Crimson Moon

Three

Just as he had instructed, the three pups had gathered the pack in the living room. The three in question sat cross-legged on the floor in front of their parents, Ellen and Jack. Ellen was a human who mated with Jack fifteen years ago, when Ellen's daughter Tahlia was just a baby. That had caused unrest in the old pack. Not only was one of their members daring to mate with a human, but also taking on a human child? That really got some pack members' blood boiling. Jack wasn't a high ranking member of the pack, but he also wasn't so low that his actions went unnoticed. His mating with Ellen and acceptance of Tahlia is what started to cause cracks in the loyalties of the pack. The birth of Bryce and Blake had helped ease things for a while, but not long.

Ellen had tried to earn her place in the pack by offering to be a teacher for the pups, since that's what she had done in her human life. That didn't go over so well. Many of the Purists in the pack were outraged the human even dared to offer teach their young, for what could she possibly know? It eventually got so bad that she and Jack had to move away from the pack for fear of retaliation on their young family, but what could they do? The curse that attacked the female Lycans had already done most of its work, attacking the genes of the females and destroying them from the inside. There were so few females left at that time, no new purebred pups were being born, and Purists refused to tarnish and weaken their bloodlines by mating with humans.

The other couple perched on the loveseat, Riley and Caroline, were in their early fifties, ten years older than Ellen and Jack, who were both in their early forties, and over twenty years older than Cain's twenty-nine. Riley had been the pack doctor in Cain's father's pack, and had left with Cain. Now he was the pack doctor here, and his mate Caroline, a trained nurse, worked by his side. There wasn't a lot of need for medical care simply because the pack was so small, but he was there when they needed him. When Henry was born, for example. When he wasn't putting his skills as a doctor to medical use, he used his surgical abilities to skin animals with an efficiency and precision that put every hunter to shame. Cain had never seen anyone so skilled with a knife.

Riley and Caroline had been mated for as long as Cain could remember. They were certainly one of the first Lycan-human pairings in the old pack. The only reason they'd gotten away with it was because Riley was such a well respected member of the pack. The best part of their relationship was that they mated before the curse, before the females disappeared. They had mated simply because they were in love, having met when Riley was visiting a local hospital to stock up on his supplies.

Because of the old pack's attitude toward half-bloods and humans, and how dangerous it had become for them near the end, Riley and Caroline had not hesitated to follow Cain away.

"Baldy!" Henry squealed happily from where he squatted on the floor, driving a truck around.

"I've told you once, and I'll tell you again," Cain said sternly, kneeling down before the pup so they were eye-to-eye, "I'm not bald. I shave my head. There's a difference."

The little guy just laughed and patted Cain's hand reassuringly, as if to say "Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Cain grumbled. He had his reasons for shaving his head, but it certainly wasn't because he was bald or balding.

Will chuckled from his seat beside Jack, Kristine tucked under an arm. Ryland, Paul, Darryl, and Vince were scattered about the room, leaning against walls of the backs of couches. Except for Ryland, who was sprawled across a chair, idling twisting a Rubix Cube. He was determined to solve it, just as he had been two years ago when Darryl first gave it to him for his birthday.

Right now, though, the imp was grinning with mirth in his eyes. "I see our new she-wolf is more of a wild cat. How's your arm, Alpha?"

Cain glared at him, rising from his kneeling position beside Henry.