Chapter 16: History lessons

Eli chuckled and whispered "shh. Do you wanna wake everybody up?"

"You scared me half to death! You can't do that kind of stuff to me." She whisper yelled. "I am not ok with being snuck up on not after everything." She was breathing heavily while treading water. A slight tremble was present in her voice and her lips.

Eli looked at her feeling horrible for scaring her "I am sorry sweetheart it won't happen again. I forget what you have been through." He said softly grabbing her arm pulling her towards him.

"What do you know about what I have been through?" She said still angry but allowed him to keep her close to his bare chest.

"I know about the attack last month, I know about what happened to your uncle and you," Eli said softly, placing a kiss on her forehead. “I should have known better.”

"But how do you know?" she looked up at his face.

"I was there that night. My father and I were informed about some enemy wolves tracking you. We got there as soon as we could but it was too late. I am so sorry Violet. I got you to safety but we didn't get there in time to save Scott. I regret that every day." Eli rubbed her arms up and down feeling a shiver go through her. "We were always keeping tabs on you. Your Uncle knew that too."

Violet pushed away slightly. "It's not your fault. So they were werewolves?" Eli nodded his head. She looked at him contemplating what to say and decided there was nothing to say. She then looked at him and said "beat you to the other side of the lake." and off she went. He caught up with her quickly so she kicked harder not wanting him to win. She was almost to where she could stand. Just two more strokes she thought and then she stood up in the waist-deep water. "I win!" she said then looked at Eli confused.

He came over to her with a look she had never seen before on his face. His eyes were suddenly stormy. Lettie let out a faint howl. He grabbed Violet around the waist pulling her into him and kissed her possessively. Violet let out a small moan as his lips left hers and went for her neck kissing along her collarbone and over to the other side. Violet wrapped her hands in his hair letting out little unladylike sighs of pleasure. He came up to her ear and nipped at it softly driving her wild. She grabbed tighter around his neck and jumped grabbing ahold of his waist with her legs. She went in for another devouring kiss getting lost in the pure pleasure of him. His fingers roamed the bare skin of her back slowly cressing down to her perfectly perky bottom hooking his thumbs under her lace edged boy shorts. They were completely lost in the moment When they both heard a loud whistle and turned around.

There on the porch of Eli's house was Alex "Wow that is a show!" He yells at them with a grin "Can't you do that in a more private area?"

"Alex, turn around!" Eli growled looking at his half-naked mate. He quickly and easily picked her up off of his waist and put her behind him blocking her from his brother's site.

Alex did as he was asked laughing "What are you going to do now bro? She needs a towel."

Eli turned to Violet who was a bright shade of tomato red. It made part of him stand at attention. With a groan, he said, "well that was not how I wanted that to end." He then leaned in to whisper in her ear "I was about to get carried away. I want you so badly."

Violet turned an even brighter red if that is even possible. "Can you be my shield? While we swim back to the dock?" She asks, still breathless from the makeout session.

"Of course." They swam together and when they got to the dock there stood Cora with a cup of coffee and two towels in her hand.

"Cora, how long have you been up?" Violet asked sheepishly

"Long enough for the show," she replied with a wink. "If you are finished I do believe you need to train. You only have two more days before you meet your pack."

After a warm shower and breakfast, they met out behind the boy's place. They had a table out with chairs and paper scattered all over, tape keeping it from flying in the breeze. When they got closer, Violet realized they were pictures. Alex was sitting at one of the chairs smiling slyly.

"Stop looking at me like that." Violet growled.

"Like what?" Alex replied

"Don't forget I can take you down." She snapped back.

"Alright, alright, so touchy about your love life." He remarked, making Cora laugh.

"I know right." she says to him. "So what's all this for?"

"Eli thought Violet should see who is important in the pack and what they look like. It's your "history" lesson Vi." Alex stated.

"Where's Eli?" Violet said eagerly.

"He had some things to take care of so he put me in charge of this." Violet's face fell from what Alex just said. She then felt ashamed of herself for being so consumed by a man.

She sat down looking at the display and said: "where do we start?"

Alex pointed to the first picture of a man with Eli's eyes and Alex's smile. "That is my dad. His name is Christoph Bennet and he is the Beta for the pack. He has been acting as Alpha until you came of age. You should know Vi that when you get back he will support you and guide you. When you feel you are ready, he will offer to step down so you can choose your own beta."

Violet looked at Alex in surprise "You mean he doesn't stay Beta with me?"

"Only if you choose him. He has been beta for a long time Vi, it won't hurt him if he is retired." Alex said simply. "This is Charles. He is third in command and just like my dad may be replaced when you feel ready." Violet nodded. "This group of older men are our pack elders. They oversee ceremonies and rituals making sure we do not stray too far from pack tradition."

Violet interjected "Are they all men? Why are there no women as elders?"

"Umm, elders are elected every four years in our pack. Each elder selects someone they believe will do the job correctly, then the Alpha picks one, and there is a random lottery for the last choice, any pack member over 55 years old is in the lottery. The pack then votes for the best 5 candidates. I have never seen a woman candidate, but you are Alpha, you can change that in a few years." Alex explains.

Violets' eyes looked around the table and landed on a picture of her parents. "That's my mom and my dad." She said softly.

"Yep and the man behind them is your grandfather James. This is when your mom was named Alpha and your dad became the very first Lunar of our pack."

"What's a Lunar?" Violet asked.

Cora is the one who replied to that, "A luna is the mate to a male Alpha similar to a queen. So a Lunar is a male version. Of course, I didn't know there was such a thing."

"Our pack didn't either. Your mother was the first female Alpha in the Northwest. We later found out there had only been one other in 1937 on the East coast. They say female Alpha's bring good luck to whichever pack they lead." Alex informed them.

"I read about females born from Alpha's being very special and very rare. Is that true?" Cora asked

"Yes actually. Only one daughter may be born at any time by an Alpha. So the fact that Violet was born of a female Alpha is very auspicious and many believe she will lead her pack to greatness. Alex looked over at Violet.

"Lucky me." Violet said with a look of disbelief in her eyes.