Alpha Rogue Chapter 8

We all sat quietly around the table. You could have heard a pin drop. Nobody made a move to drink the orange juice. We seriously needed an ice breaker so I said. "Well?"

Dad cleared his throat and let his gaze travel around the table, looking at each face in turn. Finally, his gaze settled on me. He then put his hands on the table and brought them together forming a neat little triangle. It seemed to me that he was lacking for words, to begin with. The suspense alone was killing me. Then he started talking.

He said, "Ace, son before I proceed, I need you to promise not to interrupt me. I need you to save your question for when I'm done. Deal?" Everyone's attention shifted to me. I held my father's gaze and replied, "Deal" then he said "Good. I going, to be honest with you, I knew this day would come. I just never thought I would be so unprepared. Anyway, I need your undivided attention going forth from now." At that moment, I was thinking to myself, "why isn't he starting already." But before I got around to saying it, I heard him say:

"This all started seventeen years ago when your birth mother discovered she was pregnant with you. You see, before that, your parents had been trying so hard for a baby but for some reason, they had not been successful. So when your mother discovered she was pregnant, she believed it to be a miracle. She kept the good news to herself for a while until the pregnancy became visible. That's when she told your father, the king." Dad paused and took a sip of his orange juice. Then he continued. "The king was very happy with the news. He wanted to announce it to the pack but your mom would have none of it. She had very valid reasons to keep it a secret. You see, the royal family was required to have an heir who would later become the king of the lycanthropes. Your mother and father had ruled for a long time but had not brought forth an heir. This had been a cause of unease in the lycanthrope world. There were rumors of some wolves wanting to overthrow the king. It was said that a few generations back. Your great great great grandfather had a child with one of the maids. This was before he'd found his soul mate who became your great-great-grandma. The child begotten with the maid could not be allowed to grow up in the royal home so the maid was sent away to another pack where she bore the child. Technically, the child was half royalty but he could not lay claim to the throne unless the legitimate royals ceased to exist. The child's mother grew resentful and taught her child to hate the royal family. This hatred has been passed down through the descendants of the illegitimate child. They have always craved the throne, waiting for the opportunity to grab it. These descendants grew hostile to other packs hence the king decreed that they were to be outcasts, rogues. Unacceptable to any of the packs throughout the world. Groups of other rogues joined them over time thereby forming a Rogue pack. From time to time, they terrorized packs who were loyal to the royal family. The Rogue pack was lead by direct descendants of the maid's child, who spread his hate for the royals to his pack. "

Dad paused again and drained his cup. The rest of us did the same. Then he said." Because you are a secret, everybody thinks that your parents have no heir. Your mom and dad have reached the retirement age where you are supposed to take over as King. The problem is that you were supposed to grow up learning how to be King, trained by your father. But it was risky. The Rogue pack has grown stronger during your father's reign. Your parents were afraid that their alpha knew you existed, he would try to kill you so that he could remain as the only one strong enough to kill your father and take the throne. Their alpha, being half royal, is quite strong. The only reason he has not challenged your father for the throne is that his pack is not recognized. Therefore, the only way he can get to be king is if he killed your father and took his throne by way of war but he doesn't have the numbers. He has been growing an army secretly though. He has also been pushing for his pack to be recognized but that is a story for later. " Dad paused for a bit then he said. " Now back to you. As the time for your delivery drew near your parents made plans to hide you until you were of age to take over the throne. During the few weeks leading to your birth, your mom left the royal home and went away to a private holiday house where you were born. She nursed you for two days then arranged for you to be left in the care of your first foster parents. Your mother had it all planned out. She wanted you to grow up as a human so no one would ever suspect that you werewolf royalty. She personally selected the families that took you in through our people in the government. All your foster parents were human until us. Your mother felt that you would need your kind around when you shifted. The first adoption was a bit tricky. We had to engineer a flat tire on your first foster parent's car so that when they stopped, we would leave you at a place where they could find you. The rest of them were easy enough.

I'm sure can't recall but, we took you in a few days before your first shift. The day you came to us was also the day Sam was deployed to be your guardian. She may not look the part but she is one of your parent's elite guards, now yours I presume. I think she can take over the story from here."Dad must have seen the questions on my face because he quickly added, "I know you have questions but hold out a little bit more until Sam's finished. Please." so I said "Ok" Sam took over the narrative. She said " I came to town two days before your sixteenth birthday. I was not alone. Your mother wanted me to bring a witch. She thought that since you had lived a human life and knew nothing of your heritage, it was best if you didn't get your wolf until you were ready. On the night you shifted for the first time, which is actually your real birthday, we were all there. There were me and the witch, her name is Britney by the way, and both your foster parents. Britney had spelled your drink that evening so you were in some kind of trance and followed our every command. We took you into the woods before the moon was up. You shifted at around ten that night. As was the norm, the first shift was very painful. Don't worry though the rest of them don't hurt. Britney waited until after you'd shifted to cast the spell. The spell decreed that you would have no memory of the shift or your wolf until you were ready to embrace your true nature. But according to your dreams, your wolf has been reaching out to you. That means he is very strong. I think you are ready to accept him now and nice timing too. You are the only one who can beat that Rogue alpha. Your father may be king but he is old and slow while this opponent is at his prime. I know you've trained yourself to fight in human form but once you shift, I'll train you to fight in wolf form too. We are very fortunate that you are already accustomed to extreme physical exertion it's going to make training you easier. I believe you already know the rest of the story. So now it's question time." "So that's all of it?" I asked. "Sure," Sam said. "Unless you have questions." I had questions. Lots of them but first, I needed all that information to sink in. So without a word, I pushed my chair back away from the table, rose, and headed for the back door. I knew where I wanted to be. The woods. Surrounded by nature. So I headed for the forest using my super speed. No one followed behind me. I think they wanted me to have my time so I could process the new information. When I got to my clearing, I lay down on the grass and looked up at the sky seeing nothing. My brain was hard at work. I held my position until the sunset and the sky grew dark enough so that I could see the stars, then I got up and headed to the house. It was time to get some answers.