Abriya
We sit in the garden after cooking up a feast for everyone. We got steaks, cornbread, greens, chops, shrimp, mashed potatoes, gravy and loads of other dishes. That’s one of the things I miss the most about not having all the family so close; the food. Addae and Gamba, Clarence’s parents, love to cook, and Gamba loves to eat more than anyone.
The family fill us in with how things are going in each of their continents. Once Clarence and I established ourselves as Alpha’s, we asked those closest to us to take care of certain territories so that we could prevent another war with someone looking for power.
So, Quis, Asha, Clarence and I, all look after North and South America, and Antarctica. My father and his wife take care of the African continent. Two of my closest men who fought beside me in the war with the Odinia’s, Denda and Angello, take care of Australia. My favourite of my seven, Madna, and his wife Jackson look after Asia, and finally, Kutta, Dante and Kerto look after Europe.
They all have their own packs that help them control their territories and they will be taking care of them now that they are away. Demetrius and Cecile had only just become mated when we assigned the continents, so they travel between them, helping anyone who needs it.
All werewolves know that they can come to us if they have any problems within their packs, and they have done so, many times. There were years of chaos before Clarence and I took our places as Alpha’s, and I’ll be damned if I let things go back to that. My kind deserve better.
There’s not much news from the others regarding unrest. They are all doing an incredible job of keeping the beta’s and their packs in their places.
It’s our territory that has the issues. And it’s Alaska, again.
The construction noise from beside the house gets louder the longer the builder’s work. I'm excited to see Ariella’s face when we show her what we've got her.
“When are they meant to be finished?” Cecile asks from beside me.
“Early hours Saturday,” I tell her, unable to stop smiling. “They've had to bring in specialist equipment to dry everything and all sorts. Claud’s been great, though. He's gone above and beyond to make sure everything will be done in time.”
“He better make sure he delivers on his promise,” Clarence snaps. I give him a look: this man is terrible... “That's all I'm saying.”
I turn back to the others. “They're working non-stop until it’s done.”
“We can always offer to help them if needs be,” Demetrius says, and the rest agree.
“Thank you,” I tell them, but my smile slips because we're avoiding the subject that is most important right now.
Alaska.
“So, Alaska,” I say, wiping the smile from everyone else’s faces. “We need to decide on a plan.”
“What do we know so far?” Gamba asks.
“Well,” Clarence starts. “Maximus’ numbers are rising. Not quite to the levels we saw when the Odinia’s started their war, but he's still got a substantial number of wares behind him. We think he's a distant relative of Samson.”
“Oh, God.” Addae sighs. “I thought we'd heard the last of them.”
“No such luck,” dad says. “More and more people go missing as the days pass. We need to go up there.”
“With his suspected numbers, I don't want you going up there without us,” I say, feeling concerned.
“Well you can't go cuz the baby will be here soon. You've only got just over a week left,” Asha says, as if I don’t know.
“I know, but Clarence is thinking of going up there next week.”
“You're cutting it close,” Demetrius says, sounding surprised.
“No choice,” Clarence says to him. “We can't leave it any longer. I was hoping the baby would come before I was forced to go.” I feel his heartache at potentially missing the birth of our second child. “But wares are in danger so we’ve gotta make a move.”
“We can all go with you,” Quis says. “The more of us that go, the quicker we can deal with it. Asha can stay with Abriya.”
Ugh… this whole babysitting shit is becoming annoying.
‘Deal with it,’ Clarence says. ‘You knew this would happen as soon as you decided to give me your ware pussy again.’
I can’t hold my laugher in at that. I turn to face him and he looks at me. ‘Why do you always bring up sex at the most serious times?’ He always does it.
‘Because it calms you down, and right now, I want you as calm as possible.’
I smile at him. ‘True.’
“You two are terrible,” Demetrius says, shaking his head.
“Your brother is,” I comment. “Anyways, we need to find out where Maximus is first. Every time someone’s been sent to find him, they've come up empty.”
“Someone’s gotta know somethin’”, Cecile says, sounding frustrated. She’s become so committed to our kind. Ariella adores her, too.
“The problem is,” Clarence says. “These wares that are being turned probably know nothing about us. Our status is most likely being hidden from them.”
“They’re most likely being brainwashed, too,” dad says, looking at everyone at the table. “And as much as I hate to say it, we’ll eventually need Abriya to make them submit, even if we manage to calm them down for a time.”
“He’s right.” I sigh. “I know I’ll have to show myself as soon as possible. It’s the natural order of things now. To know one howl from me could fix this mess is vexing, but I just can't risk it.”
“And we completely agree,” Addae says. “Which means we'll just have to tame them the old-fashioned way, for now.”
“But I don't want you fighting either. I don't want any more dead wares,” I say in earnest. The thought of losing any of the people sitting around this table kills me; let alone losing any more of my kind for senseless reasons.
“We don’t have a choice,” Clarence says as he holds my hand. “Don’t worry about this, baby. We will fix it, and I will make it home before the baby comes.”
I nod and see the sadness on everyone’s faces. They know me so well and will know how much I’ll be worrying over this, no matter what Clarence says.
Clarence and I sense Claud approaching. “Shhh,” we tell the others.
He appears through the trees and smiles at us all. “Hi everyone, sorry to interrupt, but we need a power connection.” He holds up the end of an extension cable.
Clarence gets up. “I got you.”
Claud and Clarence walk over to the kitchen and I turn back to the rest of the group.
“So, now that Alaska’s sorted,” Addae says, looking at Victorio. “Let’s get to the fun stuff and start planning our grandbaby’s birthday party.”