Cora, A Sidelines Story from Clayton

Elders

The Characters of Clayton, Rya, Kennedy, Dallas, and the Valentines belong to Rachelle. The character of Cora is expanded on with Permission from Rachelle, and is written for the pleasure of the International Wildflower Pack, the WhiskeyQueenn fandom. #WildflowersUnited #iwp

:: A great big thank you  for the inspiration and use of her characters::

Elders

Grandmama Coraline pov

I watch my granddaughter sleeping and I shake my head, before sipping from my glass, ice tinks against the side as I finish the amber liquid. Cora is bruised from head to toe, she has broken arm, and more. Doc says she'll be fine, that her wolf is one of the strongest he's ever seen. Charlie told me what happened, and that daughter of mine is going to get a talking to. She'll be lucky if I don't drive up there and put down that good for nothing mate of hers. But first, my girl needs me. I am proud of my grandchildren, they make up for their mother. I honestly don't know where I went wrong with her. A she-wolf's first duty is to protect her pups, not her reputation. Then I remember I named her after Hyram's mother and they turned out just alike. I laugh a little, maybe Becky shouldn't have named her daughter after me for the same reason.

I take my second whiskey and sit on my porch swing, thinking about what I am going to say to Becky tomorrow as I light another cigarette. Stupid things aren't working fast enough, but this weekend, I am glad they haven't worked, that I haven't joined my beloved Hyram yet... Cora and Charlie need me. Goddess, I miss him, I miss him the way a drowning person misses air, the way a blinded person misses light, the way a lover misses those nights...

My life started the moment I looked into his eyes deep blue eyes and stopped when they closed that last time. He left his pack for me, and because of me, he left this life. Becky, that fool girl, got herself pregnant again when Charlie was only 4 months old. She was trying to nurse him and grow the baby. It was killing her. I got the mothers here to give me one feeding of their milk per week, none in her mate's pack would do it. But the four packs allied to Alpha Forrest did and we feed my daughter's son, so her daughter could be born. My Hyram was driving back from delivering Charlie's milk, he fell asleep. He wanted to be home by morning, he hadn't missed serving me breakfast in bed on my birthday for 54 years. They had gotten him out of the car and back to the pack clinic but it was too late. Old wolves don't fair well when their car rolls over at 80 MPH. He apologized for leaving me on my birthday with his last whispered breath. The only thing that kept me breathing was the Goddess herself, that and Gretchen's note telling me she didn't know if Becky and the baby would survive. She said I needed to come with the next delivery of milk and stay to help Carl, who was falling apart.

Somewhere I found strength to act. A week and a half later, Cora came early. Bernadette had driven me and the milk up to the Adams pack. Becky almost died in labor. While Gretchen and Doc Peters fought to save her, I washed up my girl. She had cried only for a minute or so, then looked around like she wanted to know and see everything through those giant sapphire eyes, so dark they looked like the night sky. She was perfect  and I knew, I knew I had to live for her. I had to let the need to be with my Hyram go. She was going to be just like me and Becky wouldn't be able to handle her. 

And I was right. I blew out a smoke ring into the moonlight, looking up at her barely lidded eye.

"I'm sorry, Hy. It's gonna be a while longer. I love you."

I felt his touch in the moonlight caress my cheek, he understood, he always did.

~

Becky hasn't answered my calls for almost a week. Gretchen had been telling me more of what is going on. I knew they held some screwed up principles, but to deny the Moon Goddess' gift of a true mate for a choice mate, was unbelievable. Inconceivable! Ridiculous! So here I am at our weekly brunch, drinking mimosas and telling the mamas about it all. None of them could believe it, side eyes of shock turned to open gawking as I went on about what my Cora and that poor girl Rya were going through. We may not all have all our teeth, but our claws and our wits are still sharper than any silver blade. Shunning a girl because of who she is mated to is the stupidest thing any of us have ever heard. Bernadette wanted to sneak up there and rescue that girl, but Luna Millie pointed out that stealing an Alpha's mate, even a rejected one, could cause a war. We decided we don't care, our sons and grandsons and great-grandsons are strong, our daughters and granddaughters will fight beside them, our allies will come. We serve the Goddess, not some petty ridiculous notion of elitism. If Charlie calls Cora and tells her they have started abusing that girl, we're going to steal her. We're going to help her if we can. Gretchen is keeping an eye on her, so we'll leave her with her family for now, but if she gets hurt or abused, we are going to fall on that pack like the Moon's vengeance. All of us agreed, with a shot of bourbon, if that horrible Alpha Adams and his wretched Beta ever come south, the Mama Wolf Brigade will be waiting.