A saying I grew up hearing was, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

During a time when Dad was home more often than he was not, he'd always used to gather my siblings and me around and would remind us of this lesson. I doubted any of us truly gave it any careful consideration at the time. We were young children after all. The most important thing to us was who got to sit on Dad's lap or not. Looking back at it, I was sure that was his way of trying to instill the characteristics that alpha should have into us at an early age.

It was those types of memories that filled me with a bittersweet feeling. I would always be happy at the moment whenever Dad hung out with us, but it was just another attempt to push his agenda. Though, I guess he got what he wanted in the end.

The sound of my phone buzzing pulled me from my thoughts and I glanced down to see a text message from Theron, telling me we could meet up tomorrow night to come up with a plan of action for taking over the pack. Had it purely been up to me, we would have worked everything out the night he agreed to help me, but he pushed back, arguing that he needed to process everything first. As much as I would've rather kept going, I knew starting on the wrong foot with Theron wasn't an advantageous decision, especially considering how fragile our situation was in the first place. So, instead of arguing, I shot him a text back and agreed to meet with him tomorrow.

Realistically, I knew that even if Theron and I hadn't been mates, I still would have had to talk to him at some point. Dad always said that an alpha's bond with his beta was one of the most important relationships he would have. Besides a mate, a beta was the closest person to the alpha. Their loyalty needed to be unwavering. Thankfully, I didn't think I'd need to worry too much about the latter.

My phone buzzed again, only this time it wasn't Theron but Hendrix instead. He sent a message to the family group chat which was only used once in a blue moon.

Hendrix: I think we should all meet up and discuss this whole alpha situation amicably. Dad is gone. There's no need to fight over this.

I stared down at the screen with a raised eyebrow. Call me skeptical, but I didn't buy it. Hendrix might've liked to play the nice guy role, but that's all it was: a role.

Eden: What's the catch?

Even if we didn't get along, Eden and I did think the same.

Hendrix: Really, Eden? Not everyone has a hidden agenda.

I disagreed. In this world, everyone was after something. That was the way life worked. People only did things that somehow benefited them.

Hera: I'm open to meeting if everyone else is.

Sirius: What's the point? Seems like a waste of time.

Nero: It could be interesting though.

Hendrix: Roman?

I thought about it. While I didn't necessarily feel there was a need for us to meet up, I was curious to hear what Hendrix had to say. I was sure there had to be some other reason he was asking for us all to gather.

Roman: Let's meet.

...

I always hated the incline of the table in the main meeting room. Dad loved it—he always said there was a sense of pride that came with making everyone else who sat around the table look up to him, almost as if he were forcing them to remember all his accomplishments. Whenever one of us turned eighteen, Dad would always have all of us gather around the table to "celebrate" as he put it. He would always sit at the head and whoever the birthday person was would sit at the end. He would bring in celebratory items like a cake and gifts, but we all knew that none of those things mattered. The real reason he made us go there was to show us what we could have if we became alpha.

Knowing this, as I stared at the large, wooden door, I was sure the room had been purposefully chosen for today's meeting. I took a deep breath and pushed it open and I was instantly met with the unsurprising sight of Eden sitting in Dad's seat. Hera sat beside her with a dissatisfied expression on her face.

"Get out of that chair," she ordered Eden. "It's disrespectful of you to sit there so soon after his death."

"Are you upset because it's 'disrespectful' or because you didn't get to it first?" Eden retorted.

As the two bickered, I allowed my eyes to drift around. Sitting in the center of the table was Nero. He clearly wasn't affected by our sisters' fighting in the slightest—in fact, I wasn't even sure he could hear them with how immersed he was in his phone. There was a small grin on his face which told me everything I needed to know: he was flirting with someone. I rolled my eyes.

A few seats away from Nero, closer to the end of the table, was Sirius. I could tell by the way his eyes repeatedly dropped to the silver watch around his wrist as well as the way his foot repeatedly thumped against the floor that he was becoming annoyed.

"How is it that Hendrix planned this meeting and is the last to show?" He grumbled to nobody in particular.

"I'm sure there is some reason. I mean, it is Hendrix," Hera joined in, seemingly deciding that arguing with Eden was futile.

I agreed with her. Hendrix was always punctual. He wasn't the type to be late unless something occurred.

As if on cue, the door opened and Hendrix stepped in, looking more stressed than he tended to be. Any other day, I would have brushed it off, but Theron's faint scent clung to him, telling me they had met sometime earlier and Hendrix had tried to cover it up. I mentally frowned.

Maybe it was nothing, but I couldn't help but worry about whatever they met up for. I'd be lying if I said the possibility of betrayal hadn't crossed my mind. Sure, Theron had agreed to help me, but it was still early on and we weren't exactly on the best of terms.

