Chapter 4 Gabriel

“I’ve already told you, I don’t want it.”  I growl in frustration at my uncle.

“Gabe, your dad worked really hard to build relationships with the locals, and he would want you to continue his work.” He says.  “Listen, I get that you felt like you had to step away from all of it.  You didn’t have it easy with the crazy shit that happened to your parents but this is your home.  Your rightful place is as Alpha of this pack." my uncle has been trying to keep the pack together hoping that I will take his place as the Alpha.  "Just do me a favor and think about it ok.”

He wasn’t wrong when he said crazy shit happened to my parents.  My dad's death was just the final straw for me though.  It all started with my mother.  My wolf, Theo made his first appearance when I was 13.  I was in the car with my mom driving home from school.  That day was the day my dad, the next in line would officially take over as Alpha of our pack.  There was to be a ceremony, and mom and I were running through my responsibilities for the evening.  I hear a voice in my head tell me to brace myself.  

“Brace myself for what mom” I ask.  Puzzled, my mom looked at me and suddenly, a vision came to me.  A little girl about 8 years old, with red hair, falling to the ground.  She turned to face me regaining her balance on one knee.  With her head still down, and her arms holding her abdomen, she raised her head in defiance.  Eyes blue as the sky, I could see rage in them.  The air around her seemed to implode into her, building and inhaling the energy around her until I could see an iridescent haze surrounding her like a halo. 

In a fury, she thrusts her hands forward and I feel an invisible force rushing at me, then I feel myself being thrown back like I got in a shoving match with a Mack truck.  The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.  My dad told me that my wolf came while my mom and I were driving causing her to veer of the road and into a tree.  My mom died instantly, and I was thrown from the car.  Several members from our pack were following close behind as was the custom for the family of the Alpha to have an entourage. 

My uncle was the one that found my wolf laying in the grass near the car.  The injuries that I sustained from being thrown from the car forced the shift back.  I broke three ribs, both arms and cracked my skull.  If I hadn’t shifted than my wolf wouldn’t have been there to heal me.  So, it was a real catch 22, if he hadn’t come the accident might not have happened at all.  Yet, he was the only reason I survived. 

My mother was human.  My dad loved her, passionately.  Who wouldn’t?   The woman was a saint.  The love that they shared was different than what is expected of pack members.  He rejected his mate; it was a huge controversy.  My dad’s choice taught me that at the end of the day, we have a choice.  Not everyone is blessed to have a soulmate, that perfect person chosen for them by some eternal being.  Hell, some people have soulmates that are just terrible people.

My dad never recovered from her loss, when she died, all pack political ambitions died with her.  His dad never forgave him for giving up his place as Alpha.  Because I was so young, my dad made me swear that I wouldn’t show my wolf until I was of age.  Typically, a wolf doesn’t appear until 18, but it has happened earlier in some cases.  He feared that because of the circumstances surrounding the appearance of mine, the loss of my mom, my dad stepping down, he told me that he feared that I would be killed.  With my mother being human, a lot of folks figured that I wouldn’t have a wolf at all, so it hasn’t been that difficult to keep Theo a secret. 

I was 16 when they found my dad slumped against the tree that my mom had crashed into years before.  No one has ever told me the details surrounding his death, according to the local sheriff’s office it is still under investigation.  My grandfather told me it was suicide.  I think that my grandfather had something to do with it. 

“I’m not going to change my mind, I’m not interested.”  I respond.