Athena's Human Mate

Chapter 16

     Athena sat stunned.  No help, she was completely on her own.  How was she going to do this?  She has no experience in this.  Her father never showed her how to run a pack, if she'd been a male, she would've had a lot of training by now.  He found a way to ruin everything for her.

     "What am I going to do?  How am I to lead a pack of one hundred wolves by myself?  I don't know how."  Tears flowed down her face, today was too overwhelming to keep them in anymore.

     Gramps and Grandma shared a look before she said, "well, I already have a lot set up.  Breakfast is ordered for eight am, a box truck registered to you is out in the parking lot.  Along with the sleeping bags, there's tents, pillows, sheets, lanterns, flashlights and mess kits.  The conference room is rented tonight and tomorrow, we didn't know for sure when we'd leave town."

     "Thank you.  For everything.   I need to sleep."  Athena sighed, "I'll see you in the morning?"

     "Yes, we will head home after breakfast."  Gramps said sadly, "I wish," Athena stopped him.

     "Don't, there's too much and nothing can be changed now."  She then went into the bedroom to curl up and cry out her pain and sorrow.

     In the morning, Athena studied herself in the mirror, checking out the bags under her eyes.  She put makeup on to hide the signs of a restless night while considering her options.

     It depends on the type of leader you want to be.  You can make decisions and have them blindly followed like Ryan.  Or, you can listen to them, be honest and let them be a part of the decisions.  I need to rest, I'm trying to absorb the pain so you can go on and be strong.

     I would be lost without you.  Time to face the music.

     Athena said her goodbyes to Gramps, Grandma and Josh before heading down to the conference room.  She smelled the food but had little appetite.  Opening the door, she stepped into the room then everyone stopped eating to stand and bow to her.  It brought tears to her eyes.

     Steven Wright, a fifty-three-year old, walked up to her and hugged her.  Athena was good friends with their daughter Isabella, they went to school together and she knew the family well.  He escorted Athena to the front table and pulled out the chair for her.

     "Thank you, Steven."  She looked out at the crowd, "Please continue your breakfast."  She wasn't sure if she could eat, but then Mary placed a plate of food in front of her.  She smiled a little at her and tried to finish everything.

     Once breakfast was done, she stood up and cleared her throat.  "Thank you all so much for supporting me.  It means more than you know.  I have some things to tell you."

     Hailey waved her hand to catch Athena's attention, "maybe it would be a good idea to send the young ones outside?"  She waited for Athena's approval, "Connor, can you please take out all the kids fifteen and under?"

     "Sure thing Mom, come on guys, let's go check out the playground."  He had a long talk with his Dad last night and was behind them fully.  He rounded up the twenty-one kids, everyone except little Avery.

     Athena got more nervous as time went by until all the kids were out of hearing range.  She cleared her throat then took a drink of water.  "You probably noticed my grandparents aren't here.  Um, my father agreed to let us leave and not come after us."

     Smiles graced many faces along with sighs of relief.  "He had a demand of his own that Alpha Henry, Alpha Derek and Alpha Josh granted."  She breathed in deeply, controlling her nerves.  "No one is allowed to help us, or me, in particular.  I'd counted on their help, but now it's gone.  If any pack helps us, then Cresent Moon will declare war on us and our allies couldn't assist us."

     She let that sink in before starting on the next part of her speech.  "I didn't get a lot of time yesterday to go into more detail why I did what I did.  So before we decide how to proceed, let me explain."

     She drank some water, "to a young she-wolf, nothing is more important than your mate.  You worry about what your mate will think of you.  Will he be pleased?  Disappointed?  Will he love you like you already love him? The most important gift you can give your mate is your innocence.  The gift of knowing he is the first to kiss you, touch you, the only one you will ever know intimately.  Our community stresses this beyond a reasonable amount.  To have your innocence taken by force doesn't matter.  In the eyes of your family, friends and neighbors, if you are no longer pure without a mate, you are shunned.  If a she-wolf has sex before finding her mate, she is automatically seen as a whore, no longer a treasure, but a stain.  Males, on the other hand, can have sex with as many females as he wants without any repercussions.  It is not only unfair, it's repulsive."

     She paused to look into the eyes of her pack, some showed shame, some sadness, but mostly hope.  "I was sixteen when the first she-wolf approached me with her story of being raped.  She was afraid and had no one to turn to.  I tried to help her, but I failed and she took her life a year later.  I talked to my father but he dismissed the claims, stating I had no proof that it wasn't consented.  By the time I was alerted, it was weeks or months later.  With our healing, physical evidence was impossible to get.  I tried a different approach.  I experimented with using a command to get him to stop.  Unfortunately, even though I technically out ranked him, my commands were too weak at the time.  I didn't want him to know that I knew, I thought he might hurt others even more."

     Tears in her eyes, she asked forgiveness, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know what to do, I tried making him stop, but my father kept his involvement hidden.  Maybe I should've told my mother, but I didn't know how she would react and my father has control over her anyway.  It's my fault he violated you the last two years."

     "No it's not.  You're the only one who didn't belittle me.  I threatened him, I was going to expose him.  I made a tape of him raping me, but he found it before I could do anything and spread the rumor I willing slept with him.  You held me as I cried, you never looked at me differently.  You might not have stopped him then, but you stopped him now.  You aren't the one who raped me, you aren't to blame Alpha.  That lies on Thomas Black and Alpha Ryan."  Bailey stood up crying while she spoke.  Her grandmother, Cheryl, held her hand.

     "Well, regardless, that leaves us in a predicament.  I will lay out what the plans were and go from there."  Athena swallowed the lump of emotions down her throat.  "I inherited a property and some money when I turned eighteen.  The property is located four hours away in the neutral territory.  The packs surrounding us have agreed to let us live there, as long as we don't expand beyond what I already own.  It's an apartment complex that was never finished.  There are five buildings with apartments and an office built, but it's been abandoned for over a decade."

     Sounds of shock vibrated around the room.  "Before you get excited, I have no idea what kind of shape it's in.  Realistically, it's inhabited by rodents, insects, squatters and weeds.  I don't know if there's walls, or plumbing or anything.  And I don't know where to start."  She ended with a sob, angry at herself for showing weakness.

     "If anyone wishes to return to Cresent Moon or join Half Cresent, I'm sure they would take you.  The road ahead of us will be tough, that's the only thing I can guarantee."

     "Alpha Athena, you aren't alone.  We've been talking last night and this morning.  We understand you haven't been given the training to take over a pack.  You are still young yourself, most don't become the Alpha until they're twenty-one.  We also know none of us are remotely qualified to do it, none of us have a Beta gene, let alone an Alpha gene like you do."  Andrew Bennet said loud and clear while looking around searching for any objections to what he said.

     Chad Brown talked next, "my good friend Andy was spot on, but I wanted to add that even though my kids aren't old enough to understand what happened, we do.  None of us could go back, knowing what we do.  And there's no one else I can trust with my children's safety than you.  We are with you, now and in the future.  What's a little camping to a bunch of wolves?  I'm proud to be a member of Starlight Moon."

     "Starlight Moon!  Starlight Moon!"  The chorus rang out louder and louder until everyone was standing and Athena was sheading tears of gratitude, happiness and a powerful sense of belonging.  She was wanted and needed for the first time in her life.

     "Starlight Moon!"  She yelled.