CHAPTER THREE - BACK TO LIFE
2154 Words
ANDREW
We all went downstairs and Aaron made us some quick sandwiches before we had to meet in the office. We sat in front of the fireplace. All of our circle came down, smiling at us, the couples holding hands.
“How was your Christmas Luna?” asked Charlotte.
“It was nice,” Parker blushed. “Yours?”
“Also nice. Yours Mandy?”
“Oh, very nice,” Mandy grinned. “Glad we all had nice Christmases. “
The mates all looked at each other, wondering what was going on. Axel just shrugged at me so I didn’t ask.
We all piled into my father’s office when his circle passed us just before 12 o’clock. I sat Parker on my lap and kissed his neck. My father cleared his throat.
“Thank you all for coming. I hope your Christmases went well.”
We all nodded and said ‘Alpha’. Our mates clearly were trying to refrain from giggling.
“Now to pack business,” my father began. “Weddings, inductions, presentations to the pack. Weddings may be something that seem frivolous or something you want to keep private but when you’re Alphas, Betas and Gammas you don’t get that luxury. Beta? Itinerary.”
“There will be an announcement that you three and Luna Alpha will be the new leaders of the pack,” said Beta Derek.
“But first I will – may I speak to your Luna directly?” my father asked. It showed great respect to ask.
I looked at my brothers and answered. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Good,” said my father. “I will need you to present your wolf to me and my circle Luna Alpha, tonight.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Parker said meekly.
“Thank you Luna Alpha, next Beta,” my father said.
“Yes,” said Beta. “In a few of days we will have the announcement which will be open to all packs. A week after Lucian’s birthday will be his and Mandy’s wedding. We were thinking your induction in a couple months after that. Then your wedding a couple months after. How’s that Luna Alpha?”
Parker looked shocked that he was asking him alone. But he would now be in charge of events and running the pack as efficiently as possible when it came to gatherings and the presentation of our pack in every way.
Parker sat up straight, only missing one beat. “Sounds great Beta Derek,” he said. “You’ve forgotten a baby shower though. For Mandy.”
“Oh yes…” Beta scribbled some things out on his sheet.
“Let me hold that,” Mom said. She took the notepad from Derek and looked it over. “I’ll carry on with my Betas as well as your circle Luna Alpha to confirm some dates. Sound alright?”
“Absolutely Luna Palonia,” he beamed.
“Alright, that’s for the next meeting,” my father said. “As for your wolf presentation you will have to present your wolf to our pack on the night of the announcement. It has neither been confirmed or denied that you are a white wolf although many warriors have spread that you are. Some don’t believe it but it will be confirmed in a few days. It will put you in danger, but not from me.
Other packs will either revere you or fear you. Fear can lead to unpleasantness. But everyone in this pack will protect you with their lives, lest they want to deal with the Savage Beast. Or the Beast of the West. Or they can become rogue.”
My father’s seriousness was noted and our wolves were appreciative.
“We need to be prepared for our pack’s reaction -" my father started.
“Let Toni speak to them this time,” I said. “I’m sure everyone will be happy with a white wolf as their Luna after he talks to them.”
Everyone grinned, even Axel. I suppose I could try to control him.
“Fine,” my father said. “We’re taking every precaution to prevent what happened last week from happening again. However apparently vetting people is obviously not going to work if people can’t remember what they’ve done. Which brings me to my last and most important point of this meeting.
How did you actually break the spell from the witch on you if even her own Alpha couldn’t stop her or get the truth from her? And what is Luna Alpha’s magical ability?”
He raised an eyebrow at us. We had lied to him.
“Yes, we lied to you,” sighed Axel. “It was for his protection but no more lies after today. Full disclosure.”
He looked to us and Parker and we nodded. I spoke for me and my brothers.
“For the record, Parker wanted to tell you about him being a white wolf even after….your treatment. So please don’t blame him. Well, we didn’t know his true powers until after the witch incident. He can read minds without even trying. Or rather hear projected thoughts. In fact, he has had to train himself not to listen to others’ thoughts. Also he can project his thoughts to others without mindlinking.
During the witch incident he found that not only could he speak to her subconscious without the witch even knowing but he could compel her to do something without forcing her. The memory spell on her was so strong that she didn’t remember even talking to Parker let alone taking the spell off of us.”
“So instead of mindlinking you can hear our thoughts involuntarily?” asked Derek Jr.
“Yes, but I try hard not to,” Parker blushed. “And when my mind is going a mile a minute I can’t.”
“And wait,” said Mandy, “You can compel us to do whatever you want?”
“Kind of?” Parker said shyly. “Mostly I’m asking your subconscious to do things and it’s a lot more compliant than your regular mind.”
“Beta,” my father said.
Beta Derek sighed and stood up. “Always the guinea pig,” he mumbled.
“Wait, Beta doesn’t have to do this,” protested Aaron.
“Its my job, Alpha Aaron,” Beta smirked. “I’m sure he doesn’t need magic to tell you what to do.” Derek and Derek Jr. snickered.
