The two girls managed to get their purchases inside, then headed for the living room. “Ahhh,” Kara sighed as she sank down onto the couch, sprawling her legs out. “That was so much fun,” she continued. “I love spending my brother’s money!” Keva laughed. “It was exhausting, though. I hope I don’t have to get a new wardrobe very often.” Kara giggled. “Silly, you only needed a whole wardrobe because you’re newly human. From now on, it will only be one or two pieces of clothing at a time.” Keva sighed with relief. “Good. I don’t think I can take another shopping trip like that one.” Kara merely shook her head at her friend’s strangeness, and yawned widely. “I think it’s naptime,” she announced, then proceeded to curl up on the couch. Keva was not very tired, but she plopped herself on the matching loveseat and made herself comfortable. She felt drowsy almost immediately, and she soon dozed off into a dreamless sleep.
When Cian came over to visit the girls, he found them both asleep. Kara was sprawled out on the couch, with one leg draped over the back, and Keva was curled up like a wolf pup on the loveseat. He chuckled, and picked up his credit card from off the coffee table. “Wore themselves out, of course. Spending money is awfully hard work, I suppose!” He perched on the loveseat and wrapped his arms around Keva. She made a purring sound and curled around him, snuggling her head into his shoulder. He stroked her hair with one hand, until she finally opened her bright blue eyes. “Cian,” she said sleepily. “When did you get here?” He grinned at her. “Just a minute ago, but I didn’t have the heart to wake you.” She snuggled closer and sighed happily. “Clothes shopping is awful, Cian. Promise you won’t make me go again,” she mumbled. He laughed out loud, his deep voice rumbling against her chest. “I promise,” he whispered.
That evening was the night that Liam had decided to confront Elder Garr, the pack elder and their spokesman for the Council. With Kara’s help, Keva dyed her hair dark red with a temporary dye. Since the Elder had not been made aware of Keva’s transformation, the group hoped to catch him unaware with her telepathic skill. Keva’s first experience with the shower was life-changing. “Hot water feels so good,” she gasped, as she stepped into the shower in just an old t-shirt to rinse out the extra hair dye. “No wonder humans are such clean creatures!” Kara chuckled at this. “Yes, we do pride ourselves on our good hygiene,” she admitted. “Most women wear perfume, but it’s often so strong that it offends us werewolves’ sense of smell.” Keva rinsed out her hair, but stayed in the shower, tilting her face into the hot stream of water. Kara tapped her foot impatiently. “Come on, honey. We have to dry your hair before your disguise is complete. I promise you can take a heavenly-long shower later tonight,” she added. With a disappointed sigh, Keva complied.
Her disguise complete, Keva and Liam headed for Garr’s cabin. Liam looked nervous, his green eyes darting everywhere as if he expected someone to stop them. He looked at Keva, who seemed strangely calm. “You seem confident,” he observed. She grinned at him, her blue eyes twinkling. “Actually, I think this will be a fun way to prove my talents,” she admitted. “Plus, I’m very angry with the Council right now, so I have to admit I have little respect for this elder of yours. Of course, we’ll have to hear his story first.” Liam nodded, sticking his hands deep into the pockets of his leather jacket. “Aye, I’m quite interested in what he has to say, as well.”
As they started up the steps to the cabin door, Elder Garr caught them unawares by flinging open his door. His pointed gray beard seemed more frazzled than usual. He lowered his eyebrows at the two people on his doorstep. “Liam. Who is this?” Liam grinned disarmingly at the old man. “My new girlfriend, Hannah. I met her in town,” he added, wrapping an arm around Keva’s waist. She smiled up at the elder. “It’s so nice to meet you, sir,” she said sweetly. “Liam has told me so much about you.” The elder glared at the young man, who only smiled back at him. “I wanted her to meet you, sir. I knew you would want to approve.” The elder looked Keva up and down, and scratched the gray fuzz on his head. “Oh, very well. Come in, then.” Liam followed him into the cabin, with Keva close behind. Elder Garr swept into the kitchen. “Tea, Miss Hannah?” Keva smiled gratefully. “Oh, yes please, Mister Garr.” The elder flinched visibly at the human address, but said nothing. He turned his back to fill the tea kettle with water, set it on the stovetop, and then turned back to the couple. “So, Liam, how did you meet this young beauty?” Liam shrugged, his eyes dark. “At the bowling alley,” he improvised. “She’s got a great arm.” Keva laughed, and then turned her focus on the elder, listening to his thoughts. The elder seemed surprised at Liam’s answer. He frowned slightly. “Liam, the bowling alley has been closed for six months,” he said slowly. Liam’s face went slightly pale, but he swallowed hard and made his thoughts clear. “Well, maybe I met her at a Council meeting, then,” he said, his tone hard and cold. The Elder blanched. “A Council meeting? Don’t be silly, boy. You’ve never attended one of those.” Liam shrugged. “That’s true, sir, but she didn’t have to attend to be able to listen in, you see.” The Elder’s mouth fell open before he caught himself. Suddenly, the tea kettle began screeching and shooting steam into the room. He jumped, and then hurried to move it off the heat.
