Hannah

56

Aspen was shrinking under the tension in the room. He hated conflict. Conflicts led to violence. He hated spilled blood and unnatural death. The cycle of life was beautiful. Birth, life, reproduction, demise, and return to the earth was beautiful. The shared cycle all living things shared.  

Conflict on Earth led to unnatural ends. Hannah hated that Aspen felt so unsafe right now. Hated to feel Max as his mother flashed with such a hot rage. Max was distraught. Knowing Caspian was the only reason Judy had only managed to yell a single word while Holland was torn trying to figure out if Hannah or Max needed more support. Hannah inflected her head. Max needed more right now and Hannah was pulled in too many directions.

Max needed more than Hannah could give right now, Holland went to stand with Max. Everyone was looking at Bryan. Everyone who was mated to Hannah, the rest of the pack, everyone from the kitchens were all in the room and silent now. 

Max returning with several more mates than planned had been the biggest gossip in the pack for at least two generations. There had been a handful of couples with more than one woman, or more than one man. It wasn’t unheard of. Max with Holland and Hannah, and Caspian and Aspen was more than a little exciting. It was supposed to be a happy moment. Max was happy, Bryan had welcomed them into the pack. Everyone else was playing by the rules.

Aspen was the one who moved first. Surprising everyone when he went to Bryan and spoke low. Hannah moved to hold his hand. Aspen looked at Hannah. He knew something no one else seemed to be able to notice. “Your pack still have the cells in the basement?” He asked voice so low Hannah right beside him had trouble hearing him, Bryan was almost as distraught as Max was Hannah noticed. Hannah scanned the crowd, she had already narrowed down who some trouble makers would be for her personally, they had made it easy. Bryan nodded, mouth slightly agape. 

Hannah looked to see how people were reacting. Hannah had seen a lot of things on flights, something wasn’t adding up for her. Half of the nosey gossips she had her eyes already on looked smug, the other half looked shell shocked. That was interesting. Hannah was trying to puzzle out what that might mean. As Aspen walked, still holding her hand for strength towards Caspian. Hannah felt something ripple over them. Aspen understood immediately that Caspian had encased them in air for privacy. “We need to move her to the basement, and we need to bind her in there, no one can visit her or have access.” Aspen was deadly serious, as he held Hannah’s hand like it was his life line. 

Hannah had chosen him. He wasn’t ready to face a challenge to prove himself worthy of her. It wasn’t just her in danger, everyone here, the whole pack was at risk if he was right. “It’s what I think isn’t it?” Caspian asked, looking towards a still screaming Judy, unable to move anything but her face. 

Hannah carried half of Aspen’s soul with her always now, she had no idea what that meant, but right now Hannah could feel something that scared her. “There is something wrong with her?” She questioned. She didn’t know anything, this was only a feeling, one she didn’t understand.

“Max’s mother is under the influence of corruption, she is a danger to everyone here.” Most of that went right over Hannah’s head.

“Under the influence? Like this isn’t her fault?” Hannah asked, hope flaring as she thought they would be able to tell Max this wasn’t his mother, there was something making her this way.

Aspen took Hannah’s other hand, holding both of them, “Corruption only affects those who let it. It offers what people want, feeds into their own dark natures.” Aspen said softly. Unable to be the one who crushed Hannah’s hope that this could end happily for everyone.

Caspian sighed deeply. “She likely would have hid her hatred longer than a single day, I’m sad to say that this is just the worst parts of her own heart.” Hannah flinched. That wasn’t the answer she had wanted. 

“Can we undo it?” she gnawed on her lower lip. Then stopped only to start picking at the nail on her thumb. “The magic influence thing?” Bigoted or otherwise terrible mother in laws were a dime a dozen. If Judy could quietly think Hannah, Holland and Aspen and Caspian weren’t good enough for her son, and function as a person that would be better than how Hannah was starting to fear this might turn out. She knew Aspen was dreading violence. He expected a violent outcome already.

“We can’t no." Only Judy could save herself. It was possible if someone wanted to turn away from the sweet seduction of having everything you wanted, for a price.  Though from the look of things, Judy had given in quickly, neither Caspian or Aspen had sensed anything magically wrong with Judy. Nothing but bad manners and a nosey nature. Hannah was crushed, Caspian rushed to finish his thought. “I heard a rumor. There may be one who can.” Caspian beckoned to Aspen. “Come with me, little one. We need to get Judy warded and try and figure out how to make contact with a particular pack on the west coast.” Judy floated on the unseen magical flows of air, as Caspian and Aspen made their exit, Max heard as Bryan ordered two enforcers, two friends to show Caspian the way to the cells.  

Hannah went to Max and Holland, “There is something magically wrong with your mother.” She whispered, hoping no one heard her. She just wanted to reassure Max. Bryan clapped his hands, “This is a matter for Alpha and Beta, resume the meal the kitchen worked hard to feed us all tonight, it would be a sin to waste the bounty.” Clapping his hands again and sitting down. Making a large production of carving his serving of meat and taking a large bite. The room slowly returning to mostly normal dining room behavior.

Hannah was shocked that the insanely young looking Bryan was able to command the room into just ignoring the shit show that had just happened. She shrugged her shoulders, these were good people at the heart of things. They knew how to behave and come together.  Hannah looked around at her remaining mates. Missing Caspian and Aspen already. She liked it best when they were all together.

Hannah picked at the vegetables on her plate. As did Max and Holland. Hannah was stressed and worried. She had first thought Judy was maybe the kind of southern belle who was secretly much more accepting than her mannerisms and interrogation had hinted towards. Just a protective mother, that was normal. Hannah was disappointed when Judy turned out to be worse than Hannah first suspected. Then sent on a roller coaster of magic something changing how people were. Scared of the dark feeling she had felt on Judy.

Most of all, Hannah hated how embarrassed she felt. Judy didn’t get a chance to say anything to specifically incriminate Hannah. Hannah wasn’t even sure which of her sins was going to be the bigger scandal. That was the problem. One single word was all it would take to ignite the wildfire of speculation. Then people would start to look to see what it was that Judy found out that set her off like she had. It wouldn’t take long and the gossip hive mind of this pack would figure out everything.