Inevitably Yours

QUINN

“Say ‘bye dada,’ say it,” I encouraged Junior. He just continued to stare at the computer screen. He said ‘dada’ all the time now, and I was still desperately waiting for ‘mama.’

“I love you, little buddy,” Michael said. We were video chatting before bed. Junior was old enough to miss his father’s presence when he was gone, but we hadn’t mastered video chats yet.

“I’m sorry, I think he’s tired,” I said.

“It’s okay,” Michael smiled warmly. “I’m just happy to see you both. You should get him to bed and get some sleep too.”

“I still have a quiz to take tonight,” I said. “And I should really try to write a page or two of my ethics essay.”

“Turn it in late,” Michael suggested. I scowled at him. Junior started to fuss in my lap, so I turned him in my arms and started to bounce him. “Fine,” he chuckled. “Just don’t be up too late, my love.”

“If you don’t send me adorably distracting texts, I shouldn’t be,” I smiled back. We got off the computer, and I got Junior down to bed. Luckily, he was reasonably compliant for once. With the baby monitor in my hand, I headed to my office, knowing I would work better at my desk.

I made quick work of my quiz, only needing about twenty minutes to answer the twenty-five questions asked. The door to my office was open, and the packhouse was quiet. Nic had been sleeping a lot more now that she was close to her due date. Right after Michael left for his latest job, we finished her nursery, so we were just waiting for her to go into labor now.

I decided to get up and make some tea before working on my essay. As I warmed up the kettle and got out a mug, I felt almost like an intruder in the kitchen. For the most part, Judy cooked down here, and I cooked upstairs in our tiny kitchen. She had reorganized some cabinets and moved some things around, making it her kitchen now.

“Luna!” Jacqueline unexpectedly linked as the kettle whistled at me. I jumped, not expecting to hear anyone’s voice tonight.

“What’s wrong?” I replied, turning off the stove.

“We have a problem. Midnight Meadows has a group of teenagers from our pack. Their patrol found them vandalizing some property on their territory,” Jaqueline said.

“For the love of the Goddess, really? Are they bringing them back or asking that we come to retrieve them?” I asked.

“They are refusing to turn them over to us,” she said.

“Wait, what?” I questioned. There was pounding on the front door, loud enough for me to hear in the kitchen. Alarm rang through me; it was too late at night to be expecting anyone at our door. I slid the utensil drawer open, grabbing and knife before moving toward it.

“One escaped and got back to Stary territory. She found the on-duty patrol and told them,” Jacqueline confirmed. The pounding on the door continued. My heart was racing now. Who was trying to beat down the door of the packhouse at this hour?

“I need you to send someone over to the packhouse, please,” I told her as I approached the front door. I held the knife behind my back and readied to defend myself if necessary. It wasn’t my sai, but it was stabby.

I threw the door open, only to find one of the warriors ready to pound on the door again. “I already did. I was going to have them escort you,” Jacqueline linked back as my heartbeat returned to normal.

“Next time, lead with that,” I sighed.

“Luna, we need your help. Midnight Meadows is holding four of our pack members. They won’t permit us to collect them,” the warrior stated.

“I’m getting that,” I said. “Okay, here.” I handed him the baby monitor clipped to the top of my sweatpants. “You stay here. If you hear crying, you need to link me and wake the Beta.”

“Wait, what?” he asked, confused. I walked past him, turning toward the treeline.

“My pup. Future Alpha. Asleep in the crib. If he wakes up, get Aunty Beta to help and let me know,” I instructed slowly.

“You want me to stay here? And listen for a pup?” he repeated. He clearly wasn’t getting the very simple instructions.

“Yea,” I said. “I know where the border to Midnight Meadows is. Can you handle that, or should I actually wake the sleeping Beta?”

“No!” he said quickly. Nic had been a little snappy in the last few weeks. She had chewed more than a few of the warriors out. “I got it.”

“Thanks!” I said, taking off to the trees. I could just shift and head in that direction but bringing clothes was probably the safest option. The men usually only brought shorts along with them, and I really liked my pants.

I undressed and wrapped the knife in my clothes, shifted into my blue wolf, gathered up my things and took off. “I am on my way. Have we tried talking to their Alpha or anyone else?” I linked Jacqueline.

“Their Beta and Gamma are refusing to get their Alpha unless ours wants to get involved,” she told me.

“Well, ours isn’t home,” I sighed. It took me a short time to get to the border of Stary and Midnight Meadows. I ran along the few mile long stretch until I found our warriors, Jacqueline included. As I approached in wolf form, her eyes were a little wide, and I could feel the eyes of the Midnight Meadows’ warriors on me. I trotted deeper into the trees, away from the borderline, to shift and dress.

When I came out dressed with the knife tucked into the back of my waistband, one of the men was standing with his arms crossed, facing my warriors. “What seems to be the issue?” I asked.

“And who are you?” the man asked.

