“How old are you, Curtis?” Dobah asked, quite intrigued at the confidence of the young man.
Not every son would be bold enough to go against his father, and yes it was different for the daughters. He knew his thinking was old fashioned, but that was the truth.
“I am eighteen. Birthday party was a week before Derek’s.” Curtis answered, curious as to why the man was interested in him now.
“Did anything happen at the party? From what I can decipher, you seem besotted with your father. I can see that by the level of shock that clouds your face when a misdoing of his is mentioned. Your sister doesn’t have that. She has long accepted whose side she would be on.”
“Well, I guess the party was where it all changed. As you said earlier, I love my father. Which son wouldn’t? Even though I was uncomfortable with the way he treated Maya sometimes, I still loved him. Then at the party, I noticed that my mother didn’t come for the main party, she stayed back in the room. Actually, she has been reclusive for a while, starting from the time when Maya began spying on this pack. That had been the first pointer.”
Maya sniffed, unable to hide the pangs of longing drawn on her face.
Curtis continued, his face, an inscrutable mask.
“Then during the party, he invited the members from a neighboring pack, the Faugers pack, which he didn’t let me know of. He also tasked us all to wear a particular scent, which he didn’t give to the pack warriors that had been transferred from this pack to ours. Thirdly, he had called me out, and had given me my birthday gift, to get mated with Penny, someone that wasn’t my mate. I had declined the offer, but he insisted, before we had started hearing pained shouts. His attitude had shown me that he had known why and how the shouts had come about. I would discover later that he had planned with Legardo to kill off the members of the pack. The warriors of this pack were included, because they didn’t use the scent that had been shared earlier. Luckily they had been strong enough to hold their forte. Derek had helped me during my transition, he had saved me too from being killed; I hadn’t worn the scent. I didn’t like the smell.”
Signs escaped the mouths of the people in the dining hall.
“But why would Legardo want to kill the members of the Faugers pack?” Blenda inquired, not understanding the killing spree between werewolves. They were of the same species, couldn’t they interrelate like the ancients do. Fighting over lands, and what nots. She shook her head.
“I am not sure. But he had mentioned that he had no choice, just before he turned around and walked away from me that night. So, I don’t know. He never explained what that meant. Maybe when I see him tomorrow…I will try to extract the answer away from him.” Curtis answered.
Dobah nodded his head. “It’s okay, we can trust him. Hopefully, he will return with answers good enough for us.”
**
“Tempest, you are shimmering!!” Ketura shouted, as she beheld the strong mask of Tempest begin to waver. It was time for them to go.
“But there is still a lot we have to hear. They are about to talk about Nathan. I want to know that.” Tempest answered weakly.
Truly she knew that she was supposed to fly away and go and refresh and come back, but the gist of the meeting wasn’t finished. What to do now?
“Tempest, you already know about Nathan, so let’s go. Lets just rehabilitate, then come back. If we are fast enough, we can return in time.” Ketura said, not even trusting her words.
“Or do you prefer to fall to the ground? Yes, Sheila would be happy to see that you are still alive, but wouldn’t that put a dent to your plans? Wouldn’t that alert those who you don’t want to know about your recent shape? We don’t know how much the enemies have infiltrated this pack. For all we know a spy might be located somewhere else, hearing all they have been saying. Think Tempest, you know that I am right. We have to go. You can play catch up with Sheila about Nathan when you finally meet.”
Tempest nodded. Ketura was right. She could see that it was not right to show herself to Sheila. Best that she left.
With that taken, she flapped her wings, and using her remaining strength held up herself and Ketura as they made the flight from the window pane to the sky.
**
The flapping of wings got Blenda’s attention. She looked up, and seeing the birds fly away, mused. They must be tired of watching. She thought, returning her attention to the table, her ears grabbing the question of Melvina.
“So, Sheila, did Nathan see you again after that night? How were you able to hide your pregnancy? And if you had left, who then had taken your place seven years ago when we had divided from Arnold?”
Sheila inhaled deeply. “Well, I am not fat. So I was able to hide it well. The only person that was aware was Tempest, and then Margo-since Tempest must have told her. I left after a month with Tempest to America-she had mentioned that it was better I stayed there. While I was there, she was playing me here in the pack. I think it was Tempest that you had been seeing up until seven years ago.”
Melvina gasped, but then that would explain some things. Sometimes, the Sheila then would disappear for months, one time, even a year plus, and she would give the excuse for sojourning to find her mate. How could she not be able to know her best friend?
“Tempest is very good at shifting, so don’t blame yourself, Melvina.” Sheila continued, having seen the look of unbelief on her friend’s face.
“About Nathab, he visited almost everyday after the party, at night, yet I didn’t tell him that I was pregnant when I found out. Tempest helped me to hide it with magic. Thinking of it now, I was stupid. I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe if I had told him, a lot of things would have been diverted. But I was scared. I had just found out that he was a breed like no other, and I wasn’t sure that his people would accept me, a werewolf.”