Anais

Somberness hung in the air.

The sunlight that filtered through the open windows of the pack’s meeting hall did not mirror the atmosphere in the room.

The bright sunlight, along with the breeze coming off the lake, should have made for a beautiful day. Instead, a cloud of sorrow had cast a gloomy shadow over the Deep Water pack.

All the brightness seemed wrong, especially when five bodies wrapped in burial shrouds lay on wooden stretchers at the base of the hall’s raised dais.

These five were the Alpha female—my mother—the Kilian Beta pair, Dave and Peony, and two Enforcers, all of whom had been killed in what seemed like a surprise coordinated demon ambush.

The gloom of the day was unbearably heavy on me. All I wanted was time to mourn my mom, time to be alone and grieve. Truth be told, I wanted time to rage and feel sorry for myself, too, as I was now alone. All alone, with no father, and now no mother.

My mother and I hadn’t always seen eye to eye, especially when it came to her unending duties to the pack, but I loved her. Losing her was hard, but to lose the others at the same time was a devastation I’d never known was possible.

The Killan Beta pair had been a staple in my life growing up. They had no children of their own, so that meant I had an extra set of parents, as they helped my mother raise me after my father died before my birth. I’d lost my parents twice over, all in one breath.

“Are you okay, Anais?” a voice asked, and I turned to look at who spoke.

Delli, a young wolf of twelve, sat behind me. She looked at me and smiled before lowering her eyes. “I mean, Alpha.”

I reached back over my chair and smoothed her dark brown hair before answering. “I’ll be fine, Delli, thank you for asking. You know you don’t have to call me Alpha, right?”

Her mother gasped. “Oh, no, Alpha. She has to.”

She held Delli’s neck to keep her gaze lowered.

I’d always hated when they did this: lowering their eyes and bowing in a show of subservience, especially when it wasn’t needed. Delli had been trying to comfort me, while everyone else was waiting for me to go give them comfort. The pack comes first, my mother had always told me.

I wasn’t even me anymore, no longer just Anais. I was the new Alpha—a title I had hoped I wouldn’t have to take on for a long time—and I would live to serve and protect. I would have to devote all of myself to the pack, just as my mother had.

Could it not be today? I thought pleadingly. Why couldn’t I just have today to mourn what I lost? Why do I have to be here, trying to hold it together, trying to be the strong face for everyone?

As if hearing my rebellious thoughts of wanting to be left alone, one of the Elders cleared his throat.

It had to be Elder Sutton, of course. He was more like a weasel than a wolf to me. He didn’t have the strength to rule by might as other wolves did, so he manipulated from the sidelines using politics.

Sutton had been the only wolf without rank to ever be elected an Elder, and he had been a thorn in my mother’s side ever since I could remember. I’d heard from one of the pack members that he tried to get my mother to marry him when my father died, but when she rebuffed him, he’d become bitter to her—and to me in turn.

Usually, I ignored him, or my mother would steer his attention away from me. But that wasn’t possible anymore. I would have to stand up to him myself from now on.

“Anais,” he hissed under his breath.

I had to close my eyes so I could roll them. We were in a room full of shifters, so no matter how low he spoke, everyone would still hear him.

Already, the political games had begun. He wanted the pack to see him as an important figure who could move me along, someone the new Alpha would listen to.

I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but I wouldn’t disrespect my mother’s memory that way. Not while her body lay wrapped at the foot of the dais, ready for the pyre.

Purple had always been my mother’s favorite color. She’d worn it unapologetically throughout her life. I made sure it was the same in death, having wrapped her in a pretty lilac shroud.

I should have been there with her, fighting by her side, even if the fight had been to the death. No one had ever thought that demons would find us in such a secluded area, let alone attack our pack.

There were typically warnings that preceded a demon attack—mutilated animals, the smell of sulfur, lesser demon sightings by scouts, missing people, and so on. But there had been no such warning this time, no one missing or hurt, no sightings or whispers of other pack attacks close by, nothing. We had been completely unprepared.

She was on the other side of the lake, running a perimeter check with the Beta pair and two pack Enforcers, when they were ambushed by demons. Eyewitnesses said an earth demon had drawn them to the water’s edge, where a water demon had drowned the two Enforcers, cornered my mother and the Beta pair, bombarded them with pelting attacks that weakened and battered them, then killed them.

