Stronger than Fate

by Dakila Reed

  They weren't expecting it, but it was SA Randon Vera himself who poked his head out of the room's door. His serious face took on a much approachable look upon seeing the inseparable trio.

  "You guys can come in but stay quiet. Baby's asleep."

  Although eager, James and Jules waited for Rustom to enter first on their own accord. Rustom smiled at his father who was the best father in the world but the strictest man he ever knew outside of their home.

  When they entered, Doctor Francis nodded at them encouragingly. He was a man in his sixties. He'd always been there as far as Rustom could remember. The old man with his white coat gestured for the kids to go closer. Rustom peered down at the baby cradle. Plump and pink cheeks greeted them. The baby’s lips were mindlessly doing a sucking motion, as if it was drinking milk in its dreams.

  "So I heard that you guys found this baby. That's really admirable for you guys to be so caring."

  “Is he okay?” Rustom asked right away.

  The doctor started massaging his chin smothered with white beard. “He was very hungry and dehydrated. But he’s okay now.”

  Jules and James smiled, all looking so smitten by the bundle that yesterday was so dirty and neglected. Rustom though was having a slight feeling of dread. He didn't want to hear the baby being dropped to some orphanage.

  "Grandma Felice agreed to take care of him," Supreme Alpha Randon announced with a grin. He knew his son's worries after all. "She says she's old and lonely in that large house of hers. Taking care of the baby would be her pleasure."

  "Seriously?" Rustom beamed. Grandma Felice had no children of her own and their growing pack considered her their grandmother with no doubt. He then glanced at the baby, feeling relieved beyond words could describe. "That's so cool."

  "How old is the baby Doctor Francis?" Jules asked. "He's so tiny. He couldn't be a year old."

  The doctor snorted a laugh. "Our baby here is at least a year old. He's tiny because omegas usually are compared to betas and more so with alphas."

  Jules showed disbelief. He was sure the baby couldn't be five months old.

  James stood closer to the cradle and picked up a blue squishy ball. "Alpha Randon, do you know where this baby came from? Dad won't tell me."

  The supreme alpha shook his head, muttering under his breath. Doctor Francis shrugged giving the supreme alpha a helpless look.

  "God, these kids have always too many questions." Alpha Randon crossed his arms over his chest and looked back at the still asleep baby. His voice was quiet when he spoke. "According to Beta Alton, your dad, and to the deductions of the enforcers we sent to check things, this baby here might have been from Jaleson Pack twenty miles away from the most outer borders of Sierra Nadre."

  James made a sounding gasp, clasping his hand over his mouth. Sure he didn't wake up the baby, he continued. "Jaleson Pack is that one that got wiped out by thunder three days ago right?"

  "How can a shifter pack get wiped by a thunder?" Jules whispered.

  The leading alpha in the room sighed, his hard eyes gaining a tinge of grief in them. "Jaleson pack is a very small pack of ten members. Their cabin on top of their mountain territory burned when a lightning struck. The rain that night didn't help put it down. And a land slide came on top of that. Suffice to say, it just had been one tragic event. Specially since they were in the final processes of joining our district. It saddens me that has to happen.” The alpha sighed. “We helped into the rescue operations if you could remember? We never really knew a baby would survive. Jaleson Pack's Alpha was known to be friends with many natural wolves. Glad one of those wolves took the baby and ran for their lives before they got buried alive."

  Rustom threw his brown-golden gaze at the baby. This baby was one lucky creature.

  "Rustom," Alpha Randon called. Not with his voice as a father, but with the voice of an alpha making a command. "You found the baby. We're taking him in officially as a member of our pack and in turn of our district. What shall we call him?"

  Jules' and James' eyes nearly jutted out of their sockets. Rustom was not less than surprised. He nearly toppled over at the question. That was too much for a seven-year-old like him.

  "What?"

  "Give the baby a name,” the man once more urged.

