“Faith, let me go with you! I don't trust that Declan or Jackson won't hurt you!” My dad was waiting for me by the car with my mother, both with worried expressions on their faces. I knew that they would be. This wasn't the first time my father had begged me to come. My mother has kept relatively quiet about the whole thing. I think she feels bad about not going today. No matter what choices Samantha has made, she is still my mother's daughter, and mom has always been there to support us. Whether we were good or bad, today would be the first time she had ever stepped back. I can see how it eats at her. It was hard for me to ask her to stay away, but I was playing the game just like Jackson was. We had discussed this several times with them already, and each time my Father promised he understood and would leave it alone, we always ended back here having this same tiring conversation.
“Dad! No. I get that you want to go, I understand that you only want to keep me safe, but that's why Kyle and David will be with me at all times. I will be fine, I promise.” I reason with him.
“And if they can't be? What happens then.” dad huffed.
“You see all these warriors that are coming with us, right? Who do you think they are for? She will be safe, Mitchell.” Kyle pointed out as he approached my father and me.
“Yes, but she knows me.”My father wouldn't even look at my mate.
“Mitchell, we talked about this. I don't even want to go. This is something Faith wants, and so she's calling the shots. She, I mean, we both feel that you being there will only prove Jackson's point, that I am not to be trusted alone with her. If people are going to talk about us, then we need should give them something even better to gossip about. Like why would a respected member of their community leave so suddenly? Why would a proud father and mother not come to support their daughter on the most important day of her life? What did Jackson do to his Beta for him to turn his back on him completely?”
“Oh, alright. I'll stay. But if something happens, I want you to call me. I don't care if it's the middle of the night, you call. Even if you think it's minor, you ring me.” my father's voice was stern. I knew this wasn't something to push him on, so I agreed.
“Okay, dad. I promise you will hear from me straight away.” not that I thought anything would happen.
Declan was dangerous. I knew that I experienced how unstable he is first hand, but over 30 different packs were going to this ceremony. Jackson and Cassidy had gone all out. They were desperate for the world to see that they had it all. They weren't going to let Declan jeopardise that. Samantha would be on him like white on rice. If he thought that she would allow him to embarrass her like that, then he didn't know Samantha at all.
“Mom, would you like me to pass a message on?” I despised the idea of talking to Samantha, she has caused my parents nothing but misery, uprooted their entire lives, and then made their sacrifice seem like a joke, but for my mother, I would do anything.
“No, sweet girl. Don’t you worry about it.” My mother patter the back of my hand.
“Okay, Mitchell, Heather, we have to be going.” David and Ingrid silently got into our car as I hugged my parents goodbye.
I didn’t know that they would be riding with us, and it annoyed me a little, but I chose not to say anything as I was hesitant to offend David.
Why didn't you tell me that they were coming in our car? I mind linked Kyle as soon as we began to drive off.
I'm sorry, baby. I thought that you would be okay with it. It just slipped my mind. Is it a problem? He took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
I don’t know how I feel about her, is all. I complained. Okay, I did know. I didn’t like her, but if she was going to be beta female, I needed to rise above it. And I was trying, but it wasn't easy.
Why don't you like her? Kyle asked, Seeing right through me.
It's going to make me sound like a petty b.itch. I understand that she has had a terrible and traumatic history of our kind, and I feel awful for her. Believe me. I do, but
I feel silly for admitting this because, so far, I seem to have been the only one to notice her behaviour. Or have at least been upset about it enough to complain.
But what? Kyle pushed.
But she's incredibly rude. We haven't done anything to her, she has no reason to distrust us personally, and yet, she still sees us as her enemy. She claims that she wants to help all those her daughter hurt, but if that's truly the case, then why is she so aggressive with us? We have all been doing our best to feel comfortable around our species, but she's often condescending. If she has an opportunity to remind us that she is better than we are, she takes it. Ingrid was watching the other wolves and me during a training session the other day, and I got hit. It was bad anyway. Sapphire went ballistic, I managed to calm her down rather quickly, and she didn't hurt anyone, yet Ingrid still scolded me for it. She was treating me like some wild animal that needed a muzzle.
Ingrid had no right to embarrass me like that and in front of half of the pack, no less. Besides, it's been three weeks already, and she still hasn't accepted David as her mate. Not has she taken the offer to be beta female. It's nasty of her to keep stringing David along like this. She has him jumping through all sorts of hoops to keep her happy. Her excuse for that is ‘’she needs to be sure that he'll be a good mate, but what is she doing for him? How do we know she will make a good mate or beta female? I'll tell you, nothing. She is doing nothing. She should either accept him now or reject him and put him out is misery, that way, he can find his second chance mate, hopefully, one that doesn't hate him just because he is a werewolf. Great, I let myself get carried away ranting, this is what happens when you bottle things up, and now I am annoyed all over again just thinking about all of it!
Hang on. She did what? Why didn't you tell me about it when this first happened? We can't allow Ingrid to question your authority like that, especially so publically, and you shouldn't have let her. The most important thing to a pack is a strong leader. If the wolves think you are weak, they will turn on you! I bit the sides of my cheeks to stop myself from lashing out, counted to five and tried to calm myself down. I could handle it myself, and I despised the fact that Kyle didn't think that I could.
I know that, and I won't let it happen again. And I wouldn't. I only spared her the other day because David was at training and had allowed It to happen too. I figured we shouldn't look like squabbling children out there. Not to mention the amount of tension it would cause between him and Kyle, and as leaders, it was important that we presented ourselves as a united front.
I made sure to tell her off as soon as we were in private, and I warned her that I would not stand idly by as she disrespected me ever again. I threatened to remove her from our lands if she ever tried. She wasn’t happy about it, and things have been strained between the two of us ever since.
