The Pack

Chapter 17: I love my father & I love him well.

Some years ago...

"Derek! Cora! Laura!" Alex Hale shouted from the kitchen where there was some spilled milk on the floor.

Three kids, one was twelve, the other was eight and the last one was four came running. When they realized what was happening they all tried to run away but were stopped by their father.

"Nope, you kids ain't running from this." Alex took his kids by the shoulders. "One of you spilled milk all over the kitchen floor and didn't clean it, so tell me who did. And remember, I know when you're lying."

Derek, the eight years old kid looked down. "I did it, dad." He sighed. "I thought about having cereal but the milk was getting out of hand and I ended up dropping it."

Alex ran his right hand through the thick, black mane he had. "Happy Wolf, why didn't you clean it up? You could had asked your sisters for help."

"But if I did, then they would own me and I would live with the fear of being used all the time!"

"We would not so such thing!" Cora contradicted.

Derek showed his tongue to her. "Yes, you would, you little snitch!"

"Don't call Cora a snitch!" Laura was now involved.

Alex took matters on his own hands. "Whoa, whoa and whoa! Kids, calm down. It's spilled milk, we are not gonna tell the police."

"Dad, you have to believe me!" Derek pouted. "They will get me! You have to protect me!"

"No!" Cora began jumping. "If he will protect any of us, it will be me! He will always be with me."

"Dummies, he will not always be with us!" Laura said.

That stopped both kids. One of them looked if she was about to cry and the other was offended. Alex sighed again, he should had just cleaned off the mess himself and not get into that kind of conversation.

"What do you mean 'he will not always be with us?' He will be!" Derek cried.

"Alright, kids. Is about we have a little conversation but don't tell your mother. She will kill me." Alex knelt. "Laura is right, I won't always be with you. Because one day maybe, you'll go off your own and start your own pack but let me assure you that will happen in some long, long time."

Cora sniffed. "And after that?"

Alex looked down and then up. "Well, there is going to be a day when I will not longer be here. Mommy will not be as well, we'll be in a secret place where only us can go. You can try to find it but you'll never find it."

"You'll gonna leave us?!" Derek shouted.

"No!" Alex said quickly. "Not right away, not yet. When the day comes, you'll be as big as me and you'll have your own lives. It will be the day you won't need me anymore but I will still be there because I will be peeking through my secret door to check on you once in a while."

Cora sniffed again, calming herself down. "You-you will not leave us?"

Alex laughed. "Little Wolves, I will not leave you now. Not in three years, not in twenty. I will be here for your school years, I will be here till you marry. Heck, you will wish that I will find that special place because of how annoying I will be."

"And us? Will we go there one day?" Derek asked.

"Yes. But it will be long, long in the future. And that day, I will be there to call you my Little Wolves. But don't worry, I won't leave you. Not now, not in twenty years."

Laura who knew how Death worked, gave her father a skeptical look. "Promise?"

Alex smiled. "I promise." He stood up and groaned. "Now pick up this mess! And we'll order pizza!"