Alpha David calling for an unplanned meeting was something that had suddenly set off speculations within the pack and the humans who knew about them; Nan, Pat, and now Kendal, being one of those humans.
And after coming up with an alibi, which Harper didn’t immediately buy, Kendal drove her car to the Griffith house later that evening. Nan and Pat went ahead of her.
The packhouse was pretty much swamped with people when she arrived, and a bashful Omega opened the door for her. She looked around for her grandparents. Nan was probably already having her usual chit-chat with Mrs. Cobb while Pat was with some of his friends.
"Hello, Allison." Kendal smiled.
The shy omega gave her a nod. “Good evening, Kendal.” She led Kendal to the kitchen, where she found her Nan talking to the pack’s cook, as she had anticipated.
“Kendal, you’re here!” Nan greeted and quickly hugged her. “How’s Harper and her fiancé?”
“She’s good. I just straightaway told her we’re attending some cult meeting.”
Nan laughed. “Oh, dear. How I wish we could just tell her the truth.”
“Yeah. I don’t think so. We’re actually doing her a favor by keeping the truth from her. Some weird nasty shit has been going on, and I don’t think I want to get her involved. She already has her hands full with other stuff.”
Allison smiled. “I heard Alpha David called for this meeting because of the two guests you have at your house.”
“Really? Well, it’s worth noting then what his son did to me in my own home,” Kendal said behind gritted teeth.
“Shall we join the big group? I think the meeting’s about to start,” Nan interrupted before her granddaughter could start her tirade against Keane.
They all walked out of the kitchen and came to a massive living room where a few younger looking guests had already occupied some seats while some were lounging on beany bags that Mrs. Cobb dragged in.
“Kendal.” Pat walked over to her and Nan.
“Gramps.” She lovingly kissed her grandfather on the cheek.
“And just what the hell are you doing here?” Keane’s voice tore through the semi-crowded room, calling her out as soon as he walked in with the same friends he brought with him to her house. “This is a pack meeting. You’re human, and you’re certainly not part of our pack."
Kendal just rolled her eyes. “Well, our grandparents believe otherwise. We are part of this community, or whatever it is. And can’t you get it in your thick skull that what your father is trying to do here is make sure we co-exist peacefully? And to do that, first, we have to have transparency. Hence, we have, just as much as right as you do, to be here.” She shook her head and made a hand motion that looked like she was waving him off.
"You absolutely don’t! You may attend the general pack assembly, but my father called for this meeting to discuss serious wolf business…which you and your grandparents are clearly not.”
"Serious wolf business? Really? Don’t you think how lame that just sound? You are really pathetic."
Keane's eyes flashed, and for a brief moment, Kendal felt a twinge of fear as the Alpha’s son walked over to tower over her.
“Keane…” Nan spoked beside Kendal.
He eyed her. “What?”
“Keane! Stop that!” David bellowed.
Suddenly, everyone’s attention turned to the Alpha as he, Luna Mildred, and a middle-aged man who was as tall he was, made their way to the center of the massive room.
Everyone greeted them, and Keane walked back to where his friends stood.
As the pack settled down, Kendal surveyed the room and thought how many werewolves were actually there compared to the humans.
"I thought since this meeting is unscheduled, I say we go ahead and get down to it so we can all go back to our boring lives, yeah?” The man next to Alpha David smirked while noticing that the alpha himself was shaking his head with an amused smile.
“Beta George is right, as always,” Keane immediately spoke. “I say we kick the Lycan’s ass out of Clearwater before the full moon and report his human escort.”
Kendal’s nose flared. “Did you just call my best friend an escort?”
“Well, Lycans and humans don’t mix. So, clearly, she must be.”
“I said enough!” David pinched the bridge of his nose. “Keane, you know that’s now how we do this.”
“We apologize for our son’s behavior,” Luna Mildred gently said to Nan and Pat.
The old couple only nodded their heads as their polite way of saying they understood.
David took a deep breath and turned to Kendal’s grandparents. “Nan, Pat, when you came to me about your granddaughter, I flat out wanted to say no.” He sighed, “Fear is a compelling thing, and if not appropriately managed, chaos could ensue. And I think with the knowledge that werewolves, and vampires, and monsters exist, this would only do humans, like you, more harm than good. But when my father welcomed you and considered your family as somewhat part of our community, I thought he was delusional. However, I have no choice but to preserve his covenant with you. So I allowed your granddaughter the knowledge of our existence. But now, with these two outsiders coming in and creating quite a stir…”
“I assure you that those kids are no threat, Alpha,” Pat guaranteed.
“Kids, huh,” Keane grunted.
David picked up on this but didn’t react. “Your visitors. Tell us about them.”
Kendal hesitantly raised her hand. “Alpha, I personally know them, so may I speak instead?”
“Go ahead.”
“Harper is my best friend, and Alex is…” she paused, not really sure whether it was wise to just go with Harper’s little white lie. But then she remembered how she had already told Keane, and most probably her grandparents had told their friends, that Alex was Harper’s fiancé.
“Yes, Kendal?” Beta George spoke.