  The doctor along with the two young betas turned to Rustom expectantly. He felt his hands slightly sweating. You don’t name someone without being a part of that person for the rest of your life.

  Rustom reached for the wooden cradle. He stared at the baby's face slowly crunching into waking up. Instead of crying like most babies do, this one held Rustom's gaze with those blue crystalline eyes much longer before gurgling in delight.

  Rustom looked back up at his father waiting for him. Then he answered.

  "Skye. Let’s call him Skye."

  The bottle of hair dye was all ready. The model on its sticker looked gorgeous in blond hair, totally a head turning piece of work. Over the model's pale skin and pale green eyes, the color set the young male model off almost ethereally. This was the look Skye was going for.

  He drew a breath then dragged his gaze off the tube, comb, and towel on the beige tiled counter near the sink and looked at the mirror. The man who he saw staring back at him had a rueful smile. He lifted a hand and ran his fingers along his thick black hair, currently sticking up in all messy directions. He had the pale skin going on. The blue eyes, well he couldn't make it green, not even with contacts as his eyes were terribly sensitive.

  "At least I can do something about the hair, right?" he asked the man in the mirror and he saw his own eyes twitch. If the mirror could talk back, it would tell him he was awfully desperate.

  "You're seriously changing yourself for him?"

  Skye frowned. He really didn't need James' words right now. But the more he tried shucking it behind, the louder those words came murmuring in his ears like a mocking chant. If James wasn't a district's official beta and a friend, he would have jutted the man's eyeballs for pestering him all the time.

  "Seriously? Skye?" James' words floated in the air inside his bathroom as though the man was actually beside him.

  He really shouldn't have brought the nosy beta while he was shopping for his groceries yesterday. The guy hovered behind him, eyeing him as he tossed in a number of hair dye bottles into his basket.

  "Who said I'm changing myself?" was his reply before turning away to get hair conditioners on the other side. "I'm trying to get him notice me more than as a best friend and more than as that convenient fake mate during gatherings. Once he notices me and I have all his attention, slowly then I will show who I really am. That's the strategy. Otherwise, nothing will change."

  James snickered. "Wow. Tell me again who's the beta here. Besides, you're allergic to goddamn suppressants. How the hell are you going to be okay with hair dye chemicals?"

  Skye picked one bottle with his free hand and shoved it right into the man's nose. "This is just temporary. It would stay maybe a week max. Made out of pure natural ingredients. Trust me."

  The other just shook his head. "You? With blond hair? Pfft."

  "Shut up James. Just shut up," Skye muttered loudly. His voice echoed back to him in his small bathroom.

  He picked the clear disposable plastic gloves he prepared earlier and put them on his hands. Next, he grabbed the dye tube, uncapped it and squirted a good amount on his left palm. To its credit, it didn't really give off any unwanted scent. He rubbed his palms together and once satisfied with the gooey mess of red-orange, he looked back at the mirror.

  "Okay. Here to blond."

  In truth, an omega in his position, obviously favored and cared for by the supreme alpha, he should be bouncing and rolling on his belly with delight. He was the best friend, no doubt about that. He was the buddy too, always there to join in on the fun of the admired circle of Rustom's district officers. And on top of that, the most important thing was that he was the lover. A matter so vague in many descriptions as the role only arises when
there were social gatherings. He was the co-actor of the alpha who so was tired of getting a whole parade of unclaimed omegas.

  It was the best moments of his life though. His hand in his alpha's. The teasing brushing of his alpha's lips on his temples when everyone would be looking. The assuring large hand at the small of his back, subtle but nonetheless obvious way of showing the alpha had a prospect mate already in his arms. Fake these things might be. An act nothing more than a play set up by Supreme Alpha Rustom himself, but Skye could see all of it as his future reality.

  When his timer shocked the life out of him, the overhead light of his bathroom was already overpowered by the sunshine coming in through the small frosted window beside the exhaust fan. He was sprawled inside the small empty tub, aching from falling asleep for two hours in there. To be fair he just followed the hair dye directions. Let the product seep in to his hair for two hours, it said. That was what he did. But maybe he went overboard when he saw the first few strands after he took the towel he used to cover his head.

