“What happens when someone loses their mate is ugly,” Bailey adds. “But, Riley hasn’t gone through that grieving process. He lost her and he jumped straight into taking care of the pack.”
“He’s not second in birth order. Why not Mason as leader?”
Bailey answers. “They all agreed it would be Riley. Mason’s entirely capable, too, any of them are. Riley’s combination of strengths and blood relations to you and your father made him the most logical choice. Believe me, they all participate. Anyway, it’s important for him to do his grieving and once he doesn’t feel so many burdens, it could allow for that. It’ll allow the rest of your team to be open to finding their mates, too. And maybe Riley can find love again. The past few years have been difficult for him. The happiest we’ve seen him in that time has been since he first spoke to you. He’s hopeful. He needs you. The team is incomplete without you. Once functioning as a complete unit, it’ll help everybody.”
“How does the team get … constructed?” I ask.
Grey speaks up. “The elders take notice of a group born within a year and it’s known they’ll eventually step up. Key alphas in the pack often stand out before they mature, but we always know for certain once they do mature.”
“At maturation, do you all shift uncontrollably for a week?” I ask.
He leans back. “No.”
“No,” I repeat. I guess that doesn’t solve the mystery of why it happened to me.
“That happened to you, Tyson?” Bailey asks.
“Yes.”
“What age?” Grey inquires.
I think on it. “I don’t know. Maybe fourteen, fifteen years.”
“That’s when the year was identified. In my fifteenth year,” Grey says. “Our birth year was identified, though it’d been talked about since your birth, and eleven alphas were born in our pack that year. From there, eyes were on all of us to see who would make up the team.”
“Maybe something instinctive happened to Tyson,” Bailey muses. “Can I ask you more about that another time, Tyson? I document pack happenings for the global shifter archives. I know your life has been difficult and I know it’s extremely personal, but if I could interview you…”
I say nothing. I don’t know how to feel about this.
“Table that for now, Bailey,” Grey orders and continues speaking. “More about the process… there’s a vote and the selection happens. Except for the top alpha. That’s been carried down through generations the past three times via your family line. One of your sons will likely be next, though it’s not guaranteed, and it might not be your firstborn. The rest of the team retired a year ago, five years to the day after you approached the village. They knew it was time. Their successors stepped in then and worked with our fathers or uncles to learn. We wanted to try to find a way to reach you. The elders told us to wait, that you’d be called home eventually. They felt it. Your mother believed you’d find a mate soon and that’d make you open to our approach or that you’d approach again. We knew that there was a reason you were drawn here. Now we know it was after Cornelius’s death, and now that you’ve mated, we’re hoping you’ll spend time with us and wanna take your place with us.”
“The retired team, where are they?” I ask.
“They’re all alive,” Bailey says. “All six.”
“Six? I thought it was supposed to be seven.”
They’re both quiet a beat.
“Your father…died,” Bailey tells me a second after I realize who the seventh is.
Right.
“Tell me about that.”
I sit down on the ground in front of her. Grey sits down as well, off to the side, and the three of us are in a sort of circle.
I sense nothing but the truth from her as well as Grey, who adds bits to the conversation as they explain that my father was a triplet. One brother: Riley’s father, Atticus. The other: Cornelius. Riley’s father is a beta even though Riley is an alpha. Cornelius wasn’t just omega; he was a disabled omega of the trio.
“What exactly happened to my father?” I repeat as she goes off on a tangent telling me about how the alpha council will listen to opinions of anyone in the pack, not treat omegas like they’re bottom of the ladder.
Grey cuts her off, telling her she’s off topic. “The way it’s told, they all grew up together and Cornelius was in love with your mother, swore she was his mate. Your father disagreed and claimed her. Cornelius descended into madness. She walked in after being away collecting some herbs and found him standing over your father’s body. He told Cat he hooked up with a witch who gave him poison that he used on your father. He tried to take her, too, but she escaped with the bassinet. It was just a bundle filled with your clothing and a doll. He’d already moved you. Must have already disguised your scent with the herb Cat says you used to take. The pack looked for you but couldn’t find a trace. He later surfaced and caught her off guard, tried to take her again. He said you were gone, dead, and promised to show her the grave so she could say goodbye. She fought him off, stabbed him. He left and she didn’t know if he’d survive the gut wounds. He turned up again, many years later but during the time in between there was no trace of either of your scents.”