Page 10 of Welcome Home: When Shifters Unite!
Murmurs throughout town about the Elder Council have everyone worried about what is going to happen, but the Town Council is firmly behind the Hunters Bow Pack being formed, and being allowed as part of the town.
Robbie has been digging an immense area in the garden where he’s mumbling about fruit bushes and trees, making more jelly and even cakes to sell to the café and Joyce at the B&B.
Joyce has been to the farmhouse twice and even stayed to eat with us one evening. She has asked if she can join the pack and would add a percent of her business profits to the pack’s coffers.
As we have decided to run the pack as a democracy we will put it to the vote if anyone steps forward wanting to join, because the last thing we want is trouble joining. We will have to see what develops, and I’m not going to panic in the meantime.
Wednesday evening and we are just finishing our meal, giving Robbie praise for the amazing grilled steak and roasted vegetables he served us. It was a splendid meal. We all talked, laughed and planned what we had to do on the weekend while we were off work.
The knock on the door surprises us as it’s unusual for anyone to come to the house as we haven’t had a welcome party as yet. Leo walks over to the back door and opens it and gives a rumbled, ‘Come in.’
“Oh, have you got a drink Robbie, my throat is so dry,” Joyce quickly says as she makes herself at home, taking a seat at the table and picking up a piece of meat from Stella’s plate, earning herself a tap on the back of her hand.
“Hey you!” Stella laughs and Joyce chews the meat she stole, but doesn’t suppress her smile.
“So, what are you doing out here in an evening?” Leo asks.
“The Town Council wants to warn you that the Elder Council will be here in two days. You need to be ready and know what you are going to say if they throw arguments at you about finding an Alpha mate.”
“Oh, I’ll have an argument, and I’ll also tell them where to shove themselves. They have no say over what happens to me, and although we are a pack, we are not a registered pack with them at this time,” I respond.
“They could make your pack legitimate, so they could call you out on that one. But that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Mavis said I had to tell you that if you were a registered pack, then ALL the Alphas would have a say in what happened to you as a line from royal blood if that came out. That would take any decision from the council’s hands. It would also mean none of the packs wouldwant you pushed in any direction. They would honestly want you to choose for yourself. The Blue River Pack may not be happy that someone survived, mind you.”
“I know I’m human, but it goes against anyone’s rights to be forced into an arranged marriage, or mate-ship, bonding, or whatever the hell you want to call it. It’s archaic and if it’s still happening, then this Elder Council needs to get with the times, or step down and you all form a ‘Younger Council’,” which Robbie says, giving air-quotes on the last part. Stella and Joyce are nodding and Leo just looks mean, which we all know is him being angry about all this.
“Well, you could put a damper on them and mate with Leo,” Stella says and we all turn our heads and look at her as though she has lost her mind.
Races rarely mix. A lion-wolf hybrid would be highly unusual, but who knows if it’s already happened yet been kept quiet?
“Nope, not happening. Adira is my sister now, not a mate. I’m also happy to be on my own. Now, we need to give this thought, and have replies ready no matter what crap they throw at you.” We all sit around the kitchen table looking down at the mouth.
Joyce, however, puts the kettle on and makes a pot of tea, placing a cup in front of each of us, then sitting sipping her drink quietly.
The next two hours we throw around questions that may be asked, and orders they may throw out. Finding a rational, negative reason for how to respond.
“How many elders are coming?” I ask.
Joyce rolls her eyes. “They are all coming, all eight of them.”
“You don’t say.” Leo rubs the back of his neck. “I think we need to speak to the town council before the Elders get here. I have a nasty feeling they have something planned and something already up their sleeve.”
Joyce places her cup down and looks at each of us in turn. “Look, the town is behind you. They don’t want to join packs because of the politics that come along with them. But they also won’t watch one of us being taken by force or trickery. They won’t allow you to be railroaded into something, either. Leo, you come with me tomorrow and we’ll speak to the town council together. Adira, you keep your head down until they arrive on Saturday.”
Once we are all done with the conversation and questions for now, Joyce leaves with Leo, who walks her home. Robbie, Stella and I make our way to bed. It is a workday tomorrow, after all.
The next day after work, Leo fills us in on the conversation he had with the council, along with Joyce, who apparently is making her displeasure known. Dottie, who is a close friend of Joyce, waded in also, and had given the council a piece of her mind, when they said our pack wasn’t large enough to have enough weight to throw around with the Elders.
Now the pack has grown after I initiated Joyce, Dottie, Asher from the grocery store, and Petra from the hairdressers. Also, Thorn, who is a colleague, and Troy, my boss from school. So, the pack is now ten strong counting myself. I don’t know if it’s enough, but it’s better than we had.
Saturday came around far too quickly, but it has to be faced and no matter what happens, we as a pack will stand together. Thorn I have noticed keeps sucking through his teeth and giving a feral grin. When I asked what was wrong he grinned stating loudly, ‘I’m ready for a fight if they are bringing one’.
‘I like him. He has no fear of the Elders. We cannot show any weakness, Adira. We are not under their control, and for now, we need to stay that way. I will not submit to a mating I don’t want, and neither will you.’
“Too true, Blue. We won’t, because we’ve walked away from one pack because of politics. But these are the same elders that would have had to give permission for Travis to break our fated bond, and for him to take Joliee as his chosen mate. I have no respect for them, especially as I submitted to their request to go to Luna camp for a year.”
Stella snorts, “Let them try to force us into anything, because we will fight back. It would start with you, then it would soon lead to them having some sort of freaking lottery where all of us unmated females will be the prize for unmated males, and I’m not being told who to take as a chosen mate. My mate died by his father’s hand and unless the Moon Goddess sees fit to give me a second chance mate, I don’t want a mate at all.”
“My mate is also dead, drowned when she was young, playing with her sister in the river. I always thought her sister had a hand in it, but could never prove it. But if I ever can, I’ll drown that bitch in the same river she murdered mine,” Leo snarls.
