Chapter Twenty-Five

Dyrk’s rage and emotions were all over the place. He didn’t know if he should just rip their throats out before they could say a word to anyone or feed them to the wolves.

He smiles inwardly at the thought as he continues to intimidate the three young ones, standing in front of them with his death stare.

Gabi just stands there glaring back at the man that had been supposedly her father for the last eighteen years, but now she knows that had been a lie. And she couldn’t wait to let him know just how she felt. For years, she kept her hatred for him buried deep inside, but now she wasn’t afraid to let him know exactly what she thought of him.

Renn was pissed. Pissed at his older brother and pissed at himself for not sensing the others sooner. He wouldn’t be able to protect Gabi if Dyrk went after her. He looks around to see if he can see Mori. But he is nowhere to be found. He thinks to himself, where are you, brother?

Lucy is freaking out, and the fear is showing as she looks at her supposed birth father. He is nothing she has hoped for yet everything she fears about werewolves.

Dyrk finally breaks the silence.

“I am just at a loss of words for why you would come back here after your deception to the clan when you left. But now, not only do you come back, but you bring a pathetic human girl with you.”

Lucy looks up at him with sadness in her eyes. But it confirmed what she felt. He is nothing more than the wolf that mated with her mother to help her get pregnant. He is just her birth father, nothing more. She already has a dad in her life, and he means more to her than this person in front of her ever can.

“Hey, you’re mistaken, chief. She isn’t the human that was brought here. You made that error when you ripped me out of my dying mother’s arms and left her for dead,” Gabi yells at him.

There are gasps heard around the hall.

Dyrk quickly stands from his seat and glares down at Gabi. Gabi doesn’t back down; she meets his glare head on.

“Shut up, you insolent child. I have had enough of you. Don’t make me do something you would regret,” he spits out at her.

“What, is the almighty chief scared or embarrassed? I learned a lot while I was away. My father was a human. I am human. You’re not my father, and truthfully, I couldn’t be happier to know that truth.” She laughs.

Dyrk’s patience has worn thin, and his wolf is getting angrier by the second inside of him, wanting to break to the surface and kill the girl before she says anything more. He can feel his fangs in his mouth growing and his nails turning into claws. His breathing is getting labored as he tries to gain control over his wolf.

“You will speak no more, or I will make sure you never speak again,” Dyrk threatens.

Renn has heard enough, and the wolf in him surges as he breaks the ties that hold him and shifts into his wolf, growling as he glares at his brother and moves in front of Gabi to protect her.

Dyrk starts to laugh.

“You really think you can take me, little brother? Did you forget what I did to your knee the last time you tried to mess with me? I’ll tear you to shreds til there’s nothing left,” Dyrk warns him.

“I’d rather die protecting someone I love than live under your rule any longer,” Renn tells him.

Dyrk cracks his neck, ready to kill without guilt or regret.

“Stop! Renn, please, don’t do this. Dyrk, your fight is with me. Leave them out of this,” Gabi pleads.

Lucy screams as she breaks through her binds, shifts into her wolf, and puts herself in front of Gabi just as Renn has.

“Renn’s right, Gabi. We would rather die protecting you, someone we love, than live with him as our chief.”

“You are not one of us,” Dyrk spits out at Lucy.

“That’s funny, ‘cause the way I see it, I have your eyes, Daddy,” Lucy says in a condescending way.

Everyone around them is starting to talk more and can sense the room getting agitated and confused. Dyrk is losing their loyalty.

Dyrk lets out a ferocious growl as he barrels down the steps, grabbing Renn and throwing him across the room and then tossing Lucy aside as well. He grabs Gabi by the neck, raising her up, her feet dangling off of the floor.

“All I have to do is squeeze and the past all dies with you,” he whispers in her ear.

“Hurt her and I will gnaw your arm right off, brother,” Mori threatens as he growls in his wolf form.

