Chapter 144: The story of Tommy

Bella and Graham walked the short distance between the hospital and the pack house. As Mickey had said, the area was full of pack members out for a walk. As they saw their alpha couple come, they all smiled and nodded as they walked past. No one approached them. They kept a respectful distance. But they seemed happy none the less.

As they walked into the pack house, Betty came walking from the kitchen.

“Betty!” Bella exclaimed and hurried over to the warrior.

“Luna,” Betty smiled and then let out a surprised yelp as Bella drew her into a hug.

“Sorry, did I hurt you?” Bella asked, backing off.

“No, luna. Just surprised,” Betty smiled.

“Thank you, Betty, for everything,” Bella said.

“No need to thank me. I’m just happy to see you up on your feet,” Betty told her.

“I hope Logan has given you some time off,” Bella smiled.

“He has, and a bonus,” Betty chuckled.

“I’m happy to hear that. You and I will have a little talk in a week or two,” Bella told her.

“Yes, luna.”

“Don’t look so scared, Betty. It will be fun, you’ll see. But until then, get some rest,” Bella smiled.

“You too, luna,” Betty said.

“I have to go, or Graham will lose what little patience he has at the moment,” Bella told her and walked back to Graham.

“Okay, I have indulged you long enough. I’m not going to let you walk up all those stairs,” he told her and lifted her up.

“Fine,” she smiled and kissed his cheek.

Graham was going to place Bella in their bed, but Bella felt like three days in bed was quite enough and asked him to place her on the couch at least. He agreed, to her relief.

“We need to sort the funerals,” Bella said as he had gotten her a glass of apple juice and joined her on the couch.

“Yes,” he agreed.

“Should we have one large or several individuals?” she asked.

“Logan talked to the families, and they would prefer a joint ceremony,” Graham told her.

“Okay, tomorrow afternoon?” she asked.

“Yes, that would be good,” he nodded.

“When is the next call with the alphas?” she asked.

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to join in that, or worry about it,” Graham said.

“Gray, I want to know the things about Devon just as much as anyone else. I’m still your luna. It’s not a taxing thing to do. I can sit in your lap if you like,” she told him.

“It’s after lunch,” he sighed.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

They spent the morning cuddling on the couch, talking and planning out the next week. Graham insisted they eat lunch in their apartment, and Bella gave in without arguing. She knew she had given him a fright and was happy to let him get back to feeling that she was safe, in moderation.

After lunch, they walked over to Graham’s office and took a seat at the conference table. Graham didn’t insist that she sat on his lap, but he pulled her chair as close to his as physically possible and rested his arm on the back of it.

When the meeting started, Bella got a lot of well wishes from the alphas and lunas. She was quite moved and thanked them.

“What have we found about Devon?” Graham then asked.

“His name wasn’t Devon, or rather, he wasn’t born as Devon,” alpha Greg told them. Everyone focused on him.

“You know who he was?” Graham asked.

“He was my nephew,” alpha Greg admitted, and the meeting became dead silent as they all were stunned by this information.

“I didn’t make the connection. The last time I saw him, he was not even two years old, and my sister was sentenced by our father to become a rogue,” he told them.

“Can you take this from the start? Why was your sister turned rogue?” alpha Sam asked.

“It’s a pack secret. We don’t like to speak of it. My sister’s true mate was a human. As you know, humans don’t react to a mate bond the same way we do. But they feel the strong connection and love. My sister left the pack and moved in with her human. They got married according to human traditions,” alpha Greg started.

“My sister chose not to tell her human mate what she was. Thinking she would get to it when they had gotten to know each other. Before she could tell her mate, she got pregnant. As the pup was half human, she had a longer pregnancy than most wolves and her mate never suspected anything,” he continued.

“She gave birth to a boy, the got the name Tommy after his father Tom. Everything looked to be as it should, and we all assumed that she had told her mate about her and Tommy’s true nature. When Tommy was little over a year old, he started walking. We all know what happens to pups at that stage. They start to shift,” he said with a heavy sigh. Everyone nodded.

