Just as my father told us to expect, the werecat clan leaders were already there when we arrived, standing a few meters outside of the line that marked our territorial border as a sign of respect.
As soon as we were close enough I began to feel an uneasy prickling feeling, my instincts immediately telling me to attack.
I had to give myself a stern shake of my head to ignore it, knowing that it was just blood and history that made it an instinctive reaction to hate the werecats. Though I could tell Kallen could feel it too, because when he set eyes on the feline shifters, I noticed the bone in his jaw clench. But other than that, he kept his face calm and neutral — how I should have made myself look.
Technically the clan leaders hadn't done anything wrong, yet, so to say, and my father told us to behave no matter what. I was not about to disobey my Alpha's orders just because of a little urge.
Once the four figures that were there saw my father step into the clearing, the one — who I'm guessing was the clan leader, gave an acknowledging nod of his head to him as a sign of greeting, which my father returned briefly in a formal matter before they got down to business.
"You stated previously that this matter has something to do about one of your own," my father began, regarding the clan leader with a rather impassive expression that was neither friendly nor not, as he continued, "I want to know why we are here tonight and what exactly the matter has to do with my pack," he demanded calmly but sternly.
"Of course, Alpha Drayre," the clan leader responded. He seemed neither fazed nor apprehensive about my father's intimidating demeanour, but maybe that was because he too radiated power of his own. Two auras of two seemingly very powerful leaders. It was hard to just stand there and watch from a distance. "The reason we asked you here and the reason we have been contacting nearby packs in the surrounding areas, is because a few weeks ago a young member of our clan went rogue, and we think he may have gone somewhere in the southern direction."
My ears perked up with interest and I noticed Kallen lean forward attentively as the feline shifter continued.
"Because this is a matter of importance, we formally ask for your permission to allow us into your town so that we may search for him ourselves."
I noticed Kallen's arms cross tighter as his jaw clenched again. I knew he wanted to speak up but he held his tongue, as did I. We both seemed to be holding our breath as my father regarded the clan leader stonily, his grey eyes flickering with consideration.
A gap of eerie silence passed as it seemed everyone could feel the weight and suspense of what my father's reaction would be.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," my father said after a few moments. "I cannot allow a bunch of werecats to enter a territory full of wolves, it would no doubt cause trouble between our two families and that is the last thing our two species need," he concluded slowly, words calm and collected just as he always was, but I could just feel the intensity radiating off him.
The clan leader looked down, knowing that with my father's set demeanour, there would be no arguing further without causing a fight. "I understand...I agree it is unethical. However, would it be too much trouble to ask for a report of any news should you find anything?" he asked slowly, and I noticed how some of the other werecats were leaned in to await my father's response.
"No, you have my word." My father replied contently. "And should we happen to come across him, we shall do our best to return him to you unharmed. It is up to you and your own people to decide what should be done after that."
"Thank you," the clan leader smiled, seemingly relieved. "That is all I ask."
Once the werecats had finished discussing business with my father, the meeting concluded and the wolves and the cats went our opposite ways.
I didn't take as long to go back as it had been coming here, or at least, it didn't feel like it. The air was thick with silence as we made the trek back, it seemed my father still had his mind occupied with the meeting — probably thinking things over to decide what the next best plan of action would be, while my brother was walking wordlessly at his side, eyes rather distant.
It wasn't until Kallen spoke up that the silence was finally broken.
"So, what are we going to do?" he began slowly, staring at the back of my father's head as he awaited an answer.
"Nothing."
My brother didn't seem to think he had heard our father's response correctly, and he visibly blanched.
"Nothing?!" he repeated.
"Precisely." My father sighed. "There is no proof that the rogue has even crossed into our borders. I will ask for an extra patrol to keep an eye out, but other than that, there's not much we can do."
It was true, the clan leader had made it clear that they had no idea where exactly their missing werecat escaped to, only that he had been heading in our general direction from the perspective of where their town was located. But Kallen, unlike my father, seemed to be taking the possibility very seriously.
"Of course there is!" he argued, his voice echoing out into the open woods. "If there is a threat of a rogue — and a rogue werecat no less, we shouldn't be simply waiting to see if it will show up or not! Our pack should be on the hunt looking for it!"
I had never heard Kallen raise his voice to our father, ever, like this before. And almost as soon as the thought crossed my mind, it seemed to dawn on him as well. He quickly rightened himself and muttered out an apology to our Alpha, saying he meant no disrespect.
