Chapter 170: The First Family Dinner

I did not go to the east that night and I did not go to the circle and I did not go to the Council.

I went into the mill and sat down in the chair by the window and put my hand on my stomach and did not say anything for a long time.

Elias came in and sat down on the floor in front of me.

“Wren,” he said.

“My daughter,” I said.

“Your daughter.”

“The whole of it is going to be opened by my daughter,” I said. “The whole of the east circle and the whole of the line and the whole of it. My daughter is going to be the Luna who opens the east circle.” I put my hand on my stomach. “And I have not even had her yet.”

Elias put his hand over mine.

“The whole of it is not tonight,” he said. “The whole of it is in twenty years and the whole of it is in a hundred and the whole of it is not tonight.”

I sat in the chair.

“And my father,” I said. “My father is alive and he is the founder's heir and he has come to take the whole of it.”

“Your father is alive,” Elias said. “And he is the founder's heir and he has come to take the whole of it. And the whole of it is not going to be taken.”

I looked at him.

“You do not know that,” I said.

“I do not know that,” Elias said. “But I know that the whole of the line is in this territory and the whole of the pack is in this territory and the whole of the ground is in this territory. And the whole of it is not going to be taken by a wolf who has been alive for ten years and has not come to the territory until now.”

I sat in the chair.

And then June came into the mill.

“Wren,” she said. “The whole of the line is in the pack house and the whole of the pack is in the square and the whole of them are asking for you.”

“What are they asking for?” I said.

“They are asking for a family dinner,” June said. “The whole of the line and the whole of the pack and the whole of the nine and the whole of the twelve and the whole of the eleven and the whole of it. The whole of it is a family and the whole of it is going to have a dinner.”

I looked at her.

“A dinner,” I said.

“A dinner,” June said. “And Wren. The whole of the line has asked your father.”

I sat in the chair.

“My father,” I said.

“Your father,” June said. “The whole of the line has decided that the whole of it is one line and the whole of it is going to sit at one table and the whole of it is going to have one dinner.”

The dinner was in the pack house and it was on the longest table in the territory and the whole of the line sat down at it and the whole of the pack sat down at it and the whole of the nine and the whole of the twelve and the whole of the eleven sat down at it.

And Daniel sat down at the head of it.

He sat down at the head of the table before anybody else and he put his stick against the wall and he put his hat on the table and he looked at the whole of the line.

I sat down at the other end.

The whole of the table was silent.

And then Mrs. Pike brought out the pie.

The whole of the table ate and the whole of the table was quiet and the whole of it was the first family dinner the line had ever had.

And then Daniel put his fork down.

“The whole of it is not going to be one line,” he said. “The whole of it is two lines and the whole of it is going to be two lines until the founders' line is given what is its.”

The table went quiet.

“What is its?” I said.

“The land,” Daniel said. “The whole of the land and the whole of the circle and the whole of the mill and the whole of the east field. The founders' line took the whole of it in 1891 and the whole of it has been the founders' line since 1891 and the whole of it is going to be the founders' line again.”

The table was silent.

“And the whole of the line?” I said.

“The whole of the line is the Luna's line,” Daniel said. “And the whole of it is going to be given the whole of the room and the whole of the lake and the whole of the silver and the whole of it is going to be the Luna's.”

I put my fork down.

“You are going to give the line a room,” I said.

“The line is going to have the room,” Daniel said. “And the founders' line is going to have the land.”

The table was silent.

And then Elias said, “The whole of it is not a room.”

Daniel looked at him.

“Keeper,” he said.

“The whole of it is not a room,” Elias said. “The whole of it is a family. And the whole of it is not going to be given a room and the whole of it is not going to be given the land. The whole of it is going to be one line and the whole of it is going to be one pack and the whole of it is going to sit at one table.”

Daniel put his hands on the table.

“You are the cursed wolf,” he said.

“I am the keeper,” Elias said. “And I am the Luna of this pack and the mate of the Alpha and the whole of it is mine and the whole of it is not going to be split by a wolf who has been alive for ten years.”

Daniel stood up.

“The whole of it is going to be split,” he said. “And the whole of it is going to be split at the next full moon and the whole of it is going to be split in the east circle.”

He picked up his hat and his stick.

And then he stopped at the door.

“And there is a thing about the whole of it that nobody has told you,” he said. “The whole of the east circle is not going to be opened by your daughter. The whole of it is going to be opened by the keeper's daughter. And the keeper is not the wolf who is sitting at this table.”

The table was silent.

“What?” Elias said.

“The whole of it is going to be opened by the keeper's daughter,” Daniel said. “And the keeper is not the wolf who is sitting at this table. The keeper is the wolf who was the keeper before the whole of it was broken.” He put his hat on. “And the keeper before the whole of it was broken was the cursed wolf who came before Elias. And the cursed wolf who came before Elias was my son.”

The table was silent.

“Owen,” I said.

“Owen,” Daniel said. “The whole of it is going to be opened by Owen's daughter. And Owen did not have a daughter. But the whole of it is not the point. The whole of it is the line.”

He went out.

The table was silent.

And then June stood up.

“Wren,” she said. “I have a thing to tell you.”

I looked at her.

“What thing?” I said.

“The whole of it is not Owen's daughter,” June said. “The whole of it is mine.” She put her hand on her stomach. “The whole of it is the twins. One of the twins is a girl and the whole of it is going to be the keeper's daughter and the whole of it is going to open the east circle.”

The table was silent.

“June,” I said.

“The whole of it is the line,” June said. “And the whole of the line is the twins and the whole of the twins is going to open the east circle in twenty years.”

I stood up.

“Then the whole of it is going to be in twenty years,” I said. “And the whole of it is not tonight.”

And then a wolf came into the pack house.

It was the younger Corrigan boy and he had a wire in his hand and his face was white.

“Alpha,” he said. “The wire is from the Council. The Council has declared war on the Circle Pack.”

The pack house went silent.

“War,” I said.

“War,” the boy said. “The whole of the Council has voted and the whole of the east has voted and the whole of the north has voted. And the whole of it is going to be decided at the east circle at the next full moon.”

I stood in the pack house.

“Then the whole of it is going to be a war,” I said.

“The whole of it is going to be a war,” the boy said.