Alpha Feud - Book 4 (EBOOK)

“NO, HAYDEN, all I’m saying is, couldn’t they wait until she was older to ship her off to the other end of the world? I mean, she will only be eighteen!” Eliza ranted as she grabbed the remainder of the grocery bags out of the back of their black Chevy Equinox.

“I know it isn’t ideal, but it’s what the elders want.” Hayden closed the hatch and followed Eliza up the stairs onto the large deck that surrounded the front of their home.

“Not ideal!” Eliza shouted. “She is still a baby!” She gave the front door a nudge with her hip and made her way into the large foyer.

“She’s not a baby, she is going to be eighteen,” Hayden laughed. “But I know what you mean.” He kicked off his steel-toed boots and took the rest of the bags from Eliza and headed for the kitchen.

They could hear the faint sound of music coming from upstairs. Hayden put the grocery bags on the counter and started helping Eliza put the groceries away.

“Can’t they just wait until she’s, like, twenty-five or something? I mean what eighteen-year-old is ready to rule over all werewolves?” Eliza opened the fridge and started unloading the many pounds of meat into the freezer.

“Well, technically she won’t be ruling over anything. She’s just going for training.” Hayden stopped unloading the groceries and grabbed Eliza’s hand, pulling her into his chest. “I know it isn’t fair, I don’t like it either. But we’ve known this day was coming since the elders contacted us on her third birthday. We should be proud that our daughter is getting such an opportunity.” He swept a runaway piece of hair from Eliza’s face. “We just need to accept that our baby is going to be growing up a lot faster than we want her to.”

Eliza let out a long, sad sigh, and wrapped her arms tighter around Hayden’s body. She buried her head against his chest. She had no idea what to feel. She didn’t want her baby to go away. But at least she would still have Hayden. If Hayden had to leave, she definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it.

***

Naomi scurried back and forth around her room, grabbing clothes from her closet and her dressers and putting them into the suitcases on her bed. She bobbed her head back and forth to the beat of the music. Only three more drawers to clean out and pack away in a suitcase. She sat down on the edge of her bed and grabbed the picture frame from her nightstand. She was going to miss her mom and dad, and Aunt Melissa and Uncle Theo. She sighed and hugged the picture frame tight before setting it in her suitcase.

There was a knock on her bedroom door.

“Come in,” Naomi called out. She got up and turned her music down, then finished putting the rest of her clothes in her suitcase.

Hayden poked his head in the door and came in to sit down on the edge of her bed.

“How is the packing going?” He picked up the small stuffed wolf that was lying on the bed beside her smallest suitcase. He remembered buying it for her before she was born. He thought it was the perfect gift for his baby.

“It’s going ok, I guess.” Naomi put the last of her clothes in the suitcase, zipped up the top and sat down beside her father. “I’m really nervous.” She looked down at her hands.

“I can imagine you are, but everything is going to be ok.” Hayden put his arm around her and pulled her close. “I just finished having this conversation with your mom. None of us want you to go, but you have to. We’ve known this was coming for a long time. But I guess now that the day is finally here… None of us are actually ready to say goodbye.”

Naomi snuggled in close and closed her eyes. “I feel like saying, ‘It’s ok, I’ll be back in two years,’ but two years seems like a really long time. Not so much a comforting statement.” Naomi crinkled her nose and contorted her face.

Hayden laughed and squeezed her even tighter. She was so much a combination of him and Eliza. She had his light hair, blue eyes and slender build, but she was the spitting image of Eliza.

“Well, if you’re finished up here for a while and need a break, you should come downstairs before your aunt and uncle get here.” He kissed the top of her head before he got up and headed over to the door. “Your mom has started supper. Maybe she’d like some help?” He gave her the sweetest ‘I’m going to miss you’ smile he could manage.

“I would love to help with supper.” She returned his smile. “I’ll be right down.”

Naomi quickly packed away her photo album and a few other things to help surround her with her family so she wouldn’t miss them so much. Then she turned off her light and headed downstairs to help with supper.