Would you like me to say something about it to David? I could see that it upset him that I didn’t say something to him sooner, but I had handled it.
No, now, is there something that you're not telling me? Now that I think of it, he seems a little too annoyed about something that happened weeks ago and had already been taken care of.
It has never happened in public, but she has been speaking to me like that as well. Like I am some barbaric animal that needs a muzzle. I was talking to her and David one night while you slept, and the blatant disrespect I was getting from her was so bad I almost banished her myself. The only reason that I didn't was because David was there doing his best to calm the two of us down.
Wow, now I liked her even less. Who the hell does she think she is to speak to my man that way. If she ever does it in front of me, not even David could save her.
She does know about my history with crescent moon, doesn't she? Jackson will be looking for any excuse to make us look bad, and she just might give it to him. Really think about it. Do you think that she will be able to handle herself? Or that she grasps how important this trip is? It's not Jackson that I'm trying to impress here. This is about turning the other Alphas to our side. This may be our only chance to discredit Declan and Jackson. We came here to prove that we are civilised people. The whole purpose of this trip will be ruined if Ingrid starts lashing out at everyone around her because of their natural instincts. I scowled.
Kyle flips on the indicator and quickly pulls the car over.
Your right. It would. He says.
“Kyle, why are we stopping?” David asks, puzzled from the back seat. They hadn’t been able to hear our conversation, of course.
“We need to get a few things straight before we arrive at Faith’s old pack.” Kyle is looking directly at Ingrid, who is staring defiantly back at her.
“Woah, Alpha, why are you staring at my mate like that?” David immediately got defensive.
“No offence David, but I have been pretty lenient with Ingrid's behaviour because of her past but mostly because she is your mate, and I like you. But this trip is important. Ever since Ingrid arrived at Waning crescent, she has done nothing but criticises pack members for their natural instincts. We are werewolves, but she doesn’t respect that.”
“Your kind are savages.” She interrupts Kyle, and I want to smack her. Lucky for her, I believe that unnecessary violence solves nothing.
“And witches arent?” I scowl at her. “Your very own daughter is why I can’t have a healthy pup! There are many dark witches out there, but we haven’t treated you poorly for the mistakes others of your kind have made!”
We are both glaring at each other now.
“What are you trying to say?” David gritted his teeth, I could see how upset this made him, but he had made no attempt to pull her into line for her behaviour. If he wants her to be his mate, then he needs the pack to respect her, and no one will, not if she continues to put them down for simply being werewolves and in their own homes. The reserve is supposed to be our safe space, where we can be who we want to be without being vilified by the outside world simply because they don’t understand us because we are different.
“We are saying that Ingrid either needs to return to Waning crescent where she can’t cause any trouble. Or she needs to be on her best behaviour. We can’t have her embarrassing us. She can’t go spouting off at any werewolf who might growl.” Kyle said.
“You dare treat me like a child?” She goes to lunge forward, but David catches her.
“You dare to act like one?.” Kyle's eyes go black, duke is coming out. Ingrid was an idiot for challenging Kyle like that. He was an alpha wolf, duke wouldn’t sit idly by, and she knew it.
“Duke, baby” Kyle's head snapped towards me, and his eyes softened.
“Hey, duke.” I place my hand on the side of Kyle's face and kiss him tenderly.
“I love you, Faith” his gravelly voice is perfect, and his smile is so much like Kyle's.
“I love you to my special wolf, but can we have Kyle back? I promise it’s okay.”
“Fine”, he huffed, and Kyle's eyes went back to normal.
“Everybody, calm down,” I ordered.
“Fact is Ingrid. This trip is important. And whether or not you agree with who we are as a people is not relevant. You have no right to go into someone's home and judge them for how they live. You will either respect that, or you will go home. Everyone is to be on their best behaviour here.”
“ I think I will leave. David, are you coming?” She turned her back on me. I see how conflicted David was here, and I feel bad for him, but this was the time for him to choose where his loyalties lay, with Ingrid or with the pack.
“Faith and Kyle are right. This trip is important. Jackson is saying some truly terrible things about us, and while it is better to turn your back on a bully, we need to secure our trade agreements. If we lose our treaties, the pack stops making money, and our people suffer. Soon we would go broke, and we wouldn’t be able to feed our own members. I’m going because my people don’t deserve to go hungry. After all, we bruised one man's ego. If Faith can stand up to the man who tried to kill her so that she can win over a few Alphas. If Kyle can resist his urge to take his mate and run, then I can do this. I’m staying.”
I was so proud of David. To stand on your own away from the mate bond is the hardest thing in the world for a wolf.
“Fine.” She seethed.
“We will organise a car to take you back.”
“Don’t bother”, and a cloud of smoke filled the car.
“Alpha, Luna, are you okay” josh, a young warrior, started pulling me from the car.
“Yes, Josh, I’m fine.” I cough
“The smoke, we panicked.” He explained,
“That was just Ingrid leaving.” Everyone was used to her mode of travel by now.
“Oh, okay, are we waiting for her to come back?” He asked.
“No”, both Kyle and David answered.
“Let’s go. We’re wasting time. Thank you for helping josh.”
“Hang on, josh, I’m coming with you.” David grabbed his bag from the car and threw his bag in the back of the warrior's car before climbing in after it.
We all piled back into the car, and one by one, we all pulled back onto the road. I felt terrible for David, but at least now I wouldn’t have to monitor Ingrid all weekend.
AN: sorry the next promised update is late. I couldn't seem to get past the writers block. But I am working on it still and will get it out asap.