Howl In The Night (DNF)

Chapter 80: Refusal

Dream POV.

Why won’t they want me? Why won’t they let me or George eat there? I couldn’t come up with an answer as both myself and the brunette walked through the streets. He was looking at me, seeming concerned as I stared downwards. My vision was fuzzy and I could barely make out anything that wasn’t directly in front of me.

There were probably heaps of people staring at us again, just like they had been doing on the walk into town. Now though I wasn’t paying attention, just focusing on the ground. I was walking slightly ahead of the brunette, not saying a word to him as we walked through the streets, feeling less like me showing the brunette off and more like me trying to hide us out of shame.

I kept walking, letting my thoughts get the better of me before quickly shifting into a wolf. I felt that I could hide myself more under a layer of soft fur. Unfortunately George didn’t have that luxury. My body stayed close to him, providing whatever protection I could in my canine form.

We reached my house, a place where I hadn’t been since the day George went to hospital. I had been staying at George’s house with his father’s permission since being around the brunette’s scent helped keep me calm while I was stressed. When I reached the front steps I shifted back into a human and opened the door for us.

I let George in first before following in myself. The house was quiet, it sounded like nobody was home. My parents would probably be out on some pack related business, and Drista would probably be out with her friends. That’s what I suspected as I trudged into the kitchen with my mate following behind me.

“What would you like to eat?” I asked him, watching as George sat on a stool at the kitchen island. “I could make you pasta, or pizza, or salad, or whatever else you want.” This was a way of saying sorry for not being able to keep my promise to him, and not being able to provide for him. “Anything you like.”

“Dream,” he responded. “You don’t have to make me anything. It isn’t your fault that this happened. We could just watch a movie or something and forget about lunch.”
“We can’t do that.” I replied. “I promised you I’d take you for lunch, and I wasn’t able to do that.”

I didn’t say a word to the brunette after that, just turning and beginning to look through the fridge while I felt his eyes on me. As I tried to come up with a nice meal idea I also was thinking about what had happened in the restaurant. There was still no clear reason as to why I was not able to eat there, despite how hard I tried to think of one.

As I began to cook him some chicken soup (something simple that I figured he would like) I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. George heard them too, and both of us turned to look over to the doorway as we saw my mother walking into the room.

When she saw me her eyes widened and she ran to pull me into a hug. “Dream!” She said, sobbing happily the moment that she had me in her arms. “Oh my God I haven’t seen you in weeks. And you’re back!”
“I am.” I responded, feeling emotionally fragile as I embraced her.

“But why are you back now?” I could tell that she would have smelt my scent and it would have smelt George all over me. So she knew that I had been at his house, so it made sense that this was her first question.
“Well I wanted to take George out to lunch today but the restaurant we went to kicked us out.”

“Kicked you out?” She questioned, her face scrunching up slightly as she repeated my words slowly. “Why would the restaurant kick you out? Did you do something?”
“Not that I know of.” I answered. “And it’s that family restaurant down the main street. The one we used to go to all the time when I was a kid.”

“The lady there wouldn’t give us a reason.” George spoke up, drawing my mother’s gaze away from me. “She just said that if we didn’t go then she’d use force to make us leave.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “And everyone was staring at us. Not just at the restaurant, but both ways there and back as well.”

“Oh.” She sighed out, her gaze downcast. It was clear that she knew exactly what was going on and it would be something which I wouldn’t like. Instead of giving an answer like I had expected her to, she instead turned and walked over to the cupboard, beginning to get her own food.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, getting slightly agitated that she wasn’t telling us.

”It would be better if I talked to your father about this first.” She told me in a nearly silent voice, refusing to make eye contact as she continued to move around the kitchen.
“Tell him about what?” I asked, although it came out more as a growl. “If something is happening to me and George then we have a right to know.”

George was just sitting silently but his eyes widened and he perked up when I mentioned his name. It was adorable and made me want to embrace him and just smell his scent. That would calm me down as well, hopefully. “Please Mom. I just want to know why they are staring at us and whispering.”

“Fine.” She sighed, motioning for me to sit down on the empty stool beside George. Without a word I did as she said, settling in beside the brunette and peering up at her expectedly, wanting to figure out exactly what it was that she thought, or new.

“Dream, you know about how werewolf alphas are the heart of the pack, and a good alpha results in a good werewolf pack.” She asked. Both me and George nodded, since it was some common knowledge that most people (regardless of their knowledge on werewolves) would know.

“Well pack loyalty runs deep, especially when it comes to an alpha who has dedicated their entire life to help improve the wellbeing of the pack.” She explained.
“And I have dedicated my life to the pack.” I told her. “It doesn’t make sense.” I glanced over to George as he sat beside me, seeming confused and scared about what she was saying.

“You may have dedicated eighteen years of life to helping this pack…” My mother spoke, “...but your grandmother has dedicated seventy two years to helping this pack. She even helped after your father took over the job.” Part of me didn’t believe it, but we learned about what our former alphas had done for our pack and I knew my mother’s words were true.

“After you attacked the two of them, even though they attacked George first, it made quite a lot of people mad. A lot of the pack were upset, especially the older members who grew up knowing your grandmother better. Some of them wanted to storm the house and overthrow you, some wanted Drista to become the alpha instead, some even wanted your grandmother back.”

I didn’t like her words, but they continued to get worse. “The day before your grandparents left to drive back to Canada your father got called to talk with the pack council. The council wanted your grandparents to be invited back to live with the pack again, in our house, to oversee things but your father refused to let that happen.

“Every single day your father has been called back to the pack council for discussions, all about your grandparents, and you, and George.” Those were her last words and then she fell silent. I sat silently with George beside me but then we heard the door opening behind us.

Drista walked in and came into the kitchen, her eyes glued on her phone. “Hey Mom,” she said, not looking up. “Are you making lunch?”
“Drista please go up to your room.” My mother responded instead of giving an actual answer. It drew her attention away from her phone and she peered up, seeming shocked.

“Is something wrong?” She asked, seeming confused.
“Just go up to your room honey.” Was the response my sister was given. Without a word she gave a reluctant nod and headed upstairs.
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1438 words