Chapter 39
Dad? Marian mused as she gazed up at her father, standing tall beside Dax.
“You shall serve in the pack hospital as an aide. The pack doctor will instruct you on your duties,” her father, Corien Storm, former pack Alpha of the Lightmoon pack, declared, gazing down at her.
“Let it also be known,” he continued, his voice softening as he spoke to his daughter for the first time since he shifted that morning, “you are forbidden from leaving the immediate compound.”
“Your movements are restricted to the immediate grounds and the hospital,” he concluded in a firm, definitive tone.
Do you understand? He asked gently in their mind space.
Marian swallowed. She was tempted to retort, to defend her rights as a reinstated wolf.
Penance has been paid.
Why should I be restrained?
She complained in her mind.
“Yes. Alpha,” she replied firmly, to the hearing of all, her eyes shifting to Alpha Dax.
She bowed again and walked backward, turning on her heel and sitting at the table where a number of medical staff were gathered.
Those closest to her welcomed her and the noise around the tables resumed.
Marian did not look at her father as he passed, with Dax.
She did not look at Dorien as he sat on the high table with the she-wolf he had left her for, Risa.
Her mind drifted to the only person she wanted to be around – Reyland.
I’ve been confined!
Her mind was buzzing with ways of how she could get to Reyland, without getting into trouble.
She recalled what Dax had mentioned at Reyland’s place, about whipping her. She knew that would be a breeze for him to do.
There would even be a line, if Dax requested, of wolves willing to take a turn.
Marian grimaced, the aura around her darkening when a familiar, silk voice came into her mind space. “Control, princess. Control.”
Marian smiled lightly and glanced around carefully.
She could not find Gravan.
“Where are you, Uncle? We were interrupted before. Come to the lunch,” she pleaded.
There was a weight on her heart.
After all that had happened since she woke that morning and went to see Reyland, she needed a touch of the familiar, or at least something, or someone who could anchor her.
I want to sit and talk with someone.
Just a normal conversation.
Like with Reyland earlier, she mused, her heart sinking as she recalled her barely touched cocoa and Reyland with his tea.
I could do that forever.
If they give me a chance.
I just want to be in his company.
I can do anything…
“No, my princess. I’m afraid I cannot do that,” Gravan was saying in the link.
“Oh…” Marian breathed in her mind as she spoke with the former pack Beta.
“I understand. Sorry,” she replied softly.
“No. Don’t be sorry. Have you spoken to your father?” Gravan asked casually.
“No. not yet,” Marian replied.
“Ok.” He responded after a short pause.
She felt him leaving and called out to him. “Uncle, wait.”
“Speak, Child,” he said patiently.
“What…who…what Dax said just now –” she started, hesitantly.
“Dax?” Gravan chided, interrupting Marian.
“What Alpha Dax said just now.” She corrected herself.
Gravan grunted encouragingly in the link.
“Who…paid the price when I left?” Marian asked haltingly.
Gravan was silent.
“My princess. I am not the one to tell you of this,” he responded neutrally.
Marian held her breath as her eyes moved over the crowd to gaze at her father who sat behind Dax at the high table.
It was where he had sat for the past three years, this year being the fourth.
Behind Dax, but to the right.
While the Luna sat on Dax’s left, with Dorien beside him on his immediate right, her father always remained behind them all.
He could be seen, but never fully. His presence was obstructed by Dax and Dorien.
A silent, psychological reminder to any wolves with any wayward hopes for reclaiming what her father had lost – that Dax and his men were in control.
Her father never ate or drank during the festivities. Not because it was part of the shame they imposed on him. No.
He would not partake of the feasting, just as he would not for breakfast or for dinner, for the same reason that Gravan, his Beta, was not here at all – this was the celebration that had marked their downfall, four years earlier.
Unlike Gravan, who could come and go as he pleased, who would be killed if he tried to escape, Corien was always with Dax.
Always.
Otherwise, he would not be here.
Gravan was not the only one of the old guards who was not at the Lunch. There were others. But as the years passed, more of them joined in.
As for her father, and for her as well, they had always attended.
Marian stared at him now as he sat behind the Alpha and his heir. Glancing around at the lively crowd, a small smile on his bearded face, his eyes bright.
Her hands began to shake, her lips quivered, and she bit her lower lip as her eyes filled.
Most did not know why Corien was always with the Alpha. Marian had once believed that it was because of Dax’s affection. But after what he did to her father the day she did not return to the pack by the expected hour, that thought had died.
And now…as she gazed at him, seated behind that bastard and his shit of a son, something stirred in her heart. Pulling it from within.
“What did he do to my father, Gravan?” she stressed, pressing her uncle for a response.
“If I tell you. Your father will never forgive me,” he stated dully.
Marian stood and rushed out of the gathering.
“Where are you?! Tell me!” she screamed in her mind, reaching deeper to see where her uncle was.
“Wait there, I’ll come to you,” he replied urgently.
Marian could feel him moving swiftly.
“No,” she retorted, pushing against his mind to find his exact location.
Depending on the strength or skill of a wolf, they could not only communicate, they could share sights, sounds, and smells in the mind link.
For some, it could be like watching a movie. For others, it could be like reading a book in dim light.
While the link allowed wolves to feel each other or talk to each other, each wolf could limit or share what they wanted to.
Similar to how one could talk in the mind link, but still think about what they wanted to say, without the other wolf being aware of the thought process.
“Marian, I’m outside your permitted zone. Wait for me,” he urged.
Marian could feel him speeding up.
“Uncle –” she retorted as she gained a fix on him.
Marian was her father’s daughter, she was an alpha wolf. She was strong in body and in mind.
Had Dinka been with her, she would have found her uncle in seconds.
“Control, Child. Hold on. Go to your dorm. I’ll meet you there,” Gravan stressed.
He remained in her mind as they both moved to her dorm.