“Alpha Anais, please join me,” Elder Hilana, our pack’s wise woman, called to me with a small sad smile.

As our wise woman, Hilana served as a sort of spiritual leader. She was blessing my mother’s body and spirit in the hopes that she would find peace in the afterlife. I was so lost in thought, I hadn’t realized that the other families had finished with their blessings, and it was now my turn.

It was a tradition for the dead to be blessed by a spiritual leader, after which a family member would be gifted with a part of the deceased to carry on the blessing. In the old days, when wolf shifters hadn’t embraced their human halves, wolves would eat the heart of their loved one as a way to keep a part of them. Now, things were simpler: family members would take a braid of hair, either wearing it in their own hair or as a band for their wrist.

I stood up and approached Hilana with slow steps. Holding my palms out over my mother’s body, I bowed my head in one last show of respect for the pack’s lost Alpha. The others in the hall did the same, letting out a collective howl.

“Anais Lovelace, with this braid, you have now inherited the role of Alpha female from your mother, Saira Lovelace, and will always keep a part of her with you. May her spirit guide you in all things.”

By collecting my mother’s braid, I was officially accepting her place as the Alpha female of the Deep Water Pack, as well as all the responsibilities that came with it.

No one could contest my right, but they could certainly challenge me for it.

I looked down at the braid, then almost burst into tears.

Hilana had chosen to take the purple-dyed streak of my mother’s dark brown hair to make this. I hated the color purple, having always thought that the purple streak in my mother’s hair was a bit juvenile, but in a cruel twist of fate, it would now be one of my most cherished possessions.

I hadn’t decided yet whether to attach the braid to my own hair, or to just make it into a wristband. If I chose to attach it, the dark brown roots would blend seamlessly with my own.

I was often told that I was the spitting image of my mother, with the same chocolate brown eyes, dark brown hair, sunkissed skin, and soft, fairy-like features. She’d been taller, but we both had a slight frame, though in the last few years, she’d put on some bulk due to the increased patrols of pack land.

I tensed up as Elder Sutton came forward unexpectedly and motioned Hilana aside. He turned me toward the pack members in attendance, then put a hand on my shoulder.

“It is time for us to move toward a new future. Our dear Alpha Saira, along with her Betas and Enforcers, did well to protect our pack, even to the extent of giving their lives.”

I kept a keen eye on the pack members, watching their body language just how my mother had taught me to. She’d said that one could tell a lot about what a person thought about another by watching them, and she always made it a point to watch how the pack responded to Sutton.

Right now, practically everyone’s attention was on him, just the way he liked it.

“I know this is a sad time, but this change—with the help of our new Alpha female—can bring good things to our pack. Our Alphas will help this pack get stronger, so that no more demon attacks take away our loved ones.”

I didn’t miss that he said Alphas, plural. And neither had most of the unmated men in the hall.

The agreeing murmurs and eager looks around the room pissed me off.

How quickly they could move from mourning to excitement. Their Alpha had just died!

My mother had just died.

The only reason my mother had been able to continue on without a mate was because the Betas and Enforcers she’d had by her side were highly dominant, as well as loyal friends of my father. They made sure anyone who stepped out of line with the Alpha never made that mistake again. It was a promise they made to my father to keep mom safe.

My mother had continued to love my father until the day she died. Although she didn’t talk much about him, I had much respect for him. To have people respect you so much that they protected what you held dear even after your death was something I hoped to achieve one day.

Sutton squeezed the shoulder he still held, and I had to bite back a snarl.

I needed to be careful. I didn't know just yet who I could trust to have my best interests at heart.

I stood still, continuing to watch the faces of the pack members present. As Sutton continued with his speech, I took note of the strongest of the pack and tried to think of who was loyal to my mother—who I could trust.

“Our traditions will stand strong with the next generation. Only together can we win this battle. Only the strong can lead,” he continued.

My eyes caught Sutton’s grandson Gage, and the smug smile on his face at his grandfather’s speech had my hackles rising.

A few pack members lowered their heads in submission, but the seeds of ambition had already been sowed.

An Alpha pair would make the pack stronger in their eyes, especially after yesterday's attack. And it seemed that more than a few of the males agreed it had been too long since we’d had an Alpha pair.

How lucky that I was the one they wanted to use to keep that tradition alive.