CHAPTER 2-Life of a Humble Child
Two Years Later…
Don awoke on a bright, sunny morning. He smiled and ran outside. The fresh air blew down on him and almost lifted him from the ground. He loved the breeze. It made him feel alive.
"Good morning, son," said John.
"Morning, Dad," said Don.
"I see you're up bright and early this morning," said John with a chuckle.
"Yeah!" said Don.
"It's in his nature!" a voice called from inside the cave.
This was followed by laughing.
"Junior! Lucas! Stop making fun of your brother!" John called.
"We're just kidding around with him!" Lucas said. "For crying out loud, Dad!"
"That's enough!" John said.
"Maybe he'll be leader of the squirrels or something!" John Jr. said.
"Junior! Enough."
They both stopped, for the moment.
"Anyway, listen Don," said John. "I'm taking your brothers and your sister out for some alpha training so they're ready for alpha school. You stay here with your mom, okay?"
"Okay, Dad."
"That's my boy," John said, smiling. He turned back into the den. "Junior! Lucas! Silvia! Come on, now! We've got work to do!"
Junior passed by his brother and gave him a thump in the shoulder.
"Stop sucking up to Dad! I'm sick of it!"
"But I'm not—"
"Shut up, omega!" Junior yelled. "Stay outta my way."
Don looked up at him. Junior spit on him and left. Lucas laughed and followed. As Silvia passed, she shrugged. She ran off after her brothers, yelling, "You guys are so mean to him!"
Rebecca came up and kissed her son on the head. "Your brothers are jealous. You're special to me…and your father."
"They sure don't like me," Don observed.
"They just don't know you for who you are yet," said Rebecca. "I promise that one day you'll be something special."
"Do you really think so?" Don asked.
"I know so," said Rebecca kissing him again. "I know so, son."
"More back leg power, Silvia," John called.
Silvia thrust her body forward and managed to beat her previous time.
"Very good, honey."
"Thanks, Dad."
"Okay Lucas. Your turn."
Lucas took off from the starting position, running as fast as he could.
"Not too fast, now!" his father warned. "Speed up gradually!"
Lucas tried to slow down, but he tripped on a twig.
"Are you okay, son?" John asked.
"Yeah, I'm…fine," Lucas said, embarrassed by the incident.
Junior scoffed. Poor rookie, he thought.
"Okay, Junior. You're up," said John.
"Yes, sir," said Junior.
Junior took his place.
Finally, he thought to himself with a smile. No stupid brother to steal Dad's attention now.
He readied himself.
"Go!"
He took off, racing around the first leg of the track his father set up.
"A little more speed, Junior," John called.
Junior picked up speed a little bit. He ran around the next leg. He saw the final leg of the track. Perfect. Everything was perfect. Nothing would ruin this moment.
He looked up and saw his little brother on the hill. Watching him and cheering him on. Junior's mind almost exploded and he tripped over his own paws, landing face-first in the dirt.
"Ooh, it's okay, Junior! You can do it!"
Junior looked up at his brother with hate in his eyes. Soon, the others were around him.
"Junior!" John said. "What happened? You looked like you were perfectly confident!"
"It's all his fault, Dad!" said Junior, pointing at his brother, who joined them with Rebecca.
"How is it Don's fault?" John asked.
"He distracted me!"
"He was cheering you on, honey," said Rebecca.
"He did it on purpose!" Junior said. Lucas nodded.
"No he didn't!" John said. "Come on, that's enough for today."
"No more training?" Lucas complained. "All because of Don?"
"Hey, it's not your brother's fault," said John. "Now back to the den, all of you."
Junior and Lucas shot looks of annoyance at Don. Silvia shrugged at him. Rebecca looked at her mate, worried.
"Honey, what are we going to do about them?"
"I don't know," said John. "I don't know."
"What happened, Dad?" Don asked.
"Your brothers are a little jealous of you, son," said John.
"Am I bad?" Don asked.
"No, son. Don't think that."
"Okay."
"Come along, sweetheart," said Rebecca, taking Don back to the den.
"Sir!"
James ran up.
"What is it, James?" John asked.
"Federico's back."
John groaned. "What does he want?"
"To talk to you."
"Of course."
James led John to the edge of the pack, where Federico stood by himself, waiting.
"Good to see you again, amigo," said Federico.
"I told you to leave, Federico," said John.
"Hey, don't take that tone with me," said Federico. "No seas estúpido."
"Calm me what you want," said John, "but I'm still not handing my pack over to you. I didn't two years ago, and not now."
"How do you know that's what I'm here for?"
"I know you're up to no good," said John, "since you haven't stopped smiling since I got here."
The smile finally vanished.
"Now what do you want?" John asked.
"Okay, fine. Just give us some food."
"How much are you talking about?"
"I don't know. Enough for about twenty of us or so."
"Twenty?" John hesitated. "Hmm…I'll need to see if we have enough for you."
"Can't I come with you?"
"No. Stay here."
"I want to come along," said Federico, "because it's my wolves you're feeding."
"Trust me, I won't poison them or anything."
"I find that hard to believe," said Federico under his breath.
John walked over to the feeding grounds.
Federico looked after him. "Un día, se enseñaré una lección."
James stared at him. Federico noticed.
"What?"
"You're an interesting wolf, you know that?" James said.
"Yeah? What do you mean by 'interesting'?" Federico asked.
"You're just…unusual. That's all," said James.
"Ah," said Federico. "Being Mr. Suck-Up, I see."
James growled.
"That's enough, Junior!"
"No it isn't, Mom! He ruins everything!"
"I said that's enough!"
"Mom!"
Rebecca and Junior were in a heated argument.
"Leave your brother alone!"
Don sat at the edge of the den, listening to his mother and brother fight.
"I need to go for a walk," Junior finally said, walking off and giving Don a death glance while he left.
Rebecca shook her head and began comforting the rest of her children.
John returned with five wolves, each carrying a somewhat large caribou on their backs.
"That's it?" Federico complained.
"You should count yourself lucky that we're giving you anything," John said. "You're still a thief."
"Tal vez. You don't know that for sure," said Federico.
John squinted, annoyed. "Just take it and go."
With that, he, James, and the others walked away. Frederico began grumbling to himself.
"Qué idiota. sólo me dio seis caribú. ¡Seis! ¿Cómo puedo alimentar mis lobos con sies caribú?"
He saw a smaller wolf walking nearby, grunting something.
"You, boy!" Federico called. "Ven."
The wolf looked confused. "Huh?"
"Come here."
The wolf approached him slowly.
"Who are you?"
"Federico."
"Who?"
"I'm someone who's been trying to help the leader of this pack for almost two and a half years."
"Really? You've been trying to help Dad?"
"You're his son?" Federico asked.
"Yeah. I'm John Junior."
"Interesante," Federico muttered. "So, Junior. What's your life like at home?"
"Um…okay."
"Okay? What do you mean?"
"Well, my brother's getting all of my father's attention."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the stupid little omega!"
"Omega? Wow."
Federico thought for a moment. "Say, does your dad love that omega?"
"Yeah, too much!" Junior complained.
Federico smiled. "How about I have a little talk with him…tomorrow night?"
"Really?" said Junior. "Wow, that'd be great! Teach him a lesson!"
"Indeed," said Federico. "So, do we have a deal?"
"You bet. Well, I'd better get back. See you tomorrow."
"Yep."
Junior took off, ready for the lesson Federico was destined to teach him.
Federico smiled. "Esté es perfecto."
A/N: Well, this isn't good, is it? What'll happen? Find out soon. I'm going to bed soon.
