Chapter 72

Claudia’s POV
“What do you mean; he wants Tim to be his Betta?” “That’s what he said. He said he is seeking permission for Tim to re-join the River Moon Pack and he still wants Tim to be his Betta. I told him it was Tim’s decision” Danny tells me as I sit down after dropping Sophia off at the nursery.
“Chelsea went to see her mum, this morning; she is still upset with Craig. It’s not a good time to spring moving back to the River Moon Pack on her” I huff, looking towards Danny.
“At the end of the day; Tim and Chelsea will do what is best for their family. If that is staying here with us or going back to the River Moon Pack with Todd, we will support him” he tells me, sitting down next to me. “Yeah, I guess. Did you talk to Sariah and Oliver about Todd’s other suspicion?” I ask, putting my feet, across his lap.
“Dad said he was going to, for us. He wants to set up a meeting with Raquel, Phyliss and Matthew again. Ask them if they noticed a decrease in rouge attacks” he answers, looking at the door. “Todd; what are you doing behind our door again?” I call out to him. “Oh, good. I just wanted to see how you both were” Todd says, coming into our room.
“I don’t know what’s worse. A Todd who doesn’t give a shit about my life. Or a Todd that does” Danny chuckles. “You two seem to be getting along better” I say, looking at Danny. “Yeah, I took Isabella’s advice and told Danny why I acted like I did. He seems to understand where I am coming from. I know he isn’t going to forgive me but I will take understanding over him hating me for the rest of my life” Todd tells her.
“You aren’t taking her advice about leaving me, the fuck alone. Take it slowly” Danny snarls back at him. “I came to ask you a few questions about Mum and what happened” he says, ignoring Danny’s comment.
“Are you ready to know the truth? Do you think you can handle it?” I ask him, as he shrugs at me. “I’ll tell him, Danny. I was the one to speak with her about it” I include. I offered more because I know Danny is uncomfortable talking about it and I told Todd, Rachael told me what happened.
“Todd; your mum went into labour early with Danny. No big deal, Sophia was almost 2 weeks early as well. Problem was; your mum had started bleeding because of the placenta previa. James and Craig were in the middle of a poker game when she called him; he said he would be there momentarily. He did not get to her for a few hours. By that stage, she had lost too much blood. She told the doctors to do the caesarean to get Danny out first, then deal with the loss of blood” I explain to him.
“Why didn’t she go to the hospital herself or get Grandma Nelly to take her?” He questions, looking at me. “She had you with her and was too weak to leave the packhouse. As for Grandma Nelly; she didn’t want to worry her. She was under the impression; James would be coming back quickly” I tell him, as a tear trickles down his face.
“Why blame Danny for it?” He asks, between sobs. “Guilt” Danny answers curtly. “He felt guilty for waiting until the poker game was over. He still blames me for it; he made that known when Goddess Selene was passing judgement. I only found out what he was thinking when you told me. He would tell you it’s because I chose to come early, causing her to die” Danny adds, looking at him.
“I’ve taken up too much of your time” Todd says, standing up and walking to the door. I get up off the sofa, “Todd” I call out to him. He stops and looks at me. “This is a once off” I say, giving him a hug. “Thank you for explaining the full situation” he whispers before heading out the door.
“That was weird” I say to Danny. “As oppose to him being civil toward me? He is trying to be a better person. Vincent came forward yesterday, during our session with Isabella. He told us; Todd is hating the fact he is like James” Danny says, a concerned expression crossing his face.
“What’s the matter?” I ask him. “I am conflicted. I hate him but want to love him for trying to make amends. I can’t trust him to always be this way” he tells me. “He hasn’t given you any reason to trust him to be there for you. He never was” I respond, sitting down next to him again.
“What made you change your mind about Tim and Rick?” I ask him. He looks into my eyes and sighs; “Tim and Rick were different. They are chosen wolves and knowing what they have done with us previously; helped to trust them again” he answers.
“Do you think Todd can change?” I question him. “I don’t know. I’ve only known hatred and torment from him. I suppose this is what is meant by only time will tell” he explains, looking at me.
