I Called Her Mine

Let her Fly

Present, Parker's POV:

It's was a Friday night, that meant awkward dinner with Lana and Olcan. After Percy's death, Olcan and Max had become very close. Gabe's suspicion was that Max reminded Olcan of his insane daughter Angela, before the insanity that is. Max's disappearance had a different effect on him than the rest of us.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY BEER!"

"Olcan, please," Lana growled. "A little patience would be nice."

He glared at his wife with a weight that made me uncomfortable. "What does a supreme Alpha need to do to get some respect around here? When I was running the pack everything was done like that -" he snapped his fingers.

"Well it's not your pack anymore Olcan!" Lana reminded forcefully.

"Your right, it should be my son's -" he hesitated, looking out the bay window distraught-fully. "...and my daughter inlaw's." I swallowed shamefully as Tristan tensed beside me. Lana gave Olcan both a sour and pained look as he asked wistfully, "What the fuck has happened to our family." It was a statement, one that struck us all in individual ways.

Exchanged between the couples faces was their tragic story: Angela, their youngest, was missing...and they preferred it that way. Perseus, the future of their name, was dead... remembered as a traitor. Their pack was collapsing at their feet and their legacy would never be anything but pathetic in the eyes of the supreme Alphas.

Before anyone could respond to his outburst, he finished it with, "I'm going for a run." Following the announcement, he slapped his napkin on the table and marched out of the room. I exchanged looks with Tristan, us both knowing this was the third week in a row he's walked out of dinner.

"I won't excuse my husband, he's not handling the recent news well," Lana stated dryly, a glass of merlot dangling from her slim fingers. She's been drinking a lot more lately.

Tristan cleared his throat, "Yes, well, we thought that telling him Max wasn't dead would brighten his mood." The sarcasm in his voice made me flinch.

Lana's eyes shifted down to the red table cloth, "Sometimes its better to be dead than to be hostage. The worst is going through his mind, the last thing he wants is for Max to turn into Angela."

"That won't happen," I blurted out unexpectedly.

Both Tristan and Lana's heads bowed down, "As difficult as it is for a mother to admit, Max is stronger than Angela was when she was taken by the Nytari."

"We never knew they are the reason why she is the way she is," Tristan said for us both.

Lana hesitated, looking as if she regretted what she said, "There are many reasons as to why she became what she did - what I was trying to say, is that Max will come out of this just fine." Her words were airy, without structure and support...regardless, I accepted them. 

"The pack is more exposed than ever, especially without the support of the Kytani," Tristan said aloud. "We need Olcan's influence on the Supreme council. We need allies and the supreme Alphas are the most feared."

"That's a tricky topic, he's not in his right mind and the council knows that," she answered, though it sounded censored.

"Then get us in contact with Amani, Kaneza, the crazy Irish guy. Someone must be willing to support the Aconite pack," I urged, my own words sounding desperate.

She sighed in defeat, "The council is not fond of me, but I'm sure if you were to ask - Parker - than they would say yes to a war hero."

My stomach dropped. "I'm not a hero, just a human with a twitchy trigger finger." I felt Tristan's judgmental gaze on me, but wouldn't meet it.