***

“I just can’t believe you’re going to be eighteen-years-old tomorrow!” Melissa said excitedly as she twirled her spaghetti around her fork. “I mean, it seems like just yesterday we were trying to save you from Deimos, and now tomorrow we are sending you off to be trained to be just like him.”

“Um… Aunt Melissa, they aren’t training me to be like Deimos,” Naomi corrected. “They are training me how to be able to protect wolf-kind. I’m not going to go power crazy and kill anyone who threatens to take my place.”

“Yeah, you’re right, of course. But all the same, it still seems like yesterday.” Melissa put her fork down and stared at her plate, fighting back tears. Theo reached over and took her hand.

Eliza smiled sweetly at Melissa and rubbed her shoulder. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she comforted Melissa.

Naomi looked over at her dad, and Hayden smiled knowingly at her and put his arm around her. Theo smiled at her from across the table.

Naomi was overwhelmed by the love she was feeling right there in that moment. She loved her family. Despite being a teenager, which usually meant having periodic bouts of sheer embarrassment and disdain toward your family, she never had any of that. She loved them all dearly, and she was going to miss them all so very, very much.

***

The next morning, Naomi was up bright and early before the sun made an appearance in the sky. She opened up her bedroom window and climbed through it and found her favorite spot on the roof, leaning against the peak that shielded her bedroom window.

She stared out into the horizon, waiting patiently for the sun to come up. She could see a hint of light in the distance. This time of morning was almost as beautiful as the sunrise itself. Soft shades of blue painted the bottom edges of the sky. As she ran her eyes upward toward the heavens, she saw the sky grow gray, then dark royal blue, navy blue and slowly fade into the black night sky.

Even though that sight in itself was beautiful, the best part was the fact that the sun was on its way up but the stars were still speckled all over the sky, refusing to hand over their moment to shine.

When she was little, she remembered sitting outside with her father and Uncle Theo on the porch swing, staring up at the sky. Uncle Theo would be reclined with his feet up and his hat tilted down over his face, resting his eyes from a long day at work.

Her father would sit with her and point out made-up shapes of animals and other figures in the stars. But something he said one night stuck with her to this day.

She had been having a rough time at her new school after they moved from Birkbridge, Indiana. She made some friends but she just couldn’t find a place where she belonged. She knew that being what she was that she was pretty much doomed to be an outsider, never able to tell anyone. She had tried out for the lead in a musical at school. She went through all the auditions and practiced her little heart out. She didn’t get the part. She was upstaged by some snob hill princess whose daddy made generous donations to the school every year.

After that, it seemed like no matter what she did, there was always someone who would outdo her, or try to take her light from her.

That night, under the stars, she and her father sat up talking all night until the just before the sun came up, and he pointed out the very scene that she was looking at now.

“You see that?” Hayden pointed out toward the horizon. “If you look really hard, you can still see the stars. Funny thing about stars. They spend their whole lives competing over the night sky with the moon. They may never shine brighter than the moon itself, but in comparison, you could say that they give the beauty of the moon a run for its money. Even on nights the moon gives up and refuses to shine, the stars are there. And when the sun comes up, the stars know that they will be outdone until nightfall returns, but they still shine their brightest right up until the time they cannot be seen anymore.” Hayden looked at his small girl and smiled. “You are a star. Even if sometimes you feel like your light is burning out, remember to shine for as long as you can. Even if the sun threatens to overcome you.”

Naomi would remember that for the rest of her life. Ever since then, she had always tried her very hardest at everything, no matter who or what threatened to get in her way. Her mom had always told her that when you are passionate about something, it is never a waste of time to go above and beyond to accomplish it.

As she sat there on the roof of their house in the middle of the forest watching the sunrise, she realized that her family was preparing her for this day her entire life. Everything they ever told her was for her to keep and take with her when it was time for her to leave.

The sun was starting to force its way into the sky, turning the surrounding sky around it orange, pink and red. This was it. The start of a new day and the rest of her life.

Alpha Feud - Book 1
Alpha Feud - Book 2
Alpha Feud - Book 3
Alpha Feud - Book 4
Alpha Feud - Book 5