The Full Moon Effect

Chapter 5: Dissension

Beautiful Disaster

If he tastes like rainfall,

looks like a summer storm,

fights for you like a forest fire;

he's a tornado of trouble.

(And you need to hold on

and never ever let him go.)

_________

Nikita Gill

**********

When my father returned to his room, I was waiting in the reading chair for him. His haggard face betrayed his tiredness and I gestured to the plate of food I'd made for him before dinner finished up. It was long cold, but he dug in as if still steaming.

"He's still alive." I released a breath I didn't realize I held as my father spoke. "And believe it or not, Castor's return isn't the most unsettling of our problems at the moment."

I stared at my father for a second. "Meaning what? What did Castor say?"

As I leaned forward in my seat, he slumped down into a sitting position at the end of his bed.

"Apparently, there were matters that Leyton kept from me. Things he only mentioned to Castor." He moved his hand over his face. "Regarding a few Alphas that had reached out about their pack members crossing into our territory and not returning."

Cursing, I threw myself back in the chair. "Leyton's not even an Alpha anymore and he's still causing problems."

"That's not just it." My father sighed. "When I was speaking to the pack earlier, a few mentioned their...unease at how the situation played out."

"To the moon with their unease! Where was their unease when wolves were being dismembered and tortured on our land for no reason? If they feel Leyton was in the right it's only because they weren't the ones who had their claws ripping into chests every other night!"

He conceded my point but defended them anyway. "Leyton broke their trust. And now its our duty as leaders to restore that trust. A pack without trust is just a bunch of wolves. We were made for more than congregation. We were made for communion and walking through life together. It is the way of the wolf to depend on one another, to provide for each other, stand up for one another. Leyton wasn't always a poor example of a leader, but the last year burned the pack more than they care to admit."

My heart rate slowed and the organ settled in my chest as I listened to his speech. If I weren't so worked up, my eyes would've welled. "What are you going to do?"

He crossed his arms and I knew what he was going to say before he even said it. "What would you do?"

I played with a frayed end of the chair I sat in, contemplating his question. "I wouldn't allow the pack to return to our land with threats from other Alphas pouring in. I would ease those situations first, then allow the pack to return when it was finished. If they really are wary to trust you, establishing the trust of the safety of their home would be top priority."

My father smiled. "That's my girl. At lunch tomorrow I'll explain the situation to our pack and then I'll take off."

"You mean we. We'll take off."

He shook his head and gave me a look. "You just accepted a challenge for the first time in your life. You're not leaving this territory until the two of you mate or you reject him."