The Hunter and the Rogue Workers Union

Chapter 11

A Party with Tombstones

Over the next few days, Sally felt fine but her dreams were full of growls and anger. She was tired, but that was nothing new. The construction project of a large group of small family homes was well under way, just one field away from the main packhouse. Starlit spent eight hours a day in the pack day care, which was located in the packhouse, working on her basic letters and numbers. The Luna had declared one full day of shopping with them, getting all new clothes and basics for the little princess, shortly after their return from the Dead City. A shifter necklace was gifted to Starlit from the pack, making her a member of the pack but not a true bonded member. Children were not allowed to participate in the blood ceremony until they were eighteen. It was to protect them. They could naturally mind link with family and any child could mind link with an alpha born. Families never wanted their young children to be able to mind link with any nonfamily member until of age. All of Starlit’s belongings were replaced, and they were relocated to a three-bedroom cottage closer to the packhouse. It was also further from Siku’s old cottage. Sally’s heart hurt every time she saw his former cottage. Her heart hurt most of the day until she saw Starlit again and then the pain would just disappear. Her whole world was now focused on that tiny person and she could not have been happier.

A week of hard work had passed. Sally had finished up her day and had stopped off at the day care to collect Starlit. Very quickly Starlit comes up with a couple of new friends.

“Where is Uncle Russell?” asked Starlit after running up to her and giving her a big hug.

“He is still framing the cottage we have been working on. The fox shifters will be here soon, and we are trying to get as many ready as we can as quickly as we can. He is going to meet us at the cottage and then we are going to go on a picnic. It is a reward for all the hard work we have been doing.”

“Can my new friends come with us?” She asked in a very excited manner.

“New friends? May I meet them too?” Sally asked her back with a big grin.

Starlit got down and ran over to two children that were standing just a few feet away. “This is George and this is Tina.” She smiled big, showing all of her teeth.

“Nice to meet you George and Tina. I will have to ask your parents if you can come with us.”

The little boy who must have been 6 spoke up with an Alpha tone to his voice. Sally noticed that the 5-year-old girl also had an alpha wolf. It did seem more and more alpha wolves were popping up everywhere these days. “We just got mama.”

The little girl also spoke up in order to correct her brother. “You are wrong brother, we have Uncle Siman and Aunt Bethari and Uncle Carter and Aunt Eva. It is just our daddy who went to go see the angles.” Tina turned to Sally. “Mommy said the war hurt him so bad the angles came and took him with them so God could make his hurt stop. He is waiting on us. I miss him, but I am glad he is better now.”

Sally did not know what to say. She pondered all of what the child had just said in her heart when a very small black-haired lady came up behind her and called out the children’s names.

“Mommy!” They screamed as they introduced her to their new friend.

“Starlit wants us to go on a picnic with her today. Can we please!” Begged George as Tina backed him up with puppy dog eyes. Sally and the kid’s mom looked at each other and just grinned. A sweet but loud voice could be heard in the back.

“Oh, that would be perfect. I have been needing to formally introduce you to my Gamma,” said the Luna.

“Your Gamma?” Questioned Sally, wondering why she had not noticed this woman up to that point.

“Yes, this is just perfect. I am so very excited about you two finally being able to meet. Schatzi’s grandmother is one of my oldest friends. Schatzi’s mother is very much a “free spirit” for lack of a better term. Anyway, they have just returned from an international vacation which, of course, took them most of the summer. I was so lonely while they were gone until you showed up. You were a breath of fresh air in this place. I really have to thank you and Russell for your kindness in keeping my mind away from my loneliness. You have both kept me busy. I have an open mind link with Delilah right now. She wants to know if you will all come to her house for a cook out, today. She so wants to meet your Starlit, Russell and you Sally, of course. There is a swimming pool. It is not very deep. Delilah wanted just enough of her morning laps but not too much of her grandbabies.”

Starlit looked like she was about to stroke from excitement. “Yes, thank you as always Luna. We would love to. What time will we be expected?”

“I will pick you up at 6pm,” said Luna with excitement in her voice.

