Chapter 7 - Shawn
Sitting across from Sara, I can feel the tension rising in the room, but I refuse to give in to it.
I have to know what’s going on here!
The more I see of the town, the more disturbed I am by the situation. Sara’s father following us to the house and demanding that we consummate really made my blood boil.
It seems like most of the pack obey him. The old man must be pissed that we showed up to conquer the place, but what was the goal in coming after Eccles? I have to know.
“Is the pudding still good?” I ask. “It’s usually better the day after.”
Sara just nods, looking down into the bowl.
“What should we do for supplies? It’s not like there’s a grocery store or something up here, is there?”
Sara shakes her head. “Someone should come around tomorrow with some staples. The Morrows have cows, and they produce our dairy products. The Norvilles make flour and other cereals.”
“Wow, you guys really are self-sufficient up here, aren’t you?”
She shrugs. “We had to be.”
“But what about power?” I say, gesturing to the lights. “How have you managed that?”
Sara frowns, still not looking up at me. “I know when the pack was founded, electricity wasn’t a thing—certainly not this far out from civilization. I’m not entirely sure, to be honest.”
“A lot of the hidden shifter towns have their own generators,” I say thoughtfully. “It would be too noticeable to pull electricity from the main grid.”
“I think it’s actually connected to Eccles,” Sara says. “But really, our younger generation doesn’t know much about it. Leah will probably know.”
“I’ll ask her.”
“She may not want to talk to you.”
“I noticed that. She barely spoke a word throughout the reception. Do you know why?”
Sara sighs, looking up at me. “This is her worst nightmare coming true. Talon is dead—killed by the rival pack. Now you’ve come to conquer and rule. It’s everything our ancestors warned us about.”
I stare at her for a moment, trying to hide my disbelief. “We can’t really be your enemies. We didn’t even know you were up here!”
Sara shrugs. “I find that difficult to believe. We’ve all been raised on stories of how dangerous the Eccles pack is.”
A few conflicting ideas tumble through my mind. All of them seem to come back to the snake, but I don’t want to throw that down on the table just yet.
“I haven’t been in Eccles that long,” I say carefully, not wanting to reveal too much. “But I know about the history.”
“Oh?”
“Well…it hasn’t always been a nice place to live, apparently. Rose Hollow has a real sense of community where they care for each other, and Eccles has been under a stricter rule.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Sara blinks her big, brown eyes at me, her face almost blank. I know she deserves some information, but I don’t know what to tell her without revealing too much.
I don’t even know if I’m supposed to be talking about the fucking snake. The last thing we want is some power-hungry dude going out there and stirring shit up.
“Okay,” I say with a sigh. “Recently, there was a guy in charge who only cared about his own power. The class divide, which had always been pretty steep, got far worse. He did some really selfish things that put the pack at risk. My friend Rex, who had just been appointed alpha of Rose Hollow, managed to swing the situation around and put Brad in the alpha position. Since then, the place has evened out a lot.”
“But not entirely?”
“No. There are still some higher families who don’t like the new way of doing things. We’re keeping an eye on it.”
“But what can you do about it?”
“All we can do is make sure they don’t try to oppress and hurt anyone else. Rose Hollow has flourished by supporting every single member of the pack, and Rex wants to bring that philosophy to everyone.”
“Sounds nice,” Sara chuckles. “But also, kind of like a fairy tale.”
“Rose Hollow looks like one,” I say, smiling. “I can’t wait to show it to you.”
Suddenly, Sara’s face goes white, and her eyes widen in fear.
The rule about leaving this place is so ingrained, I can’t even mention it without freaking her out.
“Sara,” I say, very softly. “Why are you so afraid of leaving Clover?”
“We all are,” she breathes. “You don’t understand—we’re told from the moment we can hear that leaving the town is death.
It’s been passed down for generations that our pack was almost destroyed by a wave of fire.
Nothing could stand against it. People were incinerated to ash before it even reached them.
The earth trembled, and people were swallowed up as cracks split the mountains. Here, we are safe.”
It definitely sounds like an incursion.
“And you say Eccles has always been your enemy?” I ask carefully.
She nods. “They were responsible, we know that much. Our parents were not as afraid as the previous generation, so the stories aren’t as vivid, but Talon remembered them, and so does Leah. Eccles sent the fire after us.”
I doubt that. You were collateral damage, not the target.
Even though I want to ask directly about the event and the ingrained fear of Eccles, I want her to keep talking, and I know questioning her could make her clam up.
This sucks. I don’t want to interrogate her, I want to get to know her.
“So, this was Talon’s house?” I ask, trying for a gentle tone.
She nods.
“What can you tell me about him?”
Sara shrugs. “He was kind and fair. He maintained our boundaries. All Talon wanted was to keep us safe. He didn’t believe in expanding our territory.”
“But your father does?”
She looks up at me, her eyes suddenly like daggers. “I don’t know about that, okay? I’m just as puzzled as anyone else about how the attack came about. I know Father was close to Talon, especially towards the end. I have no idea what they talked about.”
