Chapter 8: A new day
Chapter 8: A new day
It was difficult to fall asleep on the smallest bed in the smallest bedchamber, Defiance has ever seen but at last she did. She would attribute it to her parents' insistence that she fit right at home in the forest and in the Parkhouse in the wasteland back at home.
She wasn't just the imperial crown princess, she was also the future Alpha of the Western hemisphere pack.
She was fairly rested when the awful noise woke her up. Defiance jumped on the bed. Her heart was pounding in her chest like it was dancing to the tune of a broken drum. She pulled the dagger under her bed and she searched for the source of the loud noise.
She was off put when she discovered it came from the little roundish object on her table.
"Who are you?" She asked the object as her hand tightened around the dagger.
She diverted her attention to the door when she heard it open. It was Maddie's little brother, Ethan.
"Stay back! This object is possessed" She ran and placed herself between the boy everyone called her brother and the damned object.
Ethan shook his head. He was still in his pajamas.
"Is your response to everything, a dagger Diddy? It's just an alarm clock. Mom must have placed one while you slept. Here, see…" Ethan took the alarm clock and switched it off. "Technology is not here to get you. It's here to help. I told you, you need my help or you will stand out like a sore thumb"
Defiance exhaled. Maybe the little boy was right. "Alright. I shall require your assistance after all, little lad"
"Then we should start on how you talk, you need to talk like you are from the 21st century. First, I am a boy not a lad and…" Ethan exhaled. "I have a lot of work to do, don't I?"
"Madeline! Ethan! Breakfast is ready. Come out both of you or you will be late to Alpha Zero's speech!"
Their mother yelled from the kitchen.
"We are coming, mother!" Ethan yelled back.
"What are my duties for the day and when do I get a lady's maid, Ethan?" Defiance asked her brother.
"Lady what now?" Ethan had an exasperated look on his face.
*****
Lucy, Jake who everyone called Franklin including his mate and Ethan sat on the dining table and ate while Lucy occasionally glanced towards Diddy's room at intervals.
"I should check on her, right? She might need my help" Lucy tried to stand up but her mate stopped her.
"She needs her breathing space. She's a teenager, remember? She doesn't want her mama hovering over her shoulders, Lu" Franklin managed to convince his mate.
Lucy picked up her fork and started eating from her plate as she tried to ignore the maternal instinct that wanted her to rush over to her daughter and help.
As a form of distraction, she decided to focus her attention on her youngest, Ethan.
"Are you anxious about tomorrow?"
Ethan shook his head "No, we all know, it's very rare for two omegas to birth an Alpha blood or a beta blood, Mom. Stop worrying, it's fine if I end up a servant like you and dad and…Maddie. I just need time to work out my space continuum theory of time travel and I will be out of here"
"Hmmm" Franklin turned to his mate, he was fast becoming aware that Ethan may never outgrow his childish hobbies and beliefs "Maybe, it's time we try and take him to a shrink or something, maybe consider brain surgery"
Lucy smiled and hit her mate's hand playfully "Stop it, he is not that strange"
Franklin disagreed.
"Dude still believes in aliens and time travel, Lu. He is weird" Franklin whispered to his mate.
"He's a child, our child. He will outgrow it…mostly" Lucy didn't sound very convinced. "But just Incase, can we agree to have another son?"
Franklin smiled and dropped his fork as his eyes caressed Lucy's body.
It was like Lucy could read his mind, she chuckled "I didn't mean now, Frank but…definitely later"
"Eww! I am eating breakfast with both of you" Ethan saw the look his father was giving his mother.
Lucy wanted to make a joke when her daughter stepped into the living room.
Ethan blinked. "What are you wearing?"
Defiance moved closer and whispered to them.
"It's the only thing in that little wardrobe that doesn't put my body on display!"
"It's called a pyjama, weirdo!" Ethan told her. And took his focus back to his food.
Lucy stood up and went to her daughter.
"Honey, you begged to have those clothes in your wardrobe" Lucy reminded her.
