Kingdom of Wolves - Page 88

My voice is filled with Ebony’s tone, and I keep calm as Istep a little closer to Brod. “Breath slowly, feel inside, you’ll find yourwolf. Let yourself flow backward in your mind and allow your wolf to stepforward.”

Searching Brod’s face, I see the shape-changing and when hecries out with the snapping of his bones, I quickly reassure him. “Breath,relax, let it happen. Don’t fight it, Brod. Let Arrow come forward. In yourmind, slide back, and ignore the pain of the change if you can. It’ll be fasterand less painful if you accept what’s happening.”

Watching the gray fur sprouting with flecks of blackappearing along his arms and face, I hold my breath. Ebony surges forward,taking me by surprise. Walking over to Brod, Ebony croons and rubs against him,calling Arrow forward.

Snapping of bones as they redirect to the new shape seemsloud and watching through Ebony’s eyes I smile when Arrow stands, on wobblylegs looking around. Brod’s parents are crying, and Momma Akela and Poppa Lykosare beaming.

Turning back to Arrow, I note how large he is, and realizehe is a Beta, and a strong one. He will be a powerful warrior and a greataddition to any pack he may want to join.

I allow Ebony to remain in control and as she pounces onArrow; they play fight before running toward the forest. Brod’s parents, MommaAkela and Poppa Lykos, shift and run alongside. We all give the support we can,showing Brod and Arrow we are his family.

Our wolf’s eyes allow us to see clearly in the forest’sdarkness. It’s something I’ve never done before and running at night is alittle unnerving. Glancing to the right, I shoulder bump Poppa Lykos’ wolf Troyplayfully, before surging forward and crashing into Arrow, nipping his side,running in front, urging him to follow.

Arriving back at the farm hours later, we all shift back andquickly head to bed. Brod stays at the farm and his parents head home. Wesettle for the next few hours before we have to rise to tend to the animals.

The next morning, I’m surprised to see Flint sitting in the kitchen.I don’t know where he stayed last night, but he is here far earlier than henormally arrives.

Poppa Lykos smiles before asking me to take a seat. “We’vegot to talk, Tati.”

This is worrying because it looks like Flint is going to beinvolved in this conversation, and as he’s a higher member of the shiftercouncil, this could be something serious.

Taking a seat opposite Flint at the table, I look at PoppaLykos who takes the seat next to me, and Momma Akela, who is busy making drinksfor everyone.

“Flint has asked if I’d like to be a part of the shiftercouncil.”

My eyes fly to Flint and back to Poppa Lykos, but I don’tspeak because I’m worried about what he’s going to say next. This is easilygoing to be a life changer for one or all of us.

Flint leans forward and gains my attention. “I’m having toreplace two council members, and I have one now that you may know fromBlackshadow Pack. Her name is Merry. She’s going to come over to the counciland help us keep things legal and above board. We’ve had enough skullduggerygoing on and none of us wants it to ever happen again.”

Not sure what I’m expected to say, I keep quiet and lookback at Poppa Lykos. My eyes water because I can see the answer in his face.He’s going to accept, and my life will once again be altered. I close my eyes,swallow the lump in my throat before I open them again, and give a nod to PoppaLykos.

“I’ve accepted the position, Tati, but it means Momma Akelawill be coming too, and you have to make a choice. You can stay here and runthe farm. I’ll give you all the direction you need, or you can come with us tothe council.” Poppa takes hold of my hand, but I slide it away as I stand.Looking from Poppa to Momma and lastly to Flint, where I curl my lip and showmy dislike of what he’s doing.

Turning, I walk out of the kitchen briskly, and ignore MommaAkela shouting my name. I turn my walk into a jog and then a sprint as I headto the forest. I find a large tree and climb into the branches, settling in afork, leaning back, and closing my eyes as tears track down my cheeks.

I understand why Poppa Lykos would want to do this. He’s anhonorable shifter. He has been a rogue for a long time. I think he’ll putforward what is right for the town, but I don’t want to leave here. For thefirst time since my parents died, I feel at peace, yet Flint comes along andrips that out from under me. I’ll never forgive him for what he’s done. Heknows what my life has been like, yet he has had no hesitation in taking thisfrom me.

Hearing my name, I look down and see Brod running around thetree before climbing to where I’m sitting. “Tati, are you alright?”

“Yeah.” It’s all I can give him at the moment because myheart feels ripped apart. I know I’m going to lose Momma and Poppa and there isnothing I can do about it, because I’ll never go and live around the council.

“Poppa Lykos told me what he’s going to do. It’s a goodthing for the town, but I understand it’s not what you wanted to happen. You’llalways have them even if you don’t go with them. But if you stay, I’ll help yourun the farm as best as I can. Others in the town will help too. You’ll findyour mate and he’ll have to come here to live because bestie, I’m not lettingyou leave here and leave me behind.”

I lean my head on Brod’s shoulder once he manages to squeezehimself next to me. Arrow is giving warm growls towards me and Ebony. That’swhen I realize Ebony hasn’t said a word since Flint dropped the bombshell.

“I’m not going to the council. I’ll stay here. I’ve learnedenough to keep the farm going, but I’ll need help with the crops. I’ll speak tothe town council and see if they can help me get people to help when I needit.”

Brod wraps an arm around my shoulder and squeezes it. “It’llbe alright bestie, I’ll be here, and I’ll never leave you. You are my bestie,and my sister by choice. No one and nothing could keep me away from you.”

That’s when I break and cry. The crying turns to a sob, andmy distress has soft growls flowing from Brod’s chest as Arrow tries to comfortme, which has me sobbing even more.

Half an hour later, we hear our names shouted, but we ignorethe calls and remain quiet in the tree. Ebony comes forward in my mind andspeaks for the first time.

We cannot ask people to put their lives on hold for us.Poppa and Momma have to follow their destiny the same as we have to followours. We can stay here, it’s our home, and Tati, we need to think seriously nowabout making the town a pack. We need to speak to people in the town and findout if that is what they want. We make our minds up and move forward. We don’thave much time left before we’ll be eighteen and asked what we intend to do.

‘I know, Ebony. This is going to put a new light on ourfuture, and I had wanted it to stay like this for a while longer, but Flint hasput a stop to that.’ I hear Ebony growl and looking inward, I can see she has adislike for Flint now, although he probably doesn’t deserve our wrath.

“Are you ready to go back now Tati?” Brod asks, and lookingat him I can see he’s sad about what’s happened, but also, he has a strengthhe’s never had before. The childlike excitement isn’t the same, and that’s whenI realize Brod will never be quite the same either. Now he has his wolf, he’smore a man than a child. That’s one of the things about shifters. We mature farfaster than humans.