*“Danny, Claudia; Oliver will meet us in his office”* Dad mind links us. “Let’s not worry about Todd at the moment” I say, getting back up off the sofa. He gives me a half smile and we walk out of the room to go to Oliver’s office.
“Is Matthew, Raquel and Phyliss joining us?” I ask Dad at the bottom of the stairs. “He didn’t say; I just got a message for us to come to his office. Tim said, him and Todd have something to deal with first and will be a bit late” he responds as we all walk out of the packhouse. “Is it about going back to the River Moon Pack?” Danny asks him. “I don’t think so; I didn’t get the impression Tim and Chelsea have made a decision yet” Dad explains as we get to Oliver’s office and I knock on the door.
“Enter” Amelia calls out. “Milly; is Oliver on his way?” Danny asks her. “He won’t be joining us. He went to see Phyliss and Raquel at their pride and clan. He asked me to take the meeting with Matthew and yourselves. Henry, do you mind taking control of the meeting?” she informs us and asking Dad at the same time.
“I will be happy to” Dad answers Amelia as we all sit down and wait for the others to arrive. “Brett, I can walk myself” Cynthia shouts as they come into the room and I control my giggles. “How is Casey and Wilber going?” I ask her. “It’s getting uncomfortable to do anything. I’m debating whether I should sleep in the common room on the ground floor; that way I don’t have to walk up the stairs” she sighs, giving Danny and Dad a death stare as they hold in their laughter.
“Sorry we are running late. Craig will not be joining us; he is indisposed” Todd tells us coming into the office. “What did you do to him?” Danny snarls. I’m not happy either; we need to get more information from him. “I didn’t kill him; we need him for information. I just roughed him up a bit. I went to question him about what you told me. Dad and him were on too much of a winning streak to go back when mum called. Dad told him; mum would be fine.” “And I wanted to give him a punch or two because of Chelsea. We didn’t initially go to hit him; we wanted to talk to him. He was too much of a fuckwit not to” Tim adds to Todd’s confession.
“Matthew, Barnaby; Thank you for coming” Dad interrupts as the gentlemen come into the room behind Simon, Jason and Rick. “We want to have a discussion about rogue attacks and if you have had any” he continues as the gentlemen take a seat. “We never really had any rogue attacks. I put it down to being near the castle. The last attack we had was when Callum went through the place; looking for Tracey” Matthew answers, looking around the room.
“Well, this was a short discussion” Todd chuckles and Danny growls at him. “Oliver has gone to see Raquel and Phyliss. They don’t recall having rouge attacks for many years either. Todd; Oliver believes your intuition is correct” Amelia informs everyone and I gasp, Todd and being correct are not often combined. “This means the army they are building are unpredictable. We can only assume; Callum has offered them a better way of life once he becomes king. Matthew, has Oliver told you of what we have found out about Michael and Callum?” Dad asks him, ignoring my shock.
“Only Michael isn’t seeking to become king of werewolves” he responds and Danny quickly starts informing him what we found out from the files. **“Demi Rachael would like to speak with Danny and Todd again”** Amanda says coming back into my mind. **“What about?”** I ask her. **“She knows Todd and Danny went to speak with Isabella and Todd is finding out as much information as he can about what happened to her”** she answers.
**“He is trying to put things into perspective”** I tell her and she grunts. **“Is that not the case?”** I ask her. **“It is; I still don’t like him because of what he did to our mate”** she replies, laying down. **“I don’t either but he is trying. We have to give him credit for that.”**
“I have come up with a training routine for our warriors. I want Oliver to look over it; to make sure I have covered every scenario when fighting vampires who are with Callum” Simon says as I come back to the conversation in the room. “Simon, we would like you to work with our master trainer also. Have both packs learn together” Barnaby includes; “I will be happy to oblige” Simon answers him, smiling.
“Oliver will be back in a few days. Jeffrey may be able to help you with your routine. He stayed behind this time. Oli claims he didn’t need a bodyguard” Amelia giggles. “I will ask him” Simon agrees.
“We can call it a day. Simon; please get together with the Sapphire Moon’s master trainer and we will get the training started. That includes you, Todd; no playing hooky anymore” Dad announces as we all get from our chair and Todd huffs at him.