One Bite

Chapter 1-3

Don't get me started on the werewolf part. Still wrapping my brain around that mind fuck.

The only observable werewolf benefit, so far, was that my injection bruises were gone within twenty-four hours. Previously, they faded in a few days, but I wasn't about to break into a song and dance to encourage myself to sprout fur out my skin.

My eyes traced the edges of my father's territory. Being surrounded on all sides, it looked the hardest defensible position. 

"How does he do that?" The country seemed like such an expansive space, the country stretched from sea to sea and included plains, mountains, and wetlands.

How can my father, in her words, control everyone?

"He controls the alphas," she replied in a monotone voice, as if that was common knowledge. In Elena's defense, I assumed it was but unknown to me.

"Alphas..." I repeated slowly. My father required me to learn the Greek alphabet, so I knew Alpha was A, the first letter. But I knew nothing of its importance within this context.

"The strongest male within each pack. Alpha's are the male leader in charge. Betas and gammas are tertiary leaders. Your father's pack is here in the Central territory, but he also has warriors ensuring his... interests..." Elena's voice trailed with her finger's path around the map. "Within each of the other ones."

"Warriors?" My eyes widened.

This now sounds like an army.

"You know them better as security personnel." She nodded at one of the guards positioned at the library's entrance doorway.

Surrounded by old, smelly books, we were seated at a large table and poured over dozens of the oldest and smellies ones that Elena had pulled. Some of their pages were so fragile, they looked as if they'd disintegrate upon touch but she carried them with such delicacy, they were in better hands than mine.

I didn't spend a lot of time in the library. The books I found of interest, like romance novels, had nothing to do with this subject... Or any other sense of reality.

Warriors though...

I stared at the security guy who stood at the library entrance on my detail. My heart thumped faster as I studied his muscular arms bracketing his tall, fitted frame. He shifted under my gaze, but remained silent.

From across the library, he looked like a normal, ordinary human dressed in all black with a holstered Glock-19 holstered on his hip.

How did I not know?

My eyes closed because I knew that answer.

Because I wasn't looking close enough.

"What are my father's 'interests'?" As I echoed Elena's word, I wondered if they had nothing to do with his pharmaceutical company.

"Whatever he determines to be best for his pack. It's called the White Moon." Her index finger tapped right on in the center of the map, emphasizing its importance, before she pulled her hand back to her lap.

"Wait -" I interrupted as my eyebrows creased together. "My father is the Alpha?"

"Yes. Of the White Moon pack." Her tone slipped into a condescending one, as if she was explaining this to a five year-old. I sure felt like a five year-old hearing the information all for the first time. "Within each pack, there is a hierarchy of command and respect. Each is led by an Alpha male, second in command is the Beta, third the Gamma. The Alpha's mate is a Luna."

And there's more of the alphabet.

"What does the Luna do?" I interrupted.

Elena slid her glasses up her nose, her eyes studying mine before she answered, "She is the pack matriarch. In particular, she supports the Alpha, running whatever responsibilities he needs and mating to preserve the bloodlines."