Siya spent the remainder of her morning socializing with the wolves as they slowly awoke. Though many were hungover, they remained positive around their alpha. She found herself socializing mostly as a way to avoid her real obligation; it was only a matter of time before she would have to personally meet the former Lambda pack.

Siya was attempting to sneak into the training facilities for a quick workout when she felt the irritating pull on her soul from her beta. Renald's call was one of the only calls that could stop the alpha in her tracks at a mere tug. His spirit pulled on hers like a child to his parent, and with a reluctant sign, Siya opened her mind to him.

Siya felt Renald consume her, pulling her immediately back toward her office. She could feel a sense of urgency through his tug, and unhappily, Siya turned around in her tracks. She lightly jogged the path that Renald's tug pulled her on.

By the time she reached her office, she found the beta standing outside with an impatient look on his face.

"What is it, Beta?" She asked, trying to hold back the irritation. Siya knew exactly why Renald was calling for her; it was for the responsibility she had been purposefully avoiding that day.

"Don't be a child, Alpha." Renald shook his head and watched as Siya opened her door and led the way in. Siya slipped behind a dark wooden desk with papers cluttered atop it. She kicked a few empty Gatorade bottles out of sight.

Gatorade was a godsend, and Siya couldn't deny herself a quick trip to the human grocery store to purchase some; it was addictive.

"Come, Renald, lecture me more on why I'm failing as your alpha." Her sarcasm was laced with an underlying threat.

Renald held up his hands defenselessly, as he followed Siya into the room. "No one said anything about that. I'd be the last to spit out those words, and you know it."

She shook her head, running her fingers through her hair. "I know. I dread talking to them, Renald. It's so easy to correct my own for distancing themselves from our new members, but it's more difficult to convince myself to accept them as my own."

Renald approached the desk that Siya sat behind. He pulled up one of the chairs and sat across from her, elbows leaning on the desk. He took her face into his palms, and captured Siya's eyes with his own. Electric blue orbs that brought a wave of comfort to Siya as she leaned into his touch.

"It was difficult for us all to accept you as our alpha." He reminded her. "And look at you now. Everyone adores you. You've done marvelous things for this pack. Taking in the Lambda pack will be another one. You must welcome them and treat them with the same respect as you would one of your own—because that is what they are to you now."

She pulled back and inhaled.

"You did not become alpha but neglecting to do what you knew you had to."
Siya rolled her eyes. "I became alpha because I slit the throat of that tyrant-asshole who had practically enslaved us."

"Yes, but many still revered Maso."

"No one did. They were afraid."

Renald reached for her again, but with one look from his alpha, Renald's hands fell onto the wooden desk. "Look at it this way; your wolves now do not want anything to do with new members, much like they didn't want anything to do with a new alpha. But they will only obey your orders because you are alpha. You must show them that these pack members are no longer the enemy."

Siya was silent for a moment before rising to her feet. The beta remained sitting, looking up at his towering alpha. Siya turned her back to him to stare out the window. It was past noon now, and she had spent most of her day with the wrong pack.

Siya left the office without a glance back at her beta. As her second in command, she trusted Renald with her life, but as the wolf who overtook an alpha who had reigned for twice the years she'd lived, she kept nothing of significance in her office. Siya's paranoia was still with her, several years after she had long lost the need for it.

It had saved her life before; perhaps it would again.

Siya made her way to where the Lambda pack was being sheltered. A portion of them had been moved into homes, but the majority were living out of the gymnasium until more shelters were built. Siya knew that soon she would have to expand her territory in order to incorporate everyone, but she rathered they all live on one large plot of land than split between two.

This allowed for a lower likelihood of rebellion.

As Siya entered the gym, many bowed respectfully to their new alpha. Out of the corner of her eye, Siya noticed a young wolf who visibly refused to allow his body to bow. Irritation coursed through the alpha's veins at his blatant disrespect.

This immediate rebellion was the exact behavior that Siya anticipated from the newcomers; this behavior must be shut down.

Siya turned her attention onto him and stared, but the wolf refused to respond to her. He held himself rigid, shaking slightly as he rejected his instinct to bow.

"You." Siya stared at the young wolf. He flinched slightly from the authority in her words, but held the alpha's eyes. "Come here."

Slowly, he approached Siya. She placed her hands on her hips, and noticed they were equal in height. His body shook slightly yet he remained still. Siya could see he was refusing his instinct.

"Name."

"Eio."

"Eio." Siya repeated. "Get down."

He sank onto his knees with his head kept down.

"Nose to ground." She hissed, only then realizing the silence of the room. All chatter had stopped, attention focused on the pair.

Eio slowly leaned forward until his nose brushed the dirty floor, stretching out into a plank position. His body no longer shook from holding back; instead he shook from ragged breaths. Siya crouched down next to him, leaning forward to speak lowly in his ear.

"You will stay like this until I say otherwise. Your nose does not leave the ground."

Eio made no movement as Siya rose to her feet. Her eyes surveyed the crowd of Lambda that had formed a circle around the two.

"Where are Eio's parents?" She called out.

There was a shuffling to her left and the masses parted to let a small elderly wolf through. She was much shorter than Eio, with hair greying at the roots and in streaks down the sides. A wrinkled face was pulled together in worry as her eyes were trained on the boy. Eio remained strong, showing no signs of muscle failure yet.

