Chaos

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15 

Riverfront 

Logan

"Welcome. Tonight, just like any other Riverfront night, is an extremely important night." I paused as the crowd roared their agreement. Shouts and hollers and whistles filled the air. I waited for the crowd to settled down, before I continued my speech. "Will the leading Alpha of the Wolf clan please step forward?"

Tariq stepped forward. Dressed in black faded jeans and a nice dress shirt, Tariq exuded power.  His dark facial features were masked in indifference. 

"Tariq, Alpha of the Wolf Clan. You are summoned for a reason. Tonight, four young adolescents ask for permission to live in Shifters' Den and for the right to join your clan. What do you say?"

Tariq glanced over at the children huddled in the corner. Sarah and Jacqueline stood in front of their younger sisters, shielding them with their bodies. Sarah, the oldest of the family, turned eighteen six months ago. Jacqueline, the second oldest, will celebrate her thirteen birthday next week. The younger sisters, who were five, were twins, Chaira and Hilary. Sarah arrived a month ago with her little sisters in tow. She marched right into the Den with determination set in her face. She looked at the first shifter she saw and demanded a face to face meeting with 'whoever ran this place'-her exact words.

When she was granted access to my office, she stomped right up to my desk with hands on her hips. She eyed my up and down. She opened her mouth and said, "Hmm, I thought you'd be bigger." Not every day, I heard those words. I raised an eyebrow at her.

In response, she yanked up her long green cardigan sweater. She twisted her arm so her palm faced the ceiling. Then she resituated the large black bangle on her wrist. Underneath the bangle was a serial number tattoo. 234543. "My younger sisters are 234544, 234545, and 234546. My parents were 234542 and 234541. They no longer exist, so now I'm responsible for my younger siblings. I don't want pity or attention. I just want a house and a job. I need to know my sisters will continue their education and have food in their stomachs with clothes on their backs."

After her little speech she glared at me, as if daring me to deny her access. "I am glad you don't want pity or attention, because we don't give either out here. Everyone within this compound has their own story, their own hardship. We don't cater specifically towards you because you saw the inside of a lab, hell more than half of the shifters here have been in a lab. We work together as a unit. If you accept a position within the Den, you and your young sisters will have to conform to Shifters' Law. There will be a process and you will have to be accepted by the Wolf Alpha, before Shifters' Den will recognize you as a citizen."

At her continued silence, I informed her of the process and the documentation. We discussed her strengths and weakness in the job area. We set up an appointment with special therapist and a doctor for her younger sisters and her to see. Then we discussed the schooling situation. She confessed she skipped a year of schooling and was admitted into Yale University, but deferred a year to travel. However, her plans were irrevocable changed the night Agents broke into her house and captured her family.

I gave her the opportunity to continue her schooling, but she declined saying she wasn't ready to leave her sister to strangers. Once we had a job and housing set up for her, I asked her where her sisters were.

As she stood up, Sarah said, "Oh, Chaos is with them at the moment. I'm glad she was right about you."

"Who was right about what?" I asked.

"Chaos. She said you had the heart of a teddy bear, after of course, you chip through all the 'I'm an Alpha hear me roar.'" She smiled and gave me a little finger wave as she walked out the doors.