The Alpha King Brother’s

I sat outside of my back door staring out into nature, I have always had a connection to nature ever since I was little. Whenever a tricky situation would appear in my life, I would take a walk and in doing so, I would recognise the options which I had to make the situation less difficult in my mind.

The sun was slowly beginning to set as I gazed over the horizon, there have been many times I have dreamt of what may be waiting for me just over the hills of our town. But I would constantly be warned of the many legends which surround that region. The founders of our town told stories of terrifying beasts they encountered, this cementing the unspoken rule to never trek up those mountains.

My father taking a seat beside me breaks me from my thoughts, he still held his fishing rods in his hands smiling over at me. My father could be described as an outdoorsman, he would prefer if he could spend all of his days out in the wilderness creating adventures, which must be where I get my love of nature from.

“Did you manage to catch anything?” I ask looking over at him, he sighs placing the rods on the floor beside us as he also looked out into the horizon with me.

“Not many would bite, the ones which did weren’t big enough to make any profit.” He says sounding stressed over the situation, my father is a fisherman by trade and makes his money selling what he catches to the towns people, but lately he hasn’t been having much luck catching the fish.

“Don’t worry, they’ll start biting once again soon enough.” I smile nudging him in attempts to make him feel better, but the look of worry still sat on his face as he avoids my gaze.

“That’s not something you my sweet little Rose, need to worry about, so tell me what you’ve been up to?” He smiles attempting to change the subject, I shrug my shoulders looking back towards the horizon.

“Busy at work most of the day, which is why I’ve came out here to sit in nature to relax. I was just thinking how great it would be if I could see what was behind those hills.” I say my eyes drifting to the hills in question, my father shakes his head retrieving his rods from the floor to stand.

“But you also know how doing that very thing is dangerous and is against the towns rules.” He tells me opening up the back door and walking in, but he and I both knew that wasn’t really a rule.

“You know that isn’t really a rule, it’s just a mutual agreement between each towns person to not head up the mountain. But I don’t remember agreeing to that.” I say following him into the house where he dumps his things on the counter, he had heard this speech from me so many times in the past.

“But I also know how dangerous going beyond those mountains is said to be, something I’m not prepared to let my daughter wonder into.” He says beginning to put his things away, while I stood with my arms crossed over my chest.

“Oh, come on, you don’t really believe the whole terrifying beasts' story do you, that story was only created to stop the towns people leaving the town and taking their money with them!” I say shaking my head at the thought of people actually believing it, the story seems so fictional every time I hear it. “And that happened what 500 years ago, maybe what the towns people thought was a beast was something we have become accustomed to and isn’t scary at all!” I say throwing that theory into the mix, but before my father could tell me his opinion, we hear the front door opening.

“I’m home family!” Griffin’s voice rings through the house as his footsteps get closer, before too long, he was stood in the kitchen smiling at us.

Griffin and I have been best friends for ten years now, he moved here to live with his uncle which is our neighbour. He and I clicked almost immediately and have been inseparable ever since, he’s been my rock for many years.

“Great you’re here Griffin, would you please inform Rose why trekking up the south mountains is a horrible idea.” My dad says now bringing Griffin into this, who laughs at the conversation I have had so many times about this same topic.

“From what I’ve heard it’s a terrifying place, you never know what you may walk yourself into.” He smiles knowing exactly what to do to have my dad agree with him but me to shake my head, he does this a lot.

“See Rose, two against one.” My dad smiles smugly before walking out of the kitchen to put his things away, while my eyes go to Griffin with an annoyed expression as he jumps on the counter.

“Why do you enjoy taking his side?” I ask crossing my arms at him this time, which only results in him laughing even harder at me.

“I enjoy seeing that angry expression on your face.” He smiles taking an apple from the apple bowl, while I roll my eyes at his response. “Why are you so obsessed with the idea of trekking those mountains anyway?” He asks taking his first bite from the apple, which was the biggest question for me.

“Because I want some adventure, this town never seems to change at all! We’re all going about our normal day to day lives, nothing changing for even a second! I want to go out into the world and see what it has to offer, I can’t be one of those townspeople who never leave and accept the same routines day in and day out!” I exclaim throwing my arms in the air to make a point, he once again laughs whilst watching me pace around the kitchen.

“Then why don’t we finally go on that trip we’ve been planning; we have been friends for what ten years now and always spoke about this trip, nothing is holding us back now!” He says jumping down from the counter, seeming like he was joining me on my madness.

“A father that doesn’t want me to experience anything new in life in case it’s too dangerous.” I sigh wanting nothing more than to go on this trip with Griffin, but my father wouldn’t agree to me leaving this precious tiny town.

