When I woke up my head hurt a bit and I was starving. Those were about all the side effects a vampire bite had on me. The punctures on my neck were healed and I slept until afternoon. Fortunately, I had a night shift today so I didn’t miss work. I felt pretty normal after I annihilated three rare steaks and took a nice long shower to wash away the last of Daniel’s scent.

“So what’s the plan?” Scott asked as soon as I came down the stairs, my hair still wet and dripping onto my shirt.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” I grinned at him. He gave a tortured groan. “Well while you get to work, I’ll be talking to Father.” What Daniel told me about Baltazar bothered me. Father would know if it was true or not. He kept a close eye on our neighbors and something like a catatonic leader of vampires couldn’t be easily hidden.

“Shouldn’t you rest a bit more?” Matt asked and came to me, hugging my arm tight.

“I’m alright, you know I heal quickly.” I smiled and pressed a kiss to his nose.

Daniel was right about one thing. This world was full of blood and death. And Matt was... innocent, fragile, kind. Damn it.

“I’ll go with you. I need to talk to Nikolai anyway.” Yuri sighed. “Give me a sec to shower then we’ll go.” As he passed by me to go upstairs he let his wrist brush against my throat. It made me jump a bit since I didn’t expect it. He really needed to learn how to warn me before he started scent marking. When did he get so possessive anyway?

Matt raised an eyebrow as Yuri disappeared up the stairs. I just gave him a smile and went into the kitchen on a quest for more food. Scott in the meantime left for work which left me and Matt alone.

“So...” Matt followed me and pressed his face into my back. “Did you have the best orgasm of your life?” he asked. Oh? Was that jealousy?

“Like I would let anyone other than you touch me,” I assured him.

“You let a lot of people touch you actually...” he murmured into my back.

What? I turned around with a questioning look. He just shook his head, smiled, and kissed my jaw before he left. What was that about? Before I could ask though, Yuri came downstairs and we made our way to the pack house.

It was surprisingly empty. It was just Holly and Nikolai talking to Father in the kitchen. As soon as we came in, Father got up and nodded at the stairs so I would follow him up. I greeted Holly and Nikolai first. Yuri’s father scowled at me. He had been doing nothing else for the last two weeks. I was beginning to think he didn’t like me much anymore. I left Yuri to his family and followed Father into his office at the end of the upstairs hallway.

The walls inside were covered with bookshelves and filing cabinets. A big mahogany desk dominated the room with two simple chairs in front of it and a big black boss chair behind it. What always caught my eye though was the big portrait behind the chair. It depicted Father, sitting with a proud look and a smiling two-year-old Lowell on his lap. On his left were Trystan and Akira with serious looks though they were only eight. On the other side, holding Father’s shoulder was mother; a gorgeous woman with jet black hair and crystal blue eyes. In front of her was my six-year-old self, happy and carefree.

I sat down in one of the smaller chairs in front of the table, feeling like a kid again here to be scolded for getting into a fight. But that feeling disappeared when Father sat down next to me instead of his big chair across from me. Oh. This felt like we were equal.

“So did you talk to your vampire friend?” he asked without wasting any time.

“Yeah, I did. He’ll try to talk to Baltazar but he can’t promise anything.” I was feeling hopeful though. He was a Walker so maybe he could talk some sense into the guy.

Father nodded, then carefully asked: “What did he want for it?”

“Do you really want to know?” I grimaced and shuddered at the memories of the bite.

“Guess not.” He sighed. “If you’re willing to pay it, do so, but if it’s too much...”

“It’s to prevent a war, yeah?” I said, determined not to show anything but confidence. Father nodded and didn’t ask anymore. “There’s one thing that bothers me though....” I said quietly. “My friend... He said something about Baltazar being in a coma-like state or something.” I looked up hopefully. I mean, surely Father would explain. I met his deep green gaze. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me tapping his fingers on the chair. What? Did he not know? “Have you heard anything like that?” I prompted.

He opened his mouth reluctantly but before he could answer, his phone started ringing. He looked at the number, grunted, and let it ring.

“Who is it?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Just a fellow alpha, nothing important,” he said though somehow I didn’t believe him. He kept staring at the phone and a single wrinkle formed between his eyebrows.

Well while we were on the topic of alphas... “Did you know that Eliot is offering loners all over America to come and join his pack?”

“What Eliot does with his pack, doesn’t concern me,” he said. What? I stared at him. Didn’t he always used to keep tabs on everyone? When I was a child I thought of him as all-knowing, as someone who knew about every person in the city. I mean… more than thirty people depended on him to lead them. He should know stuff like this right? So what the hell is this?

“Alright, well while you don’t concern yourself with it, Elliot’s pack has steadily grown bigger and swallowed a good chunk of your territory, and Baltazar in the meantime has grown so weak and catatonic that he sends mercenaries to deal with his enemies now…” That might have sounded a bit too accusing, but come on, what the hell was Father doing?

“Don’t be such a child, Reid.” He scowled at me, annoyance creeping into his voice. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me… “I'm not a god, I cannot know everything.” He sighed.

“But you have to!” I said before I could stop myself. He looked a bit startled by my outburst. Well in for the dime in for the penny... “More than thirty people depend on you, they trust you to keep them safe. You don't have a choice but to know everything.”

“The naive words of a child, a fool,” he shook his head as if it were tedious to explain stuff to me. Oh the anger inside me was building up quickly. “Not even an alpha can know everything. I’m just a single person. Now stop talking about things you don’t understand and go do something useful.” And there it was, that cold emotionless gaze I hated so much.

I got up and left before we could get into a fight. I rubbed at my chest as I went down the stairs, feeling the heavy burden of Yuri’s and Scott’s lives. It was my only purpose to protect them. An alpha lived only for his pack. I thought that all my life, hell, I used the phrase as an excuse for Father’s cold attitude towards his children. And now he was telling me I was being childish?

“Hey, you alright?” Yuri grabbed my shoulder as I made my way downstairs, a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah, fine. Ready to go?” I asked. I needed a bit of space from Father right now.

“Yeah, by the way....” his voice dropped into a whisper and he leaned down to my ear. “A friend called, supposedly there was a large group heading for the Silver Heart pack house.”

“How many are we talking?” I asked, biting my lower lip. Elliot’s pack was already bigger than the Ghealach pack… Just how many wolves did he plan to lead?

“Ten at least,” he said, the worry obvious.

“Is your friend part of the pack?” Maybe we could use him to get some gossip about the Silver hearts.

“No, he’s a human, works in a store by the road that leads to the Silver Hearts pack house,” he explained. “He’ll keep us informed about their movements.”

“Good job man, thanks.” I patted his back and then suddenly realized something. At that moment Father’s footsteps sounded as he came down into the kitchen.

“You’re wrong you know,” I said and actually found myself shuddering when he looked at me coldly, unimpressed by my attitude. Nikolai, who stood by his side, frowned at me, but I had to say this. “You’re not ‘just a single person. An alpha is never alone.” I turned and smiled at Yuri who just looked confused. “You’ll have to find a better excuse,” I told Father and left.