Movement No. 31
Tempest
The pack leaders and I agreed to meet in the economic district, specifically a building owned by Alpha Duncan. It’s tall,, though not as immense as Luc’s office looming nearby. No building is.
Entering through the plain doors, it reminds me of a dentist’s office.
Everything is exceptionally crisp and clean, the walls painted white with not much decor.
It makes me wonder what Pack Forres does as their main source of income.
As the heir, I feel like I should know these things, especially if we’re going to be signing treaties with the other packs, but I’ve been kept in the dark most of my life.
I want that to end now.
A gangly-looking lupion with wavy blonde hair greets me at the front desk. “Tempest Lupine, right this way,” she says.
We continue down a narrow pathway until we reach a conference room where Alpha Ferdinand, Alpha Duncan, and both of their seconds wait. My heart beat quickens at the sight of Ferdinand and Alonso, but I ignore the feeling, taking my seat beside Lennox Porter—the second of Pack Forres.
“Your Alpha is late,” Alpha Ferdinand says, his deep, ocean-blue eyes fixated on me, and it instantly makes my blood boil.
“He is not late, we are early. I wanted to talk to you alone before he joined the conversation,” I say. It’s a little bold, admitting that I’ve purposefully isolated us, but I have to find out things for myself. I’m hoping transparency helps make that happen.
“Oh?” Duncan Porter’s thick brows furrow.
I try to word things methodically, careful not to let them know I might be second-guessing my father’s leadership.
“I was obviously never supposed to be heir, so I was not raised learning the ins and outs of Pack Escalus in the way that an Alpha would be. Is there anything I should know—from your point of view—that would help me be a greater successor than my father?”
“I have a lot of respect for your Alpha, but he is not always a man of his word,” Ferdinand shares, faster than I expected.
I nod. What Yasmeena shared about his agreement with Luc regarding The Legion, and the fact that he likely broke said agreement, told me a lot already.
This is just further evidence. “We had previously discussed a marriage between myself and you, and he went against that.”
“I see.” I fidget in my seat.
“If you are going to take over one day, I would make sure that you stick to your arrangements, especially if we sign a treaty with the felion,” he says.
He’s not wrong.
“Most definitely. I think it’s important to do what you say you’re going to do. It’s key to maintaining trust with allies.” I’m channeling my inner Yasmeena.
“Your father is vicious. He will do anything to get what he wants,” Lennox says before his brother and Alpha elbow him in the stomach.
“That is not your place,” Alpha Duncan cuts in, his green eyes giving his brother a hard glare.
“Ask him yourself,” Lennox coughs, holding his stomach with his arm, clearly in pain. “Ask Cain Lupine how he gets his atra, or what happens to all the people who take his magic drugs. Ask your Alpha—”
“Ask your Alpha what?” My father’s voice resonates through the room, loud and sturdy.
Alpha Cain and Fenris enter the conference room, and eyes as cold as mine stare back at me. It’s like looking in a mirror.
All the pack leaders feign friendliness, briefly discussing the current statuses of their packs, before we get down to business.
I hand them a printed and highlighted document detailing all the demands of the felion in order for a treaty to be signed.
Alpha Ferdinand seems hesitant, and my father remains silent.
“I think these are fair requests of the felion, but I do believe we should get some time to come up with a list of our own,” Alpha Duncan says, and I nod in agreement.
“Absolutely.”
Alpha Duncan smiles, his long, dark hair coming down past his shoulders. “Your performance together was excellent, and it’s clear to anyone that you and your fiancé have worked incredibly hard within both communities to foster harmony between the lupion and felion. I commend you.”
“Thank you,” I say. I wait for my father to speak, but he remains silent.
“I think this concludes our meeting,” Alonso says. “I look forward to working with you all again when we meet to sign the treaty.”
“Likewise,” Lennox says, and his eyes meet mine, staring me down with so much heat it could melt ice.
Alpha Ferdinand and Alonso leave, followed by Alpha Duncan and Lennox, and I wait for something to happen, but my father just glares at me.
“What?” I finally say, breaking the silence.
“We’re ready to activate the mission.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise or even bother me for him to say this, but it does. Every fibre of my being is on edge now, my heart thundering as I wait for him to give me details.
I knew this day would come, and that I would have to say goodbye to this life I’ve grown to love. I kind of want it to end, in a way. I want to complete the mission and prove myself to my father. And to my pack.
There’s a part of me that misses Pack Escalus and The Cathedral, and wants to be home with Zuri and Clio and everyone I’ve grown up among, but there’s another part of me that doesn’t want to say goodbye.
It shouldn’t be this hard—I shouldn’t care so much, but I do.
Undoubtedly, I have become attached, and now that attachment is my burden to bear.
“What do you need me to do?”
His lips form a thin line. “Just as I’ve said before, you’re going to kill Draven Orzath.”
“I still think we should be targeting Reina,” I say, my mind flashing to this morning when she called me temper. If I’m being honest with myself, I don’t want to kill anyone, but I’d rather it be her than Draven.
“No,” Fenris says, his tone finite.