  Skye groaned at the sight. He scrambled to shake himself off of utter annoyance, took a shower, grabbed a bit of breakfast and off he headed to his job. Whatever was going on with his hair, he had to carry it with confidence and pride. Even when all he wanted was to tear things out and maybe shave his head.

  He half-walked half-jogged the nursery two blocks from his small house. He was working there as a teacher not too long ago after getting his license for child care. The side walk was still quiet, dews from the spring fog sparkling from the sunlight they reflected.

  Turning left, passing a still closed gift shop, a cobble stoned residential house emerged in sight. It used to be Grandma Felice's home. The elderly woman who took him in and cared for him when he was still a pup. When she passed away four years ago, Skye turned in the property for public use which coincided into Beta James' proposal of building another district nursery. The aim was to help single parent shifters, or busy working couple shifters into looking after their pups while they earn their living.

  As of the moment they were taking care of ten infants ages nine to thirteen months old. They also have twenty pups ages ranging from two to four. As much as they were a bunch of headache, they were a pleasure too. And Skye loved them all dearly.

  He pushed open the wrought iron gate with bright plastic flowers and animal prints attached to them. The massive porch served a great area for parents waiting or for the pups looking over the road for their parents after nursery time.

  The first floor had been renovated to smaller classrooms and play room while the second floor was where the pups took their afternoon naps. He loved working here. Until three of the male pups eyeing him like he was prey from the gilded doors of the first floor came rushing to him. And when he bent his knees for the usual hug as a morning greeting, everyone was yanking on his new lifeless blond hair. His hair which so looked fake, paler than a sun-dried straw.

  "Ow, oww pupsies you're yanking too hard," Skye protested.

  "Teacher Skye's hair looks like a dry rope," one pup exclaimed. With all his small frame, he clutched at Skye's hair with a painful grip. Alpha babies.

  "No. He looks like a scarecrow without a hat!" another butted in.

  It took Skye a lot to free himself from the little skitters. He gently ushered them back inside the playroom. The large mirror at the very entrance showed Skye the obvious reason why those pups were making fun of him.

  He scowled at his image and instead just went on fixing his name tag that got askew from the kids' grabbing.

  He should have gone to a proper hair salon or something.

  Once entering the faculty room, Mandie, a female omega who had the personality of an alpha gaped at him. She was on the act of putting on her work apron and stopped midair squinting.

  "Err... uh... you know I can say a lot of things about that thing on your head but right now," she frowned. "I don't know Skye."

  "You don't have to say anything really."

  The door burst open once again, with a vibrant and happy beta who happened to be working in the nursery too when he wasn't needed in the district hall. His grin froze on his face. And then as if on cue, the beta slapped a hand over his mouth. It didn't stop or nearly extinguish the laughter from the man.

  Skye knew he was in for a whole week of cajoling.

  "Holy crap. You really did it!" James finally exclaimed, shell-shocked and obviously having fun at Skye's expense.

  "Yeah I did. Obviously."

  Finishing tying his own apron behind his back, he could still feel James grinning over his cheap blond hair.

  Why the hell is Rustom into blonds anyway? Skye complained deep within him. Damn him.

  * * * *

  The district hall was a deep blue fiber glass, reflecting back the reddish setting sun. The district's white flag of two crisscrossing arrows at the apex of a long thick pole flapped idly with the gentle spring breeze. The district workers, majority of whom were shifters were quietly leaving their building after a tiring day at work.

  Skye bit his bottom lip, clutched the plastic bag he was carrying tighter and headed in.

  No matter how modern the district hall looked outside, the traces of previous supreme alphas’ tastes remained. Two sculpted wolves in stances ready to attack guarded the glass sliding doors. Faint chandeliers still adorned the brown tinted high ceilings, casting warm glow over the floors and walls.

