Extinguishing Wildfire

Larkin

Flint had been feeling agitated for the past few days, so I took him for a run to see if it would help. He wasn’t as jumpy as before but now he was mopey.

‘This is hard for me, too, Flint, but we both need to be in top form for when we issue our challenge.’

’I am in top form. Champion has nothing on us. I just miss Lily.′

‘I miss Nora, too, but this moping around has to stop.’

‘I’ll do what I want.’

‘Why do all wolves have to be so stubborn? Seriously, Flint, there’s nothing worse than a mopey wolf.’

‘Must have yet to meet a mopey human then.’

‘Come on, Flint. Nora is safe where she is, and I’d rather miss her a million years than have her anywhere near danger. I’m not letting her get within a mile from my father again.’

‘Can we at least call her? I need to hear her voice.’

‘We have that dinner tonight with James and Scarlett. I’ll find a way to call.’

We sat around the dining table in awkward silence. Gema was usually the one who was good at getting us all to talk, and without her here, I was finding it difficult to make small talk. Rory didn’t seem to be faring any better as she was nervous. Being around Gema had brought out some of her confidence, but she had withdrawn again after Gema left.

“Did you invite me here because of my sister?” Surprisingly, Scarlett was the one who broke our awkward silence.

“Yes, this has to do with your sister, but before we say more, I’d like to be clear that whatever is said here between us needs to stay between us. We can’t risk this getting back to our father.”

“My sister is dead, what would it matter what you have to say? Are you sure you really trust me to be here anyway?” I looked up at her harsh tone, and that’s when I realized Scarlett’s eyes were still swollen from crying. My father must have told her family that Hadley died.

“First off, because we don’t believe she is dead. Second, Hadley trusted you enough to tell you she was leaving. You didn’t tell anyone, and you didn’t try to stop her from leaving.”

“Your father said he felt her pack bond break. He called me and my parents into his office yesterday to let us know.”

“I get that, but a pack bond will also break if a person joins another pack.”

“You think she joined another pack?” She looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

“You swear to keep this between us?” I looked between James and Scarlett, and they both nodded. “The plan was to get Gema and Hadley to Harvest Moon, we had some cat shifters helping us. With how everything went, we haven’t been able to contact Gema to confirm that they made it. Rory and I have hope that they did make it, though."

“Is there any way to confirm that?” Scarlett scooted forward in her seat, looking interested in what I told her.

“That’s actually why we called you two here,” Rory spoke up for the first time this evening.

“Gema left a phone number where we can contact her, but our father keeps tabs on both of our phones, so there’s no way we can risk calling…that’s why we wanted to talk to you…” I trailed off hoping they'd catch on to what I wanted.

“You want us to call?” James finished my thought for me.

“Yes,” I let out the breath I had been holding. I hadn’t realized how nerve-wracking this conversation was. Life had taught me to be wary of trusting just anyone, and those I did trust were not people I wanted to put on my father’s radar. So far, James had put a lot on the line for us, and it seemed he was willing to continue doing so, I just wasn’t sure why.

“I’ll help, but…I have one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You need to challenge your father for the pack.”

His condition was not what I was expecting, but to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect from him. James must have seen the confusion on my face as he elaborated.

“You’re a strong and able-bodied Alpha. Your father should have passed on the pack already, but he’s not even hinted at stepping down. Many of our pack members are holding onto hope that Alpha Marek will hand you the pack so that we can stop all of this fighting. Most of us warriors didn’t choose this life, your father chose it for us. You are our rightful Alpha, and if your father won’t give you the pack, then you need to take it. Our people deserve better than what we have here with your father.”

“James is right. Our pack is not free with your father as Alpha. If you challenge him, you’ll have the support of this pack. There’s more of us on your side than you might think.”

“This is the second time I’ve heard you say that about having people on our side, but how can that be true?” Rory sounded scared as she turned to James and Scarlett.

“Your father has been at this a long time. We’ve all lost someone to Alpha Marek’s war. Grandparents, parents, siblings, friends. And for those who lost parents, they were discarded as weak.”

“Like Nora.” James and I shared an understanding look.

“Exactly, most of our omegas are orphans from the wars we've been forced to endure. That doesn’t even count those who were banished.” I nodded as James continued. “So, you challenge your father, and I’ll do anything I possibly can to help.”

“I’m in, too. I'll help, but I want to make sure Hadley’s safe.”

