A Sin of Her Own

Chapter 29

"And last." Azoulas got a fist to his jaw, "Hey! I think we'd all be better if we just left you out there."

"You've asked for it baby brother."

The wolves around just laughed as the quarrelling resulted in kicks and punches. After letting the steam dissipate, Angus clapped his hands, "Back to business, I'm going to tell you how we're doing this."

The siblings froze mid-fight, Azoulas's hand in Leja's hair while her hands were wrapped around his throat. Another comic moment that made the lightness return to Angus. Reminding him of how Duskfall used to be. 

A better time.

Three hours later they returned to the packhouse with four deer, three beavers and seven injured wolves. Two of which were competitive siblings that didn't know when to pick their battles. Overall Angus was content. The meat collected was a start as the herd numbers would dwindle for the chilly months ahead. Garth had told him the day prior that the hunting days were limited, herds were moving to lower ground and even though they had been successful the past two winters; they now had more than a hundred mouths to feed, not something that they had needed to do before.

With Eóghan focusing efforts on Titania, Garth monitoring the pack activity, Lucy and Athdara scouting for the mole, Angus knew that the hunting priorities for the winter storage lay with him. Houses had to be fortified, extra thick hide blankets made for the children and the organising of the hunts without decimating the herd numbers. Helping the warriors skin the kill and preserve the meat, Angus let his mind wonder. Lucy too helped and soon four new deer blankets had been made and meat sat proudly cut to be cured. Only a supermarket food shop for the basics and they were set. 

Angus was also considering using Titania's extra cabin as a storage for tinned goods and pasta. Overall, they were prepared as best they could be. Finished with the hunt, Angus sat back in his cabin. Wondering just how much his life had changed.

~~~~~~~

Alpha Brett's head was about to explode at the wolf that flinched in front of his desk. "Repeat what you just said." The wolf cowered, and Brett's anger rose several peaks, "Repeat. Now."

"All-l-pha Jared has taken the herds..." The male shook but kept his head bowed. "The Shetland sheep, pigs and cattle are gone."

Disbelief tore through Ash Crescent's Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Their whole livelihood had been decimated and it didn't take long for the wolves to come out through their Human's eyes.

Beta Kalïs growled, "How do you know this?" The young wolf, no older than seventeen managed to look at the wolf while the Alpha stewed. The room was quickly filling with ire from the stone-cold Alpha.

"I overheard from the Rosevelt pack. We were playing football and some of the boys had heard from their fathers..."

Brett smashed his fist through the desk. Unfiltered rage at such betrayal and dishonesty had rattled his wolf so hard that he was struggling, desperately to keep control of his wolf. Splinters flew, and his laptop clattered to the floor. Uncaring and eyes blazing, Brett promised dark retribution.

"Bring Jared and his men to me." He addressed to his Beta and Gamma who scurried away with purpose. This had red alarm bells everywhere. Without the proper meat for winter, their wolves would struggle and with five other packs relying on him. This was not a situation to take lightly, not at all. He was in trouble.

He shooed the teenager out of the room, thanking him before picking up the phone. He set up a conference call with the other two Scottish Alpha's. As the steeliest of all the Scottish Alpha's, it was unheard of that he asked for help but he extended his own for his fellow Scottish brethren. A desperate situation however, called for a drastic solution. Especially now winter was hardening the ground and he had no fresh meat to cure.