Soon enough, the four of them rolled up to a house that was just slightly smaller than the pack house. “Delilah is a Nightingale by birth. Which is a very ancient family. Unlike most of us who lost most of our family’s money in the war. The Nightingales have a huge trust that is located on the Parisian continent. In other words, they still have their money. They have helped out the pack quite a bit, but most of their money is locked up in a trust, so there is just so much they can do. Oh yes, just to let you know. Everyone, including Delilah’s husband, goes by the last name of Nightingale. Once you are a Nightingale, you are always a Nightingale.”

As they stepped out of the car, a thick, full-sized woman came running out of the house with the grace of a true lady. Sally noticed large dragons that were embroidered on her form-fitting, floor-length blue dress. She looked amazing. The details on the dress almost made the dragons seem real. It was apparent that Lady Nightingale was a good person. This was not a title that Sally assigned to most people upon first meeting them. But something about her felt right.

Right behind her was Schatzi, with both of her kids running past her already in their swimming suits. They grabbed Starlit, and they all ran to the swimming pool at top speed. Delilah stopped at the sight of Starlit with tears appearing in her eyes. Bethari ran up to her holding her friend.

“Let’s go to your office, my dear friend.” Luna Bethari looked back at Russell. “Please keep an eye on the children, and remind them all no shifting until after all the guests leave and we say it is fine. Sally and Schatzi please come with me.” Once in the office, Luna made sure the door was locked and then turned to the ladies. “I am sorry, I just did not want any ears around. My dear Delilah, I did not know how to tell you, and I did not expect you to pick up on it so fast. But this is best for the child. You can be such a help to her.”

Delilah wiped tears away as she sat down on one of the large couches in her office. “Poor dears, I am so sorry for this show. I usually have much more self-control than this. It is just, you see, my father was a Nightingale by birth, so he was used to being upfront and in the limelight. My precious mother always stayed out of view. Some older wolves like to keep their females hidden, which was not the case here, but father was fine with everyone thinking such a nasty thing about him, if it protected us. It was a good way for her to hide. She did hide for many years behind that name, but all things must come to the light. The Red Queen found out she was a shifter, a true shifter. We all know the Red Queen was crazy, but my mom was never a threat to her crown. She was such a gentlewoman, and never even remotely showed any desire for power. We had a huge swimming pool inside our house just outside of Athens, that had a magnificent glass wall, which allowed in the grander of that land. You could swim under the glass and into the outside part of the pool. I usually just sit in that room and gaze at its beauty. You know, mother enjoyed changing into different colored fish, just to entertain us while father was gone. His work kept him away for weeks sometimes. Mother would have special games to entertain us, to help us when our hearts were heavy from missing him. We would go down to that pool taking turns screaming different colors like red, blue, black, silver… you know what ever color come to our little minds. It was so much fun to watch her shift back and forth.” A huge smile crossed her face and her eyes lit up when she spoke of those happy memories. But too soon the joy faded and was replaced with reflection and pain. “She did her laps in the morning before getting us out of bed. Mother always sang a good morning song to us every morning without failure. At the time, I acted like I hated it, but I would give all my worldly goods now to hear that song from her one more time. That one morning, I woke up alone in my room, so I went to look for her. I thought I must have woken up early that day, which meant I would be about to see her do her morning swim.” She stopped, holding her handkerchief tight between her hands, wringing it and pulling it up and down until it started to rip. “You see, I was the one to find her… just floating in the outside part of the pool. I did not scream. Oh no, I am the proud daughter of a mighty shifter. I did my mother proud. It was the last thing I was able to do for her.” Schatzi turned towards the wall next to her, reacting to her grandmother’s pain. “One shot and none of us heard it. One silent shot. And they just left her there in that pool for us to find. The view is amazing from the pool, but that day… that was the day I lost my love for it. You know she had never shifted into a dragon. I think she could have if she wanted to, but she was too afraid of that much power. She was not a threat to the Queen in the least. She was the first… the first shifter the Red Queen had murdered. Even then, the Red Queen was a monster. The head of security was her protector or guarding, whatever that is called. I did not see him at the time, but he was there. It was such a big pool, and he must have tried to get her out of the pool or something. There were two shots that day." She stopped again with stress on her face. "He loved her so much. You know she was like eight when she chose him. He was like a grandfather to me. I lost the two most important people in my life that day because that monster feared blindly...” She stopped for a long time as Bethari rubbed her shoulder. “Some wounds do not heal…Buttt but.” She stopped to breath. “I can help you, or at least tell you what I know.” She refocused herself and moved her mind away from that day as she wiped her eyes. “Just don’t encourage her to shift into a dragon until she is an adult. Mom always said that form could consume you. I think it is a self-control issue. One needs a huge amount of willpower not to give in to the beast.” Sally took it all to heart. She understood her pain on some level, she tried not to think about it, but instead chose to listen to everything Delilah knew about shifters. She would need this and so much more.

