Page 3 of Spirit Walker Pack
Laughing together, I feel my mood lighten and a weight taken from my shoulders.
“Let’s go see what Flick has on offer for the evening meal, shall we? I’m certain it will be above average with her knowing you’re visiting. Average? She’d have me in one of her stews if she heard me calling anything she prepared as ‘average.’” I cringe at the thought of her overhearing me.
Entering the dining hall, Flint takes a deep breath and sighs. “She definitely knew I was coming. I’d know the smell of lasagna anywhere, and this smells delicious. It’s herby too, just the way I like it. She’s spoken with the council's chef, no doubt. Either that or she can read minds.” Flint almost floats to the counter, and I see Flick grinning from the kitchen as she watches.
Taking a plate, Flint gets his helping of lasagna and, giving his server a stern look, he gets a second serving reverently placed on his plate. Grinning happily, he glances towards the kitchen and gives Flick a mock bow.
Taking my own plate, we find a table in a quiet corner and begin to eat. I’m only on my second forkful when a shadow looms over the table. Knowing what I’m going to see when I look up, I delayfor as long as I can. Obviously sensing my discomfort, Flint acts first.
“Ah, you wish to join me? Two such lovely females can only be attracted by my presence, I’m sure.” Flint gives them a smile that looks like a predator that has seen its prey.
Lavender and Jade look at each other, not sure what just happened. Their ploy to get Lavender at my table has suddenly gone awry, and they are now the center of attention of the wrong male. Lavender is in flight mode and Jade looks at her, waiting for her to do the talking. Jade, I doubt, has a ‘flight’ bone in her body, so is looking to Lavender to get them out of this mess which has to be of her making.
“SIT!” Flint barks at them and they drop into a seat immediately. “You are both either very naïve or very stupid. I’d like to think naïve, but I’d be deluding myself and giving you more credit than you’re due. Given the descriptions from your previous Luna, I take it that you are Lavender, and you are Jade?” Looking at them in turn, they both nod. “Good. I was given clear instruction from my now fellow councilor that should you cause any kind of disturbance, incident or became a nuisance of any kind, that I should end your life without hesitation.”
Lavender pales considerably while Jade has an air of ‘try it and see what you get.’
“Lavender! If you insist on this nonsense of trying to become the pack's Luna, I will personally take an interest in your demise. You have been told so many times by so many people that it is not going to happen, and yet, here you are again. Have you anything to say for yourself?”
“I would be the perfect mate for Alpha Lyle. I…” Lavender starts her usual diatribe of complete and utter garbage, but Flint is having none of it.
“What does anyone have to do to get through that thick skull of yours that you are not what Alpha Lyle needs or wants? You are delusional and if you insist on going down this road, it will end badly for you. Go and wait outside Alpha Lyle’s office until I have finished my meal. Speak to no one and sit quietly while your future is debated.” Lavender heads for the exit.
Flint turns his attention to Jade. “You are a loyal friend. Unfortunately, your loyalty is misguided. By supporting this fantasy your friend has, you are helping to drive her to a bad end. Can you not see where this is headed?” Flint patiently waits for her response.
“She has talked of nothing else, no, I should saydreamedof nothing else, for as long as I can remember. It isn’t the Luna position that drives her, it is being the mate of the only male she has ever wanted. Since she was a pup, she has adored Lyle, long before she understood pack hierarchy. Perhaps the Goddess has only completed one half of the mating process, I don’t know, but it is how it is. Perhaps death will be the only release she gets, but no one's words will ever sway her devotion to Alpha Lyle. I have tried for years to make her see that it is not meant to be and it has all been to no avail.
“If you take her to another pack, she will return. Find her chosen mate, perhaps? Even if there is one out there somewhere, I don’t know if the bond would be strong enough to break the connection to Alpha Lyle she has lived with all her life. One thing I do know Councilman Flint, is that if you intend that her life be forfeit, it must be me that does it. I need to be the one that ensures her passing is swift, painless, and that she slipsquietly away to the Goddess.” Jade stuns us both with her calm narrative.
At no point have I ever seen Lavender's behavior as anything other than that of a young woman craving power and attention. Thinking back, I can never see a period where Lavender wasn’t either in my class or training group. Whatever I’ve done, she was always there, somewhere. I never saw it as anything other than pack life until she got older, and the sexes became aware of each other. Even then she was just there, never of any genuine interest to me. At times, nothing but a damn nuisance.
“Councilman Flint. We have to try something. I can’t just toss her aside in light of what Jade has just told us. I owe it to her, as I would any pack member, to try anything to resolve this.”
“I suggest that the first thing we do is get her away from you, Alpha Lyle. It might not help her in the short term, but at least she may focus on something else, even just on her new surroundings would help. Jade, go pack your things, you’ll be going with her,” Flint states.
“Where?” Jade looks worried.
“You’re going on a good-will tour of the other packs.” Flint waits for Jade to leave and then continues, “I’ll contact the Alphas directly and discuss the issue. It will be better for them to know the truth and perhaps their Lunas can come up with something, too. I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, Lyle.”
“Not at all. I’m confident that there isn’t an alpha out there that wouldn’t do whatever it takes to solve a pack member's issue. If there is, they don’t deserve their position.”
Two hours later and the arrangements are made. All the alphas were sympathetic to the problem, and all discussed it with their Luna. Sienna Stone Shadow has gone along as the leader of thedelegation. I chose five others to make up the group, and only Sienna and Jade know the truth. Lavender was told she was going with them to allow her time to reflect on what Councilman Flint had said to her.
Chapter 3
LYLE
After watching Lavender and the others leave this morning, I can’t help feeling a sense of failure. Should I have recognized this earlier? Should my parents have seen it?
“No one realized the extent of her feelings for you, Lyle. You have nothing to reproach yourself for.” Flint can obviously read me well, I’m thinking.
“Maybe not, Flint. I still feel that I failed her, am failing her. Casting her out to find a mate and thus solve my own problem that is Lavender. There must have been a better way of dealing with her all these years. I don’t want to be bored, but this isn’t how I’d like to ease that boredom.
“Anyway you! You never told me how you solved the problem of your infatuated female. How did the mighty Don Quixote solve that one?”
“Don Quixote? I think you mean Don Juan?” Flint laughs at my improper use of the two very different characters.
“Whatever! How did you do it?” I laugh with him because I’m not sure where my comparison came from in the first place.