"You are Eio's parent?"

The woman before Siya nodded.

"Just one?"
"I never found my mate."
A bastard wolf then. Siya nodded. "Eio does not know to respect his alpha. Is this characteristic of him?"

"He's fifteen he—"

"Yes or no. Is this characteristic of him to disrespect an alpha?" Siya repeated slowly, crossing her arms.

The woman shook her head.

"So he does not like me?" Siya hardly asked the question so much as stated the fact.

"Alpha Siya, he does not know—"

Siya raised a hand to the women, looking down at Eio who had begun to tremble slightly. "You do not like me in particular, is this true, boy?"

"I only obey Alpha Jacobi."

"There is no Alpha Jacobi." Siya snarled. "He is gone. I ended him myself."

Eio said nothing, staring straight ahead.

"I am your alpha, Eio. I do not tolerate disrespect and disobedience in my territory." She spoke the last half to the entire crowd, all of whom remained silent. "I have accepted you into my pack when I could have as easily sent you off to become rogue. If anyone rejects me as their alpha, you will not have the opportunity to become rogue. You took an oath to hold me as your alpha. I advise you not to break that oath."

Her threat thundered through the gymnasium, echoing off the high ceiling. Siya's eyes moved around the crowd, holding onto each one briefly. She glanced down at Eio, who had begun to shake more as he maintained his plank position.

He needs proper training.

Siya stared at the boy for a moment longer before commanding him to rise. Eio did as told, a flash of relief crossing his face before he quickly concealed it with a stoic expression.

Eio made a move to go to his mother, but Siya held up a hand to hold him back.

"I have come to speak with each of you and determine what your niche in this pack will be." Siya spoke once more to the crowd, but her eyes were on Eio. "I will begin with you, Eio."

The mother gasped slightly, and through her peripherals Siya could see she had covered her lips to silence herself.

"Eio will begin training tomorrow to serve as one of the Warriors of the Omega pack."

Not even Eio could hold back the surprise after she spoke. Siya had expected this. Eio had directly disobeyed an alpha—he must have been expecting sewage disposer, or any other degrading job. To be initiated into Warrior training was prestigious; to complete it would give Eio the highest title he could hold as a common wolf. Not only would the defiant Eio be training to become a Warrior, but he would be from the former Lambda pack as well.

Siya was not sure why she decided this wolf should go through training. Perhaps she wanted to see him fail, or perhaps she thought he would make it. There was something inside of him that she wanted to test. And Siya knew she personally would test him. Eio seemed to be a strong boy; he needed to learn to hone in on and master his skills. Perhaps he would become a fairly decent warrior.

"Eio, you are dismissed." He turned and stepped back into the crowd. Siya's eyes turned to his mother. "I would like to speak with you in private."

She paled, but followed the alpha out of the gymnasium.

~*~

The conversation had begun tense, but it wasn't long until Siya had Eio's mother talking her ears off. Siya remained quiet and listened as his mother spilled story after story of young Eio. From his inability to keep a diaper on for more than thirty minutes, to his first phase that he attempted to do in secret (but destroyed his bedroom), Siya listened intently, laughing and smiling throughout. It seemed the more his mother spoke, the more interesting Siya found this young wolf. He began to remind her more and more of young Dote from her own pack.

Dote would most likely be going into medical care based on his skills in training. She wondered why she had such a strong urge to put Eio through warrior training.

The two wolves spoke in the privacy of one of the spare training rooms in the gymnasium. Siya sat on a bench press, running her hand over the bar, while the mother stood across from her, pacing back and forth as she spoke.

Siya had lost track of time, but knew she had spent much longer with one wolf than she had intended to. Yet she found no urge to stop the woman.

It wasn't until the door opened and a head poked in that the mother froze in her talking.

Siya's eyes darted to the intruder, but she sensed no sign of danger from him.

"Mia, Eio wanted me to come find you. It's time for your stretches." The stranger spoke quietly out of fear of the new alpha.

The mother glanced at Siya apologetically before bowing and following the stranger out of the room. Siya's eyes shifted out the window to the setting sun but was not surprised to see how long she had spent with one wolf.

Siya leaned back on the bench she was sitting on, dipping under the bar that held the weights at either end. She curled her fingers around the cool metal and pushed up to lift it off its rack.

250lbs. Child's play.

After a handful of repetitions, Siya slowly eased the bar back into the rack just as the door of the training facility opened.

Siya ignored who had opened it, assuming it was another wolf coming in to train. Her assumption was not wrong, but as Siya sat up from the bench press, she realized she was more familiar with this particular wolf than she had anticipated.

"Are you following me?" Siya growled, barring her teeth.

Jate's face lacked any joking emotion as he nodded. "This time, I am."

Siya was more surprised at his boldness than anything else. She raised an eyebrow, watching as he stepped further into the weight room. The door closed with a loud bang that echoed throughout.

Eyes locked on his alpha, Jate made his way to the bench press she was sitting on. His eyes darted to the weights, taking in the light load.

"Really, Alpha? That's all you were bench pressing?" He teased.

Siya growled in response.

*****

Character names are pronounced as follows:

Siya-- Sigh-yuh

Jate- Jay-t

Dote- like the second half of ancedote

Eio- Eeeee oh

Renald- ren-ald

Maso- Ma zoh

Mari- Maria minus the 'uh' at the end