Meadows

We headed out into town and up the hill. We came upon a meadow full of blue, whites, and deep purple. It was a cold winter day yet this area was quite full of flowers. It was beautiful.

“Your dad spent a lot of time here when he was pregnant with you.” He sighed.

I looked around stunned by this place. I’d never been here before. “It’s beautiful.”

He chuckled. “Yeah it is. It…..was practically for him.”

We overlooked the entire town up here. We sat down and said nothing for awhile. “Remember when we talked about beauty. When you come to a place like this it makes you see that despite the hardships in the world there’s beauty all around. You just have to find it.”

I nodded understanding. “I’m not so good at this. This would have been Thomas’s job. Alpha’s aren’t very good at training Beta’s.” He chuckled.

I nodded smiling softly. “Why….take me here? I don’t wanna sound ungrateful. Just curious is all.”

He gave a sad smile. “The world moves on Dean. Time is running out for me to give you lessons on behavior. Lessons that your dad would want me to teach you. Soon you’ll be leaving with a pack of your own.”

I nodded. “Feeling sentimental?” I asked smiling.

He chuckled. “Yeah you could say so.”

We spent the next few hours sitting in the meadow. He was telling me the importance of love and beauty in the world. A lesson he always seemed to focus on. My earliest memory was when I was 10 and he thought me that animals all have their place in the world. That harming them for no reason was wrong. A lesson he extended to people.

“What do you think of humanity as a whole?” He asked me randomly.

I looked at him twirling a flower in my fingers. “I think humanity has its problems but it has its place. The gods placed us here to be what we are.”

“And what are we?” He asked looking at me.

“We’re animals basically. Animals do what they do. Some people are good some people are bad. Does it lower the value of humanity no. Does it raise questions about humans as a species sure. You can trust a bear to be a bear and a turtle to be a turtle but when you meet a man you don’t know what you’re getting. A bear or a turtle.” I stated.

“Well you’re getting a man.” He said.

“Yeah but is his behavior a bear or turtles. I think that’s what my point was. Humans are simply more complicated in the mind. Is that man angry? Is he happy? Does he fear you? Does he want to eat you? A bear will be a bear and a turtle will be a turtle but a man. You don’t know what he wants. Not unless you asked.”

He pondered my answer. “What if he lies?”

I chuckled. “An issue of man. A bear and a turtle don’t lie.”

He chuckled. “I’ll take the answer. Wasn’t a real good answer to my question but I’ll take it.”

I smiled. We headed back to the house. I saw guards running around nervously and excited. My father stopped them. “What going on?”

The guard stopped and looked at us. “Didn’t you hear the Royal Alpha’s are coming here. Here! Of all places to go their visiting sometime in the next few days!” He said excitedly.

My father looked at me and smiled. “Well that’s definitely something.”

The guard ran off. I looked at my dad. “Why would they want to come here?”

He looked at me and smiled. “Well I’m sure we’ll find out.”

We went back to the house and turned on the TV.

“If you’re just tuning in the Royal Alpha’s have set off already. This morning they left the capital to venture to the town of Manya. No real words as to why just that they had business to attend and an old friend to get.” The news man said.

People seemed to be quite ecstatic about this news. I was more concerned than anything.

“Oh man it’s gonna be busy around here. I think I’ll just stay home until they leave.” I said sighing.

My dad looked at me. “What don’t wanna meet them?”

I shook my head. “Nah they’re kinda scary honestly. I mean they’re legit demigods. Forgot the Royal Alpha status. Demigods and intemperate ones at that. Wonder if their dads are coming too.”

My dad sighed. “Oh I’m sure they won’t miss this. C’mon let’s get home.”

I nodded and walked with him back to the house. He cracked open a beer and handed one to me. Clanking his can to mine.

“Well I think I’ve done my job.” He sighed.

I raised an eyebrow and drank the bitter liquid. Shivering as it went down my throat from the taste. “What do you mean?”

He chuckled looking at me. “With you. Your a good man, you know how to use your bow, your kind and gentile, now your 18. I don’t have to coddle you anymore.”

I smiled softly. “I guess so.” It made me sad to think about.

“Oh buck up. You’ll still be coddled but that’s gonna be your Alpha’s job from now on. Once they find you that is. You’ll have all the time in the world to be babied and cuddled. You’ll probably grow sick of it like your dad did.” He chuckled.