"You must have dropped your daughter on her head because wearing those makes me feel like I am naked. I need my dresses to cover my ankles. No proper lady should expose herself as such. It's against the rules of decency" Defiance explained to them.
"Oh yes! Thank you goddess. Lucy, we are getting new clothes for Madeline. It's like my one wish is coming true. My little girl wants to put on clothes. I have never understood this millennia's obsession with wearing less cloths" Frank stood up and placed a big kiss on his daughter's forehead.
"Daddy loves you, Madeline and we are going shopping after school"
Defiance laughed at Franklin's outburst.
"May I wear this to school then?"
"No" Lucy was quick to say before Franklin could say anything "Come on, sweetheart. I will help you pick out something to wear"
Defiance followed Lucy into her bedroom while Franklin and Ethan kept eating.
"There is something different about your sister. I like it" Franklin told his son.
"It's almost like there is a new person occupying Maddie's body" Ethan murmured under his breath.
Franklin blinked. He really should convince his mate to have the boy placed in therapy.
"Just eat your food. Your sister is recovering from a brain injury, son. Don't stress her with your fictional talks, alright?" Franklin advised his son.
Soon, Defiance came out with her mother and after everything, she settled for a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt.
She ate the food she was given and she kissed her parents goodbye like Ethan did and she was out the door.
Ethan spoke as they walked.
"Let's download you on the hierarchy of the packhouse. The ground floor is for omegas. They are humble people and won't give you any grievance. The second floor is for omegas with an Alpha blood child or children or a beta with omega blood children, they are the freaks of nature. A rare occurrence in this pack but an upgrade or downgrade depending on whether the parent is an omega or beta. The third floor is for the newly mated werewolves still finding their footing away from the nest, the fourth floor is for the beta bloods and the five floor is for the Alpha bloods, they are rude and strong and you should stay out of their way or they won't hesitate to crush you. The sixth and seventh floor belongs to Alpha of the pack and his family, he is Conrad's father. He is a good Alpha but a disciplinarian nevertheless. I will be meeting him for the first time tomorrow for my blood confirmation" Ethan talked fast as he walked in the hall.
"So, everyone lives in this place?" Defiance asked him.
"Of course not, everyone has their individual houses too. This is just a general home for all of us"
"So, we have a bigger house?" Defiance asked. She had a sigh of relief written all over her.
"Yes but I don't think we are going back anytime soon…it's where Maddie was attacked. Our parents believe it's safer in the packhouse for now. The white grave pack won't dare come here. Alpha Zero would tear them apart" Ethan told her.
Ethan took her hand and they walked outside to meet Judd and Semeen standing beside a car parked out.
Defiance ran to her uncle when she saw him.
"Uncle!"
"Diddy! How did you sleep? Did they hurt you? This place is horrible. They have things talking out of a flat object…"
"It's called a television and will you stop hugging her in public?!" Semeen snapped and pulled them apart.
"Beta Marcus, Mrs Cross, Good morning" Ethan kept his distance.
Defiance finally remembered her brother.
"Uncle, this is my new brother, Ethan. He knows who I am…" Defiance barely finished talking when Semeen grabbed her hand.
"You told him?" The werewolf asked
"I figured it out. Who are they, Diddy? They are not the Alpha's Beta and Mrs Cross, are they?" Ethan asked his sister.
Defiance went to where he was standing and she took his hand.
"Ethan Franklin meet Sir Luther Judd, the King-Emperor's shadow and lead knight of the realm. He is also my uncle and this is Commander Semeen of the western hemisphere pack. She is Queen dowager of Namura and she is my aunt too" Defiance introduced them to each other.
Semeen shrugged Ethan off while Judd looked at him like he was an alien.
"They don't talk much, do they?" Ethan asked his sister.
Naturally, Omegas had nothing to talk to the Alpha's Beta about and standing there made Ethan uncomfortable.
He grabbed Defiance's hand and he pulled.
"We will be late for school"