“Well…hmm. So, Miss Hannah, what is it that you happened to ‘overhear’ at this meeting, eh?” The elder made quotation marks over his head with his fingers, his yellowish eyes zeroing in on Keva. She decided to throw in everything she had in the first move. “I ‘overheard’ that the Council has been selectively breeding the lycan species, both with true wolves and with other werewolves. Plus, any half-breed that results is given the option to either join the Council or be ‘eliminated’, particularly by being sent on a dangerous ‘mission’,” she concluded. The Elder stared at her, his eyes wide and bloodshot. “Interesting thoughts, child, but I sincerely doubt you overheard something as horrendous as that.” Keva listened to the thoughts that made up his undertone, and grinned. Beneath the elder’s words had been speculation as to her particular breed of werewolf. “No, Elder, I am not a red werewolf. Yes, I did overhear these things.” The Elder’s face went gray, and he sat down heavily on a chair in the kitchen. “By God,” he murmured, “We’re doomed.”
Liam rose from the couch and went to stand in front of the elder. “Elder Garr, the Council has been keeping some terrible secrets from the lycan packs that they were meant to protect,” he said firmly. “Right now, a messenger from this pack is spreading the word of this treachery to each Alpha of the eight main packs, and soon the Council’s schemes will be exposed. What do you have to say for yourself?” The old man placed a hand over his eyes and shook his head slowly, moaning. “The Council has too much power,” he moaned. “They sought to create an uber-lycan, a half-breed with the power of telepathy that doesn’t have to be learned,” he admitted. “Many years ago, the Council decided to reduce lifemates’ chances of meeting in order to prolong their little experiment, placing virile males in packs with females the Council wanted to breed. It was only after I was admitted to the Council that they told me of this heinous thing, and short of throwing myself from a window, there was nothing I could have done.” A hint of pity appeared in Liam’s eyes. “Garr, you have to speak to the pack. I will tell Cian all that you’ve said tonight, and together the pack will vote on whether you must be cast out or not.” The old man flinched, his lean frame seeming to shrink under the pressure of his shame.
Keva stood, and came to stand beside Liam. “Elder Garr, I am not Hannah. I am Keva, shifted into my human form, and I have the gift of telepathy due to my half-breed nature.” Garr looked up in shock from where he sat, staring at the lean redhead. “Um,” he said slowly, “Shouldn’t your hair be pale blonde, Keva?” She glanced at Liam and they shared a grin. “We dyed it, sir,” she explained. “Oh,” said the man faintly, before passing out and falling out of the chair. He would have hit his head on the floor if Liam had not quickly caught him and laid him gently on the couch. The two friends left quietly, le
aving the elder in a faint on the couch.
Cian called a pack meeting the next day, Keva’s seventh day in the pack and her last day, according to the Council’s decree, to shift into human form or be cast out of the pack. She attended the meeting in human form, happily smiling at her new family. The teenage twins, Rick and Rosa, sat next to her and asked her all about her life growing up as a true wolf, which they thought was “awesome.” Rosa was a thin, short, black-haired girl with two differently-colored eyes. Her right eye was gold, and her left eye was a deep green. Rick was a bit stockier, with shaggy black hair and the same color eyes as his father Davin, a light gray-green that seemed to change in different light. Neither twin had shifted yet, so they were happy to hear that Keva had been able to learn to shift so quickly. Rosa giggled when Keva mentioned her real age. “What? You’re only two years old! You’d still be a baby as a human,” she said with a grin, her eyes twinkling. “What if you were, and Cian had to change your diaper?” The twins screeched with laughter at the thought, but Keva only shook her head with a smile.