“You too, brother. You would rather side with this pathetic little girl than your own brother.”

“You’re not right, brother. You have let greed and power warp your mind. This isn’t how Father wanted the clan to be. You’ve trapped us all here, never letting us out so that you can hold your reign and power over us. That isn’t a chief. Your beliefs for how you should run this clan have been clouded long enough.”

“Who do you think can do better, you?” he spits out as he tightens his hold on Gabi’s throat.

“That’s enough, Dyrk. Put your daughter down now,” Oka voices out from across the room.

“She isn’t mine. Haven’t you heard? Her slut of a mother slept with a human and made this piece of trash. I’m just getting rid of it.”

Oka thrusts her wrist in the air and sends a bolt of lightning through the air that zaps Dyrk in the wrist, weakening him for a moment but long enough for Gabi to be dropped from his grasp.

Renn scoops Gabi up and moves her far from Dyrk.

“Dirty trick, crone,” he says to Oka as he rubs the burn out of his wrist.

“I have told you. This body may be old, but my spirit is young and vibrant. As is the power that lives in me.”

There are more elders that are moving into the hall, placing themselves in particular spots around Dyrk.

“You think your powers can stop me? Go on then, do your worst,” Dyrk threatens.

Each elder raise their arms to the sky as Oka starts the chant:

ELDERS FAR AND WIDE

TOUCH THE STARS ACROSS THE SKIES

HEAR OUR CALL, HELP US NOW

DEFEAT THIS WOLF, STRIP HIS POWER!

The sky becomes dark, and there is a crack of lightning with thunder booming around the hall. Each elder is struck by the lightning, harnessing the power until it is finally released at Dyrk. Dyrk starts to shake as the lightning courses through his body. There is a flash of light and clouds of smoke escape him and shoot through the entire room. When the smoke clears, Dyrk is found on the ground on his knees.

Oka walks over to him.

“Dyrk, you have been stripped of your powers as Chief. You abused the laws that were put in place to protect the clan and instead caused fear, anger, resentment, and pain.”

The clan starts to clap as they feel the trance they had been under during Dyrk’s rule has lifted.

“As elder of this clan, I hereby grant Mori with the power of Chief. Who here disagrees?”

When no one disagrees, Oka continues, “From here on out, Mori is the new Chief of our clan.”

Everyone starts to cheer. Renn shifts back into his human form and hugs Gabi while unbinding the ties on her wrist. Lucy runs over to Gabi and pulls her from Renn and hugs her too.

“You did it, Gabi! You stood up to Dyrk and defeated him,” she tells her.

“I can’t take all the credit. If it wasn’t for Mori or Oka and the other elders, I would be on the floor dead. Thank you for saving my life,” she says as she turns and looks at Mori and Oka.

“So Gabi, who have you brought to the clan?” Mori asks.

Gabi smiles as she takes Lucy by the hand and pulls her over. “I would like you all to meet my twin sister, Lucy, who just so happens to have come into her wolf on her eighteenth birthday.”

“And is she?” Mori starts to ask as he points to Dyrk.

Gabi nods.

Mori looks back at Lucy and smiles. “Hello, Lucy. My name is Mori, and I’m your uncle. Welcome to the family.”

Lucy hugs Gabi, who pulls Renn into the hug, and he pulls Mori into the hug as well.

Lucy lifts her head up. “What about Gabi? Will she be able to stay even though she’s human?”

Mori looks at the girl that he has claimed as his niece for as long as he can remember. Even though she is not Dyrk’s biological daughter, he still loves her like family, and nothing will change that.

“As Chief of the MoonFang Clan, I hereby abolish the law of humans not being allowed to enter the territory and also abolish the law that wolves and humans cannot mate.”

Everyone starts to clap and cheer. Gabi is able to stay. This makes Renn very happy, and he knows exactly what he wants to do.

He starts to look around and notices that Gabi is not around them.

“Where did Gabi go?”