“Good…can we call now?”

The four of us just stared at each other for a few minutes. It was as if we just now realized the gravity of what we were doing. If my father found out, it was all over for us…but if he didn’t…then it was the first step towards rebellion and freedom from the invisible chains my father had put on all of us.

Without another word, James unlocked his phone and slid it across the table. I took out my phone to pull up Gema’s number, and we fell silent as the phone rang. She didn’t answer the first call, but I dialed her number twice more until she finally picked up.

“Larkin! Oh, Goddess! We were just trying to figure out how to get in touch with you. Is Rory with you? Is she okay? Are you?”

I laughed heartily as she talked from the other end. She was alive! That meant my father was wrong about the broken pack bond.

Rory perked up at the sound of her name. “Gema, I’m here! Father told us you were dead, but you’re clearly not. It’s so good to hear your voice. Is Noah your mate? And where’s Hadley?

“Here, let me put you on speaker. Rory, James, and Scarlett are with me.”

“I’m so, sorry I’m not around Nora or Hadley for you to speak with them, but they’re both good. Yes, Noah’s my mate, and Hadley found her mate here, too. We’re safe.”

I looked over to see Scarlett crying, clearly overwhelmed by finding out her sister was alive. James comforted Scarlet by patting her back as Gema told us how they got lost and ran from a bear, which fit what we were told by my father about a bear attack.

“Larkin, while it’s good to hear from you all, there is something Alpha Kedrick was wanting to discuss with you. Is now a good time?”

“As good a time as any.”

There was a pause and it sounded like Gema handed over her phone, so I took it off speaker and put it to my ear.

“Hello, Alpha Larkin, this is Alpha Kedrick from Harvest Moon. I’m sorry that we have to introduce ourselves under these circumstances. As Gema said, we were in the process of figuring out how to contact you because we wanted to touch base with you about the upcoming war.

“So the attack on Wildfire is happening?”

“Yes, it’s just a matter of time and logistics, but we nearly have all the players in place.”

“What do you need from me?”

“We’ll take anything you can give. Patrol schedules, battle plans, weaknesses, anything you think might help.”

“I’ll see what I can do…but we have a lot of good people in this pack. If I’m going to help you, I need your assurance that those people will be safe.”

“You have my word. We’re not going there to wipe out a pack, we just want to end Alpha Marek’s tyranny.”

“Then I’ll get you what I can as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Alpha Larkin. Also, I can assure you that Luna Nora is being well taken care of during her stay with us. She’s doing her part for this war, and she’ll be a fine Luna once she can return home to you.”

My heart swelled with pride at Alpha Kedrick referring to Nora as Luna. She was a rightful Luna…my Luna. Even Flint perked up at the thought of his Luna.

“Next time you call, I’ll make sure you can speak to your mate. Have a nice rest of your evening.”

With that, we hung up the phone, and I turned back to everyone else in the room.

“What did he say?” Rory’s wide eyes gave away her nerves.

I cleared my throat and picked up my fork as I picked at my now cold food.

“Harvest Moon has been organizing a war, and they want us to help. They promised to leave anyone in the pack fighting against Wildfire alone, but they want any information we can give them about the pack.”

“It sounded like you agreed to do that, right?”

“Yeah, I told him we would help so long as he didn’t wipe the pack out. He said they have a lot of packs on their side, and that they’re pretty much ready to proceed with their attack.”

“I’m willing to help you in whatever you need…whatever can get us out from under Alpha Marek. James leaned forward, his wolf’s golden eyes shining through for a second.

“I want to help as well.” Scarlett cleared her throat, unsure of herself. “I…I know several warriors who would help us as well. I can get a list for you.”

“That would be amazing, thank you, Scarlett.”

Rory looked at her confused, “How is it that you know people willing to rebel? Has this been going on for a while?”

“I’m not sure what you mean by going on for a while, but there’s been talk of leaving or getting rid of Alpha for a while. The pack doesn’t trust him.”

“But you trust me?”

She nodded pensively, “We trust you’ll be a better Alpha than your father.”

“We’re doing this then? Joining forces with Harvest Moon?”

“Yes, we join forces with them, build our rebellion from within, and prepare for a challenge.”

“Sounds good Alpha.” James smiled and gave me a firm nod. We spent the rest of the night finishing our dinner and getting to know each other. If we were going to work together, we might as well become friends in the process.