The small cookout turned out to be a huge cookout as there was nothing small about it, nor the pool. It seemed to have turned into a welcome home party with two to three hundred people showing up. Even the union workers were invited. Sally was impressed with how the two royal ladies greeted each rogue as if they were all members of the pack. It was very refreshing to meet such people. Sally did not know that group of union workers very well, but she was happy to see them enjoying themselves. Russell was having beers with some of the workers as well as Beta Carter. Sally and Schatzi spent the first part of the party sitting at the side of the pool watching the children play.

“Are you not hungry, yet?” Asked Sally for the hundredth time.

“Noooo” came out of all three of their mouths.

Schatzi laughed “They will eat once everyone leaves and we force them out of the pool. Tomorrow is Saturday. Let them live it up for tonight.”

“How late will that be?”

“Oh, Grandma will have the orchestra play what she calls the “good night song.” It is like a last call at a bar. This place will be cleared out within fifteen minutes after that. She is usually tired by 10pm. Grandmother likes a good party, but she loves her bedtime even more.” They both laughed.

Right before sunset, Beta Carter came up and sat next to them. “Well, how are such lovely ladies doing this evening?” He asked with a grin.

“What do you want Carter?” Asked Schatzi without taking her eyes off of the pool.

Aww, you know me so well. Two things: I wanted to let Sally know that word about her fights has gotten out, and we have a few rogue alphas who want to book a fight with you. We have overhauled our background checks on rogues, but there is one that I know from the war. His pack was disbanded by the Red Queen. He was Alpha for maybe a month or so before she drove him out, scattering his pack members all over her land. Alpha Samson would not back down from the Queen, just like his father. But he did manage to get away from her murderous wrath, unlike his father. Anyway, how do you feel like another fight? So far, you have only faced off with pups. He would be a real challenge.” Carter said with all of his charm. Sally just nodded her head yes, which made his smile even bigger. “Now for the second thing. It is more of an offer. I can set here with the pups, that is, if there is someplace that Schatzi would like to go for a few minutes.” Schatzi sat there for a few moments before saying thank you and walking away. Once she was out of ear shot Carter looked at Sally. “She does not like going alone. I know you just met her, but she is a good kid. She may need someone with her.

Sally followed her away from the house and towards a large flat-top hill. About half way to the hill they were walking side by side.

“You know, he was not supposed to be the next Alpha.” Sally listened to her as they walked into an ancient graveyard. “Siman and Bethari had two sons. And on top of that, there was a brother between Siman and Carter. He was fourth in line, so he joined the rogue army, and worked with their field general as the head of training. That was one of many things he did and was during the war. Anyway, when the Red Queen pushed the alphas out of the packs, Siman’s two sons, Frederick and Michael, plus Siman's brother, George, left with Siman. Carter had been off fighting the Queens for years at that point. Siman had met up with other pack leaders deep in the south when his camp was attacked. Frederick, Michael and George were captured along with several other alphas. Almost six months later, what was left of them was recovered in a field outside of the Pale Queens capital city.” She pointed to three headstones next to each other. “I did not know I was pregnant with Tina when George left. I sent him a message, but I was not able to tell him face to face about it. I just wish… I wish it was all just a dream, a very bad dream.” They stood there for a long time in silent understanding as the music from the party made its way to their ears. A song of lost filled the air. It filled their hearts and it filled the party down below. A moment of remembrance for both loss and pain started to rise to the surface of their hearts. It was a shared feeling that was always just under the skin of most, just waiting for the right notes to call it forth.