“Your dad trusts me; he knows I’ll take such good care of his sweet little Rose.” He says putting on the annoying accent which he does whilst calling me the nickname my father does, I roll my eyes pushing at his chest for a second time. “So, what do you say Rose, if you’re serious about this whole adventure idea, take the first step and agree to plunge in the deep end with me!” He exclaims holding out his hand for me, I turn to look at him the smile which danced on my lips wouldn’t budge.

“If my dad agrees, let’s do it!” I smile taking his hand causing to cheer and take me in his arms spinning, little giggles leave my lips as he does so.

“You’ll see Rose, tomorrow will be the first day to the rest of your life!” He cheers building me up as he went, I once again roll my eyes at his comment.

But we didn’t realise, he was definitely right.

Griffin had to leave a short while after our initial conversation, but the time which we did have was filled with exciting ideas of our incoming adventure! Griffin was correct in what he was saying, ever since we first met and he told me snippets of the place he was born, I wanted nothing more than to see it for myself. He promised as soon as we were old enough and, in a situation, where it was possible, he would take me to see the world! The only issue I saw remaining was my father, he is super protective and would hate the idea of me being somewhere which isn’t this snotty town, but he neglects to realise how impactful this would be for my life!

I had just finished my dinner and was heading upstairs towards my bedroom, when I begin to hear booming voices from outside. I listen a little closer and recognise one of the voices to be Griffin, his uncle's voice soon also registering in my head. His uncle called him back to the house while he was here, Griffin seemed to be a little confused but left anyway. Perhaps what his uncle is telling him isn’t something he wants to hear. I open up my bedroom door where due to my window being ajar, their voices were audibly louder and clearer.

“Those people don’t give a shit about me, haven’t you wondered the reasoning for their sudden urge to visit?!” Griffin asks the anger in his voice apparent to me, I sigh walking over to my bed and taking a seat down.

“Of course, they care about you Griffin, why do you think they sent you to come and live with me?” His uncle George asks, but from his comment I knew they were discussing Griffins family.

Griffin doesn’t really speak about his family much; he always explains how distant they were towards him after he became his own person. They would argue constantly, the blame always being placed on Griffin’s shoulders. So, it was no surprise to him when his father sent him away. From what he has told me, they haven’t attempted to reach out to him since moving to his uncle’s, until now apparently.

“Because I wouldn’t play along with their fucked ideas about family, they are free to come and visit you tomorrow, I don’t know if I’ll be there though.” Griffin shouts in response while his uncle continues to shout his name, due to this I knew what was going to happen next.

A few short seconds pass before hands take hold of my windowsill, I smile watching as the window is opened wider and Griffin begins to climb through.

“You doing okay?” I ask with a tiny smile; I suspect he knew I had heard most of the conversation he had with his uncle.

He sighs closing the window behind him before walking over to lay beside me on my bed, his face expression alone telling me how lost in his thoughts he truly was. I take my hand and begin to run it through his hair in hopes it would help him calm down, Griffin doesn’t react like this much, so I knew it was more serious.

“I can’t shake this bad feeling Rose, my family haven’t reached out even a single time since I moved in with George, why are they all of a sudden planning to visit?” He asks sounding defeated in a sense; I sigh continuing to run my hand through his hair.

“Perhaps the visit isn’t anything negative, what if they have had time to reflect and can now see the way in which they treated you was awful. Maybe they’re using this visit to make amends.” I say suggesting a different point of view, but when he shakes his head at me, it told me he wasn’t agreeing with what I thought.

“You don’t know my family Rose, they aren’t the type to sit and reflect and if they do, they will never take the blame and see their actions were wrong. Which is the reason I was sent away in the first place; they didn’t want to deal with the repercussions of their actions towards me.” He says growing angrier as he spoke, I could see past his anger and see his feelings were hurt, people that sent him away all of those years ago now magically, appearing out of nowhere.

“Let’s not think about the negatives, due to them sending you away to live with George, we were able to meet.” I smile looking down at him, he looks up at me a smile on his lips too.

“That’s the only good thing which came from this situation, meeting you is what changed me from what they created me into, I’m worried when I see them again, I’ll slip back into it.” He sighs thinking about how he was when he first moved here, he was rather reckless and didn’t really care for other feelings, but I’m glad he’s nothing like that anymore. “I’m sorry Rose, now my family are coming we’ll have to put our trip on hold again.” He sighs feeling bad all over again, but I shake my head laying down, so I was right beside him.

“Don’t feel bad, the longer the adventure is held off the more exciting and special it will be. You just need to get through this family visit, and we’ll be sailing.” I smile turning to face him where his arm wraps around me for a hug, my head laying on his chest.

“I don’t know what I would do without you Rose, whatever changes in this meeting with my family, I know I’ll have you backing me up.” He smiles holding me so tightly as he spoke, what he said was true, this visit would be life changing.

But not only for him.