Jules' voice could suddenly be heard from the doorway behind them. She wisely did not address her wolfed-out alpha. Instead, she addressed this otherworldly glowing creature she once knew as Penn.
"Alpha Penn, would you like to come in? We are having a meeting about Codax with what remains here of the pack leadership."
Penn let Troy go and he let her, his arms falling loosely to his sides. She gave him a warm smile, but then turned her attention to Jules. "Yes, I'd like to know what you've found out," she told the she-wolf eagerly. She had so many questions. Who was Codax? Why was he so adamant about destroying the Griffin pack? Why would he go to such lengths to destroy Lara's offspring and her pack's legacy? She just didn't get it. What could drive a wolf to such madness? She was really hoping they could shed some light on this situation for her.
Penn reached for Troy's clawed hand and pulled him with her as she entered into the basement of the pack house. Once inside, she made sure to speak directly to Beta Lucas and Jules about Cassidy and Jackson. She was sure they were worried sick for the two siblings even without saying it.
"Your niece and nephew are doing really well," she told the couple as she came to stand with them in the cafeteria. "They've been a tremendous asset to me," she assured them with a gentle smile.
Lucas turned with watery eyes and gazed gratefully at Penn. "We are relieved to hear it," he confessed quietly as he wrapped a supportive arm across Jules' shoulders and gave her a reassuring smile. She returned the gesture by hugging him to her side and smiling brightly at the news.
With Penn's free hand she gave Jules' forearm an encouraging squeeze before letting it go. She did not let go of Troy's hand though. By this time a crowd had gathered in the basement cafeteria to greet Penn. She could tell right away that they were not hostile, just curious, but she could also tell that Troy was unstable and likely to strike at anyone who gave offence. She was determined not to let that happen.
"Hello everyone," she called out in a friendly voice. "I know I don't exactly look like the Penn you know, but it's still me," she confessed sweetly.
It wasn't like her to be so openly congenial, and yet, at the same time, she felt it completely like her. Finding her true self had really impacted how she felt about the world around her. Instead of fearing people's reactions and bracing for the worst, she found herself embracing people's natural reactions, whether good or bad, and letting them come to understand her slowly - at their own pace - until they were ready to accept her - kinda like the way Troy had originally interacted with her. She couldn't be sure, but she had high hopes that the Orthos leadership would be open to her, even in this new altered form that was currently lighting up the whole of the cafeteria in a mystical blue and faintly silvery glow.
"So, it's a long story," Penn continued when nobody protested. "And, I will fill you in when we have more time," she promised everyone present.
She found the crowd subdued, but clearly curious. She sensed very little outright disapproval or antagonism in the group. She used to think it was her wild instincts that helped her to accurately determine if someone was a threat or not. But now that she knew she was a soul-star, she was beginning to realize her intuition was a product of what she was. A soul-star must be able to recognize the intentions of another soul. Wolves could clearly mask their expressions, as she had learned to, and even their scents, from one another, but it must be impossible to mask the nature of one's soul from an immortal soul-star. Penn had used this ability much of her life without even realizing she's been doing it. But, now that she was more aware of herself, she planned to use it to do what she could to help the pack and the pups.
Thinking on the pups, in a sober but confident voice she relayed to them, "But for now, I just want to assure you that the pups and the rest of the pack are all safe. So, you can put your minds at ease for the moment."
She looked gently at their worried faces and sympathized with them. They had likely never been separated from each other in this way and for this long before. She didn't have to guess that it was all new and strange and worrisome. Especially with a lunatic on the loose burning up their forest just to smoke out the children.
Her observation of the crowd was temporarily interrupted by warm greetings from Anex, the Master at Arms, and Reagan, the pack doctor. The two came forward after just a brief moment to make themselves known to Penn.
"Alpha Penn," they both greeted her in unison. Their eyes were wide with wonder as they took in her shimmering starlit hair and the icy blue glow that emanated from every poor on her body making her hard to look at directly.
Penn responded by letting go of Troy's hand to greet them. She gave Anex a grin, but actually pulled Reagan in for an affectionate hug.
"Is this really you?" Reagan asked with total amazement.
The transformation before her was stunning and she couldn't help but feel like Penn had ascended as a being. Surly they were looking at an immortal of some kind. She wished the elders were there to ask. She knew they were well versed in the chronicles of their people and knew about supernatural things. They would certainly be able to explain what had happened to Penn.
"It's me, I promise," Penn said with a little laugh. "I'll explain it all soon," she encouraged the older she-wolf. "What's important is that I'm still pack and I'm here to help."
"Yes, yes of course you're still pack," Reagan said with a large smile, but she kept her voice low as not to rile up Alpha Troy who was more than a little sensitive about the subject. She grimaced a little at the thought and took a very subtle look at him around Penn's shoulder.
Penn, instinctively understanding the woman's worries, sighed with frustration for the good doctor and said in a playful voice, "I don't need to ask how Troy's been," she offered with a wink, "I can see he's been a terror."