  The two alpha female receptionists behind a dark red wooden counter smiled at Skye the minute they saw him. This was a routine visit he'd been doing since Rustom succeeded as the supreme alpha of Sierra Nadre five years ago.

  Along the busy hall after the entrance, Skye had to pause and pay his respects to one of the three advisers of the pack, Mr Barron. Sierra Nadre had three advisers on top of the district’s council. These men were the previous support system of the previous supreme alpha. And out of the three, Mr Barron was the kind he’d like to have for a father if he’d been given the chance. Said man was in his early fifties, eyes the color of amber. He was a fit graceful man of alpha blood but he didn’t carry the imposing and prickly air like the other two advisers.

  “Skye. It’s nice to see you here.” The older man glanced at the plastic bag Skye was carrying and grinned. “Snack for the SA?”

  Skye nodded feeling his cheeks burn. If Alpha Barron here was his father in real life, he’d be no less than embarrassed.

  “You two remind me of my younger days with Jhoana,” Mr Barron whispered wistfully. His beloved wife passed away five years ago and since then, he never looked for another love. “Anyway, don’t let me hold you up. Have a pleasant evening.”

  Skye bowed at the older man and watched him go through the revolving doors. Once the man was not in sight anymore, Skye turned back to his direction, eager to extend the treat and of course, to see his beloved alpha after a long day.

  He turned to the double doors of intricate carvings. The silver doorplate had the embossed name of their current leader. ‘Rustom Vera’. Skye smirked at the sight, knowing Rustom hated all the flashiness in the entire building.

  The task of being the leader of a district with multiple packs and growing still was much harder than anticipated. Shifter districts were not really much different from human city hierarchies. Districts have multiple packs with their own leaders, but gone were the times of a pack surviving alone in the mountains in the sweeping modernization that was taking place. Thus, packs come to districts to be under its sovereignty. Pack members submit to their alphas. Pack alphas submit to the district alpha, whom everybody addressed as SA. It was a political, economical and territorial safety measures that have been proven to be best for everyone.

  Rustom embraced the responsibilities with wide confident arms. But if there was one thing the supreme alpha was whining about, it was that he couldn't get out to catch up his favorite street vendor and his beloved snack of cheese and ham inside a flattened bread the kids call as 'flying saucer'. Thus Skye's regular after-
work visit.

  Tentatively pushing open the wooden double doors with carvings of vines and leaves, Skye braced himself. He’d been around Rustom’s strong scent of fresh sun and wilderness since he developed consciousness. But it didn’t mean he was able to get used to it. Every time he’d be hit by it like a tidal wave before engulfing him whole.

  Rustom was buried with a lot of paper work as expected. The man looked exhausted, with his thick brows meeting in a frown, the supreme alpha must be dealing with something gruesome as budget allocation. If there was one thing though, Rustom was still enigmatic in his dark blue suit. Tired or not, his honey skin glowing with strength and his wide-set shoulders would tell the whole world he was a supreme alpha of a well established district.

  “Finally,” the alpha sighed without even looking at his visitor. He quickly slashed his signature to a document and raised his gaze towards the direction of the door. “Skye with my flying saucers thank God—”

  Sky covered the distance from the door to Rustom’s full but neat desk. He dropped the plastic on the table, mustering a scowl on his burning face. He wanted to get noticed. Not get laughed at. But obviously, Rustom was being on the latter side.

  "What the hell did you do to your hair?" Rustom opened. His eyes wide, his mouth twitching for the laughter that would soon ensue.

  "Wanted to try a different look. Bastard don't laugh."

  But laughing Rustom did. The loud booming kind everyone in the hall could probably hear. "You look like a walking light bulb Skye!"

  "Shut up."

  "James texted me you have some explosives up your sleeve today,” the alpha continued, brushing the short dark brown strands off his eyes as his shoulders continued to shake. “But I didn't expect it on your head!"