The Scarlet Witch

Chapter Twelve - The Surprise Visit

The guests stayed at the Scarlet Moon Pack for a total of five days. Amaranth was able to spend some well overdue quality time with her god-family as well as get to know her in-laws. She learned about the covent's work with the royal family and why her mother paid them many visits. The covent, being the closest one to the royal family in location, helped with research and training. The convent also helped with making remedies for health problems. When everyone left, Sophia decided to stay behind. She wanted to stay with Amaranth during the time that Dimitri would be away, and so that she could help with the Luna induction planning.

It had been a little over a week since Dimitri left for his training. He called Amaranth every night to check in on the pack and to keep up their nightly routine of talks, still getting to know one another. The night before, Dimitri informed her that he should be coming back home in two days. Several things excited her about what he said to her. The fact that he would be back soon. The fact that he specifically said "coming home". The fact that Amaranth realized at that moment that she considers the Scarlet Moon Pack home. It was just another thing that she never thought she would have again. Having everyone come and visit and have family around her was a blessing. Having a place that she considered home, for the first time in over seven years, felt bitter sweet.

Amaranth reflected on all of these feelings as she made her way around the pack grounds, accompanied by Alpha Damon, Sophia, and the dogs. Amaranth and Alpha Damon typically made it a point to visit the different work stations around the pack every other day. They ask and check in on everyone to make sure that they are all well and help with everything they need. It was one of the tasks that Amaranth enjoyed, especially with the dogs following along with them. It was always a joyous sight watching everyone drop whatever it is that they were doing and come over to pet and greet the dogs. Bella especially liked all of the attention she got during these outings.

Currently, the group was approaching the training grounds. Alpha Damon was holding the checklist so that they could go over the stock that they had so that they could later make arrangements to order more. Amaranth smiled and sent a small wave at the lead instructor for today's training session. They immediately went to the area where the stock was, looking over everything and checking the quality. Sophia stood by and watched as Amaranth picked up different weapons and examined them.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Sophia asked.

"I mainly look for any damage. Anything that will make it defective. It's always best to have a constant look over the quality and plan in advance for replacements. Especially since you'll never know when you will need to use them," Amaranth answered.

"How do you know what to look for?"

"I used to help Beta Simon with this type of thing. We used it as an excuse so that I could be in the training area. And that way I was able to observe the pack's fighting style." Amaranth put down the last weapon. "Then we would practice different moves in my back yard when there was time."

"Any particular reason he was training you in secret?" Sophia asked as they turned away to leave the training area, Alpha Damon handing over the checklist for Amaranth to fill out herself.

"I voiced that I wanted to train. April said no, Michael agreed, saying that I should only work on my magic, implying that that was all I was good for. Beta Simon was there at that meeting and made arrangements to help me out."

"That's nice of him. It seems like he was always helping you out with things," Sophia smiled.

"Yeah. I always looked at him as a father figure. He always looked out for me and was honest about everything. He never turned a blind eye when it came to things that he could change," Amaranth added. She turned to her left to hand the checklist back to Alpha Damon when she stopped short, noticing that his eyes looked far off, distant. A clear sign that he was mind linking.

"I just got word from the men on duty at the main gate. Apparently your father, his mate, and the new Alpha and Luna of the Midnight Moon Pack are at the gate and request entry," Alpha Damon said.

"But why? We don't have any meetings scheduled. We currently don't have plans to meet with any pack actually," Amaranth questioned.

"I honestly can't tell you why they are here. But we should probably head over to the gate as soon as possible." Alpha Damon spoke as he picked up his pace with Amaranth and Sophia following suit.

Heading towards the gate, Amaranth brushed her hand over her body, changing her clothes from the casual loungewear that she was wearing into more business casual clothing along with her favorite, blood red cloak that Margaret had brought her. Approaching the gate, the trio was met with Michael, April, Luna Melanie, and Alpha Jacob, indeed standing at the gated entrance to the Scarlet Moon Pack, demanding to be let in. Alpha Jacob was mid-sentence when he saw the trio heading towards him and paused.

"Hello, what brings you to the Scarlet Moon Pack today?" Alpha Damon started, giving Amaranth some time to make an assessment of how the situation should be handled.

"Clearly, we are here because we have a meeting with the Alpha of this pack," Alpha Jacob answered.

"Alpha Dimitri is not currently available to meet with anyone at this time. Plus, you did not schedule a meeting, you can't really expect to be able to just show up at a neighboring pack, and think that you could demand to be let in without a legitimate reason," Amaranth jumped in.

"Well, we could meet with the Luna of the- Oh wait, this pack doesn't officially have a Luna yet now, does it?" Melanie said with a smirk. "Maybe we should meet with the Beta instead?"

"Once again, you are not scheduled for a meeting with our pack, so you won't be meeting with anyone today." Amaranth stated as she grabbed ahold of Sophia's hand, preventing her from charging at anyone.

"What is the problem here? Our packs have an agreement with each other. Why can't we come to the pack and request a meeting?" Michael asked, sounding bored with the conversation.

"The problem is that we have a system here. We schedule meetings, especially with leaders from other packs. No matter the relationship that we have with that pack, the meeting must be scheduled. I am sure that if we showed up at your pack, unannounced and without warrant, you wouldn't be so happy to accept us in," Alpha Damon said, matching Michael's tone.

"And, Alpha Dimitri is not available for a meeting anyway." Sophia chimed in.

"This is pointless. We are coming in to meet with Alpha Dimitri as that is who we came here for," April said, walking to go inside the pack border. "We have an agreement and there is nothing you can-", April stopped talking just as she stopped being able to move. Michael made an attempt to go to his mate, before realizing that he too couldn't move. And neither could Alpha Jacob and Luna Melanie.

"As it has been stated several times, you can not come into our pack. And you will not be meeting with anyone from our pack today," Amaranth announced coldly. "My advice would be to leave and schedule an appointment, like every other pack that wants to meet with us has to do." Amaranth let out of the bond that she had on the four of them, keeping them in place. April made another attempt to head onto the packland when she walked into an invisible wall. She snarled at Amaranth, who kept her expression neutral and disinterested in any opinions that they had of her. This was her pack, her home, and if she said that they couldn't come inside, then they wouldn't come inside.

Michael, April, Luna Melanie and Alpha Jacob turned around, with their heads held high and left, as if they were not just denied access to the Scarlet Moon Pack.