Those within hearing distance gasped a little at her bold teasing. Reagan's eyes, likewise, went wide with surprise, and then she suddenly felt at ease with Penn shielding her from Troy. For the first time in two days, the good doctor laughed a little behind her hand. She then nodded and grinned mischievously at Penn. "You could say that."
Penn looked over her shoulder at Troy and gave him a narrow look while she admonished him, "You're going to work on that while I'm here, right?"
"Work on what?" he growled back seemingly disgruntled, but actually just teasing Penn in return.
"On your attitude, of course," she replied with a happy little laugh. Turning her attention to the others in the cafeteria she gave them all a sympathetic smile, "I can tell he's been out of sorts and it's been challenging for you, but I promise, I'll work on him."
He crossed his beefed up arms and huffed, but he did nothing else. In fact, he was the calmest they'd seen him since he'd declared to them just the other day that she was pack and anyone who said otherwise could expect retribution. It had been an eye-opening and terrifying moment for the lot of them. Now though, even in his battle-form, he appeared slightly mollified just by her presence. He wasn't quite as wild as he'd been the last two days and that was a relief to everyone present.
Clearly, it was good for the pack to have a fearless alpha female in the house to keep Alpha Troy's new bristling personality in check, even if that alpha wasn't wolf anymore. As it was, the villagers who remained, had been finding him more and more repressive with each passing hour and it was more than they could handle given the stress they were already under not knowing when Codax would attack and if he'd burn their homes to the ground to get what he wanted.
The pack had never faced such a menacing adversary before. They were wholly unprepared in their hearts and minds for what was ahead. And while it was comforting to know their gentle, even-tempered alpha was actually formidable enough in his new battle-form to take on a whole army of Codax's, his unpredictable mood swings were wearing on them and fraying their already tenuous nerves. Seeing Alpha Penn interact with him so casually, as if he were just his usual gentle self, gave them hope that someone could control him when he wolfed out. Because everyone knew that's where his transformation was headed. The question was, would he go berserk on them before he had a chance to take out all his growing frustration on Codax?
"I know you have a lot of questions for me," Penn addressed the tense crowd. "But they'll have to wait for now. As i just said, the children, elders and the rest of the pack that went with me are safe and sound currently. As far as I can tell, Codax and his pack have set fire to the northern woods and are trying to smoke us out of the trees. But, we are fine."
Penn didn't feel at ease explaining their actual location to the group. She had some six sense that cautioned her about being too open, despite the fact that this was Orthos' leadership.
"What I'd like to know is how does Codax know the children are not in the village somewhere? And how has he guessed we went up the north mountain?" She narrowed her eyes on the crowd looking over every face that was looking back at her. "Unless he's been in the village and seen the trail we left behind?"
She looked to Troy and Lucas but they both shook their heads. To their knowledge neither Codax or any of his cronies had stepped foot in the village or even been running through the forest on the north side before they set it on fire in the wee hours of the morning.
Penn frowned and turned her attention back to the waiting crowd. The longer she stood there looking out over them, the more she was able to zero in on the ones whose intentions were not wholly upright. These few souls soon stood out to her like dark stains on a clean t-shirt. But, instead of feeling enraged, the way she did when she thought of Codax burning the forest to the ground to smoke out the children, she felt grieved for the Orthos pack. They had been betrayed by their own twice now, and it broke Penn's heart to know it.
Troy, attuned to her now more than ever before, bristled and growled sensing her distress, and came forward immediately to stand with her. He didn't know who or what upset her, but he wasn't going to let it slide no matter who it was. He wrapped a protective arm around her waist and pulled her to his side. He then speared everyone with a menacing look. Including both Anex and Reagan, who were standing directly in front of Penn. They exchanged alarmed glances and then quickly got down on their knees and bowed low, in the old way, to show their complete submission.
Penn squeezed Troy's thick gnarled arm and shook her head gently, saying to him, "No one has upset me."
He looked at her upturned face and stared into her ghost-like eyes that glowed an eerie silverish-blue now. All at once he understood her meaning. He felt it intuitively and he nodded. He, Lucas, Jules and Anex had already come to the realization that there was a mole living among them still, but were at a loss to pin point the culprit because their connections to Codax were simply too well hidden.
In her ear his whispered, "Do you know who it is?"
"Who they are," she replied with a dip of her head signalling yes.
His fangs flashed and a rumble began in his chest. He wanted blood. He was going to have blood. And it wasn't just going to be Codax's either. It was going to be anyone in that room who'd betrayed the pack and those precious pups.
"If you want to live," Troy snarled, "you'll bow to the ground now. If you want to try your luck," he sneered with vicious enjoyment, "you can always run."
And just like that the pack leadership, fearing death, dropped to the floor and prostrated themselves in the old way. But three souls, two men and a woman, bolted for the door leading to the common room. Penn did not stand in Troy's way as he lept across the room at the three scrambling to escape.
She did not feel sorry for those three who would shortly be dead and lifeless on the cafeteria floor, or, if they were exceedingly fast, in the corridor leading to the common room. What she felt was deep sorrow for the Orthos pack, whose lives had been turned upside down by four of their own - first Arn and now these three. It would shock the pack to their core once this got out.
But first, there would be blood.