Chapter 79
Amie
he following morning, after breakfast, Finlay and I walked over toT Martin’s old house. His mother opened the door and smiled at us.
“Please come in, Alpha and Luna. The others are in the kitchen,” she said.
We joined the rest of the family around the kitchen table. They all looked serious, but relaxed.
“First of all, I want to apologise if we came off as rude yesterday.
Someone pointed out to me that my cautiousness may have made me sound ungrateful. I want to assure you that is not the case,” Kyle started and glanced at his mate. Bridget gave him a proud smile.
“Not necessary. You are trying to keep your family safe and at the same time honouring the vows you have given. It’s a sign of a good character,”
Finlay told him. It was my turn to send a proud smile at my mate.
“Thank you for understanding. We have been talking and although it pains all of us, we reached the conclusion the Alpha’s vow to protect us, his pack, has been broken and therefore we are no longer bound by the vows we gave him. With that being said, we are still not comfortable to share all the pack's secrets with you, but we will share what is happening in the pack which made us leave,” Kyle said. Both Finlay and I nodded.
“Your mother is well, Alpha. As well as anyone can be during the circumstances. She isn’t in any danger,” Bridget said.
“Thank you,” I told her.
“It isn’t a secret the pack has been struggling since the split,” Kyle said.
“The warriors haven’t been happy. They were promised an easy life for
themselves and their families as long as they stayed strong and could protect the pack. They kept their end of the bargain, but Alpha Ryder couldn’t keep his. The lack of non-warriors meant all labour in the pack needed to be done by warriors and their mates. Even warriors who didn’t buy into the whole ‘big and strong’ idea, such as myself, became unhappy. I have watched Brii take on more than her share of tasks because she doesn't let her pride get in the way of what needs to be done. We both feel strongly that in a pack you should work for the best of the pack. If that means scrubbing a toilet or cooking food, that is what you do.” He paused to collect his thoughts.
“Not everyone felt the same. A lot of the warriors’ mates felt they were above such tasks,” Bridget told us.
“Yes, which put more work on those who were willing to do it. In the end everyone was unhappy. We haven’t been able to recruit new members from outside the pack and after the disaster ranking in the games, the pack lost what little hope was left. Alpha Ryder could feel the shift in the pack. He became paranoid and enforced strict rules about who could go where and what they could do. All in an effort to keep the warriors from rebelling,”
Kyle explained. Both Finlay and I nodded, this much we already knew.
“Three days ago there was a summons to a pack meeting. Alpha Ryder told all of us he had a plan for the future. A way to show other packs we were still a strong, healthy pack and at the same time lay the foundation for a better future,” Bridget explained. Then she stopped and looked upset.
Kyle put his arm around her.
“The Alpha told us we needed to grow the pack by having more pups. He banned all forms of contraceptives, he told us it was mandatory for mated couples to track the cycle of the woman to increase the chances of her becoming pregnant. For unmated wolves, women would report when they were at the peak of fertility and the top tier would pair her with a suitable male for the period,” Kyle told us. The look on his face told me how disgusting he found the idea. I was right there with him.
“That is horrible. It reduces women to pup producers,” I said. Finlay put his arm around me, protecting me even though the threat wasn’t to me.
“Yes. I’m not opposed to having pups. In a good and stable pack. But with this I don’t have a say in if I want to have pups or not. I have to agree or be branded a traitor and made rogue,” Bridget agreed.
“We needed to get out of the pack. I’m too old to be included, but for Bridget’s sake. I can’t have my daughter go through something like that, and…” Betty said, but she couldn’t continue.
“And after the meeting, all the available men of age were put on a list of who could be matched with an unmated woman. I was put on the list,” Rolf told us.
“But you are mated,” Finlay said, the objection clear in his voice.
“I am, but Betty is too old to have new pups. The Alpha expected me to step up for the pack. The more the better. I have always been loyal to the pack. Alpha Finlay, you know how deep my loyalty goes. I turned my back on my only son out of that loyalty. But to… to… No! I could never. Not even at the threat of being made rogue,” Rolf exclaimed. Both Finlay and Kyle gave one firm nod. They agreed wholeheartedly. “We, no, I should have listened to you and Martin. We should have left with you,” Rolf added.
“We should have. I knew the ideal the Alpha was pushing wasn’t good for the pack, but it didn’t affect me so I stayed,” Kyle agreed.
“Hindsight is twenty, twenty,” I told them.
“I’m guessing we will see more pack members leaving and needing
shelter?” Finlay asked.
“If they can get out,” Kyle agreed.
“How difficult is it to leave?” I wanted to know.
