CHAPTER 9

Alex was woken from his slumber by a loud knock on the door. What now?

“Are you goin’ to sleep all day?” he heard his father ask from the other side.

He looked around the room and was glad to be greeted by Cynthia curled up under his arm. The fire in the stove had died in the night but the heat from it still lingered.

Alex shuffled to his feet, pulled on his jeans, kicked on his boots, and with shirt in hand he leaned down to kiss Cynthia’s cheek. His father waited for him impatiently on the other side of the door.

“Sorry,” he said, closing the door behind him, “it was a long night.”

A light snow was already falling on the sloping hillside. The sun reflected in his eyes off the stark white snow, blinding him. The trees were bare, save for a few evergreens slouching from the snow.

“The pack alpha’s name is Buck,” his father said, “I figured you might try talkin’ to him first. Gotta get some experience as a leader if you want to be an alpha someday.”

Alex knew what he meant but after last night he wasn’t sure if he really cared about being an alpha. As long as Cynthia was in his life, he was content. Whatever the case, he knew that part of the reason he was brought along for these diplomatic situations was because of the scars that were covering his chest. They were unmistakably made by the claws of a bear and aided in convincing anyone unwilling to believe the truth.

“I’ll give it a shot,” Alex replied as he stepped high over the snow with each footfall.

The cottage was already buzzing with morning activity and the smell of breakfast cooking in the back was almost too much to bear. The light from the morning sun peeked through windows on the upper story, casting rays of sunlight to the gathered pack who were watching the events unfold with interest.

“Some night, eh?” Buck said, greeting Alex and his father at the door. That it was. Alex shook the alpha’s hand firmly, as did his father.

Buck brought the pair of them to the corner of the den and sat them down on a bench. Graciously he offered them each a cup of tea to wake them up, which they accepted.

Alex sipped at his but his father elbowed him to action. He could feel his nerves failing him already.

“Er… right. Umm… over the past couple months, the bears have been attacking every wolf den in the area. We have no idea when they’re going to attack next, or where. But … umm,” Alex said, unsure. His father continued to sip at his tea and Alex got more nervous.

“Let’s fight … together?”

What the hell was that?

Shit. He felt like an idiot for not knowing what to say. His father went silent and still sipped at his tea. Buck sat in a rocking chair adorned with thick, hand-made, blankets and animal pelts. His confusion was plastered on his face.

“What?” Buck asked.

“We’re fighting and need help,” Alex pleaded.

“No,” Buck said, simply. “Bears have been peaceful since my grandfather’s day. We have no reason to pick a fight with them now. I understand you’re having a problem but our den is safe from the bears. Most of them don’t come up this far.”

Alex’s father leaned back on the bench.

“What if we could prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the bears have been attacking?” Marcus asked.

“Even if you could, you really expect me to send my own men to fight a war so far away and die on foreign ground?” Buck wondered.

“If we don’t work together we’ll lose this fight before it even really starts,” Alex interjected.

Alex could see that he was losing the battle. Buck was a proud alpha, and Alex knew he was only doing what was right for his own pack. His father signaled Alex to be quiet. Great, another fuck up to add to the history books.

“Show them, Alex,” he said.

He stood from his seat and removed his shirt, exposing the scars that he proudly wore.

“Do you see these?” his father shouted, “These are from the first of their attacks. And, every day I wonder when he’ll receive another. Not only do we need your help, but you need ours as well. No pack is safe. Just because you haven’t been attacked yet, doesn’t mean you never will. The sooner we deal with these bears, the better.”

Alex looked around the room at the people watching. He lowered his shirt out of embarrassment.

“I would gladly step in the way of any enemy wanting to do your pack harm and I have in the past. You were there! Where is your sense of pride as a wolf? Don’t you desire to hunt? Don’t you desire the chance to sink your teeth into an enemy to protect your home?”

His father started pacing through the crowd. Alex sat silent and watched. This was the father he knew growing up. He was a man of passion and pride. Alex was none of those things. Stupid.

Many of the warriors in the house seemed sympathetic to the cause, Alex could feel it. His father had reached them with his words, even if his words hadn’t reached the pack alpha.

“You haven’t managed to convince me to commit anyone that isn’t willing, but it would seem you may have swayed the minds of a few that would follow,” he said. Buck stood from his seat and took Alex’s father by the shoulders. “I will not send anyone that isn’t willing to join, but if you want to join this wolf on his journey to defeat the bears, I won’t stop you.”

Alex looked through the crowd and saw more than a few strapping men step forward. They all, in turn, reached out and clasped Alex’s father by the shoulder. A gesture which his father mirrored.

Why couldn’t that have been him? What did his father have that he didn’t? He wrestled with the emotions that stirred inside. Trying his best to make sense of what he’d just seen.

I’ll never be like that.

“So be it, if it’s war they want, its war they’ll get,” Buck shouted.

The wolves in the crowd howled, and the woman and children cheered for their warriors. Alex felt his nerves well up in his chest, strangling him. He caught his father’s gaze and forced a smile. At least the day was won.