“Alex is her fiancé. They’re only here for a month. Um―their house in Seattle is under renovation…you know…home improvements, and I saw this as an opportunity to invite them…so I did. Harper and Alex are really good people and wouldn’t bother anyone in this town. They’re not troublesome people…” Kendal smiled while fidgeting nervously with her hands. It was only her third time to join a pack gathering. And every time had been nerve-wracking, especially during the first meeting when it was about her being human and living in Clearwater.
“It doesn’t really matter to us what they are to each other if they’re both humans,” Alpha David interjected. “What doesn’t sit well with me is the rumor about your best friend’s fiancé being a Lycan royalty.”
All heads swiveled toward Kendal, catching her off guard.
Allison, who looked timid at first, was the first to say, "Oh no! We don’t want one of those smug ones who think so highly of themselves just because their parents are lords and whatever.”
Kendal was shocked.
Most of the pack members nodded and shook their hands to emphasize how much they didn’t want anything to do with anyone from the royal house. Then everyone's eyes turned back to their alpha.
“But I firmly believe he isn’t. I mean, if he were, Harper would’ve told me already. And, to be honest, if Alex were really what you think he is, Harper wouldn’t be with him in the first place. That woman doesn’t believe in a lot of things. It even took me years and a lot of documentaries to convince her that aliens exist. Believe me, Alpha, Harper wouldn’t sit still if she knew he was a Lycan.”
Although she was spilling out the truth, which she so believed herself, all the wolves in the room could hear the slight doubt in the last few words in her sentence. Something that she was obviously not even completely aware of.
David shrugged. “Fair enough. But what if he’s keeping it from her?”
“There’s no way. That’s not possible.”
“And why not?” Beta George smirked at her, a smirk that was so infuriating that it gained a small reaction from Pat. Kendal’s grandpa grunted as he had been on the receiving end of that smirk and the taunts as soon as the man was given his title as the beta of the pack.
“Because Alex has lost his memory,” Kendal provided the answer.
Suddenly, the room buzzed with whispers, and everyone was expressing their opinions at once.
“Lost his memory?” Luna Mildred echoed.
Nan and Pat both turned to Kendal. “That poor guy doesn’t have any memory from his past?”
Kendal nodded. “Yes.” She turned back to David. “So, there’s no way he could be keeping what he truly is from Harper.”
“Come on, father! You’re not going to believe that crap, are you? You have to kick them out of Clearwater. That Lycan is obviously a threat. Who knows why he’s here and not with his own pack?”
“Alpha, if I may?” Pat spoke this time.
David gave the old man a nod.
“Coming to this night’s sort of emergency meeting, I really thought we’d be addressing a real threat, not just to your pack but to the humans too,” Pat said.
“And what threat is that?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard it on the news. The gruesome animal attacks?” Kendal’s grandpa added, which immediately made quite a stir with everyone in the room.
David’s demeanor instantly changed. His jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed at Kendal’s grandfather. “What are you trying to imply, *Pat?*”
“I’m just wondering when did you last see your daughter after she ran away?”
Keane charged at Pat and growled at him. “Leave my sister out of this.”
But Pat didn’t budge. “All I’m saying is that perhaps you should turn your attention to Sheila instead of my granddaughter’s friends because, forgive me for my honesty, Alpha David, but human bodies are already piling up.”
With a sudden burst of speed, David dashed in front of Pat, roughly pushing Keane aside. Pat blinked, unprepared, when the alpha raised his head and looked right at him.
The living room had gone quiet. A glance over her shoulder and Kendal found everyone staring at them with some who looked like they were ready to jump in if needed.
*Humans?* She wondered. *Perhaps.*
“Alpha David, please, forgive my husband…” Nan immediately went to Pat’s side and begged.
“Luna, please…” Kendal added, looking at Luna Mildred.
Keane laughed. “Scared now, are we?”
Everyone gazed at them, expecting death to leap at Kendal’s grandfather at any second for bringing the alpha’s daughter to the discussion. Sheila was a topic that none of the Griffiths wanted to talk about, especially not in front of both the humans and werewolves. A mistake that Pat made and which the wolves in the room had expected him to pay.
But after a moment, David hadn’t made any move. Instead, he turned back and walked over to his luna’s side, eyes never leaving Kendal and her grandparents.
Then he spoke once again, “Speak about my daughter again, and your granddaughter dies.”
Nan gasped while Pat didn’t give out any reaction.
“And this goes to every single one of you here. Speak about my daughter again, and you die a terrible death.” Then, David took a moment to calm himself before he went on to say, “As for the visitors, make sure they’re gone before the full moon.”
Everyone was on Kendal and her grandparents, unnerving them.
“I don’t want any threats to my pack. Clearwater comes first. We have survived and pushed invaders away for decades. I cannot allow a rogue royalty to bring disorder to this place,” David continued and looked straight into Kendal’s eyes and took a deep, long breath before he proceeded to say, “Make your friends leave, or I will.”
“But, Alpha David―”
“We are done here,” the alpha said before turning away to leave with his beta and Luna following him behind.
“Now you just pissed my father. No more favors for you, humans,” Keane immediately came up to taunt them.
“Like we even care,” Kenda snapped, trying not to show how rattled she was.
The rest of the pack who remained kept very quiet and still, and all that could be heard was the shallow breathing.