“But you were close with Talon, too, weren’t you? And Jess?”
She nods, scraping the side of her bowl with the spoon. “I’d started to stay away from them. I knew Father was going to try and use the relationship for leverage, and I didn’t want to betray Talon. Even so, I’m pretty sure Father was using me to sway Talon into doing what he wanted.”
I can feel that we’re close to something, and I want to push straight into it.
If I were interrogating, that’s exactly what I’d do, and I’d apply brute force until my subject broke. But this is my wife, not a hostile.
I let my eyes travel over her for a moment, admiring her long, golden hair and big brown eyes, glittering with specks of gold. In any other situation, I’d worship this woman and never dare to offend her.
Having to interrogate her fucking sucks! But I have a job to do. I have to keep everyone safe.
Even though I know I should push, I just can’t bring myself to do it.
“You said you spent a lot of time with Jess in the garden,” I say. “What was your favorite thing to do there?”
“Everything,” she answers, smiling. Even though it’s a small smile, it warms her expression and blushes her cheeks pale pink.
“We’d trim the herbs and set them to dry, or put the dried ones in jars to cure.
She had a carefully balanced ecosystem in there to care for caterpillars and spiders.
She loved moths and butterflies, and grew extra for them to eat. ”
I laugh softly. “She sounds nice.”
“Nice wasn’t even the word,” Sara says, shaking her head. “She was so soft and caring. I wasn’t the only kid she invited over. This house could have been a sanctuary to many.”
“So you’re saying most of the pack wasn’t close to her?”
“No,” Sara answers. “They saw Jess and Talon as leaders, not on their level. It would have been a potential insult to get familiar with them.”
“And your alpha and luna supported this?”
“Not exactly,” she says. “Talon didn’t like to put himself above anyone. But his grandfather taught him, and his father, that a good leader has to put himself above the pack. It’s the only way to rule, and keep everyone safe.”
“Interesting,” I mutter, my mind roaming out into unpleasant possibilities. “To keep you safe from Eccles?”
“Yes, among other things.”
Sara puts her spoon down and stares off into the distance, and I can sense tension building in her, as if she has something she wants to say. I let the silence stretch out, hoping she’ll share.
“I suppose you think we’re paranoid,” she says. “Living up here, cut off from society. Like, we don’t even have TV.”
“But you know what TV is?”
She nods. “Even after our chosen people stopped going out to the human world, there was still an occasional trip, either for something essential like medicine, or a person just sick of living here and taking off to the human world. Most of them never came back.”
“But some did?”
She nods. “They told stories about horrible noise, overcrowding, greed, and violent crime. They said they couldn’t handle it out there. I always thought it sounded exciting, though.”
“You’d like to go?”
She just nods, looking down at her lap.
“But you’re scared to go to Eccles?”
She nods again, looking up at me. “Going into Eccles—or towards the east at all—is forbidden. Even though the rules are to never leave town, it’s a known fact that people have gone west and returned to tell the tale.
Very few, though. If they got out and back in without incident, then they were considered extremely lucky. ”
“Have you thought about it much?”
She nods and looks away, as if there will be too much truth in her eyes to hide it from me.
She wants to escape.
“Your father,” I say carefully. “He seems to have some…modern amenities.”
“Yes,” she says. “He wants to bring modern values to the town. Some people think he’s a hero because he went against Talon’s orders, breached the boundaries, and went to the towns for supplies.”
“Oh,” I answer, part of the picture becoming crystal clear. “So, does he say it’s safe to leave?”
“Uh-uh.” Sara shakes her head. “The opposite. He talks about how horribly dangerous it is and that he barely made it back alive. The way he describes it, there’s a set path, and he had to learn it very carefully to survive it.
He’s told everyone he’s happy to take on the risk himself, if it helps them. ”
That slimy son of a bitch!
“Sounds like quite a guy,” I mutter.
Sara doesn’t say anything, and I’m tempted to tell her Jackson’s story is utter bullshit.
“It’s one of the reasons I never left,” she says absently. “If he can barely make it, what chance would I have?”
Sudden fear rises in me, the knowledge that if she thought it was safe to leave, she might run away.
And I’m an absolute jerk for holding back and controlling her the same way her father does, but I have no choice. I can’t lose her.
“I’m sorry,” she says, wiping her cheeks to cover her tears. “I shouldn’t be talking about that.”
“It’s okay,” I answer. “I’m here to learn everything I can about the pack—and you.”
She smiles, but it’s small and tense.
“I think we should get some rest,” I say, standing up. She seems to jump in her chair, looking up at me with wide eyes.
“Don’t worry,” I say gently. “I’ll stay on the couch.”
As I leave the room, she watches me go, as if she expects me to take the words back and turn to attack her at any moment.
This poor woman. What has she suffered to make her like this?
Even though my resolve was strong before, I’m now even more determined to bring liberation to this town—and to Sara.