Chapter 9- Seth

-Seth- There’s a knock at my office door, and I call for them to enter. This is quite the surprise. “King Seth, may I speak with you?” Atticus asks as he squares his shoulders, trying to make himself look taller than he is. I arch an eyebrow. Since when do any of these little shits call me King Seth? “You mean Uncle Seth.” “No,” he says, shaking his head. “I want to talk to the king, not my uncle.” I place my pen on the desk, trying not to laugh. It’s cute, but he’s being so serious, and I should respect the fact that he sees the difference between his uncle and the king. I motion for him to sit in the chair across from me, smirking as he does. I don’t think his feet are even reaching the floor. “I would like for you to train me to take over Calcite Creek,” he says. Well, this is quite the surprise, indeed. “Excuse me?” He nods once. “I know my pack is going to Katya. I understand how the line was changed to make my mom an Alpha, and I also understand how that makes Katya the heir. But biologically, I was born to lead a pack. I want it so bad. Please, let me have Calcite Creek.” I lean forward, covering my mouth with my hand to make sure I hide any hint of a smile. This has been the plan the entire time, but it’s never been spoken of. We all have an understanding, though. That understanding hasn’t been shared with the kids. “Have you heard your wolf?” I ask. “Not yet, but I’m sure I will soon,” he says. I hold up my hand. “There’s no rush, Atticus,” I tell him, using his full name. We all call him Atti, but he’s here on business, and I can be respectful. “I only wanted to know what your wolf has to say about this plan.” I lean forward slightly. Nope. His feet don’t quite reach the ground. His father was restless as an adult. We all thought it was from living alone, then being tossed into our big family. It wasn’t, though. Calvin carries the alpha gene, and it was clawing at him, needing a pack. I haven’t really considered that Atti may be feeling the same way. “How does your dad feel about it?” I ask. He frowns. “I haven’t asked him. He keeps telling me to help my sister. I’m strong unc… King Seth.” I can’t help but smile. “I know you are. I want to be clear that I’m not telling you no. But I can’t tell you yes, either. You’re twelve. Alpha Jareth is… not young.” “He’s the same age as Pops.” I nearly laugh. “Yes, and Benjamin isn’t running a pack now. Even Marge handed her pack off once it was settled. My father is younger than they are and handed me the throne long ago. I can’t promise you a pack that may need an alpha before you’re old enough to take it.” He frowns and looks down at the floor. I didn’t want to crush him, but it’s the truth. Jareth hasn’t asked me to find a replacement, but he has hinted at it. Lucky for me, he’s still upset about the choices his son made that led to his death and views it as a failure on his part, so he’ll stay over his pack until he dies if I don’t offer a replacement. “There’s also the possibility that I hand the throne to Andrew before Jareth passes,” I point out. “And it will be his job to pick a replacement. You’re going to be training. Take it seriously. Let fate decide what will happen, Atticus.” “I can do great things,” he says softly. “Oh, I know,” I tell him. Poor kid. His wolf is probably raging inside him, and he doesn’t even know what it is. “You will do amazing things, but I’m not going to promise you a pack. I will promise you that I will train you to take anything that comes your way.” Clearly, that’s not enough. His shoulders are slumped, and he’s still staring at the ground. I hate it for him because the kid came in here confidently. He’s trying to act like a man and ask for what he wants. Unfortunately for him, being the best friend of the future king isn’t enough for him. “I know you haven’t heard him, but do you feel your wolf?” I finally ask. He looks up at me, tears filling his green eyes. It tells me all I need to know. He does, and his wolf wants out. I stand up and sit on the couch. Atticus doesn’t need to talk with the king. He needs to talk to his uncle. Actually, I think he needs to have a talk with his dad. Hey, come down to my office. Bring Andrew. Why? Because your son is here and asking me to train him to take a pack. Calvin sighs across the link. I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s been a real d**k lately. Puberty. His wolf is raging, and he doesn’t know how to deal with it. You know what it’s like. Atticus finally comes over but sits in a chair instead of beside me. Thankfully, his feet touch the floor in this one, because it was hard to take him seriously. Some time between eleven and thirteen, a male’s wolf tries to come forward. We talked to my mom about it when we realized Andrew was struggling with it. She confirmed that it’s not like that for shewolves. Why the hell we’re just realizing it is beyond me. Men don’t talk enough about their problems, and our sons don’t have the slightest clue what’s going on, even though it’s something that’s happened to all of us. It wasn’t terrible for Andrew because as soon as he started feeling his wolf, he also lost all control of his magic. The war inside was overshadowed by the one going on outside him. But now Atticus is sitting here, asking for his own pack. Calvin and Andrew enter the office. Atti turns and rolls his eyes as soon as they land on the two of them. I’m not sure which one he’s more upset about being here —his cousin or his father. “Really?” he asks me. I can’t help but chuckle as I nod my head. “He’s your dad. If you think I should give you a pack, he should be here for the conversation.” “A pack?” Calvin asks as he takes the other end of the couch. Andrew sits in the other chair, looking at me in complete confusion. “You asked your uncle to give you a pack?” “No,” Atti grumbles, sitting up a little straighter. “I asked the king to train me and then give me a pack.” “You’re twelve,” Calvin admonishes. “Atticus has begun to feel his wolf,” I point out. “I think we can all understand how that feels.” Andrew shrugs. “Figure it out. We all did.” I’m surprised by my son's insensitivity. I want to foster a supportive male environment, and he’s telling the kid to ‘figure it out.’ I don’t even know what to say, but I do know that I’m concerned. “We did figure it out,” Calvin says. “I didn’t have anyone to help me, though. You had your dad, Andrew.” Andrew shrugs gruffly. “Like it matters. My wolf was angry, and my magic went nuts. I can’t control either of them, and everyone is afraid to hug me.” He thinks we’re afraid to hug him? My heart sinks. It’s not that. We don’t want him to see anything he shouldn’t, and he doesn’t want to see those things, either. I sigh, wondering exactly where we went wrong with both the boys. “Your dad hugged you in front of all of us a few nights ago,” Calvin reminds my son. Andrew rolls his eyes. “Sure, after he pulled his sleeve over his hand and held his head back so I wouldn’t be able to read his thoughts.” I blink at him. I know I’d been doing that lately, but I didn’t realize that he had noticed. s**t. I really f****d this up. There was one day about a year ago when his mom and I squeezed in a quickie before I took him hiking. He slipped and grabbed my arm, and then he saw me f*****g his mother from behind. I’ve been trying to protect him from things kids shouldn’t see ever since. In doing that, we’ve left him completely starved for human contact. I move to stand, but Andrew holds his hand out. “Don’t,” he grumbles. “I don’t want to see anything. But I don’t want to sit here because Atticus can finally feel his wolf, and it’s making him angry. We’re all angry.”