Fighting for Power (Howl of the Elements: Book One)

Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

The following morning, Layla was busy at work barking out orders to her pack members and the one-skinners that resided in their village. Her stress and anxiety were skyrocketing, and to say that she was taking it out on everyone else would be putting it lightly. Although, it was increasing the accomplishments around the village.

She had assigned a small handful of women to tend to the people that were still in the medical tent, but the rest were set to work on cleaning and repairs. The majority of the debris were thrown in a large pile at the edge of the village to be dealt with at a later time. That left the areas that were now debris-free to be thoroughly checked and cleaned. So far, there were only a couple of homes that were safe enough for the families to return to.

Shawn avoided Layla as much as possible, which was a good thing in her mind, but in a way she felt bad for how she had snapped at him the night before. She knew he was just angry over what had happened to their pack, and she didn’t fully realize how much she felt defensive over Gabriella and Logan until then. She wanted to apologize, but part of her was being too stubborn to let herself do so.

Turning herself so that the breeze would cool her sweaty face, Layla noticed a couple of men carrying wooden planks towards one of the homes. Without warning, a flashback of helping Logan and his pack members renovate the warehouse hit her like a brick. I wonder how that has came along….if they are even still fixing it up since I’ve left. I wish I could have seen Gabriella’s face when she saw it, and Logan’s giddy childish face when he revealed it to everyone else like he had shown me.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to force all of those thoughts from her mind. That was the last thing she needed to think about at the moment. She had a village to reconstruct and a rescue plan to work out to retrieve her mother. Anything besides for that would need to wait or just disappear all together.

***

“Ugh, I am so glad that that freak is gone. The only reason other people are upset over her leaving is because she was the alpha’s daughter and our beta’s new step-daughter. They need to wake up and see the bigger picture, though. There really was no point in even having her here, especially now that her mother married Leon. Her mother is the only one of real importance to our pack,” throwing her hands up in the air, Callie let out a loud exhale of frustration.

Trying not to let her see him rolling his eyes, Logan looked in the opposite direction of her. He didn’t respond, and didn’t see a reason to. If he was to disagree with her like he wanted to, it would only cause an argument between them and make Callie rant even longer. In all honesty, Logan just wished she would shut up already. He just wanted this to be done and over with so that he could get Layla out of his mind. Thoughts of her had been haunting him ever since he saw her run away with her pack.

“Are you even listening to me?” Callie snapped.

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Nobody needs her. Better off without her. Blah blah blah. Can we just move on now? For fuck’s sake, you would think you were obsessed with her by how much you keep on about her,” his irritation got the better of him, and his voice came out in a tone that screamed pure annoyance.

“Excuse me? Do you realize who you are talking to? You’re lucky that I don’t inform your father of how you just spoke to me. That was straight up rude. And to think I would be obsessed with that thing?! I should almost be worried that you have lost your damn mind, Logan.”

Mid sentence, she had grabbed Logan’s wrist to whirl him around to face her just so that she could give him her deadly gaze. It didn’t daze him whatsoever, though. He was actually pretty used to it by now, although usually that gaze was directed towards someone other than him.

“You’re right, Callie. That was rude of me, and I apologize. What do you say we go buy you something pretty from the store?” his voice rose in hopes that she would take the bait.

“Ooo, okay. You can be forgiven…for now,” Callie smirked and trotted off ahead of Logan towards the town’s market street.

Thank God she finally shut up! Logan sighed as his mind rejoiced in the brief relief of her nagging, and then slowly followed behind her. Emptying his wallet for the day was well worth the temporary silence in his opinion.

***

Leon paced around the master bedroom in his log cabin, furiously rubbing at his forehead, “I know you are upset about your brat of a daughter leaving, but you are not understanding me. You are my wife now, and as my wife it is your duty to give me a child of my own. Now!”

Selena, who was sitting nervously on the bed, tried to keep her voice sounding calm, “I have outlived my child bearing days. I already have a child who is sixteen-years-old. Soon, she will be having her own children…hoping that she made it home safe and sound.”

“I’m sure she is just fine. Besides, if you were to be with child, I’m sure she would be at your side to support you and help you through it like an older daughter’s responsibility should be. It really doesn’t matter how old she is. There are plenty of people that have children far apart in age. I do not have a single child of my own, so it is time that I do. You don’t want me to made a mockery of, now do you?” Coming around the side of the bed, Leon knelt down in front of Selena and stared into her eyes awaiting her response.

She shifted her eyes over to the faded green curtains that were draped over the only window in the room, not wanting to stare at Leon’s face. Reluctantly, she gave him her answer, though, “No, I would not wish upon you to be made a fool. I suppose we can try…”

A/N: This chapter was kind of hard for me to write. I had a little writer’s block. (It doesn’t really help that I have been working almost every day and don’t get home until 10 pm at the earliest). So please bear with me on the wait time. I feel bad that it’s been some longer wait times for updates lately.

Also, I appreciate all of the votes and comments. Every last one of them. Thank you so much to all of the readers that stick with the story and have been reading all of the chapters. You all are so wonderful :)

Feel free to give your opinion about the story so far. I would love to know what you all think, or what you are hoping to see in future chapters!