Snakes in the Grass

Snakes in the Grass
MAX

“Servants know more than you think,” - something I heard my mother say once to my father when a neighboring pack’s leadership came to visit and there was an incident in town involving their Alpha and one of our Packhouse Omegas.

I was too young then to fully understand much of what they were discussing at the time, having no idea about anything that wasn’t within the walls of this house or my classes at the Packhouse, but I do remember it was one of those very rare occasions in which my mother ordered my father to leave, claiming she couldn’t sleep next to a man that refused to protect its pack females.

It wasn’t until long after she died that I began to fully understand what went on at that time and what it was that had my mother so distressed that she would hardly even eat.

A woman in the Packhouse back then, an Omega apparently, had been accused by the visiting pack’s Luna of seducing her husband, the Alpha. Taking her word at face value, my father had punished the Omega female, placing her in stocks in Town Square for five days and five nights, so that anyone she had ever wronged could walk right up to her and dole out punishment as they saw fit. 

My mother was furious and took it upon herself to investigate the truth of what occurred that night by visiting the Packhouse herself and interviewing those who lived there as well as the servants traveling with the visiting pack’s Alpha. It was what she claimed that she’d learned from them that had her in an uproar when she brought it up with my father.

Aside from the visiting Luna’s claims that the Omega girl had seduced her husband, there had been a report made and filed with the Gamma Commander at that time, Gamma Corlys no doubt, that had been swept under the rug and ignored in favor of maintaining our alliance. This complaint was made prior to the Luna’s accusation, by the accused Omega, stating that the visiting Alpha had been harassing her after dinner each night and accosting her in the halls whenever she was alone. As far as my mother was concerned, that was enough right there to absolve the girl, but for my father she knew it wouldn’t be. 

Then came what she learned from the visiting Alpha’s servants. The whispers of truth that none at the top ever pay attention to and none of the bottom ever have reason to share. Like the Alpha’s valet that had been assigned to watching the Omega girl and learning her habits while they were here. The Luna’s own maid that her husband, the Alpha, had assaulted on more than one occasion and that, for the endurance of their visit, he had tasked with the odd chore of befriending the Omega girl and luring her into town for a drink during that first week.

With all that my mother had learned, she decided to take matters into her own hands and at the end of the Omega’s second day in the stockade, she marched up the dais with a small contingent of our Gamma soldiers, announced to all that the Omega had been falsely accused, and then released her by her very own hand - something that she knew she had to do herself, because no one else had the power to challenge my father the way she did. No one else would have ever dared.

My mother was a wonderful woman, a Luna beloved by all. She believed in equality and fairness, compassion and love. She was never afraid to stand up for what she believed in and she never backed down when she knew something wasn’t right. She was my father’s fated mate and everything that was good in him, came from her. 

Then one day…she was gone, and it is my belief that a lot of what she stood for simply became something too painful for him to ponder.

So now as I stand in the drawing room facing the house staff that I entrusted with the safekeeping of this place, my mother’s place, I find myself wondering what prejudices these hired servants might have that were never fettered out, and what grudge Yvette might be harboring that would prompt her to act against my wishes.

Pacing the floor in front of where they stand, each of them lined up in much the way the boys were in the basement, I study each of their expressions as they are met with the condition in which I have presented myself and so far the only concern to behold among any of them, belongs to the groundskeepers that probably weren’t even aware that Blanca was here until today.

What a pity.

Fixing my attention on Yvette, the head of house that only became so when Jensen was given the go ahead to hire more staff, I have to wonder what possessed her to lie to Jensen about my orders. Didn’t she think about what was going to happen when I found out? Didn’t she realize that forging my word in any matter is a capital offense? Does she truly believe that my mother’s fondness for her and the conditions my mother penned in her name afford her ultimate forgiveness?

She must. Too bad for her that it doesn’t.

“I am only going to ask this once,” I begin, positioning myself directly in front of Yvette while I address the others. Nine sets of eyes sway in my direction and I hold each of them for just long enough to set a few lips twitching. “Is everyone here aware of the rule my father set years ago, banning any and all visitors to this place without the Alpha’s approval?” 

A chorus of yeses and stiff nods follow from everyone except for Yvette, who, for some reason, has decided to glare at me. I ignore it, for now, suppressing the urge to pick her up by her head and fling her out the door like the little troll that she is, by reminding myself of the escort that I already have planned for her.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to see a text from Maize. My chest tightens. I don’t need to read it. I already know what it says. But of course, I do anyway…

Doc Maize: Blanca’s awake.

I’ve failed again.

I meant to be there…I wanted to be there.

I wasn’t.

The time for a slow discovery has passed…

How do you find all the snakes in the grass if you only carry one stick?

You get rid of the stick...and the grass.