Big girls don't cry

Aleida’s POV

“Whom the hell growled like that and made the whole packhouse vibrate!?” Kian’s voice booms over the house.

Everyone points at me at the same time; traitors! I give them all a betrayed look and sigh.

“It was me,” I answer; Kian looks at me with a curious and stunned look.

“How did you do that?” he asks.

“I-I don’t know. Nathan started to move towards Miliano, and I just started growling; I didn’t mean to!” I exclaim, afraid of what they’ll do to me now.

I’m not allowed to growl at another alpha. Kian moves towards me and, out of habit, I put my hands over my head in a defensive position, which makes him stop and look at me with hurt in his eyes.

“Lepa, what are you doing?” he asks me.

“You’re going to hurt me, aren’t you?” I ask, and he shakes his head at me, looking worried. “No?”

“No, lepa, I would never put a hand on you in a way you didn’t like.”

“Sorry...” I say and look down at my feet, ashamed.

“It’s okay; what I want to know is why you’re apologizing?”

“I’m not allowed to growl...”

They all raise their eyebrows so far up that I think they’re going to fly up in the ceiling.

“What are you talking about?” Jason asks.

“I’m not allowed to talk, growl, or disrespect members that are of a higher rank than me. Especially not towards my alphas...” I whisper while Kian pulls me up and hugs me close.

“Listen, Aleida, no one in here is above you. You have alpha blood running through your body, and even if you didn’t, you’re going to be our luna. The luna may not be above the alpha in rank since we’re equal, but you’re the most important in the pack because you’re both mine and Milo’s life source; we can’t function without you. And lepa, you did nothing wrong. You protected your mate, and that’s a beautiful thing. Look at him; doesn’t he look happy?” Kian asks softly, and I glance at Miliano, who is smiling brightly. “Besides, I think you scared your big brother into oblivion.”

I start to laugh when I look at my brother, who still looks afraid; I walk up to him and put my arms around him.

“If it’s any consolation, don’t upset me by trying to hurt my mate or even think about it. I will be luna soon, and believe me when I say that, I will cut off your balls and make sure that you swallow them when I push them down your throat if you ever do something to my mates. Your expected mate probably wants children in the future, so don’t test me, brother,” I say with a smirk and kiss his cheek; they all stay silent and stares at me.

“What? Too much?” I ask innocently.

Henry, Killian, and Jason laugh loudly while Kian and Miliano stare at me with dark eyes. Lust maybe?

“I’m sorry if I offended you, luna Aleida,” my brother says with a bow of his head, which confuses me; why does he show me submission?

“Nathan, what are you doing? I’m sorry I was just messing with you!” I exclaim in terror.

“I don’t know why I just showed you my submission; my wolf told me that I had to show my alpha submission,” Nathan answers while I look at him with wide eyes and my mouth open; what the hell did he say?

It’s not weird at all, Aleida.

Shit, Lisa! Stop doing that!

What? You know you love me bitch.

Yeah, unfortunately, I do. But, back to the issue at hand, what did you mean that it’s not weird?

You are the alpha of the alphas.

“Alpha of the alphas? What the hell are you talking about?” I say out loud before I realize what I say, and everyone stares at me again.

It would be best if you hadn’t said that out loud, Aleida... You’re in a room with three alphas, and you say that, oh girl...

I didn’t mean to! What should I do?

Visit the elders; they can help you.

She walks back into my mind, and I shake from the tension in the room.

“Uhm... Can someone tell me the way to the elders?” I ask carefully.

“What did you talk about alpha over the alphas? We killed him years ago!” Kian growls.

“Can someone please just tell me?” I continue.

“Why do you have to meet with the elders?” Miliano asks.

“I have to ask them something...” I answer.

“Like what?”

“My wolf said something...”

“What did she say?” Jason asks curiously.

“I can’t tell you. Lisa says it isn’t a good idea to say out loud, and I guess she’s right...”

“What do you mean?” Nathan asks.

“Everyone in this room except me is standing in a fighting position,” I point out.

They look around and understand why I feel intimidated. I probably can bring Henry and Killian down. But not three alphas, two betas, and gamma at the same time; that’s suicide.

“Aleida, I’m really sorry...” Kian tries.

“Where are the elders?” I ask again, ignoring their pleading eyes.

“I can call one of them here.”

“Thank you.”

I walk out to the kitchen and pour a glass of lemonade. My thoughts immediately move to that day in the garden with my parents. My mother’s word repeats itself again and again inside my head.

You’re an extraordinary little girl, Aleida. But, unfortunately, there’s much evil in our world, and therefore I would like to remind you that you should always act with consideration. The key to inner peace is love and communion. You will one day lead your own pack. Then remember these words; they will have more meaning to you than you think. Never forget that you’ll do great things, Aleida. No matter what happens, we love you, and that will never change. Never forget where you come from, but most importantly, never forget who you are.

What did she mean by that? Should I be scared? I don’t know how to handle the information I just got from my wolf. Alpha of all alphas? It can’t be me; it has to be someone else.

“Aleida, they’re here,” Miliano’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

I’m walking out of the kitchen and into the living room. As soon as the elders see me, they kneel on the floor. One of my eyebrows moves up, and I have no idea what to do.