“Luna of Stary Pack. My name is Quinn. It’s nice to meet you….” I trailed off, leaving him an opening for his name as I held out my hand. He ignored the gesture.

“Like I told that one,” he nodded at Jacqueline, “Even your Alpha isn’t getting the trespassers back.”

“I’m sorry that a few of our youngsters came onto your territory. I also apologize for any damage they may have done,” I tried.

“They will be rightly punished for it,” he growled.

“Surely, they didn’t do so much that it warrants such a rash reaction,” I said, still trying to pacify him.

“We didn’t, Luna! Honest. It was just a few beer bottles, and the door was already broken!” a girl’s voice called from next to me. She stood behind a few of my warriors, blocking her from immediate view.

“This just seems like some teenage fooling around,” I said.

“It’s vandalism,” the man growled.

“Beta, surely we can come to an agreement,” Jacqueline tried. “They are children. They don’t need to be held hostage and thrown in prison cells.”

I hadn’t realized I was speaking with their Beta. He was an older man with a deep scowl on his face. He was average size for a werewolf but older. I tried to remember if Midnight Meadows would be looking at a new Alpha soon; it was tough to keep up with all the packs around us sometimes.

“They will be released if and when their punishment is served,” he insisted. Someone emerged from the trees behind him. The Beta turned, and I could see the slightest eye roll.

“It’s the middle of the night; what is going on?” the guy asked. He looked like he couldn’t be much older than 18 or 19.

“We caught their pack members vandalizing the old Smith Farmhouse,” the Beta informed him.

“If you would just release my pack members, I promise they will be appropriately dealt with, and you will not see them trespassing again,” I interjected. The younger one looked at me.

“Your pack members?” he questioned haughtily.

“Do not disrespect our Luna,” Jacqueline said, biting back a growl. She stepped forward like she was ready to attack on my behalf. I reached forward and grabbed her arm, telling her to relax.

“Luna? Really?” he pushed.

“Yes, my name is Quinn Galbraith, and I am Luna of Stary Pack,” I said. “I am sure those pups are scared enough by all this; please, let me take them.”

“Pups? You’re a pup! And blue hair?” the guy laughed.

The older Beta looked a little nervous. He cleared his throat. “We have strict laws here and will not be bending them tonight. Your Alpha can speak with ours about when your pack members will be released.”

“There is no need for anyone to call Dad,” the young one said. Great, future Alpha. Confident, cocky. I knew the type. “Trespassing and vandalism, that would be around two months, I think, given their age.”

“That is absurd! They are 15- and 16-year-olds! They had no poor intent!” Jacqueline yelled. She stepped forward threateningly again, and this time the Beta also did. The two feet of ‘border’ was all that was between them.

“Old enough to know where their pack boundaries are!” the Beta shouted.

“Enough!” I finally yelled. They looked at me, a little shocked. “Beta, young Alpha, I would like to remind you of a critical law regarding these types of offenses for our kind. No pack may detain longer than necessary any wolf committing a crime off their pack territory unless that wolf is of no pack affiliation or the offense in question is of capital nature. Meaning that you cannot hold my pack members unless they have seriously injured or killed someone or committed another comparable level offense. Trespassing and vandalism do not fall under that designation!”

Everyone from Midnight Meadows looked at me in surprise. I gave them a moment to process what I had just said. I didn’t exactly mean to yell at them all, but this debate was ridiculous.

“Get the brats,” the Beta ordered. I smiled softly and relaxed my posture.

“I appreciate your cooperation,” I told them. I turned to the young Alpha specifically. “If you wouldn’t mind letting your father know, I would like to have a chat with him soon. He is welcome to contact our packhouse directly. I would be happy to discuss compensation for any damages to the structure.”

“Uh, sure,” the kid said, losing someone of his confident bravado now.

I stepped back, motioning for Jacqueline to come with me. While we waited for the teenagers to be brought to us, I instructed her to take them to our warrior compound and call their parents. While they hadn’t done anything serious, this all could have gone much worse.

“If you hadn’t called them out like that, I don’t know that we would have gotten them back without a fight. At the very least, having to call Alpha,” Jacqueline said in a hushed voice.

“They knew they were wrong. They just needed to be called out on it,” I assured her.

“How did you even know that?” she asked.

“I help Michael all the time. He had to become an expert in both human defense laws and our laws to enrich the classes he’s teaching. You can’t just know how to hit people; you also have to know when you’re allowed to do it,” I told her. She just raised her eyebrows and nodded.

“I am going to head back to the packhouse. I left a very nervous and confused warrior there with the baby monitor,” I told her.

“What did you do?” she laughed.

“Luna, um, there’s a problem,” I was linked. My spine went rigid. Jacqueline’s face dropped as I froze.

“Is Junior okay?” I asked panickedly.

“Uh, yea, he’s still asleep; well, the baby monitor is quiet. But Beta Nic is looking for you. I think she is going into labor,” he said.

“What?” Jacqueline asked.

“Call my mate. Nic’s going into labor!” I called as I took off into the trees.