41: Priority (Flashback)

It was midnight and the party planners were busy taking off the decorations. All the guests had left and the mansion looked deserted as compared to the bustle of activity just hours ago. A servant came running in and informed the family that Sam had arrived. It was past their bed time but Rick, Sandra and Ronald were still in the living room. They were still wearing the over decorated outfits they had worn for the evening. Sam entered the mansion wearing a black leather jacket over a white T-shirt. He stood six feet and two inches tall. He had a head full of flaming blond hair and had a chiseled body to say the least. He walked deeper inside to get to the ornate stairs that led to his room. The displeased parents caught him and called out to him. Sam cringed and stopped for a while before heading in their direction. Ronald saw a family confrontation coming so he ordered the party planners to take a break. The earpiece and uniform wearing workers scrambled out of the room. He knew that the discussion didn’t concern him as well so he decided to walk out of the room. Rick stopped him. Hearing where Sam had been and what he was thinking firsthand would save him some valuable time. And besides, Ronald was family. As Sam neared his parents, Sandra’s annoyance amplified.

“Where the hell were you, young man?”, she shouted. Rick had repeatedly asked her to avoid escalating it and his request had been thrown out of the window in under a minute. Rick was more embarrassed than angry. Sam was in no mood to have that conversation.

“It’s my eighteenth birthday, right?”, Sam rhetorically asked and his parents didn’t react. “Why don’t you start treating me like a damn grown up?”, he fired.

“As soon as you start acting like one!”, Sandra fired back. It was definitely going to escalate. Ronald felt as awkward as ever. Rick cleared his throat. The heated argument dissipated in an instant.

“We’d really like to know what you were doing, ditching your own birthday party”, Rick calmly asked without suppressing his disappointment.

“Something useful for a change!”, Sam blurted in response. Sandra was pissed at the reply but she decided to let Rick handle it. “Inviting rich morons with their trophy whores to cut a cake!”, he added, fuming with rage. They had seen him in a cranky mood hundreds of times but he had always been a fan of his father’s extravagant parties and gatherings. They were shocked to see him so fed up.

“Whoa! Calm down tiger!”, Rick spoke defensively. “What happened bud? I thought you liked these parties”, he added. Both the parents were genuinely worried. Ronald attentively observed the exchange. Sam looked away. There was a brief silence.

“The enemy is at the gates and we are partying like a bunch of children”, Sam muttered. Rick and Sandra were at a loss for words. They had no idea what their son was talking about.

“Wait a sec. What enemy?”, the father asked, perplexed. Sandra and Ronald listened closely. Sam sighed.

“Those fucking wolves are plotting to take over everything and we are doing nothing about it”, Sam finally revealed his concern. All three of the listeners were tense all of a sudden. Ronald was worried that any of the party planners might eavesdrop.

“Who said that?”, Rick pleadingly asked. Sam rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction.

“That’s not the question! Are they planning to pounce or not?!”, Sam aggressively inquired. Sandra was just about to intervene. That disrespectful tone was not tolerated in the house.

“No! They are not! I knew their Alpha and I also know their elders. They are firm on the truce”, Rick responded, trying to ease the tension. Sam slowly shook his head.

“The truce? You mean the blatant lie that our elders bound us with, after conspiring with the wolves?”, Sam fired. Rick was getting more puzzled by the second. His son was better than that. Those were all barbershop level rumors.

“Who is filling your head with all this nonsense?!”, Rick angrily inquired.

“See? You’re not even denying it!”, Sam recoiled.

“I AM denying it! Did you see anything that tells you otherwise?!”, Rick erupted. Sam decided to ignore the question.

“Then why’s their new Alpha in hiding?”, Sam asked in contemptuous tone, expecting a gullible answer.

“Because we made him do it. We made the lives of our own elders a living hell. It’s only natural that the wolves would take extra precautions”, Rick explained and tried to make his son see reason. Sam wasn’t sold on it.

“He’s is waiting for his moment to attack! As soon as he gets his powers, he’ll pounce on us!”, Sam revealed. None of this was making any sense for Rick. Sandra and Ronald were too confused to process any of it and they were happy to have Rick to tackle it.

“Where are you getting this from, son?!”, Rick pleaded. Sam was in deep thought and his emotions were all over the place.

“I have an idea where he might be holed up. We need to kill the snake when it’s sleeping”, Sam suggested. Rick sprang up to his feet in alarm and grabbed his son by his shoulders. He glared into his eyes.

“YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!!”, Rick yelled loud enough for anyone outside the mansion to hear. Sam was frightened as he caught his father’s unearthly glare. Sandra audibly gasped and stood frozen while Ronald was also shocked but he wasn’t sure how to react in a family matter. “You’re yet to get your powers. Don’t you dare break the truce! WE will NOT break the truce!”, he angrily added. “Understand?!”, he loudly inquired. Sam was too stunned to react. Neither Sandra nor Ronald had seen Rick this angry in their lives.
“UNDERSTAND!?”, Rick repeated, somehow roaring even louder. Sam hastily nodded. Rick let go of him and pushed him away. Sam staggered and looked back at his father who was still huffing with rage. Sam’s fear turned to anger and he ran back out. Sandra tried to stop him but Rick waved her to let him be.

“Ron! Find out who he’s talking to!”, he ordered and Ronald dutifully paced out of the room. Sandra and Rick were alone in the room. There was a long silence.

“We need to stop him”, Sandra worriedly spoke. Rick nodded.

“I know my son. He’s pissed at me but he got it. He’s out unless some fucker talks him back into it”, Rick expressed and left behind Ronald.