.touch.

17

I called six of my pack members out on the forest outside of the house at a time to hear their best skills, I knew that something big was coming and I wanted to be prepared for it. I had no idea what Clara's plan was but now she's attacking my pack and now she's going to have to pay for it. Dinah and my sister stood close by my side but I didn't think that they would be so helpful. Usually once the two girls got together they were cubs more than full grown but they handled the day with grace that I could have never expected and for that I was grateful.

Sometimes when my pack began to spoke about their skills and what they want to do when the pack is under attacked (which we believe will be sooner rather than later,) my mind would travel away from them and to Lauren, I wondered if she was safe and healthy, if she still hated me, if she missed me. But in all honestly I couldn't tell if I missed her. So much was happening here I didn't really have time to miss her, no spare moment. Most of the time my spare moments where with Allyson. Allyson who had gone through something she still didn't want to talk about with me, she would always push the subject away as if I didn't need to know. But I did need to know, I needed to hear she was okay and know what I could do so that it never happens again, I take care of pack, I take care of her.

But how could I take care of someone who didn't want to be taken care of? What was to do then?

So, no, I didn't really miss Lauren, I was too busy worrying about my pack. The ones that had to now come first because of this wretched state.

"Normani, I need to talk to you," Said Arielle later in the day, it had been two days since the fiasco and I was still trying to put all the pieces together.

"Yeah, hey what's up?" I said back.

We were sitting in the kitchen with my mother, father, Allyson, and Dinah. It wasn't an official pack meeting but it was rare for so many of us to be in the same room at the same time.

"I think we're preparing for the wrong thing, think about, Clara and maybe Lauren, are witches that can control the elements. Shouldn't we be looking for freak shower storms or earthquakes or lighting destroying trees?" Arielle says, touching her forehead in frustration "I think we need to talk to Cast, maybe he can check to see if anything of that sort is happening?"

"I wish I could agree and say 'yeah let's do it' but Harry Cast is a healer, not an elements witch,"

"But he could know the signs of witchy magic, I mean, he should be able to feel it in the wind, just like how we feel when another wolf is close by, or even a half wolf in this case, huh," Ally brings up, who had mostly been quiet since her accident, I snaked my hand under the table and intertwined it with hers and I could see her small smile before she pushed it back away again.

"I don't see why we can't call him, get him on the phone." My dad says but turns and looks at me to make sure that it's alright, since I was now Alpha everyone had to go through me to get something done, unless they went over my head and decided to talk to my mother and father first but that never happened and my father would never undermine me or disrespect me by doing something without my OK.

I nod my head in agreement and stand up away from the table, an idea popping into my mind. "Alright, Ally, are you OK with making that call? I know you and Cast have been spending lots of time together,"

"Yes, I can make that call," She tells me before standing up as well, letting go of my hand and doing a soft bow at my parents and then to me as well "excuse me," she hums before leaving the kitchen pulling out her phone and walking out.

"I think I need a private conversation with my mother, if you'll excuse us," I say indicating everyone in the room before sticking my hand out to my mother she raised an eyebrow in surprised but obliged to my whim, taking my hand and I led her out of the kitchen. She didn't say anything, I didn't either she knew that I was waiting until we were out of hearing range of the entire pack, I didn't say it out loud but she knew, and that's why I loved my mother.