Hidden Fox

Fourteen

My brow furrowed, and my skin crawled with the thought that maybe I shouldn't be part of this conversation. That I had interrupted something much more serious than I'd intended.

"Was it a fluke?" River growled, staring at the wooden table. His body was stiff, like he was fighting a bad memory.

Eight years ago, Queen Natalia overthrew her own mother with the help of the wolves sitting at this very table. The news spread through the packs like wildfire, reaching the West in no time. While most of the packs there did not know the monarchy personally, we were still affected by the change in ruler. Some celebrated Natalia's ascent, but most of us were confused or indifferent to the event. I personally had not given it much thought.

Eirenae shrugged. "Not all of it. Everyone was in agreement that Anne needed to step down and allow the next generation to take the helm." She swallowed, "But the attacks on our pack to get Emerald and myself to Menai Moon were entirely extraneous."

Emerald's fingers fluttered to the corner of her lip where the tiniest dot of a scar was visible. Her eyes hardened into a glare.

"So why did they do it? Why did they push the packs to unite over their troubles?" River asked.

"Wait," Emerald raised a hand. "Are you saying there wasn't a load of issues to fix within the packs like they were complaining about?"

"Correct." Kota answered his daughter. "They wanted substance to support their plan of attack."

"They probably just wanted to be heard." I blurted. The outburst was instantly regretted as four pairs of eyes landed on me.

Shaking my hair from its towel and running my hands through, I explained. "I remember talk circulating the pack and even between packs when you guys overthrew the queen. Some were excited because we hadn't been paid attention to by the Purus Lupus family in decades. Rogues invading? We were brushed off. Hunters killing our packs? All we received in return for our pleas was silence. We learned to fend for ourselves without the royals' intervention."

Eirenae pursed her lips together. "That's why the packs are so disconnected right now." It was as if that had only just dawned on her. "Half of them feel forgotten."

Emerald nodded at me to acknowledge my insight, but she spoke to Eirenae. "The problems Natalia need to fix aren't inside the packs."

"They're between the packs." I finished, and everyone went quiet as they thought that over.

"So," River finally spoke, slicing the silence with his low voice. "Does this mean that we simply don't have a rogue problem? Or a hunter problem? 'Cause I don't buy that. There's always a problem."

Eirenae shrugged, but if I remembered correctly, she wasn't raised in the werewolf world and might not have known just how big of an issue rogues and hunters could get. "It seems like the issues weren't as heavy as the packs made it out to seem."

"Natalia is still keeping in close touch with certain alphas to ensure it stays that way." Kota added.

Emerald sighed slowly, looking to her mate. "Maybe we should increase some of our patrols, just in case."

River nodded. "Rogues and hunters are always a problem," he repeated. "If increasing patrols helps us, helps you, feel safer, we can do that."

The luna dipped her head in gratitude before her eyes landed on me. "Sorry to bring you into pack politics tonight."

I waved her off. "I'm the alphas daughter, remember? This isn't new for me." I was just concerned some of the things discussed might not have been intended for a random guest's ears.