“Ehm, what are you doing?” I ask, confused.

“We’re kneeling,” one of the elders replies like I’m stupid and blind.

“Yeah, I can see that. What I don’t understand is why?”

“Why wouldn’t we kneel in front of the werewolf queen?” Another answer.

I freeze in my spot. Werewolf queen, what? She has to be kidding with me. I laugh and don’t realize until a moment later that they don’t laugh with me. Oh my god, they’re serious.

“Are you kidding me?” I exclaim.

“I’m afraid not, my queen. May I please be released from kneeling? My back hurts me,” the elder who spoke first asks.

“Oh, of course, rise.”

The three elders rise, and I gesture for them to sit down on the couch. So they do, and I sit down in front of them, still unsure what to think about all of this.

“Hablas español?” the woman of the group is asking me.

’Can you speak Spanish?’

“Si, señora,” I answer, which makes her smile.

’Yes, ma’am.’

“Entiendo que estás confundido acerca de todo esto. Esto significa que eres el hombre lobo más fuerte vivo, también estás a cargo de toda la población de hombres lobo en todo el mundo. Lo que dices va, si quieres.”

’I understand that you’re confused about all of this. This means that you’re the most muscular werewolf alive; you’re also in charge of the whole werewolf population worldwide. So what you say goes, if you want to.’

“How-how is that even possible? I’m just an abused omega with alpha blood...” I whisper with tears in my eyes.

“Oh querida, eres mucho más de lo que piensas. Has sido fuerte toda tu vida sin quejarte una vez. A pesar de esto, aún no has alcanzado todo tu potencial, lo cual es admirable. A pesar de todo el dolor, has seguido adelante en pura supervivencia. Lograrás cosas tan grandes en la vidami mi nieto.”

’Oh my darling, you are so much more than you think. You’ve been strong all your life without complaining once. Despite this, you have not yet achieved your full potential, which is admirable. Despite all the pain, you have continued forward in pure survival. You will accomplish such great things in life, my grandchild.’

Her last words make my eyes fly up. I know Spanish fluently because my mother taught me. So I know what ‘mi nieto’ means... So she is.

“Abuela?” I ask, astonished and ready to start a total sobbing war.

“Encantado de conocerte mi niña, te he extrañado mucho,” she answers, which makes me run into her arms, and she hugs me close. “Mi amor, te he estado buscando por muchos años. Finalmente te tengo conmigo, ahora nunca te dejo ir!”

’Nice to meet you, my girl. I missed you so much. My love, I’ve been looking for you for years. Finally, at last, I have you with me; now I will never let you go!’

“Te recuerdo, pequeños recuerdos en mi memoria. Me amabas...”

’I remember you, little flashbacks in my memory. You loved me...’

“Pero, por supuesto, lo hice mi amor y nunca dejaré de hacerlo!”

’But of course, I did, my darling, and I will never stop doing it!’

I just sit there in her arms and cry loudly against her shoulder. She’s rocking me just like my mom used to do. Right now, I don’t care that I, alpha over all the other alpha’s, sit in the arms of an elder crying my eyes out; I don’t care that everyone in the room is staring at us and doesn’t know what to do. The others are waiting for an explanation, and I tell them everything that my grandma told me. Then, when they want to ask her something, I translate so they can understand each other. After a while, it’s time for them to go, and my grandma takes me in her arms.

“Vas a estar bien bebé.”

’You’re going to be okay, baby.’

She kisses me on the forehead and walks out. When I turn around, all my boys still sit in the same places as before, staring at me.

“So...” I say, uncomfortable.

“I didn’t know that you could speak Spanish,” Miliano says, and I smile.

“Yeah, my mom taught me that. We almost always talked Spanish at home with each other; dad went crazy about us because he didn’t understand anything. So we could talk about him when he was in the same room without him ever finding out,” I answer, and my smile falters. “But then she died, and I haven’t spoken Spanish since.”

They give me sympathetic glances, and I look down to the floor. Talking about my parents, especially my mother, still hurt me, especially since I don’t know exactly what happened.

“Well, I think it’s time for us to go; good night, alphas. And the alpha of all alphas,” Henry says, obviously loving that his alpha is beneath someone; I roll my eyes at him and punches his arm. “Ow! Hey, that hurt.”

“Good, it was supposed to,” I smirk and hug him, which earns me a couple of growls behind me.

“Zip it,” I say, demanding without stopping my brothers and the betas; they both quiet down behind me, which makes Nathan giggle.

“I can’t believe this, however. Our baby sister is the alpha of all alphas,” Jason says and looks at me with big eyes.

“Looks like you better start to behave then,” I say, smiling at him.

“You don’t get to skip training tomorrow just because you’re the big alpha, you hear me?”

“Yeah yeah, big guy, see you tomorrow.”

With those last words, I close the doors and turn towards my mate. What I see is something I seriously can’t prepare for. They both have dark eyes full of desire.

“I didn’t think you could be hotter, but here we are,” Miliano says.

“We’re mates with the big alpha, yes!” Kian says excitedly and high-fives his brother.

I sigh and rub my temples. Oh, moon goddess, you paired me with the biggest goofs on this planet, and I couldn’t be happier about it.