“My sister thought she could hide this from her mate, but needless to say, the first time he saw his son shift, he got a nasty shock. The wolf was out of the bag at that point and my sister had to confess. Her mate didn’t take it well. Exactly what happened, we don’t know. But it ended in him saying he wanted a divorce. My sister took it as a rejection and killed him,” alpha Greg told them.

There was a soft murmur amongst the other participants. That was a double offence. She had killed her mate and a human. Either of those would have normally led to a death penalty if she hadn’t acted in self-defence.

“My father couldn’t sentence my sister to death. He instead turned her rogue. We begged her to leave her son with the pack. My other sister offered to raise him as her own. But my sister took him with her. We never heard from either of them again,” he finished his story. He looked devastated.

“That is a sad tale whichever way you look at it. We might never know the exact details of why Devon, Tommy, acted in the way he did. But I think we all gained insight into why he hated the pack system, the humans, and why he had so little regard for the mate bond,” alpha Noa said. Many of them nodded.

Bella could see how someone with that background got disillusioned about their way of life. It didn’t make her regret that Devon now was dead, but it made her sympathetic to his life story.

“May be this is a wake-up call that it is time that we revise the rogue system. It’s obviously not working as intended and we create more animosity than we find solutions,” Graham said, and Bella looked at him in surprise.

Most alphas and lunas nodded, but some looked shocked, like the mere thought of changing the rogue system was beyond their understanding.

“I think that is an interesting idea, but maybe not for today. We will have to set up a separate meeting for that,” alpha Sam smiled.

Next on the agenda was what to do with the remaining rogues they had captured. During Bella’s absence, her idea of creating a separate pack for them had almost become a reality. It had been concluded that very few of the rogues had known the grand plan. Once they found out, they were as horrified as the rest.

They had chosen a leader. Tabitha, Devon’s former beta, had been chosen. Three viable locations were being scouted for the possibility of settling the pack down. Overall, once the rogues had realised what the plan was, things had gone smoothly. They wanted this as much as anyone.

The three packs that were responsible for scouting locations promised to report back before the end of the week.

The last thing to discuss was a joint remembrance ceremony. No pack had been unaffected by the rogue rebellion. Each and every one of them had lost at least one member either in the rogue attacks, at the summit, or in the last battle.

To showcase their newfound unity, they decided that the following Sunday at five pm, each pack would light a symbolic pyre and all the names of those that had been lost would be read out loud. It was also decided that none of the traitors’ names would be included.

Most of them weren’t dead yet. They were being kept alive until their packs could be certain they didn’t need the information they could provide.

With that decision, the meeting ended, and Bella relaxed back in her chair. When she relaxed, she felt a distinct movement in her belly. She smiled and took Graham’s hand to place it so that he could feel it as well.

“Lively,” he smiled.

“Yes, and much stronger than the last time I felt it,” Bella agreed.

“They are going to be fighters,” Graham said with pride.

“Just like their father,” Bella said and kissed him.

“Where did you get the idea of taking down the rogue system, and why was this the first time I heard about it?” she then asked. He smiled at her.

“Snack first,” he said, and ushered her out of the office.

As they were walking to their apartment, one of the kitchen staff came with a tray full of fruit, pickles, and cheese and a bowl of Bella’s special dip.

“Thank you,” Graham said, and took the tray from them.

Bella opened the door and let Graham in.

“Can we snack on the balcony?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It’s chilly outside,” he said.

“I’ll grab some blankets,” Bella smiled. “It will be like a pic nick,” she added.

Graham folded and Bella ended up leaning against Graham as they both were sitting in a deck chair. He had wrapped her up so tightly in blankets she had a hard time freeing her hand to eat.

“Now tell me,” she said as she dipped a cheese stick in her dip and munched on it. She felt a slight shudder from Graham as he watched her.

“I got the idea from you, as all my great ideas,” he smiled.