Chapter Five #2
My dad waved the three of us to sit at the side of the room.
“Bayer,” Micah interrupted warningly, and Bayer obediently went to sit next to his father.
I immediately scanned the crowd and saw Isla sitting at the back with some of the females from their pack, and I wanted to shake my head in disgust. As soon as Isla had reached twenty-five and her heat hadn’t happened, Micah had washed his hands of his daughter.
The fact that she was here and included in our plans said more about her character than her father’s.
Once Bayer was the alpha, he would do everything in his power to make sure his competent sister was running things.
But for now, she was about to start a new job.
I scanned the crowd for the second person I was looking for—Sascha, Kaylan’s younger sister, and smiled as she caught my eye.
Sascha’s eyes gleamed with the silver of her cat.
Sascha was also one of the most competent shifters I’d ever met, and it was about time all species stuck together.
And as soon as my father started the meeting, I intended to show the elders exactly what I meant.
My dad stood, and everyone immediately quieted.
“My friends, you have all heard the rumors regarding the risk to our species, but I would like you all to hear firsthand the experience of the scouts.” He nodded to the same gamma that had spoken yesterday, and for the second time, I listened in sick resignation to the news.
When the gamma had finished, my dad stood again and asked for suggestions.
“I thought the answer lay in impregnating human females,” Simeon queried and glared at Esther.
“I said,” Esther replied dryly before Dad could answer, “that my vision showed a hybrid pregnancy. But whether that is an actual human and shifter mating or even an inter-species mating, I have no idea.” Collective gasps of astonishment echoed around the barn, and I understood.
The traditionalists didn’t like the shifters impregnating human females because they saw it as a waste.
A dilution, if you like, of shifter blood.
But mating another shifter from a different species was considered an abhorrence because no one would know what the child would become.
I glanced surreptitiously at Matthew, who looked miserable.
I glanced at Isla, who just looked frustrated.
I felt so desperately sorry for the pair, who I knew had been attracted to each other since they were cubs, but there was nothing I could do at the moment.
And much as I had sympathy for them, I had bigger battles today.
“And as you know, my term as alpha will end in ten days when my son and heir—Phoenix—will assume the role. As this is his future and the responsibility he assumes will be his alone to bear, I’m formally recognizing his alpha status today and renouncing mine.”
Nearly every wolf was on his feet, including me, drawn up in a wave of bodies that seemed as powerful as it was overwhelming. I hadn’t expected this and met my father’s determined eyes.
“Join me, Son.”
It was a good thing my legs seemed to know what to do, because my brain had barely seemed to process the words before I was standing in front of my father, and everyone hushed, knowing this moment was so serious.
“Pack and friends,” Dad addressed the crowd.
I saw as many people as possible from outside crowding the entrance.
He held out his other hand for Esther, and she rose as gracefully as ever and walked over to join us.
“Traditionally, the alpha assumes the role at the same time as his mating is blessed, but I respect and admire my son’s wish not to entrap a she-wolf into a loveless mating without even the promise of cubs. ”
I waited for the loud cries of outrage, but there was not one word. From the corner of my eye, I saw Micah, Bayer’s father, shuffle hesitantly. Dad also noticed. “Micah?”
Micah Olsen rose to his feet. “It’s not my place to interfere with your pack, Draven,” he started, and I immediately knew what was coming.
“But as you know, bears differ from wolves, as the alpha handover is done when the current alpha feels the heir is mature enough to handle the responsibility or on the alpha’s seventieth birthday.
The age of the cub is not the deciding factor. ”
I tried not to take the word “cub” as the insult it was intended.
“But surely, during such an unsettling time, the packs, as a whole, would benefit from experience and wisdom. It is not a time for a boy to be cutting his alpha teeth.”
I knew laughing would only cement the belief amongst our own traditionalists that Micah’s words carried wisdom.
Unfortunately, Micah’s motivation was nothing so altruistic.
The bear was one of the laziest, most selfish, cruelest, opportunistic creatures I’d ever had the displeasure to meet.
How the man could produce such a gentle son in Bayer was a constant source of amazement to both Kaylan and me.
I met Bayer’s apologetic look and tried to communicate my understanding.
Bayer was treated like an unpaid slave under the premise of being trained for the alpha role.
It was disgusting, but it also wasn’t my pack or within my power to change. All I could be for Bayer was a friend.
I met my father’s eyes, and he nodded his permission.
I turned to Micah, but my words were for everyone.
“Micah Lee, I welcome and thank you for your words of caution. At this time, when the very lives and future of our species and our way of life is at risk, we need experience, as well as wisdom to carry us forward.” I let that sink in and saw the self-congratulatory smile start to widen the bear’s lips.
“But make no mistake,” I continued implacably.
“The future will never be more hard fought for than by those of us that hope to live in it.”
I heard the murmurs and caught the smiles that were quickly hidden.
Very politely, I’d just called the alpha bear old.
I turned to my father and knelt down, bowing my head respectfully.
My father nodded but then turned to Esther and assumed the same position.
We both held out our wrists. This was only the second time shifters would ever share blood and never from a bite. That was reserved for a mating ritual.
This was the exchange of pack. The essence of everything an alpha carried with him was transferred in a simple ceremony performed by their pack seer.
Esther stepped forward and drew out a small ceremonial dagger.
She would cut our radial arteries. Left unchecked, they would bleed out in under ten minutes, and by tradition, no one was allowed to interfere in this process.
Wolf shifter mythology decreed that a true alpha would not only heal spontaneously, but he could also then heal the cut of the outgoing alpha.
If the alpha wasn’t considered true by the goddess Lupa, then both would bleed to death.
The healing of the old alpha was also at the whim of the new one.
It showed that the new alpha’s power was absolute, and if he chose, the old alpha would die.
The ceremony could also be done with a single wolf if the succession happened because of death, but this way, both alphas were deemed responsible.
Esther took Dad’s hand, and murmuring the ancient spell asking for blessing and guidance, she cut firmly across his wrist. He never moved, never so much as winced at what would have been a painful cut.
The ancient words also prevented his wolf from shifting to heal itself, so Dad simply bowed his head and bled in ever more quickening spurts.
My pulse ratcheted up, but I was helpless to interfere in the spell.
Every word had to be uttered and in the correct order before my own wrist was cut.
I wanted to cry out, scream, anything to hurry the process, but I would not, could not, disrespect my father or the goddess by interfering.
At last, after what seemed like every second had lasted an eternity while my father simply bled out, Esther grasped my own hand.
Her hesitation made me look up and catch my breath.
Then she smiled, and the cut she made hurt so fleetingly I barely felt it.
I glanced down as blood bloomed on my skin, and without wasting another moment, I reached out and joined my father’s outstretched palm, covering it with my own hand faced down so our blood mixed.
A ripple of sound blew across my skin, carrying the whispers of the pack rising and then falling in a crescendo of silent communication.
It was such a rare and powerful moment. Every heart, every mind joined with my own.
Thoughts, feelings, loves, and fears rose in a crescendo, and then they were gone with just the echo of them at the back of my mind where they would stay until it was my turn to gift them to another alpha.
Esther finished her whispers, and I opened my eyes.
The bleeding had stopped, and my wrist was unblemished.
I quickly pressed my hand back to my father’s and watched in awe as his wrist healed immediately.
“It is done,” Esther pronounced clearly.
I stood and helped my dad to stand beside me.
My father looked gray, but he’d be unable to shift into his wolf until the ceremony was finished.
Esther turned to the elders assembled. “By the goddess, I give you Phoenix Colton, blessed Alpha of the Silver Lakes Pack.”