Quinn
I watched as dad picked up his call. We all listened to his one-sided conversation with the other person on the line, out cutleries paused in mid-air. after a while, dad dropped his phone and sighed.
“Who was that?” Jack asked.
“One of the elders.” Dad replied. “He said one of the pack members was assaulted by some members of the other packs and he wants us to fight.”
Mia gasped. “You can’t fight our battle.”
“What is a pack?” Vanessa asked.
We all looked at one another at her question and knew that we had messed up. I wondered if dad had forgotten that she was at the table with us. There was no way that she was not eventually going to find out about our secret if we continued to be careless of our words.
I leaned back and grimaced, thinking of how we were going to get out of this. She was looking at us and I knew that she was waiting for an answer.
I looked at my brothers to come up with something quick as my brain was blank and dad seemed ruffled by the question his wife had asked to come up with anything as excuse to save his ass from getting frayed. I wondered if now was the time for our secret to be opened. I must confess that I was curious to know how she would react if she knew what we were. Would she call us monsters or remember that we have been men who have been with her for months and never hurt her?
If she would react badly and think that we were monsters, I didn’t think I wanted her to know of our secret right now. We were at the table and I didn’t want to start avoiding flying knives and a screaming woman.
I looked at Jack and he shrugged that he had nothing to say. I smirked at him, taunting him of how he would have nothing to say. It was Mia who eventually saved our asses and I was surprised that she did when she was the one who wanted us to reveal the secret to her mum. It was only one minute from when Vanessa asked the question to when Mia answered her but it felt like eternity. I didn’t think I was able to breathe well as my heart thumped like crazy then.
“Those are the terms that they call themselves now in the military. Instead of saying soldiers and divisions, they choose to say packs. You know Albert is retired, that is why the boys are reminding him that he can’t fight the enemy packs.”
Vanessa nodded, giving her daughter a brief smile. “Oh! Now I get it. Thanks for ei, darling.” She chuckled. “I feel so silly. I can’t believe that I’m married to a retired soldier and have three officers as sons and don’t know of all these trends.”
Dad smiled at her, reached out and fondled her hand. “It’s okay, darling. You don’t have to feel bad about that. It was the boys who taught me of that too. I didn’t know of it and I guess that I got carried away with what I was taught.”
She smiled at him. “I have to learn too, I guess.” She turned to us. “You have to teach me as well, boys.”
I smiled at her. “No problem, Vee.”
She nodded and smiled at us. Dad looked at us, giving us a meaningful stare and we nodded that we had understood him. We would be having that conversation later in his study.
***
The elders of the pack were around and were all seated on the chairs in dad’s study. The atmosphere was thick with tension and everyone was clogged with an unholy presence. We weren’t expecting the elders. They had only called dad on phone to inform him about the problem that was going on with the other members of the pack but hadn’t told him that they would be coming home to visit him.
It had been surprising that they were around. They couldn’t even have been patient at all for dad to deliberate on it before coming up. It had been a rush when they came and we had to quickly find how to make them get inside without being seen by Vanessa.
I didn’t think we could ever come with an excuse for why the men were in the house. There was a way the elders of the pack would be around all together that Vanessa wouldn’t suspect that they weren’t human. Werewolves tended to act like wolves when they were together and that would be a disaster for our family if Vanessa saw them and started having questions.
Kehlan, one of the five elders who had come to the house, started and looked at dad. “What do you mean by you can’t go to fight the other pack to save our members?”
Dad sighed. “I mean exactly what I said. I can’t rule the pack for long anymore. I can fight with you as my strength can carry me but I can’t take the lead in any war or confrontation.”
Albus, another elder, narrowed his eyes at dad and sighed. “Is it what I’m thinking of that you are talking of?”
Dad nodded. “Yes, you are right. My wolf is getting weaker.”
Albus stood up. “Let’s test that and see how weak you have gotten so we can know what next to do.”
Albert nodded. I sighed. I knew what was coming up but it didn’t mean that I was comfortable with what was about to happen. It was general custom that if an alpha was getting weak and declining to lead the pack, there were certain tests to be done to confirm if the alpha was truly getting weak or was trying to avoid his responsibility for personal reasons.
Albus moved closer to dad and I winced at what was about to happen, knowing it was going to be painful.