I laughed. “Did dad get tired of you babying him?”

He laughed loudly taking a gulp. “Oh yeah he absolutely did. He was a loner at heart like you. You’ll be much more the loner type id imagine. After all you take after him and your Alpha father.”

I raised an eyebrow. My chest tightened. He looked at me and gave a sad smile. “You always had to know that.”

I took a deep gulp of my beer. Closing my eyes. It was true, I….always had the thought in my mind that he wasn’t my biological father. He sighed again. “I mean Dean black hair, pale skin, blue eyes. You have Thomas’s build but not his looks. You know you don’t have mine.”

I nodded my head. My heart thumped in my chest. “I know. I….always did. I just didn’t like thinking about it I guess. After all your the man that raised me.”

He nodded and moved closer to me sitting down. “Well it’s time we probably talked about it. There’s a lot you should know now before you leave and your Alpha’s won’t allow me near you. Not because they wont like me. You should know by now from your book Alpha’s can’t help being extremely territorial of their Beta. As irrational as it seems even parents aren’t excused from Alpha’s territorial behavior. Especially when there’s more in a pack.”

I nodded understanding. When a Beta finds his Alpha’s and forms his pack they leave everything behind normally. The hand off happens the moment they know your their Beta. The process becomes even more **** once the group of Alpha’s 2 or more at a time have sexually bonded to their Beta and that’s that. Your Alpha’s belong to you and you belong to them. There’s no going back afterwards. Your Alpha’s however many you have tend to become violent if anyone comes to close to you. Only pack members and their children they have with their bonded Beta may be around.

“Tell me. What’s your earliest memory?” He asked quietly.

I pondered for a moment. I was on someone’s massive chest. Their hand soothing my back as I sobbed. I heard crying above me.

“Daddy loves you so much.” The deep voice cried.

It gets blurry from there. I told my dad…Cole.

“I remember that day. He handed you to me. You were 10. Did you think it was me?” He asked quietly.

I sat for a moment. “I think I liked to think so.”

He nodded. “I had you only for 8 years. Your dad, he didn’t have many options. He….loves you so much and giving you to me killed him inside. In a way I don’t think either of us understand. In a way I know he’s never dealt with. For the first 10 years of your life you grew up with him.”

I felt warm tears moving down my cheeks. A hollow sensation flooded my chest. “Why can’t I remember? Did something happen?” I asked softly. I took another deep swig of my drink.

He shook his head. “To my understanding. Something was said. Something that made him worry about you and your future. Something that made him realize that maybe you should grow up in a more. Standard way at least the best I could provide.”

I had a lot of memories here in this house. I remember some of my earliest memories were feeling….alone, left behind, abandoned. I remember how much I didn’t like it here. Something I could never put a finger on. I remember being outside in the rain feeling….better when the sky was dark. I remember staring at the moon a lot. After awhile I remember the pain faded into numbness and soon this place became my home. Cole took care of me and gave me warmth, shelter, stories of my father Thomas. Soon I stepped out into the town as Cole’s son. I remember a rude Alpha boy saying he was my pack father. A term used by kids to describe their dads in the pack they aren’t related too. I also remember punching that Alpha boy in the jaw. It was silly to think about now. Especially since what he said wasn’t even rude. Guess it’s an emotional trigger.

“Is he alive?” I asked curiously.

He nodded. “Oh yes he’s alive. He’s itching you reintroduce himself to you too.”

I nodded my head. “What…..what if I…don’t wanna meet him again?”

He sighed giving me a sad smile. “You say that now. Trust me when I say you will understand and you will run right back to him. He’s never abandoned you. He’s always been around watching you grow up. Always out of eyesight and just in earshot. He loves you so much. He’d give you the entire world if it was solely his to give. He’d do some horrifying and terrifying things just to make you smile. You think Alpha’s are dangerous? Trust me when I say your biological Alpha father’s whole entire universe revolves around your being since the moment he knew he was gonna be a father.”

I looked at him slightly startled. “You make him sound scary.”

