Chapter 3

I put the plate of food on to the table in front of Dad. His hands were full of papers, glasses set on his nose, and a frown on his face. Something that, lately, was a constant feature. Reaching out, I squeezed his shoulder.

“Dad, dinner.”

He nodded, his hand coming over and grasping mine. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You’re still Alpha. I understand that. You just need to make sure you’re still taking care of yourself.”

I sat down on the other side of him. Henry was late, but he was also dealing with the same thing. For some reason, our pack members were falling ill. It was the same issue every time. We’d checked everything. The water, the air, the buildings, the food, but there was nothing.

On top of that, it wasn’t everyone. Just a select few. Which made it even more bizarre. It had been weighing on both Henry and Dad’s minds for the past few months. They were taking it personally, despite me telling them they shouldn’t. However, after the first wolf died, it was inevitable that they blamed themselves.

“Is Henry…?” I stopped as the door opened.

My brother stepped in, tapping his boots on the mat before coming in and setting them in his cubby. He looked tired, almost as tried as Dad. I stood up, but he waved me off.

“I’ll grab my plate. Don’t worry about it.”

Nodding, I sat back down and pushed around the food on my plate. Henry sat down and ate, not saying a word to Dad or I. Though, I had a feeling they were mind linking the information Dad was reading over before he started eating. I felt left out, not that I would tell them that.

When I did, it was always ‘you don’t need to worry about this’ or ‘you’ve got enough on your plate with school’. I was fifteen already and they treated me like a child sometimes. My friends were getting sick too. I wanted to help them, but they would shut me out.

After taking a few bites, I put down my fork. If they wanted to talk, then I was just getting in the way. Grabbing my plate, I stood up, but Dad reached out.

“I’m sorry, Tahlia. We weren’t ignoring you.”

“I know you weren’t. You also aren’t talking to me about anything. So I’m just in the way.”

Dad let out his signature sighs. “You’re not. I’m sorry. We will stop. Just…talk to us. How was your day at school?”

“Fine. I knocked Denia’s tooth out.” I sat back down at the table.

The both of them groaned and I chuckled.

“Why? Why can’t you just not get in a fight?”

“I mean, it was during PE. We were training. Her head got too close to my fist. She should have dodged.”

Henry chuckled. “She didn’t?”

I snorted. “More like she can’t. She adds extra inserts into her bra to make her look like she has boobs. Except that it throws her weight off. So she wasn’t able to recover fast enough.”

The two of us giggled until we glanced over at Dad. His disapproval came across in his eyes and we both shut up. I sunk in my chair.

“Tahlia, you shouldn’t have caused damage like that.”

“So I’m just supposed to not fight? They won’t allow the seniors near me because all the ones who are good enough to fight are needed for their respective sports. They stick me with people who can’t fight, then this is how it’s going to end up. Denia cared more about looking good in her gym uniform than her safety. That’s on her, not me.”

Dad frowned. “That’s enough, Tahlia. If I hear you have had another fight in school, I will pull you. You will end up doing homeschooling. Is that what you want?”

I got up again, this time slamming my hands on the table. “Maybe if you reigned in your leadership, their children wouldn’t be acting out like they were royalty.”

“Tahlia!” Henry snapped at me. “Don’t you dare.”

“Me? I’ve had to deal with this for years. Not just from those in my grade, but the ones who are older and younger! I’m tired of it. Homeschool me! It’s fine! Both Anna and Tate are sick. Gwen already left because her mom got sick! I don’t have anyone left!”

Grabbing my plate, I stormed into the kitchen. Putting it in the sink, I skipped every other step as I headed up the stairs to my room. I slammed my door behind me grabbing every stuffed animal off my bed and threw it at the door.

Finally, once my ammo was exhausted, I headed out of the window and onto the roof. It was warm still. The night in full swing, but even a sweatshirt would be too much. Looking up, I couldn’t see the stars yet, but it wouldn’t be very long before we could. The pack house was far enough away from the main center of town that at night, no lights except from the house itself, obstructed the view of the stars.

This was my favorite spot. I loved coming up here and looking at the stars. So much so that I had taken up a hobby in astronomy. Learning the names of the stars, how they moved in the sky with the rotation of our planet.

After about an hour, I groaned when I heard the window next door to mine swing open. I was surprised though to see Dad climb onto the room, not Henry. His room was next to mine and he would climb out and join me sometimes. Dad’s room was on the other side, which wasn’t an easy way to get onto the room.

He laid down next to me, not saying anything. I looked up as well, naming off the star names in my head. His sigh broke the quiet and I closed my eyes for a moment.

“I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“No, you were right. I’ve been keeping things from you. Even asking your brother to do so as well. This situation has been all-consuming and I just didn’t want you to fall into the hole as well.”

His hand reached out and took mine. After a moment, I realized it was shaking. I sat up, holding tight to his hand. He didn’t look at me, though. Dad was still looking up at the stars.

“What is going on?”

“I was contacted today by another Alpha.”

My brow furrowed. “Like from one of the neighboring packs?”

Dad shook his head. “No. A rogue, and a notorious one at that.”

“Does Henry know? Is that what you were talking about?”

Again, Dad shook his head. “He doesn’t know. I’m going to take June and Wilson tomorrow. We are going to meet with the Alpha. He has a camp that is a few miles outside of the pack.”

“Why?”

None of this made sense. Especially if he hadn’t told Henry this. It made sense he wouldn’t tell Gamma Paul or Beta Richard. It was harder to trust them, and all three of us kept running into issues with them. However, they had sort-of, worked through their differences to tackle this illness. Except that it was at an arms length.

“Because they said they are poisoning the pack. They are the ones behind it, and they want to take over.”