dad won't even let you in the training ground."

I flinch at the point he always made known.

His smile widens as he watches.

My anger flares.

"I can be Alpha. I will be A-,"

"-I will be Alpha." He mimics in a baby voice, a laughter following.

We glare at each other, at an impasse. We always seemed to reach this point. A tremble runs up his arms. Something about the movement gives me courage.

"I watch you outside of training when you fight. You lose a lot."

"Shut up."

I move closer, pushing his shoulder roughly. He moves back, letting a growl loose within the air.

"You lose. An Alpha doesn't lose."

"Shut. Up."

Another shove.

"You can't lead a pack."

He moves past me, but I block his path, holding my arms out.

"Let me fight you. I bet you'll lose. I bet you won't win and then we'll see who the real leader is we'll see-,"

"Shut the fuck up Soraya," his breathes are coming out in pants, his hands raised to run through his hair and cling to his head as he shakes his head. "Be quiet."

I smile as I watch him losing focus.

"I bet you're scared of me. Scared because you know I'm better and you-,"

He yells in my face. His hands grab the collar of my shirt. The shirt rips, the hands find flesh and I see a flash of his face.

It was twisted in agony, distorted in pain as skin fought against fur. Teeth elongated to canines and I felt the scrape of twisted nails against my neck.

There was a feeling of being weightless.

Like I was flying.

Feeling nothing under me or over- nothing but air as I fell.

And then pain.

*   *   *

"Alpha, are these the mountains?"

I stare ahead at the looming figures before of us.

"Yes."

Rex sighs next to me in relief. I shift uneasily beside him, knowing that the real reason he had accompanied me was to make sure I didn't run away.

He didn't like being away from the pack- neither did I.

The conflict in my heart had only grown as I fought to decide which pack that was.

We continue trudging forward. The season was growing into summer, spring melting away to warmth. Even so, there still were patches of snow here and there. Rex cursed silently under his breath as his foot slipped into one such patch.

"Where is this mysterious mate? Hurry up and grab him so we can go."

I can't help but laugh at Rex's impatience. Even with his own mate, he didn't have a concept of taking the thoughts and feelings of others struggles into consideration. A selfish beta- one that had good intentions.