“We have to see his magic,” my father said glaring at Beta. “Stop playing around…jackass.”
The last part my father said under his breath but loud enough for all of us. Beta just rolled his eyes.
He stood to the side of me and I turned Parker around.
“No, no stop trying to talk to me or mindlink me,” said Parker. “It’s not what you’re trying to say that I can hear. Its more like your subconscious thoughts that you may not want me to hear.”
Derek got a smile on his face. He looked back at Beta Shelly.
“I love you so much, you’re so beautiful. I wish I could turn back the clock just so I could spend 20 more years with you.” Parker spoke what he heard from Beta Derek. I felt the same about my mate.
“Ahem,” my father said. “Beta?”
“It’s exactly what I was thinking,” he never took his eyes off his mate. Beta Shelly just smiled and blushed.
My father pulled my mother a little closer. “Great, now the other magic. Compel Derek to do something.”
Parker sighed. “Hmm…” he smiled.
“Of course Luna Alpha,” Beta Derek said cheerily.
Beta Derek went to stand in front of Aaron and held out his hand. Aaron took it apprehensively and stood up. Derek put his other hand on Aaron’s waist and took him behind our chairs and began singing and dancing to “Tiny Dancer".
Gamma took a photo with his phone and stifled his laughter. “I’m never gonna let him forget this,” he said.
Parker smiled as he broke out of his hold on Derek.
Derek backed away quickly from Aaron with a frown on his face. Aaron grinned and did a cha cha move while everyone laughed.
“Not funny, Luna Alpha,” scowled Derek.
Aaron stopped and got serious. “Watch your tone with my Luna, Beta,” Aaron raised his eyebrow.
“Yes, Alpha,” Derek bowed. “My apologies, Luna Alpha. No disrespect meant. That was fun.”
Aaron grinned at Derek as he passed by.
Beta just rolled his eyes at him. “You know I used to change your diapers,” he grumbled.
My dad cleared his throat again. “Luna Alpha, how long can you hold someone like that?”
“Not sure,” said Parker. “So far it was just the witch and Beta Derek. I would never really do that to someone.”
“Well, we need you to. We need to know the scale of your full power.”
Parker nodded. He looked at Beta Derek.
“Oh yes, Luna Alpha. I did steal the last piece of pumpkin pie.” Beta Derek looked around the room and then his brows furrowed. My brothers and I looked at each other. We were all wondering the same thing.
“Do you remember what you just said Beta?” I asked.
“Yes, but I don’t know why I said it,” he answered.
Everyone but Derek and Lucian was confused as to what was happening.
“Luna Alpha did the same thing to the witch,” said Axel. “He spoke to her subconscious and she answered out loud. It’s how we got her confession. The only difference was she didn’t remember a thing.”
“The memory charm on her was strong,” said Aaron.
“So, he can do a vetting, without being an Alpha?” my father said curiously.
“Essentially,” said Axel.
“So this solves our problem of not being able to truly vet people,” my father said. “Good. I’d like you to practice your gift on your Betas, Luna Alpha. We’ll see you tonight for dinner…and then we’ll have the pleasure of meeting Sai.”
“It seems that I can only do it as a polite command like ‘remove the spell’ or ‘dance to Tiny Dancer with Aaron’,” Parker said as we sat outside with our circle. “As soon as the command is complete, my hold is gone.”
“No, I think it’s a polite command because you made it that way cause that’s the kind of person you are,” I said. “I think if you make a command to the subconscious, like, ‘build me a house’, it might carry.”
Parker practiced on our whole team when it came to reading minds and projecting his thoughts. Then he practiced commands on Derek Jr. and Allen.
He told Derek to make him a cake and he told Allen to mow the packhouse lawn. Halfway through Derek asked Aaron for help and never realized Parker had asked him to do it.
Allen finished mowing the lawn after an hour and came back to apologize for leaving the meeting. He didn’t realize why he’d left.
The rest of us watched and played with Kel. I was interested to see if any of this would exhaust Parker or if his magic would fizzle after a couple of hours but it didn’t. He didn’t seem tired at all.
Charlotte and Allen went to put Kel down for a nap so we all headed back to our respective rooms.
“Tired baby?” Aaron said as he held Parker to his chest.
“Actually, I feel fine,” he said. “I used my magic a lot but it’s not as tiring as I thought it might be.”
“You might not be using it to full force,” said Axel. “You haven’t used it a lot or for really big things yet. And only in small increments. You’ve only learned to control it. But like Dad said, you’ll need to practice.”
“Yeah, in between planning a thousand events and learning to be a Luna,” he plopped down on the bed on his back.
“You’ve got that down pat already, my love,” Axel hovered over him and kissed him.
I crawled on the bed and kissed him right after. “All you have to do is be Parker Campbell and you’ll be the best Luna in the world.”
“That won’t work,” he said. “I think being Parker Anderson works better.” He grinned and we a tackled him.
- Writer