Fredo, another of the elders, glanced at me and noticed that I looked away. He hissed and barked at me. “Why are you looking away, boy? Aren’t you going to be one of the successors to being the alpha of the pack if truly your dad has gotten weak? How do you intend to lead the pack with a weak stomach if you can’t watch a man in pain?”
Jack was annoyed and hissed at Fredo, not one to keep his emotions to himself. “He is not weak and quite capable of leading the pack. You know what you are doing is going to be painful. Do you expect him to be eager to watch his dad in pain?”
I smiled at him, grateful for his defense but I could handle myself. I didn’t have to talk to prove that I was fit to wear the shoes that my dad was about to let go of. The elders were going to be convinced that I was fit to lead the pack when they see me in action. I wished that Mia was around in this meeting. I knew that she would have been the first to come to my defense in this meeting but she couldn’t be around. We didn’t tell the elders yet that we had turned a human into a wolf and their arrival had been sudden and it was for another serious issue, we couldn’t afford to bring Mia into the meeting and start explaining what she was. It would start a problem that we weren’t ready to finish. I knew that she wouldn’t like how she wasn’t part of what was going on here but we had to make her understand that she couldn’t show up as a wolf anywhere near the other werewolves until she was accepted into the pack.
We had promised that we would tell her of whatever happened in the meeting and she had finally stopped pouting. Even though, I was sure that she would be eager for us to be done with the meeting so she could know what had gone on in dad’s study.
Fredo narrowed his eyes at him. “Are you trying to be rude to me, boy?”
Kehlan nodded and waved at Fredo to be calm. “The boy is right though. You can’t expect him to be eager to watch his father in pain even if he wants to prove to us that he is suitable to be the next alpha of the pack. As much as we want a strong alpha, we also want one who is considerate. I believe those two traits make a good leader.”
I bowed slightly to him, thanking him for what he did. He didn’t have to come to my defense but I was glad that he did.
Fredo snorted. “What else would you say? You’ve always had a soft spot for the boy.”
“And we all know that you have a soft spot for Tyrex.” Kehlan smiled.
Albus chuckled and turned from where he stood before dad. “Are we going to have the test for the alpha or stay here bickering? No one is going to be the next alpha out of the boys that you both like if we don’t decide that the old alpha is meant to retire from his position.”
Dad looked at Albus as he moved closer to dad. “Stretch out your hand.”
Dad nodded and stretched out his hand. “Make it painless please. I have a human wife who would panic and wonder what is going on in here if she hears me scream.”
Albus nodded but had a naughty smile on his face. “You should try not to scream too much.”
Dad shook his head at him. “Don’t be mean.”
Fredo glanced at John. “Maybe you should cover your father’s mouth so that he doesn’t scream out loud.”
Dad snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous. I can hold my scream in.”
There was no warning from Albus and he suddenly pulled hard on dad’s hand, breaking the bones into two. Dad almost screamed before he caught himself.
Kehlan and Albus looked at each other and smiled. I shook my head at them and smiled. They were dad’s old friends and it was amusing to me that they were still as naughty as they were when they were kids.
Dad held his scream in and I was amazed that he could hold his scream in. That must have been painful. That was painful than I had thought that it would be. We had all heard the loud pop of the break of bones. It was a wonder that he wasn’t screaming louder than that.
Albus moved back and we all watched, waiting for when dad’s hand would heal up. He seemed to be in pain but he was enduring it. I sighed and looked away, not caring of what the others were going to say. I didn’t care if Fredo taunted me about having a weak stomach and not fit to lead the pack. I wondered if that was what I was also going to endure years after becoming the alpha and later going to hand over to another alpha. Dad’s hand finally healed and he could move it. I heaved a sigh of relief, glad that the ordeal was over for him. Albus checked his time and sighed. He turned to the elders and the rest of us with a dramatic flair.
“He is truly getting old and too weak to lead the pack. His wounds healed for five minutes and that was slow. He should have healed for two minutes. One who wouldn’t heal as easily isn’t able to lead the pack in a fight. He would bleed to death if he leads and fights in a war and gets injured.”
Kehlan sighed. “It’s time to pick a new leader.”
“It’s time.” The other sighed.
My heart sank as I heard those words. I had been preparing for this day all my life but still, I couldn’t help the fear that ran through my life as I thought of what lay ahead of me. My life, as I knew it, was about to change.