Dichotomy

TOWN HALL

"Where you been, sis?" Danny questioned. He was lounging on the living room couch, looking at her suspiciously.

Charlotte froze. She knew Walter and Elaine weren't home. She hadn't expected Danny to be either. Before her foster parents left, they had instructed her not to leave the basement. She hoped the boy wouldn't snitch or call her out on it.

"I went for a walk," Charlotte responded, twisting her hair nervously.

"Through the woods?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, behind the house."

"You should be careful," he warned.

"Why?" Charlotte asked, surprised. Danny sounded serious.

"The woods are dangerous."

"I can take care of myself," she asserted, with more confidence than was likely warranted.

"A skinny useless shrimp like you? Have you ever seen a mirror?" Danny snorted.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. He was one to talk. Like he was so buff, she thought sarcastically. Yeah, he was almost a foot taller than her, but he still had those lean teenage muscles, not the strong bulky muscles of a man.

"Whatever," She huffed, walking off.

*** GIO ***

Gio weaved carefully through the crowd, trying to be as inconspicuous as a 450-pound wolf could be.

He was uncomfortable. He couldn't remember the last time he had been to one of these meetings. It was probably back when his father, the Alpha, was still there.

Not surprisingly, he was the only wolf in the crowd.

Some people nodded to him as he passed, while others shied away as if he might reach out and claw them. Since those in human form had lost their strength and abilities, some of them had become fearful of the wolves while others were appreciative that they had the wolves to protect them from outsiders.

"Giovanni! I'm so glad you could make it to the town hall." A voice greeted warmly.

It was his uncle, Jacob.

Gio tilted his head in acknowledgment.

Jacob was his father's Beta, he had been in charge of the pack since the Alpha left.

"It's been too long nephew! I've missed having you around. You know you are always welcome at my house." He said kindly.

Back before everything changed, Gio and his uncle were quite close, bonding over their shared love of baseball. It was hard to connect with people like that anymore. He could mind link the other wolves but the human wolves had lost that ability.

"Come join me in the council room, we have a lot of things to discuss," Jacob said.

Gio nods, following him to the back of the town hall where the entrance to the council room is located.

The Elders were already seated at the table when they arrived.

Gio settled into an empty spot just past the end of the table while Jacob went to take his seat at the head.

"Ah, Gio good of you to come. So good to see the youth taking an interest in pack matters." The Elder next to him says. Her name was Lori, she was 110, the oldest in the pack.

"And for a future Alpha, it is a duty. One which I hope you have decided no longer to shirk." She continued.

Gio twitched his ear in annoyance.

Council Elders were highly respected members of a pack. However, that gave them no right to lecture him on his duties.

"Council members, tonight we have several orders of business to discuss so lets go ahead and dive in...." Jacob began. As the Beta, it was his job to head the council. Jacob had been running double duty since the Alpha left, doing Alpha and Beta duties. It was a lot, so he did delegate some things to others.

Gio helped the Beta by keeping the wolves in line. The wolves had become almost like a pack within a pack.

The council began by discussing the need for additional farmland, then they moved on to allocating funds for upcoming ceremonies and pack promotions.

Gio had a hard time focusing because his mind always drifted back to Charlotte. Not being able to complete the mate bond was driving him crazy. He hated how it clouded his mind. The worst part was, it wouldn't clear up unless they completed the bond which they couldn't do. Gio tried to force himself to concentrate as various pack members were called in to give testimony.

Outside, he could hear the murmur of voices from the town hall. While the council met, the rest of the pack caught up with each other and announced events or celebrated milestones e.g. who bonded to who or what new pups had been born since the last meeting.

"Alright, we've settled on a date for the warrior ceremony which Lucas will head. Now on to the next order of business. We need to discuss whether the Watson's foster daughter..." Jacob paused to read something off the paper "... Charlotte Lightningstorm should be allowed to stay and live among the pack."

Gio's ears shot to attention, suddenly alert.

"We actually discussed this a couple of months ago. The Watson's said they wanted to offer up their home to a foster child. Elaine and Walter said they had the space since they only have one pup. Well, he's not a pup now. Danny is 16, I think. Anyway, they also said this would allow them to help a child and to bring in more income since the state pays foster families..."

Gio snarled upon learning that his mate was being used as some sort of cash cow. He was angry and surprised that the Beta allowed it in the first place. Although he wouldn't be surprised if his uncle was outvoted.

"....We told them they could take in a young human child. Our reasoning for that, if you recall, was that if anything unusual occurred in front of the child, it wouldn't be too difficult to write it off as creative imaginings, and also it would be easier for the wolves to accept a younger child into the pack. Even if the wolves became... confused, they wouldn't see a youngster as a threat. Thus, we thought a youngster would be best, both for their safety and ours." He continued.

Hearing Jacob explain it this way, it did make sense. Gio winced, remembering how he had almost attacked Charlotte. Wolves were very territorial and even he, who was not entirely lost to his instincts, had wanted to kill her.

Of course, the wolves now knew that she was his mate, he could communicate with them through the mind link and he had ordered them to stay away. They understood. Staying away from the future Alpha's unmarked mate was a sign of respect.