I cut him off. “Reina is the one who—”
“I don’t give a shit what you think!” My father shouts, and it strikes genuine fear into my chest. “I need you to kill Draven so we can take down Raph Morningstar.”
Bile creeps up my throat, threatening to spill from my mouth. This is not at all what we agreed to. “When did Raph become a part of this?”
“Raph has always been a part of this. Now, I’m just giving you access to the other pertinent details,” my Alpha explains, and something in me recoils at the venom of his words.
“It’s all part of a greater plan. We will fill you in as we deem necessary, but as of right now, it’s safer you don’t know all the facts. ”
He sounds less like a pack leader and more like a cult member, completely and utterly brainwashed by his own twisted sense of right and wrong.
“How can we get all the carnival members together without alerting anyone outside of the carnival?” Fenris asks.
“I mean, they all sleep near one another,” I answer. “If we’re going to go through with the mission, we should do so at night.”
“If?” My father’s voice is cold and calculated. “If? Do you not care to avenge Tyrus and defend the pack?”
“Of course I do,” I say, voice cracking.
“Then you will do as you’re told,” he says.
We go over every detail of the plan, ironing out any wrinkles or potential issues that might arise. It makes me sick to my stomach, hearing how he wants to execute everyone. He fully intends for me to lure him to them like fish waiting in a bucket. The thought pains me.
“Once this is over, what happens with the felion?” I ask, and his brows furrow.
“Why do you care?”
I shrug, trying to stay calm. “I’ve worked really hard for this treaty, do you intend on signing it?”
My Alpha laughs, and Fenris does the same as they look me up and down. I sit silently as my father passes judgment on me with the same calm he used to teach how to hunt when I was just a child. Every word out of his mouth sounds practiced, cruelty a skill he has honed over time.
“No, I’m not going to sign a treaty where I lose some of my territory. We’ll bring the felion in under our pack order once we help take over Haeresis. They can help us acquire atra and other minerals,” he says, as if it’s no big deal.
My mind flashes to images of Yasmeena—fragments of stories she’s told me. Her and Khalid and their parents diving in the ocean, fearing for their lives. I won’t let that happen again.
“But—”
“Why do you care?” Fenris asks.
I’m unwilling to give an honest answer. “It’s wrong. The felion have done nothing to you.”
“We are not just going to control the felion, Tempest. We’re going to control everyone. This is about power.” My father’s shirt is cut low enough to show the scar on the left side of his collarbone, and my mind flashes to a memory of my parents fighting. My mother left that scar.
There was a time in my life when I thought the weight in my chest was pride.
It sat heavy as my father spoke, proud whenever our pack would lower their eyes in his presence.
I mistook their fear for respect, because that was how I was raised to interpret it.
I was taught that every slap of his hand against my face, every shout, was the natural order of things.
Today, and every day since agreeing to the engagement with Yasmeena, has shown me otherwise.
Eyes the same color as mine stare back at me with disdain. “You care for her, don’t you?”
I shake my head. “I don’t.”
“You’ve never been a very good liar.” My father scratches his chin, looking contemplative. “You don’t want to kill Draven, do you?”
Nico flashes across my mind, and my heart aches. “No, I really don’t.”
“Then we’ll change the mission,” he says, smiling at Fenris, and relief fills my chest cavity in an instant.
I couldn’t envision myself killing Draven. Not only would it hurt Yasmeena and Taryn and Gemma and Absinthe and so many others I’ve grown so fond of, but it would hurt Nico, and that’s not something I’m willing to do.
“I want you to kill Yasmeena,” he says, and I balk. “This will not only prove your loyalty to Pack Escalus, but it will make the rejection of the peace treaty more understandable. The felion might even reject it themselves.”
“Okay,” I say, even though I am anything but. “I’ll do it.”
Except I won’t. Except I can’t. Except I’d rather die than bring her anything but pleasure and peace. Everything seems to move in slow motion. My father and Fenris continue talking, but I can no longer hear them, their voices muffled.
My mind is flooded with images, sentiment, and memories.
Lennox Porter telling me my father is vicious.
My Alpha coldly informing me that Tyrus had been murdered.
Yasmeena and me dancing at The Cathedral.
Every rehearsal, every day of community outreach, and every stolen glance.
The blacked out parts of my childhood and the dreams and nightmares of my father beating and berating me.
All of it overwhelms my system, and I am drowning.
Except I am not water, but ice. The chill of my magic leaves me frozen in time, suspended at the edge of everything that is, and everything that was. I feel a kaleidoscope of emotions, and yet nothing at all. My heart is pounding, palms sweaty, but I do not cry.
“I will draw a symbol on the outskirts of the carnival, in her blood, to let you know when the coast is clear, and it’s safe for Pack Escalus to infiltrate,” I say blandly, knowing this might be the last time I see my father alive, though I’m not sure which one of us will make it to the other side.
My heart threatens to beat out of my chest, but I steady my breathing, refusing to allow him to see how fucked up I am over all of this.
I won’t let him win. My Alpha isn’t a legend carved by the light of the twin moons.
No, he is a monster. One who learned how to dress his hunger and hatred up as law, wielding it against anyone weak.
But once a monster reveals itself to you, there’s no more pretending. You have to fight it.