“Difficult. The Alpha’s closest men patrol the border with the rest of the warriors. Anyone who is seen outside their house without a good reason is escorted back to their house. If you get caught outside more than once without reason, you will get a talking to by the top tier. No one has been foolish enough to see what happens if you continue to defy the orders,”
Kyle explained.
“That sounds concerning,” Finlay said. ‘We need to think this through,’ I mindlinked him. ‘Yes. Let us call for a top tier meeting when we are done here,’ he answered.
“Could we ask you to keep this information to yourself for now?” he asked out loud.
“It’s not that we are trying to hide the information from the pack. We are just trying to manage how this is spread and avoid a panic which would put the ones remaining in your pack in danger,” I explained.
“We appreciate you trying to keep them safe. We will not talk about it until you let us know we are free to do so,” Bridget said. We didn’t stay for long after that. On our way back to the pack house, we mindlinked the others and we all met up in our meeting room. Finlay looked as pleased as ever when he pulled out the chair that was mine. I was seated between Finlay and Sam. Something they both approved of and something Medow and Shelly found hilarious.
“It seems we have an issue on our hands. We need to figure out if it’s something we should get involved in, or if we should take a step back from it,” Finlay told everyone. We then explained what we had been told and as we talked everyone looked horrified.
“That is… I don’t even have words for it,” Jake said. He was holding Shelly’s hand tightly.
“How on earth can someone even think that is a good way to solve anything?” Sam asked as he looked down at the two pups who were taking
a nap.
“We need to help them,” Medow insisted.
“How?” Finlay asked. “Do we want to do a takeover? “ “No,” I said before anyone else had the chance. “I’m all for helping, but we know hostile takeovers are always risky. Say what you want about your brother’s pack, but they are strong and highly trained. Even under the best of circumstances we will see heavy losses on both sides. I don’t want to do that unless there is no other way.”
“I agree,” Shelly said and Medow nodded.
“I think we should offer help to those who want and need it, but not interfere with the pack,” Jake said.
“Maybe we can check with some of our allies if they would be open to sheltering some who might want to leave. Not everyone might feel comfortable coming to us, with the history between our packs,” Sam said.
“That’s a good idea,” I agreed.
“I think we will inform the council as well. They should know there is a good chance of a large number of wolves relocating,” Finlay thought out loud.
“Yes, and we shouldn’t let the pack know of this until we have both those things in place. They will want to make sure their loved ones are safe. It’s better if we can tell them how their families and friends can seek safety,” I suggested.
“Yes, it’s not an easy decision, but I think it’s the right one,” Medow said.
We all agreed.
“Can the four of you reach out to our allies? Red and I will talk to the council,” Finlay said. Everyone nodded and we split up to get our tasks done.
"Alpha Finlay, Luna Amie, it’s always nice to see you, but we seem to be talking quite regularly of late,” the head of the council greeted us as we logged on to the online meeting.
“Unfortunately it’s true. No good news this time either,” Finlay told him.
We told the council about what we had learnt.
“It’s troublesome news if they are true,” the head of the council stated when we were done. “Do you want us to intervene?” he asked.
“No. We know the law. Each pack has the right to govern themselves as they please. We only want you to be aware of the situation and maybe help us organise if we see a large amount of wolves fleeing,” I told him. There were a lot of nodding heads from the council.
“It’s in times like these we wish we had more to say in the packs.
Freedom always comes with the price of less control. All we can do is hope they will come to their senses. Or are you going to take action to solve the situation?” one of the members asked.
“No. We don’t see the need for direct actions, for now,” Finlay told her.
Again there was nodding on the screen.
“We will help in anyway we can. If you receive information about refugees, please let us know,” the head of the council told us. We said goodbye and ended the call. Finlay sunk back in his chair.
“What the fuck is he thinking?!” he exclaimed. I knew it wasn’t a question he wanted an answer to, I had felt his frustration grow throughout the day. “Is he fucking insane? Forcing people to have pups? Like that will solve his issues. Even if he floods his pack with pups, it will be years before they can start pulling their weight. Before then they will just mean more work and less sleep. A brilliant thing if your pack is already overworked! I mean, this is the plan of a true genius. To think I’m related to him.” He sighed deeply and rubbed his face. “Sorry,” he said in a calmer voice. I got
up and stood behind his chair. I placed a gentle kiss on his head and rubbed his shoulders.
“It’s okay. Get it all out. Better you do it here with me then in the middle of dinner,” I told him. He grunted and I felt him relax under my hands.
“Honestly though, it’s embarrassing to call him my brother.”
“I can see why. We don’t choose our relatives. Luckily we do get to choose our family and you have made some good choices,” I told him. He picked up one of my hands and tugged it forward so he could place a kiss on it and then returned it back to his shoulder.
“I have,” he agreed.
