Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

AIDEN’S POV The sound of the flowing water in the stream seemed to be the only thing that understood how I felt.

Calm, yet a little bit turbulent. Clear, yet not sure of how to prove its innocence to the victims of its turbulence. Hayley was right, but how do I do this without getting an unruly reaction? I heard rustling in the bushes. My wolf was in partial physical existence with me; I was in my most comfortable moment. Who could disrupt that moment?

Only my father knew this place, Hayley too, but I doubt she would want to come to me now, not after what she currently thinks of me. “Who is it?” I spoke with authority in my voice to intimidate whoever was in the bushes. “Aiden!” The voice resounded more thunderously than mine, and I knew who it was immediately. “Dad?” I muttered. “What are you doing here?” “You’re not the only one who gets emotions too, Aiden; this is our place, remember?” His voice sounded as though he had been battling whatever had been bothering him for a long time. “Well, the coincidence is one to not ignore, then.” I slowly created a space for him to join me in my voyage through the sea of thoughts. “What’s bothering you?” The Alpha, my dad, was calm as he spoke to me, and it came as a shock to me. “I’ll let you go first,” I uttered quickly. My situation was not one to discuss with my dad. He heaved a sigh of breath and got really comfortable on the log of wood above the stream.

It looked like he also had an anger outburst. His pores were widely visible. “The pack seems to be undergoing a major setback, and fixing it is where I need to get myself together,” he said, rushing his words out and looking at me when he said the last word. “What are some odds you’ve considered?” “Domain expansion,” he quickly stated, as though he had spent his whole life expecting the question from me. “You want to expand our domain?” I couldn’t quite get the reason why that would be necessary, but he got the hint and voluntarily broke it down. “Yes, it only suggests we have enough workers on the farm and more rearers, reducing the hunger percentage in the pack.” “It seems like you have it all figured out then; why bother?” I cheekily asked. “The saying goes, ‘easier said than done’, I need to carry out the whole process now, don’t I?” “How do you do that?” “First of all, we make them our allies and slowly chip into the contract.” I gave a very short laugh. “So you’ll be going out of the pack soon,” I asked, with curiosity now brewing up in my head. “No, of course not.” “How do you go about them?” “I’m not sure I should be relaying this to you so soon,” “but then, our allies are mostly Australians, and that seemed to be far away from here.” He paused for a long time. I thought about the possible worst thing that could happen, but he stared at me more intensely this time. “Let it wait,” he concluded, and my thoughts once again closed the matter. “Your turn now.” “What dark past do you recall of Aunt Jada after Mom left?” He jolted back a little bit, and I saw sincerity and seriousness in my face. “Why are you bringing this matter up?” “Alessa started at school with us last week.” “Ah, Alessa, I see you guys have met; how well are you both kicking it off?” “Wait, you know about it?” I was suddenly interested. It seemed like this man had planned it all out. “I’m the Alpha of this pack; nothing really gets past me, Aiden.” I smelled a sprinkle of deceit in his words. “Why do I feel you have something to do with her reappearance in my life once again?” I squinted up close at him. “I didn’t fully orchestrate it, but it’s for your betterment.” He spoke with so much confidence, like he held my world and life in his own hands. “I know what’s good for me, and you can’t be so sure of that; all you care about is the pack,” I retorted. “Your irrationality with your sister is causing a lot of scandal, and whispers seem to go around about how insolent your action with Hayley is.” “Is this another bid to separate Hayley from me?”

“It’s not insolence when she is my mate-legal mate for that matter. I couldn’t care less what they think about it; the moon goddess doesn’t make mistakes. If she says it is that way, then let it remain that way.” I was getting furious, but control was easy this time around; it was my dad. “Rachel doesn’t give me peace in the house; you need to figure out what you want with your life without Hayley in it, because, I promise you, this might as well be the end of everything you’ve been building so far.” The harsh determination in his voice gave way to creating fear in me.

We’ve been in this case for a long time, and I still don’t understand why they’re not getting the fact that myself and Hayley are inseparable. “This is a risk to the pack; we might as well lose all we’ve come this far for, so instead of wasting time and sulking at the bank of the stream, you should be daydreaming of what life as an alpha would be like when you finally become one, Aiden.” “Hayley doesn’t and will not stop me from performing my duties as your heir, with all due respect.” “You and Hayley won’t proceed with whatever you both are driving at; do something about it before I intervene with strict measures you both will regret.” The Alpha stood up from the tree and retreated. Suddenly, I heard a scream from behind. I turned to see a rogue coming at me from behind. The tree branch snapped, and I lost my balance.