"Let's have Walter and Elaine come in and give their testimony." Jacob nodded to the guard to bring in the couple.

A large man and his tall, spindly wife entered the room. The man was sweating nervously.

Gio didn't know much about them, to be honest. He'd never interacted with them before. At least not that he could recall. And he knew the vast majority of the pack.

They must be extremely low on the totem pole to have never crossed paths with him before.

Gio's stomach rolled thinking about how someone could be so dirty as to use an orphaned child for income. It was such a low-life move. He was honestly disgusted that anyone in his pack would think of such a thing, let alone do it.

If his father was there he would probably say it was a failure of pack leadership... if a pack member was struggling, they could give them odd jobs or more ethical ways of making money. It was a disgrace to their pack that they allowed its members to become desperate enough to seek money from the state.

"Walter, Elaine. You are here before us today because you defied an order of the council. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Elaine immediately started appealing to the Elders while her husband stood like a useless lump behind her.

"We had no idea they would send us a teenage girl" she screeched. Gio winced, her voice was like nails on a chalkboard. "We told them we were hoping to foster a younger child, between 2 and 5 we said."

"But what could we do? They had already brought her here; we couldn't turn our backs on this poor sweet orphan girl. Please, Elders, if you won't do it for us, do it for this sweet girl." Elaine pleaded.

Gio could hear the falsity ringing behind her words and what sounded like a touch of contempt for his mate. He felt his lip curl over his fangs in anger.

He did not like this couple. They made his fur bristle. He did not want Charlotte to stay with them, but his paws were tied. She would be scared and confused if he just stole her away.

After Elaine finished saying her piece, Jacob asked the Elders if they had any questions for the couple before dismissing them. They did not.

The couple was quickly ushered out so the Council could talk amongst themselves.

"We should tell them to send her back" Elder Lucas declared. He was the only male Elder. Males werewolves typically didn't live as long as females. Usually, they died in battle, protecting the pack. Gio wasn't sure how Lucas lived for so long, but he'd always felt the man was a bit of a coward.

A low growl formed in Gio's chest and, unconsciously, he rose to crouch in a half-fighting stance.

"They can request a different foster child if it's so necessary," another Elder suggested.

"Yes, we can't allow such blatant disrespect of our rulings."

"I don't know why we allowed it in the first place. A human homed inside of the pack? That would have been unheard of not too long ago." Elder Doreen grumbled.

This was his mate though! Gio wanted to scream as frustration coiled inside of him until it felt like a whip cracking back and forth.

"I agree, although unfortunately, we must face the reality. At the present time, we are a human village, more or less," Jacob stated with a tinge of sadness.

"Yeah, the more or less includes giant half-tame wolves though." Elder Lucas snorted. "What if one kills the girl? What then?"

Gio's low snarl turned into a deep thunderous growl and he leapt up, lunging at the Elder and snapping at his face. He wasn't going to hurt him, but he was going to let his fury be known and show the man his place.

The Elder's eyes went wide with fear, recoiling from the attack. He leaned back so far in his chair, that it looked as if he might fall.

"Gio get down! What do you think you are doing?!" Jacob yelled.

Jacob tugged his nephew back with surprising strength. Gio growled but let the man pull him away from the Elder.

Had anyone else touched him, Gio would have ripped their head off, but this was his uncle and the pack Beta. It was his job to keep unruly alphas under control and Gio respected him.

"If this is how you plan to show the wolves are not a threat, it's a poor way to do it." The Beta pointed out, breathless from the sudden exertion as he pushed his now messy black hair back.

Gio knew Jacob and the Council must believe he was offended by their comment about the wolves' lack of control. He shook his head back and forth in frustration, angry at his predicament.

Jacob opened his mouth, likely preparing to lecture Gio about his behavior, when a voice behind them spoke.

"The girl must stay, the fates demand it." Elder Lori asserted. It was the first time she said anything regarding the issue. She had remained oddly silent throughout the whole discussion although no one seemed to realize until now.

Gio turned to her in surprise.

"And pray tell, why is that?" Elder Lucas sneered, having recovered himself from the shock.

"Because the girl is Gio's mate, and our future Luna."

The shock in the room was palpable. Everyone, even Gio, was looking at the white-haired woman in utter surprise.

How did she know?

"Oh, hush child," she said, glancing at Gio. "No alpha is that protective over someone who isn't their mate. I could hear you growling every time her name was on another's lips."

Jacob closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His brows furrowed with frustration.

"Is this true, Gio? Is the girl your mate?" He asked, looking at his nephew.

Gio responded with a curt nod.

Jacob inhaled deeply, looking troubled. Gio could see in his eyes that he was calculating everything this might mean, all the problems it presented.

"Well, obviously the girl must stay then, but this is... quite the situation. Until we are able to work through how to handle this, we should keep this amongst ourselves." Jacob sighed.

In a rare show of agreement, every single one of the Elders murmured affirmatively at the Beta's suggestion.

Human mates always created problems, but in this situation, it was particularly problematic.