“I say we get some food in our system, get a report from the others where we are with the allies and then call my brother,” I said.
“Your brother?”
“I don’t think James would accept our call. Elder will listen and talk to him and James will do what is right.”
“You sound sure of it,” Finlay pointed out.
“I am. He may be an idiot and an exceptionally bad mate, but he is a good Alpha. And my brother is a brilliant Beta, it runs in the family. He will make sure James makes the right decision,” I told him and kissed his head again.
“This is why you are a good Luna. You let everyone solve the things they can and when you see something which needs to be solved but people struggle with it, you come in like a bulldozer. Making sure everyone knows they can get in line or end up flattened. I love it. Very sexy,” he chuckled.
“That sounds terrible,” I said.
“It’s not. It’s amazing. Come on, time to feed you,” he told me and got up. He took my hand, placed a kiss on its palm and then kissed me. “Thank you. I needed to get it off my chest, and I needed to find some peace.”
“Anytime, honey,” I told him and we headed to see if we could get an early dinner, all thoughts about cooking at home were gone. Matilda had two plates waiting for us.
“I had a feeling the two of you wouldn’t have time to eat with the pack today,” she said.
“Thank you,” I told her and we retreated back to our office to eat in peace and then asked the others to join us in the meeting room.
“Everyone I have talked to is willing to offer up space in their pack,” Sam told us. The others said the same.
“Everyone is horrified when we tell them what is happening in the Ocean Shore pack,” Medow said.
“No one wants to believe it,” Shelly agreed.
“The council will help us organise the work of giving people a safe place to go to. We have one more call to make and then we will talk to the pack,”
Finlay said. When we were alone again I took out my phone and called my brother. I put it on speaker.
“Hi Amie, how are things?” Elder answered.
“Hi. You know me, always in the middle of something. I have Finn with
me.”
“Hello,” Finlay said.
“Hi. I get the feeling this isn’t a social call,” Elder told us.
“No, you are right,” I confessed and told him what was happening. When
I was done there was a long pause.
“Are you serious?” my brother asked.
“I am.”
“I will talk to James, but I can’t see us refusing to help. Not in a case like
this,” he told me.
“Thank you,” Finlay said.
“Are we looking into some sort of preventive action?” Elder asked.
Finlay chuckled.
“That was a nice way of asking if I intend to take over my brother’s pack.
No, not at this moment.”
“Good to know. I will get back to you as soon as I talk to my Alpha, I’m heading over to meet him as we speak.”
“Thank you, Elder. Take care and say hi to everyone from us,” I said and we ended the call.
“I was looking forward to a dramafree winter,” Finlay told me.
“We will get there,” I promised him. It didn’t take my brother more than ten minutes to message me back saying they would accept anyone who needed a safe place to stay. I smiled at the message. Even if packs may have differences and be at odds with each other, when it really mattered, we put it to the side to make sure we took care of those who needed it.
“Time to tell the pack,” Finlay told me. I nodded. When we told the pack there were a lot of worried faces looking back at us.
“We and other packs are ready to shelter any wolves who need it. There is a list of packs who are willing to help that is being sent to everyone as we
speak along with contact information for each of them. When you speak with your loved ones, please let them know they will have a place to go if they leave. The council will also help. Just remind them they are not alone,”
I told the pack. We ended the meeting, but stayed to let members come up and talk to us.
“I will reach out to your mother,” Matilda told Finlay.
“Thank you. I would call, but I think she is more likely to answer your call than mine,” he said. Matilda gave him a sad smile, but didn’t object. I put my arm around him to make sure he didn’t feel alone. ‘It’s okay, sweetheart,’ he mindlinked me. ‘I know.’ We continued to talk to other members, most of them had someone they left behind in the old pack. A couple of hours later, my mom called me.
“We heard what is going on. How are things?” she asked. We were sitting on the back porch, relaxing.
“It’s a little tense. We still have a lot of connections to Ocean Shore,” I said.
“I can understand that. The Alpha has told our pack we will offer anyone who wishes a place with us,” she told me.
“We appreciate it. We are far away from the pack and not everyone will feel comfortable seeking shelter with us due to the history between the packs.”
“Yes, I can see how it would give some pause. I’m happy James put his hurt feelings to the side for the greater good. He is a good Alpha when he’s not being a stubborn mule,” my mother said. I smiled.
“He is. It’s his redeeming quality,” I agreed. Finlay huffed and pulled me closer. My mom heard it and laughed.
“You are sure you are doing okay in all of this?” she asked.
“We are doing fine. We take solace and support in each other,” I said.
“As you should. I will let you get back to your evening. I just wanted to check up on both of you. Give my love to your mate and remember to call,”
she said.
“I will. Give dad a hug from me.”
