A Tale of Two Opposites (Stryders #3)

Chapter 1- WEST

I am going to die today.

How was I going to die today exactly? By my parents. 

Punctuality was not my strong suite. Everyone around me always had to remind me to do something, go somewhere. When my parents reminded me that's it's been a long time since I've visited the pack, I decided to have a dinner date with them. Driving from werewolf academy- a private institution that the majority of Alphas agreed upon- to my pack was at least 5 hours. 

My friends had no problem reminding me how late I am. Stopping at a red light, I look at my phone and the text messages. 

Your parents are going to kill you. Theo, joyful Theo, sent me the text on our groupchat.

Deffo your mom. Abby, delightful Abby, wanted to add this on our groupchat.

I made a face, taking a selfie of myself holding flowers while typing: you think this will get some bonus points?

Because, let's face it, my mom would have no trouble kicking my butt for being 30 minutes late. Tracker wolves in my pack came just near me to know who I was, the son of the Alpha so they dismissed me as I walked towards my home.

As I opened the door, inhaling the savory scent of whatever my mom is cooking up, yelled out, "Your favorite son is here!"

Mom walks out of the kitchen, spatula in hand and squints, placing her hand on her forehead searching the house. "I don't see Wyatt here."

"I know I'm your favorite," I walked towards her, picking her up in a bone crushing hug where she laughed. Even though she always thinks I don't, I missed her and Dad too much. Being in school sucked being so far away from home. Especially since I had summer classes and school was about to start again.

Grinning down at her, I handed her flowers. Three bouquet worth of roses of all colors. Sure, she wouldn't give Dad the time of day if he gave her flowers, but if one of her sons did it? She'll melt.

"Don't think we weren't waiting," Mom said, but taking the flowers and smiling at me.

"Don't let her fool you, she burnt the first batch of bread so she was glad you came late." Dad entered the room, throwing a white wash cloth over his shoulder, looking as domesticated as it gets. He's still fine for his age- still tall and built like any Alpha. Ferocious as they come- he is the infamous Demon Alpha after all. The reason why so many other wolves either tried to bully Wyatt and I or stayed clear of us during school. We were the sons of Lance Styder. It would always be one little wolf who would try something with me and my twin. Wyatt wasn't much of a fighter, so I always fought for him. Always beat everyone that tried anything with him. One time, these group of Alphas and Betas thought I was Wyatt so they threw some punches, and that's when I realized Wyatt was getting bullied. But that one day, they chose the wrong person at the wrong lifetime to mess with. As my dad was infamous among the packs, I was infamous during school. I always punched first and didn't care enough to have asked questions later.

Usually, I would always be right to have punched first.

Dad embraced me, patting my back. "You're growing even bigger, West."

"I know," Mom agreed. "We saw Wyatt last week and wondered how tall you'd get."

"Maybe I can finally take Dad on," I joked, but it was a total lie- I wouldn't be strong enough for that for a long long time. Dad was only a short few years older than me when he became an Alpha and when I think about it, I know I wouldn't be ready at such a young age Dad was.

Dad raised an eyebrow, "Let's see if you still kept up with your training. Your magic ability improved."

The thing about having parents that both were half witches, all their recessive magic genes went straight to me. Not Wyatt. I don't know if it had something to do when we shared a womb or what, but Wyatt didn't have a single ounce of magic in him and I envied how normal he was as a wolf. Not having to deal with random fire outbursts or trying to control any magic was a blessing. On top of the crap show that is me, I gained my dad's curse. But the thing about having his eyes- it came and went when I was in my wolf form. Which I hardly wanted to be in because it took too much out of me. I'm only slightly better at controlling my wolf as I got older with my dad's help since he knew what it was like too, but having the eyes were a huge gamble. Controlling the volatile beast inside me was still difficult. He usually did as he pleased. But Dad told me to work with him, not fight him. Which is hard since I like fighting everyone.