Sage
Last night we could have filled a lake with the pack’s tears. This morning it isn’t about our heartbreak, but about preparing the boy we all love to remain calm about the change in his situation.
Andrei pulls every pack member from duty so they can spend it with Jonah, knowing not one person wants to leave his side. So instead, we play, and eat like every other day. Our attempts to make everything remain normal are heart-breaking for us, knowing tomorrow we wake up and that piece of him that has become routine will be gone until we can bring him home again.
Clive was due to pick him up an hour ago and is running late. I hope he never shows up and drops off the face of the earth so we can keep Jonah. He doesn’t deserve him; he doesn’t know him. We only have had him for a short time, and no amount of time would be long enough in my eyes. But in that short time, we already got to know him. We know what his favorite cereal is, and his favorite bedtime story. He enjoys climbing trees and painting rocks.
Jonah is more excited about a cardboard box and what he could do with it than any toy the pack tries to give him. He is adventurous and cheeky and knows how to push everyone’s buttons, push them to the edge of their sanity, and bring them back with one giggle and a smile. He loves campfires, and his eyes will light up just from having your undivided attention.
This makes me realize that even when he had a family, he got little attention because they were always on the move. But, we are all familiar with it because we were all rogues – turned family – turned pack.
Everyone is on edge and alert, waiting to see the man we are being forced to trust with him. How anyone could put a child with a man like him is beyond us.
Andrei’s lawyers tried everything, and they couldn’t make sense of it. Andrei’s lawyer even knocked on a judge’s door in the middle of the night to beg him to reconsider. But unfortunately, the judge was unwilling to help, making us think someone is pulling strings because, who in their right mind, would agree for an abusive piece of shit like Clive to have rights to a six-year-old boy. And now we only had one other option to try before Kat petitions to have the laws changed.
I stand up, looking down at Jonah drawing with a stick in the dirt before he will rub the picture out and will draw another. He smiles at me, though it isn’t as big and bright as usual, his eyes convey a different message. He is scared and doesn’t want to go, yet he smiles anyway because that is what Jonah does.
“I will be back in a minute,” I tell him, and he nods, going back to drawing in the dirt. I walk over to Andrei. He has two duffle bags, and he drops them next to the log around the campfire, looking over the documents in his hands.
As I stop beside him I instantly notice that he looks over at me with a troubled expression. He is nervous and scared like everyone else is.
“That’s everything from the safes. I can get more, but we would have to go into the city.” He mutters.
“Alpha!” Zane calls out while jogging over with another bag in his hand.
“Here, take it. It’s all I could find around the house, but there are around ten thousand in there,” Zane says, dropping his brown paper bag into a duffle bag when I look over to see the entire pack heading toward us.
Everyone empties their pockets and their savings to drop them into the bags. Zane counts, takes notes of everything and calculates. Andrei tries to tell them no, but they refuse to listen, dropping everything they have, and with what Andrei pulled from the safe, there is nearly four hundred thousand there.
“Also, Alpha, I need to speak to you later on,” Zane tells him, and Andrei nods his head.
“Already?” Andrei asks.
“Yes, I can smell it on her. It won’t be much longer,” Zane tells him.
“I will handle it when we are done here,” Andrei tells him, and Zane nods, looking thankful for something as he glances around at the pack nervously.
Casen brings Jonah over on his shoulders while Malik and Zane zip up the bags from his view. Andrei reaches over to pluck Jonah from Casen and kisses his cheek when a car suddenly pulls up, screeching to a stop and throwing dirt and dust everywhere.
The speakers in the car are blaring, and the bass is way too high. Andrei is instantly pissed off just at his disrespect for how he turned up flicking dirt and rocks on everyone. One of his car’s rear windows is smashed, and the man inside smirks at us. Andrei places Jonah on the ground, and I pull him behind me. Derrick walks over to speak to the man.
“Grab the other one,” Andrei says to me, and I lean down, grabbing the duffle. Malik instantly takes Jonah and walks away over to the willow tree with him while I follow Andrei. The man still hadn’t gotten out of the car. Instead, he is speaking on the phone to someone.
“Give me five minutes first. I think they want to talk. Just follow the road that leads straight to this shit hole,” I hear him say and look over at Andrei, who looks on the verge of exploding until his father squeezes his arm. Who is he speaking to, and why are they coming here?
The man gets out of the little Daihatsu charade, trash spilling out the door onto the ground. The man isn’t huge for a werewolf, and he smells heavily of cigarette smoke and body odor. He is wearing a flannel shirt that is left open, with a filthy tank top underneath. His entire body appears to be covered in tattoos from the neck down. He also has a pair of black cargo pants on and muddy boots. His greasy hair lays flat against his head. He gives me the creeps.
“Who did you just invite to my pack lands?” Andrei asks, and I know he is trying hard to keep his voice controlled, even though I can tell he wants to kill the man.
“Just my assurance,” he retorts.
A growl escapes Andrei, and he takes a step forward. “Assurance of what?” Andrei asks.
“That I leave here alive. I was warned you had grown rather attached to my nephew Jonny.”
“Jonah,” Andrei growls.
“Yeah, that’s it now. Where is the brat? Hand him over,” Clive says, looking around us, but I step in his path, blocking the view of Jonah.
He smirks, and his eyes look me over. “The rogue Luna I heard about, I heard rumors of you too, heard you lay on your back for anyone. It must suck terribly, Alpha, having a used up whore for a Luna,” Clive says, and Andrei launches at him. I grip his arm, and Derrick steps in front of Andrei, blocking him.