He chuckled. “He is. You’d never quite suspect it until you look into those cold eyes. The eyes he gave you. Your his son though. The apple of his eyes, the warmth in his chest, the love in his heart. He gave that all to you the moment he implanted his sperm in your dad. Never have I been so afraid than the moment I was another Alpha in the house where his darling boy was growing inside a Beta’s womb.” He shivered at the last part.

“If he feels that way then…why leave me here with you?” I asked concerned. He was making my dad sound terrifying.

He laughed. “Oh it took awhile. I was around when you were a kid for a moment here or there. Often so you could visit Thomas’s grave. Your dad never let you leave his arms nor did you ever want to but I was around. He grew to trust me. I wasn’t his pack mate but I was Thomas’s. It made me your pack father. A joke I made to him once when I said you could call me pack father. Oh man you should’ve seen the look on his face. His actual words were. “I’m his father say that again and I’ll rip your tongue out through your jugular and bathe in the gore that seeps from your wound!” Oh man he’s quite something.” He laughed loudly almost spilling his beer.

I stared at him stunned. That was terrifying and quite the vivid picture.

He calmed down from his laughing fit and smiled at me. “Oh I don’t say this to scare you. Once you have kids of your own you’ll see that’s actually quite a normal thing for an Alpha father to say. It’s caring and love. What’s the saying? There’s nothing more terrifying than an Alpha protecting his children, his Beta, and his den? Well other than a Beta doing the same but it’s something like that.”

I looked at him. Well that is true. I guess I should look at it from the perspective of an overprotective parent. Once in that light it made him less frightening.

“Again don’t be scared. He’d say that to me or anyone else but you. Oh no no no, he couldn’t tell you no even if you were being bad. He was so dotting with you, kept you swaddled on his chest even when you were 10. He wouldn’t even dare raise his voice at you. You could be a menace as a kid. He’d simply laugh it off. Oh I remember this one time when he brought you to visit Thomas. Which we always kept on the low. You had a fit in the old grocery store down town. You know the old one that closed down a few years ago? Well there was only us and the shop owner right? Well you had a melt down because you wanted to go with your friends or something. Kept screaming dilli, kobi, miki, cheese. Some shit like that I mean on repeat. You were probably 4 or 5. The shop owner I think his name was Mr Smith? Doesn’t matter. Either way you had a fit and your dad was simply shushing you trying to calm you down and smith all of a sudden just goes ballistic I mean he screams at you to “shut the fuck up.” Oh man I looked at your dad and I saw the twitch in his eyes. I’m pretty sure it was the first time he’d ever had something like that happen. Well that was the first time I ever held you. He handed you to me and Dean when I say he simply socked him in the chest and took his beating heart right out of its cavity before throwing it in the trash let me tell you that’s no exaggeration.” He laughed loudly.

I stared at him wide eyed and stunned. “That’s actually horrifying.”

He slapped my back and laughed again. “No it’s not its fatherhood. What grown man yells at a 4 year old to shut the fuck up. Especially when your father was a 10ft tall mountain of muscle. I mean talk to your dad not scream at you. I understood it believe me. Especially a Beta child at that. An Alpha child okay some would make the argument it’s to toughen them up. A Beta child, nah screaming at a Beta child with his Alpha father holding him is a **** sentence doesn’t matter the person.”

“Well what a pretty picture you’ve painted for me of my biological father.” I said sarcastically. It was nice though these story’s took the tightness out of my chest about the subject.

“Yeah I bet.” He chuckled.

We sat for several moments. I pondered any more questions but before I could my father turned the TV on and began to drink his beer. He handed me another one and we sat in comfortable silence. Thinking about my biological father hurt my chest. In time it would be something I could face. Today however I didn’t wanna think about it anymore.

The night remained uneventful. I found myself passed out on the couch a few hours later and my father not in the room. The TV blaring some PSA about the war.

I walked by the door and saw my father sitting outside talking quietly.

“I gave sprinkles of you.” He chuckled.

I heard a deep voice outside. I couldn’t make it out. I sat for a moment before deciding it would be rude to listen any longer.

“Goodnight dad love you!” I yelled out before heading up the stairs.

I heard a quiet shuffle. “Ouch…Goodnight!” He yelled back.

I began to head up the stairs before he yelled again. “Tomorrow morning we’re going over your training again! Make sure your up early say 11am!” He yelled out.

I chuckled. “That’s not early but alright!”