Chapter 18
All of the wolves in the pack are standing out front. Stepping out on the porch I look out at them all. The feelings of pride and protectiveness fall over me. I will protect them all with my life. Looking to my sides I see beta Michael, gamma Tim and delta tom with us four working together this pack will thrive. Standing tall I take a step forward. “let's send some great men to the goddess. Grieve them today but tomorrow we start healing and moving on. If we let the sadness take us over we will all be going to the goddess soon. But if we stand up and learn from what happened we will pave the way for our pack for generations. What says you?” a defending roar of agreement fills the air. I can feel every wolf deep in my soul. Walking down the steps the pack slits bowing their heads to me. Coming to the mate of one of the men we are sending off I notice she has a small child. I had not seen her at the house before or her child so I have a feeling that she stayed at their small place while he did the work. “beta female Betty” “yes alpha” “do you still need help in the kitchen and is Mary's room free?” standing by beta Michael she can see what I do and gets the hint right away. “yes alpha.” looking over “Annie would you want to help beta female Betty in the kitchen and maybe move into the house so that you can keep your pup close?” even though the tears I can see how grateful she is for the opportunity. She nods her head trying to hold in her sobs. Placing a hand on her shoulder “when you are ready the room is on the second floor last room on the right” she nods
I feel beta Michael press in my mind so I open the link “and you thought you were not ready to be alpha. You were born for this I am proud of you and so is your father always remember that.” I can feel tears build up in my eyes but I refuse to shed a tear. I shed enough already I will not show weakness. I nodded letting him know I understand. Taking the torches looking at Betty she walks over to Annie taking her pup as I go to hand her a torch. Looking back at tom who I know knows the young warrior more than the rest. He not only trained the at the same time as tom he also had been working with tom in the health maintenance of the animals on the farm. He was a young lone wolf who had heard about this farm from passing by wolves. He had come to my father looking for work and maybe a place to stay a place to feel safe. At the time he was no more than 15 now 20 he grew up here just as much as I did. but I didn’t spend a lot of time with him. He spent most of his time in the field. The shade of his skin makes him a lot uncomfortable in towns. Sometimes I don’t get humans they say they are the best species but how many other species treat their own because their skin is a different color. Could you imagine a pack of wolves all the wolves with black fur are mean to the ones that are silver or have two colors? No, we don’t. our fur and skin are not something we can control so why worry about it. If anything earl’s skin would make it easier for him to hunt in the human form than for me. He can blend in and light uses me like a beacon. Handing the torch to tom I turn to my father. “today we say goodbye to a great alpha and two brave warriors. Though they leave us here on earth they will be welcomed home with our goddess. These men will watch over us. How will we know they are watching. Because we can still feel them in our hearts their sweat and blood helped this farm and pack rise. and they will continue working with us to make this land and pack great.” I lower my torch to my father. Then Annie and tom do the same.
We all stand and watch as they burn. The spot we have picked will be turned at the end mixing them to the soil. and a small grove of fruit trees will be planted here. Their ashes will help to feed the trees. The trees will then help to feed us. The fire grows and glows silver telling us the goddess has accepted them into her arms. Soon the pryers are nothing but ash. A few warriors take shovels tossing dirt over the hot ash to keep them in place and help them cool. Once covered we all head back to the house for the meal Betty and the other she-wolves made. On the way, I hear a few of the other she-wolves offering Annie things she might need for her little one. She is trying to talk to the other women but her little man is fussy. Something about him calls to me so I go over and take him from her. Smiling to let her know it was to help not because I am annoyed. Looking at this little man I know he has no idea what is going on or why he feels so sad. Some of that sadness leaves him when I take him. Then hand him back and he starts to fuss again so I take him back. Again calms down. Look at tom and hand him the baby. He looks at it confused then at me the baby starts wiggling like he can't get comfortable. So I take him back and he looks at me with a knowing look. “you are a special little one aren't you?” I ask him not expecting a reply from a small pup. “what do you mean alpha?” Annie looks worried over at me and then at her pup. “I believe your little one is empathetic of sorts. You are sad and want to cry but holding it in but he wails in your arms. I am sad but holding strong so he's content tom was confused and uncomfortable holding his so the pup was uncomfortable. He can't control the feelings around him flow into him so he just reacts to how he feels. I would love to see someone try to lie to this little one. Where did you say you two were coming from?” her eyes wide full of fear. Something is wrong here. I can see the fear flowing off her. “how about we talk about this later alone?” I can see the relief flow over her. Looking back at the pup I wonder are you doing this. As I look back at Annie and then at others around me and it's like I can see the emotions around them all. Somehow this little pup is letting me see the feelings of others. It's like he's using me as a filter then I remember hearing stories of a wolf who was mated to one of the moon goddess granddaughters. They had a son who could talk to the goddess they called him an oracle. When the alpha of the pack found out about his ability to see things he wanted to use him. So they ran away with their son. Lost to all. Oracles come around a lot of times but only those who are related to the goddess will be born with their abilities. Doing the math in my head I look back at Annie and I link her “was your mate the son of the moon goddess granddaughter?” I ask her again her eyes go huge she was about to tell me no when I again linked her “before you answer remember I am an alpha of a line blessed by the goddess and I am holding your pup who I first thought was empathetic you can't lie to me without me knowing?” nodding her head she drops her head. She knows as I do and anyone who has passed through the alpha that was looking for her mate has a reward out on him. “Annie I promise you and your pup are safe here. I need to know because here in the house others could pick him up we don’t want someone who knows what to look for touching him. All our wolves will protect him but we often have outsiders here too.” then it got me thinking about how things will go once he's school-aged. “beta I want a school built here at the farm for the pups and a teacher found from our wolves or someone trusted I want our pups to stay on the farm.”
