Mutt ~GxG~

Chapter 22

"Alright, so he should be right over... Here!" Ariel says to herself as she makes a sharp left turn. I follow her panting. Ariel is very energetic but not the best with directions to say the least. We'd been wandering the place floor after floor with her refusing to ask anyone for help. Finally, however, this seems to be the right one. "You can sit over there in the chairs and wait for Leah." She nods over to some chairs by the door of the hospital room. In one, however, I see someone extremely familiar.

"Sophie?" Sophie snaps her head up to look at me. Beside her sits what looks to be a man that looks extremely... Asian. They do share quite a few features with Sophie however so I'd have to guess they're her parent, or at least a relative.

"Oh, hi Bridgette, I didn't expect to see you here." She says with a smile. She looks exhausted, her eyes were red from what I'd assume to be crying and her eye bags could carry the world itself. She pushes up her glasses and pats down her hair in a hopeless attempt to make herself look less... like a mess.

"Are you okay?" I tentatively ask. She's clearly not doing great right now so I don't know why I ask.

"A bit stressed to say the least." She jokes halfheartedly. I furrow my brows in concern.

"Introduce me?" I motion to the person beside her. She hesitates for a moment before tapping them on the shoulder. She then moves her hands in what I make out to be ASL. My sign language is a bit rusty as I learned it in middle school and haven't used it since but from what I could make out, she was saying Dad, this is my friend, B R I D G E T T E. I don't remember much but I could recognize her spelling out my name. Her dad signed something back to her which I made out to be Do they have a I don't recognize this word name? Sophie turns to me.

"Do you have a sign name?" My eyes widen in remembrance. I had learnt about sign names, too, they're basically just symbols a person who uses ASL gives someone so they don't have to keep spelling out their name while signing.

"Yeah, uh, my cousin gave me one when I was younger." I took ASL because I had a cousin who was mute and she gave me a sign name so that's useful. I make the symbol with my hand. Sophie signed it back to her dad. I sign a hello to Sophie's dad. He nods in acknowledgement before turning back to face the door.

"Bridgette?" Leah comes out of the room with her dad in tow, who gives me a nod of acknowledgment. "Ariel told me you were here." A nurse comes out of the room with them. Sophie's father stands up immediately, signing something to the nurse. Can we see them? The nurse nods and Sophie and her father usher themselves into the room.

"Who's in the room?" I ask Leah. She avoids eye contact and sighs. She shares a look with her father to which he nods and walks out.

"The man in there is a high ranked buck. Unlike most hierarchies, deer herds are made up of and led by females. In nature, at least. Now deer herds have adapted to be more similar to wolf packs and the guy in there-" She nods in the direction of the room. "He's basically the Alpha." My eyes widen as I connect the dots.

"Would he be related to Sophie, perchance?" I ask, already knowing the answer. Leah looks down shamefully.

"He's her other father, Callum Guiliani."

"And why are you here?" I prod further, although I feel like I should stop.

"I-" She clears her throat. "One of the Pride's members attacked him. We've recently established a contract with the herd for an alliance saying that we wouldn't harm any of the deer in the herd and they wouldn't, us." She stares at the door. "That's out of the question now."

"Couldn't you re-establish it or something? Like, you could punish said pride member accordingly and-" She shakes her head.

"Pride is family. Quite literally in nature. The appropriate punishment for such a crime is physical harm or, in less proper words, literal torture. We could never do that to our pridemates. The most we would dare to do is to banish him from the pride."

"Then why don't you?" I exclaim, standing up. The answer to this problem seems pretty obvious to me.

"Because if they don't accept this as an apology we can't just un-banish him!" She says, raising her voice as well.

"Then why don't you talk it out with them first!" I raise my voice as well.

"Because the person who did it is my uncle!" She yells. I stumble back and my wolf whimpers in fear. Leah hasn't yelled at me before. That's it, you've done it. That little voice says, and this time, I fear it might be true. "No- wait. No, Bridgette-" I stare at her, scared. "Bridgette, I'm just really stressed. I'm so sorry." She whispers. She collapses on one of the chairs.

"Hey, speak to me." I comfort her, gently sitting back down beside her.

"Most people aren't that close with their uncles, especially since he's another Alpha lion in our pride, but he and my dad formed a coalition when they were young." She says softly. "My dad was always the more powerful one and my uncle knew it, so my dad permitted him to keep being part of the pride if he didn't challenge my dad for the title of Alpha. My dad was always busy with my siblings and work so my uncle taught me to control most of my Alpha instincts, my dad only started teaching me when he realized none of my other siblings or cousins could stand a chance against me in a fight." I was shocked at this information. Leah, however, seemed to notice. "Hey, don't worry, it's not neglect. He was just busy. He may be my dad but he also has my siblings to take care of. Not to mention he's the Alpha, so he has the whole pride that he needs to take care of. My moms and Pa still took care of me." She assures me. "I just- I don't think I could kick him out. I doubt Dad could either."

"Why would he attack Sophie's father anyways?" I ask her. She freezes.

"I- I'm not actually sure." Her eyes suddenly light up. "Bridgette, if we can get proof that Callum provoked him, we wouldn't have to banish my uncle!" She looks so excited, but I'm more on the fence.

"But what if he did it unprovoked?" She frowns again before putting on a determined look.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. No, if we come to it."

I have a bad feeling about this.

And now we meet Sophie's parents! What do you think Leah and Bridgette should do? I know how this ends out cus I'm writing that chapter but uhhh feel to voice your theories. I really enjoy reading your comments.