41

trying to say is, I’m a werewolf.”

22

Brandon

There still remained an important issue to resolve. The battle might have been over, and the enemy might have been vanquished, but this did not solve the problem of the packs. I had not anticipated all of them coming out to fight by our side. Now that our common foe was defeated, the air was probably going to be very tense.

I had no idea of knowing. I was bedridden all day. Even with my fast healing, the injuries that I had sustained were taking their sweet time to heal. I could not resign myself to my bedroom any longer. It was already a very pleasant morning outside. After what seemed like a long era, the dark clouds had finally given way to glorious sunlight. Just looking at the brimming and shimmering lake from my window made me want to get out and be a part of all the action and celebrations that were taking place.

I could hear fireworks. Fireworks in the middle of the day. What had the world come to? I could smell hot delicious food being cooked outside. Whenever our community had a cause to celebrate, they did so together. They brought out their grills and cauldrons and cooked for the entire reservation.

As much as it pained me, I gradually lifted myself out of bed, slowly hobbling outside my house. Mom and Dad were sitting on the porch, holding each other, talking softly in each other’s ears as they looked at the celebrations.

“Brandon, you’re up. Are you sure you should be up, son?” Dad asked. “You need your rest. I mean, after what you did with that helicopter, I think we should cut you a huge break.”

“That’s all right, Dad. It’s plain torture for me to be in bed while all this post-battle adrenaline flows through me,” I said.

“Well, be careful, son,” Mom said.

I waved at them as I left the house and walked over to the teepee where the elders were gathered.

“Father Thomas, where are you headed?” I asked. He and Father Ernest were getting into their truck.

“You wanna come with? We’re headed back to the facility. Apparently, all the packs are still there, and they want to have a meeting,” Father Ernest said.

“I’m coming with you,” I said. A meeting with the packs. I had to be there. As important as the celebrations were, it was just as important to establish a new peacetime protocol. This was the ripe time to do so.

We rode in silence, taking the main road to the brink of the town, then veering onto the dirt path that coiled through the forest and headed to DOPC’s headquarters.

From afar, I could see that someone had taken the liberty of planting a black flag with a wolf’s head on the tallest building. Smoke was still issuing from inside the facility, but it did not seem to be the kind of smoke coming from a wreckage. No. This smoke smelled tasty. Barbeques. Looks like the celebrations were not confined to just the reservation.

As we got out of the truck, we were greeted loudly and with much applause by the crowd gathered at the entrance. Why was there a crowd? Were they expecting us?

I turned around and saw that ours was not the only truck that had made its way to the facility. Behind me, around six or seven vehicles from my reservation were lined up. It figured; it was an extremely important meeting, and everyone wanted to be present.

“Welcome, gentlemen,” Albert said.

“Albert, you old dog, how long has it been?” Jonas called from behind. Even he had shown up with his wife.

“Better than you, by the looks of it. What did they do to you?” Albert asked as he greeted Jonas with a warm hug.

“Countless atrocities, none that I am inclined to mention now that it’s all over, brother,” Jonas said, thumping Albert’s back.

“You’re still in one piece, kid,” Mathias said as he shook my hand.

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” I said.

As the packs convened in the courtyard under the collective banner of the wolves, I could not help but think that this was how it was always meant to be. That we were never meant to be divided. When I’d get my turn to say something, I would make sure to point that out.

“On the matter of who gets this facility, I think that it is accurate when I surmise that since the Lunar Brotherhood lives closest to this place, it should be ours,” Albert said.

“We live just around the corner. Why can’t we have it?” Trevor yelled from the crowd, and his pack roared in agreement.

“Our pack did most of the work. It was in fact our alpha who took down the DOPC’s leader. Why shouldn’t we get to claim this place for our own?” Jonas asked equally loudly.

Things were turning quickly very chaotic. Even though I was surrounded by men much older and wiser than me, they were not behaving exactly very wise and old right now. It had only been a few minutes and they had already started bickering amongst each other.

“Enough!” I yelled, walking up to the center of the courtyard. “I say to you, enough!”

Silence befell the crowd as all eyes fixated on me.

“Are we really going to be so petty that we’re going to bicker over who gets a bunch of land? Especially after we’ve just exhibited that our coming together for a mutual cause allows us to overcome any and all odds? Just a few hours ago, there were no packs. All wolves fought as one. Brethren from the Howls saved the lives of their fellow from the Creed. The Lunar Brotherhood and the Fangs fought side by side. I saw on that battlefield true fraternity. No one was counting yardage or square feet when we were taking down our enemy!” The excitement at the opportunity to speak to all the wolves was making me feel light-headed. I sat down on a pile of rubble, looking at the wolves as they formed a circle around me.