Thirst of the Heart (COMPLETE)

24

Keith Ruby

My father's feet paced back and forth in front of the desk I was sitting behind. His hands raking through his hair, their length now in disarray. "I knew I didn't like the pairing. You were so hell-bent on having that girl. Now, look at what has happened..."

I leaned back in my chair; feet crossed over on top of my desk. My father made his way to the liquor trolly in the corner, pouring himself a generous glass of whiskey. Taking a large mouthful of the amber drink, he wiped his mouth before continuing his rant. "What a fool Robert Bristol was, and the bitch of his was no better trying to force a wolf with a mate to wed another. And for the mate to be the son of the Moon Queen." He took another gulp of his drink before slamming the empty glass back down and refilling it once more. "Fucking fool."

"I don't care who Yasmin thinks she is mated too; she WILL be mine." I seethed. I was beyond pissed at my father. How dare he walk away and take orders from a leech. "There were only two vampires there, the packs could have taken them down before sunrise, but you bowed down to the female whore."

My feet slammed down on the ground as I pushed myself to stand. My hands now resting on my desk as I bend forward, hate filling my words. "You are not fit to be Alpha if you take orders from a bloodsucker, Father."

The speed in which he spun towards me and had his hand wrapped around my neck was enough to make me freeze for a moment. Shaking the shock away, my arm flew up, knocking his hand from my neck as I stepped back slightly to get out of his reach. "You too are a fool if you believe we would have survived against those two vampires. Do you truly not know who they were? What they were?"

His question stumped me for a moment. Of course, I knew what they were. They were vampires. Fed of blood, burnt in daylight, a stake through the heart for instant death. What was this old man on about? "If you have something to say, Father, then speak."

He just started laughing before he resumed downing the rest of his drink and helping himself to a third. "You don't get it. They were not just any vampires; they were the vampires!"

I was confused. I watched as he finished the glass once more. My father liked a drink now and then but he never had this much in one sitting. With our heated cores, we could handle more alcohol than a human but we will still feel its effects, especially drinking this much this fast. My father held his hand out towards me, the empty glass still in his grasp. "More!"

He was pathetic. Drinking himself stupid, and not making much sense. But I didn't mind, which is why I walked over to the bottle I kept hidden at the back of the trolly. I unscrewed the cap, tipping the golden liquid slowly into his glass as not to spill any. Replacing the bottle to its hiding place I walked to sit on the front of my desk. "You are not making sense old man."

I watched as he raised the glass to his lips mumbling "old man." His eyes snapped to me and before the drink wet his lips his hand lowered to his lap. "You want me to tell you then? Tell me boy, where does the shifter originate from?"

"The moon goddess," I answered unsure where he was going with this. My eyes stayed trained on the glass in his hand as I recited what was taught when I was a young pup. "The moon goddess fell in love with the earth. One night she rode a star to the ground where she met man, who were cruel and stripped the moon goddess of all her love. But the mood goddess had conceived a child, one that was born not only of flesh and blood but also of strength and beauty and light. This being was the first shifter, able to move from human shape to the form of a wolf. The first werewolf."

"Yes," my father nodded still nursing the drink in his lap. "But what the fates had left out of the story was that all things must be in balance so she made the shifter a brother. One of death, and darkness, and hate. This was the first vampire to be born."