Chapter 2 Damon's POV

Damon's POV

"Told ya!" I gloated at Dathan as we renetered the Wolf's forge, a part of the palace designated for sword fighting.

"The poor thing is so very lifeless," Dathan said, his head bowed low.

"You show too much concern. She literally just spoke to you!" I replied to him.

"You need to see how she swiveled and crashed after mom hit her." Dathan added, his voice was rising, which meant he was getting angry.

I chuckled and pulled my sword out of its sheath where it hung on a rack. "You should learn to never get too close to these girls."

"Why? Because mom said so?" Dathan asked, glaring at me.

"Uhm. Yeah." I replied, and smiled very exaggeratedly.

"That's not reason enough. Half the time, she's wrong bout stuff and so are you." He replied, looking away.

"You'll learn." I said, concluding our discussion.

"And what if I don't?" Dathan asked. "Would you kill me like you killed Maya?"

"I'm gonna overlook the fact that you just made the most stupid of accusations." I replied to him. "Worse than what you said is that you think I'd have anything to do with these lowlife girls." I added.

"That's the thing, I don't 'think', I KNOW!" My younger brother replied, slamming his fist into the manikins that hung from the roof.

"And what exactly do you know?" I asked, looking at him.

"I know that you liked Maya, even though she was older than you. I know you told mom about it, and she let you have her behind everyone. You'd sneak out of our room every night, at exactly two am. You'd put a hand over my face to make sure I was asleep, and sneak out!" He kept talking.

"Shut up!!" I screamed him down. "Shut your mouth." Dathan had begun to say too damn much.

"Is that too much for you to hear? What you yourself did?" He asked, smiling and rubbing it in.

"It's not. It's just untrue." I replied to him, and turned my back, signifying the end of the conversation.

"You can't even face me." Dathan laughed. "I wonder how you look at yourself. I'd wake up depressed every morning."

"Mind what you say." I warned him before exiting the forge. Silly boy!

"Damon!" My mother summoned me right outside the forge.

It was prohibited for women to be seen in there, and so it kinda became our sacred male sanctuary, even though my mom broke the rules a few times, cause she's a female Alpha.

"Yes mother." I answered, and tucked my hand behind me. "I was in the forge with Dathan."

"I know that." She replied, icyly. "Have you seen Vynara?"

"Yes." I replied, against my better reasoning. "Uhm, no. I haven't. Who is she?" I asked her. I couldn't let her know that I was downstairs.

"The new maid." She replied. "The one you kept company while I was away."

"I'm sorry, mother." I replied. The game was up.

"I do not appreciate you seeing my guests before me." My mother roared.

She was just like a coconut. Tough and woody on the outside, but sweet and flavourful within.

"It will never happen again." I assured her, apologetically. "I promise."

"I know that." She replied with the same tone. "That's why you're going to be in charge of the servants quarters for tonight."

"I haven't my wolf yet, mother!" I screamed.

"I know." She said, smiling. "That's why you're to be there."

At age twenty-two, I was years overdue for my first shift which was supposed to be my coronation as Alpha.

My father, Damon III passed only two full moons after Dathan was born, leaving my mother to groom us into leaders.

"I'm sorry mother." I apologised profusely, "I can accept anything, literally anything, but that."

The servants quarters is literally what it's named. But it's also a house to men and women who spend their lives tending to the menial jobs in the palace.

It was a team of about three hundred men, women and children. Almost often that not, a rebellion was cooking.

They were fond of planning and staging attacks on the palace in a bid to usurp the throne. Rumor had it some of them posed Alpha blood, but came in as slaves, and were forced to remain one.

"Maybe this fear will excite your wolf, and make it want to hasten up. Your father was a strong man, a resilient, ferocious wolf! You shall not be a weakling!" She commanded strongly and turned her back. End of the conversation.

It was still about eight hours to midnight, eight hours to gather my strength and courage.

We had guards for the jobs my mom made Dathan and I do when we erred, but no one was gonna teach her how to raise her sons, and she made that clear to everyone.

Guarding the servants quarters meant no one was escaping, the men and women all slept in their different rooms, as the palace could no longer accommodate babies of the servants. And that they rose as early as the moon set to begin their day.

I swallowed hard, and went up two floors to my room. Being an Alpha was no child's play. Being an alpha with a delayed wolf was even worse.

I shed hot scalding tears, praying to my dead father to watch over me. It could very easily be the night I die.

"I'm sorry." Dathan said as he entered the room. "I didn't mean to put you in trouble."

For someone who was just two years younger than I am, Dathan looked a lot less daring than I was when I was his age.

At twenty, he still did not know much about how many things ran in the Pack Palace.

"It's alright." I said, brushing him off. We fought often, but I never wanted to give him the impression that I was weak. I'm his big, bad, scary elder brother, and I always wanted him to think of me as that, so no one dared mess with him..

"I'm also sorry about..." He started. Dathan really had no heart for confrontations.

"Maya was my fault." I cut in. "I loved her. We started to see during the day, mom once caught us and punished the hell out of us. After doing that five times to no success, she finally turned a blind eye. Until Maya got pregnant." Words began to taste bitter to me. So bitter I didn't want to say anything anymore.

"What happened?" My overly curious younger brother asked.

"She got pregnant." I replied.

"That's a good thing, yeah?" Dathan asked, smiling unsure.

"Not if you're way past the age for a first shift and still haven't experienced one. Worse still if you're supposed to be the Alpha of a pack that controls the oil sector of this economy." I smiled sadly.

"What then happened?" Dathan asked.

"I think I should sleep." I replied to him. "I've got a busy night tonight."