Mates (ON HOLD)

47. to break trust, elders, and doubt

A/N: oh look it's an update? Did you ever think I was gonna do one of those? Sorry for the large lacuna I've been taking on and off. Been reading books about how to not take them. HEY, guess what? We've hit 60k and I'm kinda just always crying at this point.

I know you're excited for this so I'll blast and you can, I don't know...

Enjoy (;

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C H A P T E R F O U R T Y - S E V E N:
to break elders, trust, and doubt

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M A T C H E S

Liv once told me a story about the Elders of our pack. It was a quiet night and everyone was asleep, which was usually how it ended up; Liv and I awake during long darks. This night was before we knew who we were and who we'd come from, and I think those times and those dark nights alone were something of magic, magical ignorance. I can't say I'd want it that way, but I can't say I don't.

During this night, though, Livator and I were playing a game of cards, 500 rummy, and he was definitely winning, no doubt about it. Somehow, we'd ended up talking about the Elders. Maybe it had something to do with the length of my black veins sticking out under my t-shirt, or just the sound of Vio yelling at a smoking pup, but the topic went to our leaders. Specifically, how they came to be and who chose them.

"I... don't really know." Liv chuckled, picking up a card from the deck and trashing another.

I took my turn, scratching at my arm, "If they're given the power to guide the pack, then who gives them that power anyway?"

He shook with a breathy chuckle, glancing up from his cards, "Who's the wise one today?"

"Stop," I laughed, "But seriously, why do they live longer? Why do they have to guide us?"

He shrugged, "They just do. I don't know. I know Yel's the youngest and Paq is the oldest. He's like 350 years old." His bit his lip as he laid down a pair, "That's quite the advantage."

I rose my brows, shuffling through my hand, "Jesus."

"Right?" He just shrugged again, the thought not seeming too important to him. Maybe it's because that's the way it's always been. Tradition meant fact and there was something... irking about that.

I opened my mouth, ready to question everything when Liv leaned forward, placing a card in one of my decks, "Yel doesn't seem like it either, right? It's kind of cool how he was chosen, though."

"How was he chosen?" I asked.

My mate glanced up from his cards, smirking like he had a good hand, "Alpha Klovel, you know, the one that died like sixty years ago? He found Yel hanging around a previous Elder, learning all this medical stuff from him." He shrugged, "It was like he was more interested in figuring it all out instead of accomplishing something. My dad told me Yel used to spend hours reading from the old Elders' library, memorizing the types of things six year old pups weren't meant to memorize."

"How old is Yel, then?"

Liv furrowed his brow, "I think he's like 137. He was chosen to be an Elder at 25." Suddenly he smiled, "My dad said he was chosen because he was young and good looking, but I think... Yel was this doctor that didn't have loyalty to anyone but Alpha Klovel and searched strictly for the truth."