Chapter 4

My father’s words struck my ears in a way that made me flinch. I couldn’t believe it. I had been summoned to attend a meeting comprising the most influential people in the entire Shellwood Pack.

“I hope I didn’t do anything wrong, Father,” I said, my voice trembling with fear.

My father took a seat near me, with my mother and little brother not too far away. They were all waiting for him to speak, and so was I.

“I honestly don’t know what they want from you,” my father began. “Although, I overheard someone talking about your relationship with the daughter of the richest man in our pack, Maria.”

“I didn’t say anything bad to Maria.”

“I know,” my father tried to calm me down. “For whatever reason that has made them summon you, we have to first go to find out what has happened.”

An hour later, I was completely dressed and ready to leave with my father. It was said that this meeting would decide the fate of all those who attended it. We walked out of our house and headed toward the main street where the meeting was being held.

I could see many people standing outside the entrance to the building, which housed the meeting place. Men and women of different ages were present, from young adults to elderly grandparents. All of them were wearing formal clothing. Everyone in the pack looked very serious.

The meeting room was well-lit with lamps. A large table stood in the center of the hall with chairs placed on both sides of it. In front of each chair was a small plate with some food items arranged neatly on it. I noticed that the plates were filled with meat dishes and cheese.

As soon as I entered the hall, I was guided to one of the empty seats at the end of the table. I sat down next to my father.

As people began taking their seats, I realized that no one was going to take the chair of the Alpha. It was empty.

“Good morning, everyone,” my father said as he stepped forward to address the gathering. He was wearing a three-piece suit adorned with gold thread embroidery. “It is good to see you all here. We are gathered today to discuss a very important matter.”

Everyone nodded as my father continued.

“I am well aware that I do not have any say in the affairs of this pack because of who I am and where I came from, but I want you all to know that it has been weeks now, and we are yet to choose an alpha who would lead this pack to progress.”

My father sat down when he finished speaking. Before the people who had come for the meeting could start processing what he had said, Maria’s father, Lord Draco, who was the richest man in our pack, stood up to speak.

“I greet everyone gathered here today,” Lord Draco began. “Before I talk about how we are going to choose the next alpha who is going to lead this pack to glory, I want to address a major issue that has been bothering me.”

He paused for a brief moment. “First of all, it is a great shame to know that this pack will accept Zoe into a prestigious school for teenagers in the pack.”

I was shocked when he mentioned my name, and so was my father.

“Second of all, it is a great shame that this pack would see it fit to allow her father to address us as if we are some dogs.”

My father did his best to remain composed.

“After saying these two things,” Lord Draco continued, “I will suggest we do an election right now to decide who the next alpha is going to be since the Moon Goddess has yet to show herself and pick the right male candidate to lead this pack.”

There was a round of applause for Lord Draco as he sat down. I had never seen such devotion to a man in all my years. It was as if the members of the pack saw him as a god.

“Zoe,” my father said, standing up from his seat. “We are not needed here. Let’s go home.”

As I followed my father out of the gathering and out of the shame presented to us by Lord Draco, I looked back to see him presenting himself as a likely candidate to be the next Alpha of our pack.

As he was celebrating, something strange happened.

For the first time in more than five hundred years, the Moon Goddess appeared in the air and became visible to everyone in the gathering.

“SILENCE!” The Moon Goddess’s voice was loud and clear, sending shivers down everyone’s spines.

“I came here today to announce to you that the new alpha of the Shellwood Pack is going to be her!”

I looked behind, trying to see who the Moon Goddess was pointing at. But there was no one behind me.

“She is the one chosen to rule this pack!” The Moon Goddess continued. “Listen and obey her!”

The Moon Goddess had lost her mind! Where had she been all this time? She was supposed to be here some days ago, and now she came here to spew nonsense and disappear into thin air.

For a while, there was silence, and I was scared. On a normal occasion, one would have been happy, but the opposite was the case. Several reasons contributed to my fears. One was the fact that the people had already started losing faith in the Moon Goddess. The second was obvious – I was a female, and females didn’t become alphas. Indeed, she lost her mind.

Now, I had to be concerned about my family’s safety because I was sure that Lord Draco and his followers wouldn’t sit well with that.

“What should we do? We all heard what the Moon Goddess said. Do we go ahead and name her the new Alpha?” an elder asked.

“How can you suggest such rubbish? Where in the history of our land has the Alpha been a woman?” Lord Draco attacked him.

I decided to pull something off, and I stood up and said, “I have been appointed Alpha, and I see no reason for you all to stand against me!”

“Shut up!” Lord Reginald said. He was the chief guard. He then added, “I can never bow or serve a woman!”

Lord Draco found a way to calm the situation by saying, “Let us all calm down now and think about it; we will have another meeting.”

We all agreed to have another meeting, and I went home with my father.