Another Half

​​June 2010

The next morning, Rex and his friends stood in Alpha Brian Essa’s spacious office surrounded by dark-stained cedar wood furniture, listening to Beta Enrique rant at them. Through the years, Beta Enrique and Gamma Lance had ranted at them in varying degrees of volumes, but Beta Enrique’s pitch today was truly impressive. Unfortunately for him, Rex was able to tune out annoying, loud noises.

Rex inhaled very slowly and tried to remember the configuration of the space he was in. Everything was made from dark wood in his father’s office, from the old but perfectly polished hardwood floors that were installed by Rex’s great-grandfather, to the wall-to-wall paneling, and the alpha’s giant oak desk. To the right of the desk, a matching personal bar had been built into the right wall, its wooden shelves were populated exclusively with bottles from the Azul Springs Distillery–varying flavors of Azul Vodka and a few bottles of Rojo Bourbon. Rex’s father believed in only consuming what their company produced. He was a staunch fan of product loyalty. Rex’s personal bar, on the other hand, also included Azul Spring’s Vodkas and bourbon, but it also currently had products from other distilleries, including several brandies he was testing.

The Azul Springs alpha’s office was Rex’s favorite room in their pack house. It was where he learned about their family’s bloodline and where he fell in love with their businesses. It was also the room where his father taught him about Rex’s present and future responsibilities and expectations. Rex learned to drink smart in his father’s office bar; he often drank with a purpose other than entertainment. Long before any of that, however, Rex and his two best friends used to pretend as pups that the office was a throne room, the pack house was a dragon-infested palace, and Maude, who was the head cook, was the dragon from whom they rescued imprisoned fresh-baked brownies.

Even now as an adult, long after they had vanquished their last dragon and rescued their last helpless brownie, Rex knew his home had palatial proportions, but now he understood the reason for that. The estate was built to stand through the elements of one of the most mountainous regions of the Northwest and of the passage of time. With its two basements, it was built to house the entire pack through months-long sieges and wars. And, at some point, it had, even though neither Rex nor his father had been around for that. For generations, Rex’s family took their leadership role seriously. They were providers and protectors of their pack as much as they were its rulers, and they took pride in their goddess-given role; they were her stewards, after all. It was the Essa bloodline’s responsibility to make sure that the Azul Pack members not only survived but also thrived through time in this specific part of the mountains.

And Rex had just lost them their Luna, the one member no pack could afford to lose. The Luna not only ensured the continuation of the Alpha’s family, but she was an Alpha in her own right with leadership responsibilities and privileges rivaled only by the Alpha himself.

Again, Rex inhaled the pleasant scent of the office’s old cedar. He usually appreciated it along with the wood’s impressive high polish. But today he closed his eyes and wished he was anywhere else.

Beta Enrique continued to lecture them about their pathetic lack of responsibility towards one another as future pack leaders and towards their pack. Enrique went on to say that perhaps Rex wouldn’t have lost Caroline–-”our pack’s rightful future Luna, mind you,” he said as if Rex needed reminding—if he had had the appropriate support from his fellow pack leaders at the moment he had needed it most. It was that support, the ability of the many to think as one, that made wolf packs invincible.

“The pack mentality is not a myth, dammit!” Beta Enrique screamed. “See, in my mind, it wasn’t Caroline’s fault for choosing Maverick. It was your responsibility to show her that you are stronger than that one lone wolf. And now you three will have to live with that failure. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, Father,” Sergio said in a small voice.

“That was a rhetorical question!”

Rex ground his teeth but kept silent. Did Beta Enrique not hear Nakon’s part of the story? Caroline had already decided to reject him before she had even arrived at the Mating Festival!

And yet, with so much at stake, it didn’t matter that Beta Enrique and Gamma Lance held their sons accountable because the truth was that it was Rex, as the future alpha, who had failed. This was entirely on Rex; he was supposed to have fought for his mate, and he didn’t even try. Which is why he said nothing.

Still, he wished it was his father chastising them. The fact that they heard first Ax’s father yell at them and now Sergio’s dad meant that Rex’s dad was going to talk to him alone.

That didn’t mean Rex didn’t already feel his father’s disappointment. He felt it as soon as he explained to all three pack leaders the disastrous events of the past two days.

Things will work out, Rex heard Nakon say.

How?! Rex countered. I’ve lost my Luna!

Lily was my Luna, too. She wanted to be with me, but she didn’t have a choice. But things will work out. Maybe Caroline will come to her senses.

Rex’s shoulders slouched further. No matter what Nakon said to comfort Rex, to give him hope, Rex could feel the heartbreak and despair behind Nakon’s words.

We’re up! Nakon said suddenly.

Rex actually looked up and realized that his best friends and their fathers were filing out of his dad’s sound-proof office, leaving him alone with their pack’s alpha.

Ah, shit.

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Author’s Note: Whew! That was an extra long chapter. Does anyone like Rex or his father? They come across to me as the ideal father-son relationship. Next up, we’re going back to see what Blade is up to with her captors. If you like this story so far, don’t be shy--please feel free to vote and/or comment! :)