Carnal

Chapter Thirty-Three - Birthright

"Cain!"

He kept his eyes forward, focused on unscrewing the nail from the piece of machinery in his hands.

"Cain! Look!"

Finally, his curiosity got the better of him. Cain looked up from his place on the wet ground under the tree to see Jacob swinging from the branches above him.

"You're going to fall again and Mom's going to be mad at you," Cain said, unamused.

The little boy leapt between branches, letting his seven-year-old body cling to a large limb.

"Why do you always care what Mom thinks?"

Cain turned his attention back to the small device, a coffee grinder with a broken hand-crank. His father had given it to him to fix.

"Cain!"

He looked up again to see Jacob staring at him intently from upside down.

"Please climb the tree. Why don't you ever play with me?"

"Playing is for kids," Cain muttered, despite only being eleven years old himself.

"C'mon," Jacob begged. "You never play with me. Just this once?"

"You said that last time."

His gaze returned to his hands as he unscrewed the handle from its hold.

Cain continued to disassemble the hand-crank as Jacob groaned and continued to amuse himself by pestering his older brother.

"If you beat me to the top of the tree, I'll let you be the Alpha."

Cain rolled his eyes.

"I'm already going to be the Alpha."

"That's not what Dad said."

Cain looked up to see his brother smiling smugly.

"Dad said that whenever I get big, he's going to let me be Beta and then he will let me be Alpha whenever I'm ready," Jacob bragged.

"No," Cain said, feeling his bottom lip begin to quiver. "I'm supposed to be Alpha. I'm the oldest."

"You're not like us though. Dad said that only a Lycanthrope can be an Alpha."

"But I'm half Lycanthrope!" Cain argued, standing to his feet.

"Doesn't matter," Jacob teased.

Cain stomped his foot.

"Fine, I'll race you to the top. But if I win, you have to tell Dad that I am going to be Alpha."

Jacob smiled.

"Deal. Ready, set, go!"

"Not fair!" Cain yelled. "You have to start from the bottom!"

He groaned as he watched Jacob begin to scale the tree from where he hung, leaving Cain with about fifteen feet of a disadvantage.

Cain quickly grabbed the lowest branch, having memorized the fastest way to the top of the tree.

He caught up with Jacob in no time, soon leaving the younger brother behind to eat the leaves that fell in his wake.

Cain reached the top several moments before Jacob did, finally reaching out to help pull him up as he tried to catch his breath. 

"That's not fair!" Jacob whined. "You have shoes on."

"You didn't say that I couldn't."

Jacob crossed his arms and began to pout.

"I won so you have to tell Dad that I'm going to be Alpha," Cain said.