Temptation.

Eio

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."