The Alpha Female

TWENTY-FIVE: SECRET MEETINGS

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:  SECRET MEETINGS

            Deep breaths Suka, everything will be okay.  Your father will understand everything, just let him know in private, let him down easy and it will all be fine.  He’ll let Mason go, you won’t be beta, but it’ll all be okay.  Everything will be okay, won’t it?

            I wasn’t so sure.  I could hear the restless pack now, gathering in the clearing in the middle of the den to greet us.  I could smell the excitement in the air.  They probably thought that we had food for them, but they would be so wrong.  We brought bad tidings and a human.  There was no way Mason’s safety could be guaranteed once in the den, there was nothing Ahote or I could do to keep a feverish pack off of him.  A pack attacking out of fear.  But when we breached the den I realized that the pack was the least of our problems.

            There stood my dad.  He had bags under his sharp blue eyes, his shoulders were back, but he seemed smaller than I remembered, almost fragile, but that was nothing compared to my mother.  She looked like an ill pup, lanky and bony.  Her hair was a mess and her eyes were puffy from crying, even if she was working on plastering a smile on her face.  The rest of the pack wasn’t faring much better.  All seemed thin and broken in spirit.  The sanctions were wearing them down.

            The moment Mason broke out from the trees small chatter started up again.  My eyes met my fathers, but I had nothing to say, not now.

            I bowed slightly, dipping me head.

            “Alpha,” I started, but he raised a hand, cutting me off.

            “What is this?” He snapped, but his voice wasn’t as sharp as I remembered.  It seemed to waver at the end, fall off without his standard conviction.

            “I can explain everything.”

            “You can explain everything to me later.” His eyes drifted over the party.  The shifters bowed their heads in response, Mason simply coughed.

            “Oki,” my father snapped, and sure enough a beaten down looking Oki materialized out of the line of pack members.  “Take the human to Sauri’s cabin.  Start a fire and gather a watch.” Oki nodded before heading over to us.  He clapped a hand on Taima’s shoulder and gave him a loving smile before leading Mason away.  The pack watched him leave. 

            The moment that Mason was out of sight and scent the pack seemed to relax.

            “Suka, come with me.” My father turned tail and I nodded, stating after his retreating back and to the crowd of famished pack members.  Ahote clapped me on the shoulder.

            “Our deal.” He purred before letting me leave. 

            I shuddered as I brushed through the pack, the nerves eating at me.  I would have to tell him, and sooner would be better than later. 

            I followed my father through the den and down to the worn path that led to our cabin.  My mother was not with us.  It was now or never.  The pack was out of earshot, as was everything else.

            “Alpha…” I started.  My father turned around, his tired blue eyes looking over me with what at first I took as judgment, causing me to shrink back.  I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off before that could happen as my father enveloped me in a tight hug. 

            I stiffened at the unexpected contact as he rested his chin on my head.

            “I’m so glad you’re home,” he cried.  I didn’t know what to do.  The alpha didn’t give hugs.  My father didn’t give out hugs, not to anyone, and especially not to me.  So I hugged him back, taking in his familiar scent.  “I thought I lost you,” he continued as he hugged me tighter.