The pack quickly grew quiet as Cian began to speak. Elder Garr had not yet arrived, which was very unusual. Cian detailed the specifics of the Council’s scheme, and no sooner had the story been explained when Elder Miella burst into the meeting hall, leading the rest of Council, including Elder Garr. Several members looked very displeased, particularly Elder Sera, who had decreed Keva only be given one week to learn to shift. Keva bold met Elder Sera’s sharp yellow eyes as Elder Miella began to speak, directing her tirade at Cian. “How dare you, Alpha, have your beta interrogate a member of the Council without first seeking advice from the Council itself! This is an outrage!” Cian growled deep in his throat. “Your breeding program is an outrage, Miella!” He boomed at the small woman, his eyes sparking with anger. “By implementing this breeding program, you have managed to shrink the entire lycan population to a mere one hundred individuals!” The elder glared at him, but was unable to respond before he continued. “Yes, I do have the numbers, because my messenger contacted every Alpha in the country. And, now the whole lycan population knows of your crimes, particularly your ‘half-breed’ program to create an uber-lycan!” He stopped to take a breath, and Miella broke in, a devilish grin on her face. “This is all true,” she said loudly, spanning the entire pack with her sharp gaze. “We sought to make the lycans stronger, that is all! Without our guidance, the werewolf packs would be fighting amongst one another and raping their women!” Elder Garr looked angry at this statement. “Nonsense!” He bellowed, surprising Cian. “The Council was drunk on power, and only wanted to further itself,” he said sadly, ashamed to meet the eyes of his pack. “I was not part of the Council when this plan was conceived, but I do know that most of it was Elder Miella’s idea,” he said, pointing a thin finger at the woman, whose eyes seemed as though they might pop out of her head.
“But—but you…” she sputtered, unable to make a coherent sentence. The rest of the elders were arguing amongst themselves, trying to sort out who had done the most damage. Cian slammed his palm on the table. “Enough! Thank you, Elder Garr, for pointing the finger. The truth is, however, the entire Council knew of this plan and did nothing to stop it.” The Council members grew silent, each staring in a different direction, not willing to meet Cian’s angry gaze. “The Alphas of each pack are on their way to this meeting hall,” Cian continued, a little calmer. “We will vote upon what judgment the Council should face, and discuss a country-wide werewolf reunion to allow all of our single pack members to potentially meet their life-mates, as I have.” The Council stared daggers at one another, and several of them glared at Miella as if they wished to slit her throat right there. “Idiotic woman,” one of the males mumbled. Miella screeched at the insult. “Egotistical brute!” She shouted, and tackled the tall male, scratching at him with her nails. The meeting hall erupted into chaos, the pack members trying desperately to pull the fighting Councilors apart and restore order.
Keva covered her ears at the horrendous noise, grimacing. Finally, she gathered her focus, and sent a mental shout at everyone in the hall. THAT IS ENOUGH, LYCANS. BE SILENT. The unusual mental command sent a shocked silence through the hall, and the only sound that could be heard was the panting of Miella, held down by Cormac and Davin. “That’s better,” Keva said mildly. “Miella, you have caused enough damage. Elders, although I respect your age and experience due to my true-wolf upbringing, I feel that we have all had enough of your schemes. Cian, why don’t we tie them up to the chairs in here until the other Alphas can arrive to discuss their fate?” Cian nodded grimly. “An excellent suggestion, my love.” With the help of Cormac, Liam, and Davin, all the elders were soon tied to the chairs in the meeting hall, unable to break free.
Elder Garr was left loose, but Cian gave him a sad look. “Garr,” he said, leaving out the honorific, “I don’t have it in my heart to tie you to a chair, but you must remain here for now. The elder nodded sadly, shame casting a shadow in his eyes. “I understand, Alpha,” he said quietly, and sat in a chair, where the other elders glared at his partial freedom. He did not meet their gaze, but instead stared out the window at the afternoon sun.
Cian invited Keva back to his cabin after the tiring escapade. “Come take a nap on the couch with me,” he suggested, tugging her hand and grinning. She smiled and curled up next to him on the couch with a sigh. “I think things will soon be much better for all of us,” she said quietly. He grunted an agreement. “We have a few hours before the Alphas of each pack will start to arrive,” he said with a yawn. Keva snuggled closer to him with a deep sigh, and he kissed the top of her head, hugging her tightly. “Good,” she said. “I want to spend a few hours just enjoying your company.” He chuckled. “Ah, beautiful, I’ll have to show you how humans usually ‘enjoy each other’s company’,” he said with a grin.
She tilted her head to meet his fiery golden gaze, intrigued. “Oh? And what do they do?” She asked, intensely curious. He tilted his head and pressed his lips to hers, eliciting a gentle gasp from her soft pink lips. “Oh,” she said breathlessly, then instantly pressed her lips greedily to his. The kiss grew deeper until they both broke away, grinning at each other. “This is nice,” Keva said shyly, tracing her fingers down the front of his shirt. He grinned, and stroked her cheek with his thumb. She closed her eyes and leaned into his caress with a sigh. “There’s much more than just kissing, my love,” he whispered. She opened her blue eyes, which seemed to be lit by some inner fire. “Really? Like what?” He chuckled, then swept her up into his arms and carried her into his bedroom. “I think I will just have to show you,” he growled playfully.
The End
If you liked this novella, there is more to come! My next novella, “Dream Walker” will be the second novella in the Wolvenkind series. I welcome any feedback that you, my readers, can offer on Amazon.com.
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