The Tragic Mate

The Retreat

In wolf form, Seth flew through the wooded surroundings of the pack village, straight to the Pack House. His thoughts were scrambled, unable to make sense of his new new discovery. It had shocked him and he was unable to think rationally. There was no way that any pack member would have wanted that house and Drew would have told him if he had sold it. No. It would never have been sold to an outsider. That family may have chosen to live in a part of the pack lands where nobody else could have ever been able to known their business, but, isolated or not, it was still pack lands so no outsider had any business building there. Again, Drew would never have allowed it and neither would the Council.

Pushing himself hard, he soon reached the Pack House. Choosing to take the side entrance, through the main meeting room, he avoided meeting anyone, unable to deal with any other pack than his close family. Drew was who he needed to see and now! Launching himself up the stairs to the Alpha quarters, Seth reached Drew's door and barged straight in without knocking.

Drew was startled from whatever paperwork he was reading through, shocked out of his seat into a standing position behind his desk. The sight that greeted him was alarming and one he instinctively shrank back from. He'd never seen his uncle in anything other than a state of utter control. Seth looked wild and disheveled with twigs and leaves in his hair with peircing eyes wide and intense. Despite Drew now being Alpha, the power of his uncle's raging emotions overwhelmed him and he automatically bowed his head to the older man.

"Uncle Seth!" He spluttered. "What's happening? What is it? Are you hurt?" He made no move towards his uncle, still held in place by the dominance of the chaotic storm emanating from Seth.

Seth seemed to grow taller as he rushed up to Drew's desk, raised a fist and banged it on the table so hard that it left a dented imprint. Drew's sole attention was on the mark that was left. He was unable to raise his eyes to his Uncle, remaining in a submissive stance.

"What the hell is going on with Bell's house?" He boomed at Drew. "There's building work going on there. Has it been sold? Is someone going to live there? Who authorised this? It's an abomination, boy! Answer me!"

Drew pulled all his energy into resuming an authorative stance in the face of his Uncle's uncontrolled wrath. Through sheer will power he raised his eyes to his uncles, opened his mouth, pulled in a big breath and put out a calming hand towards him. This man was the closest thing he had to a father and he loved him with all his soul. They'd made a mistake.

Seth slapped Drew's hand away growling low in his throat, "Don't prepare a story for me or try to calm me down. Tell me. Now!"

Instead of trying to fight his uncle's Alpha power, he raised his voice and called out, "Mystery! Get in here now. Office. Quick." and finished off with his last bit of breath a feeble, "Please." then stood there looking helpless. "We can explain, but it is best that Mystery explains."

This momentarily silenced Seth, but it didn't lessen his looming, threatening presence. Mystery slipped into the room, only to have Seth round on her. Unlike her mate, Mystery wasn't just a wolf-shifter and had some immunity from the Alpha power that was pouring off Seth in waves. She also had very little sense of self-presevation, ignoring the obvious threat in the room, too horrified by the wild-looking and very naked Seth standing before her.

"I'm going to puke! Seth, cover yourself up. I'm begging you." She averted her gaze from him, not yet comfortable with the gratuitous nakedness on display at the drop of a hat that shifters were oblivious to. She'd only recently become a shifter and to see the older man in such a disheveled state was disconcerting but to see him entirely naked was not something that she could stomach.

"Drew, cover him up!" She ordered her mate, her face screwed up in distaste.

Drew made a dive for the sofa where there was a blanket, throwing it at his uncle who steadfastly ignored it.

"Answer me girl! What is happening at Bell's house?" He growled at Mystery who had the sense to look slightly alarmed, aware at last that this was a serious situation.

She spoke to him softly and calmly, "I'm turning around and when I know that you are covered, I will turn back and tell you everything you need to know. I will explain everything, Seth."

Silence.

"Now! Before I hex you. Fair warning, if I turn around and your danglies are on display, I will sting you on them." Her outline showed Seth that she had crossed her arms and in case her stance wasn't communication enough, she started tapping her foot. "I'll count to three. One... two..."

"There! I'm covered. Happy?" Seth now sounded like the petulant child that she was treating him as and it was clear that some of his emotions had subsided. He had grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around his waist.

Mystery turned back to face him, motioning for him to sit down on the sofa. As soon as he was seated, she joined him. She tried to pat his arm in confort but he shrugged her off. This only made her chuckle which elicited a tut from Drew.

"Okay." she raised her hands in supplication. "Are you able to listen to me calmly because there is a very good explanation which I think that you will like once I tell you." She looked back at Drew and grimaced, "Could you get him some actual clothes please and maybe some of Mrs B's calming tea?" This was met with by a small growl from Seth and a nod of relief from Drew who rushed off to carry out her requests.

She turned back to give Seth her full attention. "Tempest and I have been working on something which is specifically with you and Bell in mind. And before you start getting cross at Drew knowing anything about what you and I talked about, I did warn you that I would tell the family if you didn't and you also know that there is no way I was going to let you deal with all of this on your own. This plan is, though I do say so myelf, somewhat of a genious one, so listen up and don't interrupt until I finish.

This pack has become the epicentre for quite a few waifs and strays such as myself. It's taken a short time for a lot of change to happen and one of the most powerful changes for the good is that the women of this pack have found their voice and - for the most part - are now listened to. It occured to me that if you are going to bring Bell home where she belongs, she is going to be coming into a community that will welcome her and want to support her, but that might be hugely overwhelming. You want to build a life with her, help her recover from years of trauma and it will be hard work. What better way to help her to build a new sense of identity as a powerful woman of a powerful mate in this community than to create a home for other women like her. Her old family home - currently the stuff of nightmares in this pack and I am certain for her - is being turned into a refuge for women."

Mystery sat back, giving Seth some space to process what she had told him. After a few moments, she continued.

"We should all have included you right from the start but Tempest is so headstrong that there was no way I was going to cool her enthusiasm and so I thought that it would probably be best to present it to you when you were in a better frame of mind. I'd actually hoped to run through the idea later today."

She waited with nervous anticipation for his response.