He wouldn’t try to kid himself, Adrian had contemplated on the possibility of becoming the next alpha. It’s something that all young boys and girls of their community dream about. After all, there were hundreds of stories where the brave and courageous leaders of the pack led their people to safety or had some sort of heroic tale.
However, Ellie was too perfect for him to take that consideration seriously. She was just too good to even bother competing with, in alpha-related matters that is. Nevertheless, Adrian couldn’t blame Ellie for anything. She probably wanted to live her own life too. To live her own path.
There were just a lot of new responsibilities that he never really prepared for. He had to know everything important about every single member which included occupations, education, financial stability, who can shift, and who can’t. Besides that, he also had to be more present during council meetings which could last from thirty minutes to three hours. Additionally, he also had to attend specialized events as a representative of his pack to maintain the peace.
The crazy part of all this was, he was only in training. He probably wouldn’t be able to go unsupervised until he was deemed ready and that seemed far out.
The pressure cooker alerted Adrian that the stew was done, and he was immediately brought back to the present. After he let the steam release, he grabbed a ladle, and noticed that his dad was already there where he was, and was standing near the counter with Diego.
Just as Adrian announced that the food was ready, everyone immediately grabbed their own portions while his mom carried the dinner rolls to the table.
As they all sat down, he had to remind himself that this was what he was working for. Despite the tedious nature of the paperwork, the meetings, and the overall micromanagement, Adrian had to remember that these peaceful evenings were peaceful for a reason.
“Adrian,” his dad called out. “Can you pass the bread?”
“Sure.”
“Honey, have you started packing your office?” his mom asked.
His dad shook his head. “Not yet.”
“You should start. We’re leaving next Tuesday.”
“That soon?” Ellie asked before Adrian could.
Their mom nodded. “There are a lot of things we need to get settled especially before the school year starts.”
Adrian merely nodded in response.
“Where are you guys going to again?” Ellie asked.
“Down southeast, near Reno,” his dad replied.
“Nevada?” Miguel asked.
“Yeah, there’s another community down there that’s facing a similar issue. Since we’re in the same region, it makes sense to merge the two together,” his dad reasoned. “But, it won’t be a complete merger.”
“That’s not so bad. It’s only ten hours from here.” Ellie tried to make the mood lighter. “I heard Lake Tahoe is beautiful.”
“Maybe we can all go next summer?” his mom suggested. “I bet Diego would love to play in the lake and have bonfires with grandmama.”
The little boy cooed in response.
“What do you think?” Miguel directed his question towards Adrian.
For a moment, he wondered if there were any other acceptable answers besides: “Sounds great!”
“I think it’s a good idea. It’ll just be hard since everyone has to move,” he said as diplomatically as possible.
Miguel nodded. “Well, I’m glad you have a positive outlook on this. I can’t imagine how I’d react if it were me.”
“Your family would have none of it.” Ellie rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, well, they’re your family now too.”
Ellie hummed while she smiled at him. “I think it was fate. I was meant to be Abuela’s favorite granddaughter.”
“You’re the only granddaughter . . . and you married in,” Miguel reminded her.
“Technicalities.” Ellie waved her hand.
“Anyway,” their mom intervened. “You have to come see the new house. It’s in a newer development and the style is completely different.”
“How many rooms?” Ellie asked.
“Four, same as this one, but it’s a one leveler and the style’s very Mediterranean.”
Dinner ended as soon as Diego got cranky and spilled his juice. Ellie retreated to her old room to put the baby to sleep. As soon as Adrian finished clearing the table, he seized the opportunity to escape to his room. Usually it wasn’t like this, but he didn’t feel very chatty tonight.
He lay on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling fan as if it would give him the magical answers to everything. He was in a weird funk right now, and he sincerely hoped that it wouldn’t last much longer. All this negative energy was sucking the life out of his soul.
But it’s fine.
Some way this would all work out.
Some way.
***
It was a warm summer morning. The sun wasn’t quite ready to wake up which meant that it was an ideal time to load the moving truck.
Adrian would be lying if he said that his muscles weren’t sore. He had been helping other families pack and loading their boxes into the moving trucks for the past week. It was times like these that he wished he had some sort of superhuman ability like how the books portray supernatural people.
Back when he was in middle school, Adrian overheard his crush at the time rave about this popular werewolf fantasy book, which gained its fair share of popularity among their peers. Just to see what it was about, and maybe find a way to talk to his crush about it, Adrian decided that it wasn’t a bad idea to read a few snippets.
That was when he realized that the whole fad was ridiculous. The first twenty pages were fine which were full of exposition and general facts that the reader ought to know; but then it got overly supernatural, and coming from someone like himself, that was saying a lot.
Seriously . . . automatic super speed and