Father sighed again. "It's alright Kallen, I understand how you feel...this is a problem that has not been brought up around our pack in years..."
We both knew what he was talking about. In our earlier years, we had been educated on the hierarchy status in a pack and what each of those positions signified. Naturally, the question of what happened when a wolf (or other) didn't belong to a pack, and that is when we learned.
When it came to our breed of supernatural creatures, it didn't matter whether or not you were in a clan or a pack, anyone who deserted their tribe was seen as a threat. Once they went rogue, they were no longer bound to the laws that reside between the packs and clans. They were bound to no leader, and that made them dangerous and unpredictable.
The fact that a werecat had gone rogue was a much bigger problem than it seemed. And if it was somehow in our town...it would no doubt lead to trouble.
One way or another.
"Father..." my brother began again, more slowly this time as if he was being careful with his words. "I don't agree with your judgement on this, maybe if you just thought about it a little more you'd see—"
"I have thought about it enough," my father interrupted sternly, turning to give Kallen a cold stare. "I think it is you who should have better judgment when it comes to trusting your Alpha."
Kallen didn't say anything, merely bowed his head and glared at the ground in front of him as he walked.
As soon as we arrived back at the house, our mother was out waiting for us. After a brief greeting to the both of us, she left with my father so that he could fill his Luna in on the situation in his office. That left Kallen and I alone, awkwardly standing in the middle of the front hall.
I could tell my brother was still tense. He practically radiated silent anger as he stood still with his hands shoved in his pockets. I suppose he wasn't all that happy with the fact that our father didn't seem to be taking the threat seriously, but in all honesty, why should he? There was no proof whatsoever that there was a werecat roaming in our territory — there were many other surrounding towns with large forests that the rogue could have gone to, and that was even if he really went this way at all.
First lesson I ever learned from Kallen was that you could never trust a feline's word.
I felt my exhaustion finally starting to catch up with me. The journey back and forth to the northern border had been long and tiresome. And since I also had to wake up for school the next morning, I planned to head up to my room and sleep for the six or so hours I still had before it would already be seven in the morning.
Sometimes I regretted not taking classes from the elders and going to a human school instead. For one, they would take my reason — I am too tired to come to school because I was up all night doing business with the Alpha and a bunch of werecats — seriously. And I didn't have to waste time doing useless projects on human history like I did at the mortal school.
But then again, Maia always told me how smart it was of me to choose to go to a regular school. Apparently, getting taught by the elders wasn't all that much fun. Those dried up fleabags were all cranky and didn't take well to any sort of disrespect — I heard all about the horror stories from Maia herself.
I took a step away to head towards the stairs when suddenly out of nowhere Kallen reached a hand out to stop me.
"Have a drink with me."
Kallen clearly wasn't in the mood to be argued with, and I personally was too tired to even try, so I gave up and reluctantly followed him to the kitchen.
Since it was so late into the night, the normally largely occupied kitchen — because hey, this was a house of werewolves—was now empty. We had the space to ourselves while Kallen went to get himself a glass.
While Kallen could actually drink, I was still technically underage (though that wasn't as big of a concern when you were a werewolf). But still, as he took a swing of his cold dark scotch, I sat at the counter sipping a freaking juice box.
I wasn't happy about it, but it was kind of all they had left in the fridge in terms of drinks and I didn't feel like making Kallen any more irritated by not having anything than he already seemed to be. There were times when I could get away with arguing with my brother, but I knew that this was not one of those times.
We sat in silence for a few moments. Every so often Kallen would dip his drink as he stared off into space. Until he finally spoke.
"You don't agree with father's decision do you?" Was the first thing he asked.
It seemed almost like a test that was he was asking me. What he decided to say next and how he would react to me further depended on my answer.
"I don't really know all that much about rogues other than they're trouble..." I said honestly. It probably wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear, but at least he did seem satisfied with something in my answer to say me what he told me next.
"I found out something else..." he began slowly, swirling the dark liquid in his cup as his grey eyes stared straight ahead. "I was stopped by one of those putrid felines after you and father had already taken off and she told me something...quite interesting." His lip curved upwards. "Something that the clan leader seemed indulgent to share..."
"What?"
I didn't know why he hadn't mentioned this before to our father, but nonetheless, I was now interested.
"Another helpful fact about the rogue..." Kallen replied, smirking into his drink with some look of unjustified satisfaction. "Apparently, the runaway werecat goes by the name Katski Black."