Gypsy Moon

Chapter Twelve: Aiden

. . . . . . (late June)

Sinah was freaking out, but I could hear Rhys laughing in my mind. Lilian would be safe with Mir, so all I had to do was face down the White Moon pack. Several wolves were already starting to shout, and I did the first thing I could think of to stop them.

I laughed.

Really hard.

The looks on their faces were totally worth it. I turned to Alpha Jackson, who was glaring at me.

"So, in other news... You all forgot Lilian was human and are mad at her for not being an idiot." Several growls started at my statement, but they sort of trailed off as each wolf realized I was right. Watching the wave of dawning comprehension on the faces of the pack was like watching the stage lights turn on for the first time a night.

Mir chose that moment to launch out of the forest, streak across the clearing, and vanish into the woods again with Lilian crouched low on her back like a thoroughbred jockey. The pure joy on her face earned a chuckle from Alpha Jackson and he shrugged helplessly.

"I guess we can say the cat's out of the bag now, eh?" The collective groaning at his terrible joke turned the entire field into a sea of laughter. The crowd slowly turned their attention back to Sinah and I, or wandered off to do chores. Some of the she-wolves went back to squealing about how lucky she was, blah blah blah. She just smiled at them, her happiness obvious in her expressive features. I admired her for a moment, until I felt Alpha Jackson's hand on my shoulder.

"Let's talk for a bit, yeah?" I nodded and followed him into the packhouse. Two elders were sitting in the Alpha's office, one smiling faintly, the other stone-faced.

"You know you cannot expect Lilian's reveal to be as easy in your own pack, right?" The smiling Elder looked at me expectantly. I shrugged.

"I wasn't going to pretend she was clueless." The stone-faced Elder growled.

"The law-" I cut him off.

"The law's broken. For her anyway. If anyone is at fault, it's Lilian for being clever." I glared at the stone-faced Elder, I could tell he did not like me challenging him, I didn't care. "She has kept YOUR secrets, even from this pack, for years. If YOU couldn't figure out that she knew about our world, what makes you think she is going to suddenly start shouting about it from the rooftops?" The smiling Elder scoffed at the stone-faced one. Alpha Jackson just leaned back in his chair, grinning. A timid tap sounded at the door and my eyes clouded.

/:It's Bryce and Lilian.:/ I nodded at Rhys's voice and motioned that I was going to open the door before the Elders could speak up.

Lilian stepped shyly into the office; the stone-faced Elder looked like he was going to have apoplexy.

"Mr... um... Alpha Jackson? Can I talk?" He nodded to her and indicated she should take a seat. Bryce leaned carelessly against the door.

"I figured out that you weren't... well... NORMAL... when I was eight." The stone-faced Elder growled again and she frowned at him in irritation. "Mr. Richards! You stood right in front of me when I was nine and talked to one of your guard wolves as he was coming back from patrol, and you had him report to you about a rogue that was somewhere around here. I worked really hard to figure out what that meant without anyone knowing!" His jaw dropped, and the smiling Elder laughed and stood up, brushing the wrinkles out of his pants.

"Well, I've heard enough. I trust her, and her judgement." He ruffled Lilian's hair. "Congratulations on finding your mate, Alpha Aiden, you and your Luna will have your hands full with your odd little pack." He strode out, the other elder followed while grumbling. I caught the confused look on Bryce's face as they passed him, and the Elder's words clicked into place.

"Alpha?" I said the word like it was a foreign concept to me. Alpha Jackson chuckled.

"That was supposed to be my news. The Elders want you to establish your own pack." I shook my head, but Lilian laughed suddenly, and I looked at her sharply.

"It's because every single person around you is some sort of exception to 'normal' werewolf life." Alpha Jackson snapped his fingers and nodded his agreement.

"That's an even better way than how the Elders phrased it." My mind was racing and these two were making jokes. I don't want to be Alpha; I never have. What the hell were the Elders thinking? Wait...

"Wait." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Authority to start a new pack requires a unanimous decision of all the Elders."

"Yep."

"But I found Sinah YESTERDAY. When was this decision made? How?" Bryce coughed and looked sheepishly at the floor.

"I've been on the phone since we left the arena. Mir helped. She and Rhys contacted as many wolves as they could and passed the news of Sinah along. I told the Elders about Lilian myself; I was going to take the blame if they were angry." Lilian gasped.

"But-" Bryce laughed.

"I knew you were nervous about talking to the Elders, so I told them, and then summed up their reaction when we were talking earlier." He grinned at her. "Also, you were curious about my jaguar, and Mir likes showing off." I huffed in irritation.

"Really tried to take all the birds out with the same stone?" He stretched and sniffed the air.

"Pretty much. I was impressed how quickly the pack accepted their collective blunder though. You dogs are usually more stubborn." Alpha Jackson laughed.

"It was when one of them complained that you managed to collect the oddest people in your life, and someone else grumbled that at least you were keeping them all in the same pack, that was when the Elders got the idea." Alpha Jackson stood up and clapped me on the shoulder. "I'm pretty sure every Elder in the country was in on it before you showed up, it was the craziest conference call I've ever listened to." I glared at the floor and Bryce ran his hand through his mohawk.

"In my defense, I did NOT expect them to want you to establish a pack, I just wanted to make things easier on everyone, so you could focus on Sinah and not worry about Lilian." I sighed angrily.

"So, me establishing a pack is what, damage control?" Alpha Andrew winced at my point of view, but Lilian stood up and slapped me. Everyone stared at her in shock.

"How dare you! That is not what this means at all!" I growled at her angrily, but she didn't even flinch.

/:I like her too, let's keep her.:/ Rhys's laughter wasn't helping my rage.

"Then WHAT, pray tell, do you, in your INFINITE human wisdom, think they meant?" Alpha Jackson looked like he was tempted to slap me for snarling at her.

"They are accepting their own limitations! How the hell are they supposed to know how to advise a Wolf-less Luna, a human that knows more than she should, and a CAT? The line of normal for them is drawn at the wolf-less wolf." Bryce chuckled and she continued, undaunted. "They are trying to say that they trust YOU to make the best choices in situations they have probably never dealt with before, because they are just as clueless as us!" I stared at her. Her cheeks were flushed with anger. Bryce looked like he agreed with her. So did Alpha Jackson.

"I don't WANT to be a pack Alpha." I growled lowly. Her lips twitched.

"And I WANT to be a werewolf. It looks like we're both screwed." She laughed at the stupid look I must have been making. "So, suck it up, Alpha Buttercup." Alpha Jackson choked on a laugh and Bryce's eyes were glittering. I could see him getting ready to say something.

"Bryce, I swear to the Goddess, if you call me Alpha Sunbeam, I will actually kill you this time." He laughed instead, grabbed Lilian around the waist, and opened the office's door.

"Let's go find Sinah and tell her the news." Lillian giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, squealing breathlessly as he vaulted the balcony and landed in the common room, sprinting out the packhouse door. Alpha Jackson was still trying to stifle his laughter. I frowned at him, but I couldn't bring myself to put any malice behind it.

I guess it's not just Sinah's life that got tossed in a blender.

. . . . . .