Chapter 10 Who

My place in the world had always been chosen for me. My father the Alpha, my mother the Luna, and me, the future ruler of Half Moon pack. It had all been mapped out and it was my job to obey and follow his instruction.

I'd known from a young age that the weight of responsibility would pass down to me. Despite knowing how that worked out in my previous lives, I clung to it, clung to responsibility, clung to my future title. It was the only thing I would have in this world.

So I worked my ass off, slept around, and did as I was told. I did everything to be considered worthy of my pack. I did everything I could to be seen as worthy in my father's eyes so that our agreement would be considered null. I would sacrifice, I would do anything to keep her safe even if she couldn't stand me.

My parents held no love for me, although I had a soft spot for my mother, I only had room in my heart for my sister. My kindness, my understanding only covered her. There were many things I grew up knowing I couldn't do, but the most important was simple. I was not to embarrass him. As long as I did that one thing, he would leave me alone.

My first and foremost duty was to find my mate. Now that I was of age, my father instructed me to look for her at the Ball. Little did anyone know, I already knew who she was. Although I kept her at arms length, I kept her close. As I think back to that night with my father, I knew the only reason the girl lived was because of the off chance that she was my mate.

There was a time when I wanted to make him proud, but no more. The early days when I still had hope and the young boy that thought it was possible are long gone. One day I had a father and the next I had an Alpha.

My mother, Luna Rose, didn't like the idea that my mate might be a rogue, it was like being a leper. Rogues didn't have any morals and had no sense of loyalty. The were the complete opposite of what a pack stood for. She hated the thought of her being allowed to roam free over the pack territory. She feared she would cause trouble. Due to my moms wishes, my father assigned her to the packhouse as a worker.

I remember liking that she was a rogue. This was something new, this was something that hadn't happened in previous lives. She had never been a rogue and I liked this. Something dark and twisted deep inside of me was happy that she'd lost them all in the crash. No pesky Ava, no psycho father, she was a part of my pack now. Which was no easy feat in my previous lives. It made me hopeful for a different ending in this life. She was mine, all mine.

I wasn't surprised when Mavy and Adea became good friends. It was comforting knowing that the two good things in my life were close. Mavy swore to never mention the reason Adea was allowed to live here. Adea had this idea that my father had taken pity on her and welcomed her into the pack. I let her believe this and had to be Mavy's slave for the first two months Adea came to live with us. Those first few months left me with fond memories.

"I'm going to do it. I'm going to ask her out," Devin said confidently.

His words pulled me from my walk down memory lane. Devin was my best friend and had been for years. When I looked at him, I still saw the young boy he was those hundreds of years ago. I remember ignoring him and pretending I didn't look forward to his visits. Devin had the same laid back, I don't care attitude he had back then too. In every life he was born poor, and in every life, I rose his station. This life would be no different.

He looked the same in this life as he had then, but instead of long brown hair, his hair was buzzed short in this life. He made the change the summer before freshman year. Said it gave him a clean responsible look befitting of a future Beta. He liked it so much he's kept it short all four years. He had pierced ears and like me he towered over everyone at this school.

In this life, we'd been friends since we were in diapers. I was at my locker, getting my books for the next class when I overheard him. He was having a conversation with Liam, our other close friend. Liam was fair-skinned and light blue eyes. He wasn't as muscular as us, but he had a nice build.

My ears perked up immediately at Devin's admission to asking someone out. In our first life, he was a gossip and liked all the pretty girls, but in this life he wasn't like that. In this life he liked older women.

Liam asked him who the lucky woman was. I was surprised to hear him say she was a student here at Trenton High and he wanted to see her seriously. I considered him my closest friend. Not once had he mentioned being interested in one of the girls here. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in knowing who had caught my best friend's eye.

"Who?" Liam asked.

I closed my locker and turned around to face them. Liam stood a foot under us, he almost reached our shoulders. Not only was he shorter than us, but Liam was soft and even though he hid it well in front of our parents, I knew he would always be soft. One day I hoped to help him push past that. Being soft was weak.

"Adea," Devin said.