The Value of A Name - One Delta's Journey

1 - Pounding

I woke up to pounding. Whether the pounding was from the celebration last night catching up to me or from the door, I wasn't sure. I groaned loudly, hoping that they would take the sign and leave me alone if there were a person at my door.

The pounding didn't quit, and a voice joined it in attempting to rouse me from my comfortability. "Alena, there's an emergency meeting of the Alphas; we need to get prepared."

That shot me out of my bed, and I ran to the door, swinging it open to face my brother. "Damir, I promise if you're joking, I'll flay you and feed you to the fish."

He shook his head and pushed me back towards my room. "You need to go get changed, the Alphas will be here between ten o'clock and eleven, and it's already nine. Alpha Sebastian requests you to be in full representation of our pack and our position." I groaned but nodded and shut my door.

I'm not too fond of last-minute meetings. I wish we had weeks of notice to ensure I would have enough time to plan and set everything up. As a delta, my job is to prepare everything for meetings. I am responsible for seating charts, menus, the organization of visitors, and welcoming guests. I tend to lean toward the fraternization side of the job, while my brother and co-Delta, Damir, takes more of the logistical side.

I trudged through my sleep and slight hangover into the bathroom, where I scrubbed my face and wiped down my body to release the sweat from the night before. If it were any typical day, I would have woken up early enough to have a full shower before the meeting. Today, though, I have no time. I pull a brush through my hair and fluff the bottom to bring out the curls that come naturally. I inherited my brown hair from my mother, and I was lucky to have that reminder of her in daily life.

My watch reads 9:09 AM, and I see the day of the week. Thursday. This makes the meeting even more strange. Most meetings with the alphas take place on Mondays or Fridays. I shrug off the thought and make my way to my closet, feeling more awake after washing my face. I grabbed my floor-length blue dress and my white sash. The blue dress represented my pack, and the blue was as close to the color of our river as possible. Sometimes I wish it could replicate the foamy tips of the rapids or the murky brown of the runoffs. The solid, deep blue would have to be enough. The white sash represented my position as delta. After pulling them on and setting them where they belong, I ran a brush through my hair, threw on some eyeliner and lipstick, then made my way downstairs to the meeting room.

Entering the meeting room, I saw my brother dressed in the masculine version of my outfit. I internally pouted at the fact that he wore pants while I had to wear a dress. I followed behind him, ensuring everything was set to perfection until a buzz went off on my phone.

Damir had set the alarm on my watch for when I needed to be on Alpha watch. I turned off the alarm and walked out of the meeting room, going to the front door of the packhouse.

I'm lucky. I participate primarily in the business aspect of the pack and not nearly as much with the physical part of being a werewolf. To tell the truth, I hated taking my werewolf form. We called it shifting, and it indeed was a shift. I wasn't in control of my personhood anymore, but some animalistic part of myself took the reins. I preferred, instead, to remain in the offices, taking care of requests there. If Papa hadn't been so absorbed in the fighting, maybe he would have been inside and safe that night. I shook myself and focused on my job instead. I tidied up the foyer of the packhouse, making sure it was utterly presentable. The maids had been through to clean the marble floors and make sure that no dust lingered on the pillars, but to me, even a chair that wasn't appropriately angled was unpresentable.

The foyer was simply a taste of what the rest of the packhouse looked like. The first floor of the house was mostly all offices, and they all generally looked the same; it also held the kitchen used for large feasts. The marble floors with cream and grey accents gave off a welcoming but regal feeling, and Alena felt comforted simply by being in the building. Following the gorgeous floors led to either a stairway or a hallway. Taking the stairs up led to the bedrooms of those who did not desire to live alone. Young adults occupied most of the rooms, especially those who no longer wished to live in their parent's house but didn't completely want to be on their own either. The hallway led to the offices, but first, it led to the meeting room. The meeting room was the size of a small lecture hall, enough to hold at least 40 people. The floor of this room was also marble, and the longest wall was entirely made of bulletproof glass. Safety was a number one concern of the pack and using bulletproof glass allowed for an extra layer of protection.