"Sorry I'm late," Hendrix apologized before shifting his gaze to Eden, specifically where she was sitting. "Why are you—never mind. I'm glad to see that everyone could make it."

Sirius scoffed at Hendrix's words and I was sure it had to do with the obvious absence of Alaric. I could tell Hendrix regretted his choice of words, but I doubted anyone truly cared. Alaric had long checked out of our family, meetings included, ages ago. If anything, it would have been more peculiar if he suddenly decided to show up today.

"Let's get down to business," Hendrix suggested as he took a seat beside mine. "You all are obviously aware that the purpose of this meeting was to talk about who would succeed Dad. The elders seem content with letting us fight it out, consequences be damned, but if possible, I'd like to avoid that."

"And what exactly is your plan?" Eden raised an eyebrow. "We sit here and talk about our feelings then take a vote."

Hendrix shrugged. "That certainly is an option."

Eden rolled her eyes. "This was a waste of time."

Hera shot her an annoyed glance. "We haven't even started—"

"Look around this room," Eden interrupted. "It's like you said, Hendrix. We're all here. We're all here because none of us are willing to back down. We're all here because we think we'd be the best choice for alpha. That isn't going to change simply because we talked about our emotions."

"So tell me, Eden, what's your plan then?" He met her cold gaze.

"We go along with what Xavier said."

Hendrix scoffed. "I don't believe it. You would rather play their twisted game while acting as a spectacle for their entertainment—and subsequently, rip our family apart—than handle this in an amicable manner?"

She laughed. "When have things ever been amicable between any of us? We've been in a constant war since we were children. Whether you like it or not, it's part of who we are. Do you know why I think you're so against this contest? Because you won't be able to delude yourself anymore. You'll have to admit that you're just as bloodthirsty as the rest of us."

I watched as Hendrix's jaw clenched and unclenched. If I hadn't known him, I would've thought he'd get up and try to hit her or worse, but he didn't because that wasn't the type of person Hendrix was.

He took a deep breath and surveyed the room. "What about the rest of you? What are your opinions on the matter?"

"I agree with you that blindly following the elders in this situation will likely do more damage than good to our relationships, but I don't think we'll get anywhere if we continue down this same route," Hera stated. "I think we should comb through Dad's things again—journals, notebooks, laptop—anything that could give us s glimpse inside his mind. He had to have written something down about who his heir would be or an inkling of who he was considering."

"If Xavier didn't find anything then what makes you think that we will? Face the music, Hera. Dad didn't give a shit about this pack or any of us. He wanted to cause chaos when he kicked the bucket," Sirius argued.

"That's not true," I interjected. "Dad was a lot of things, but he cared about this pack."

A little too much at times.

"Just not us then, right?" Sirius rolled his eyes.

Nero glanced up from his phone with a smile that told me this "meeting" was as good as over.

"Just not you," he told Sirius.

A silence fell over the room. Sirius glared at Nero with enough hatred to kill a dragon. I knew that letting them continue would just lead to an all-out brawl.

"Stop it. We didn't go here to throw around petty insults and low blows. We came here to talk about Dad's successor or did you all seem to forget?" I raised my eyebrow.

"I didn't forget. Thank you for bringing the topic back up, Roman." Eden grinned. I could tell from her eyes alone she hadn't let go of our last encounter. "I guess I should thank you for planning this meeting, Hendrix. If anything, you've proved my point. Talking about this is futile. We're werewolves and alphas at that—it's only natural that we fight. It happens out in the wild too, you know. When two equally powerful werewolves get into a disagreement over territory, do you know what they do?" She leaned in. "They issue a challenge. Winner takes all. I don't see why this would be any different. Don't you agree? Sirius? Nero?"

Nero shrugged. "It's not like what we're doing is much better, but I'm confident I'll win no matter what."

I rolled my eyes after his cocky, brazen behavior—not that I expected anything else from him.

"The only thing this meeting did was make me want to take you all down even more," Sirius growled.

Eden's grin grew. "Well then, I think this meeting is over then. Clearly, we're past talking it out."

She stood up along with Nero and Sirius and the three of them walked toward the door, but before they could leave, Hera called out.

"If you walk out of this room now, you're basically making us enemies. Can you live with that?"

Eden glanced back and met Hera's eyes. "From the moment Dad started raising us as potential heirs, we've been enemies. You just didn't want to admit it."

With that, she left along with Nero and Sirius. Hendrix sighed and Hera closed her eyes. I could tell neither of them was pleased with the outcome of the meeting, but truthfully, I felt nothing. Everything that occurred were things I had already predicted. If anything, it just proved to me what I already knew: the relationships between my siblings and I had deteriorated a long time ago, even before Dad's death, and now the only choice left was to put Dad's training to use and win the title of alpha.