After getting dressed, I made my way down the stairs, ready to eat whatever Eric had left for me on the counter when--
I saw someone else standing in the kitchen.
I almost screamed. Instead it came out like a choked yelp.
The woman whirled around, wide-eyed. “Good morning, sir.”
“Who are--” I began to ask, but then I felt a trickle of familiarity from her expression and voice. “Wait, do I know you?”
“You met me yesterday, sir, but I was in my wolf form,” she said.
“Crystal…?”
“That’s right.” She nodded curtly. “At your service.”
“Er, that’s okay, I don’t need all the formality,” I said, holding up a hand and smiling. “Just think of me as a friend having an extended sleepover.”
Crystal frowned like she didn’t think that was correct, but nodded anyways. Her eyes never left me.
I hesitantly took a seat at the island and picked at the breakfast Eric prepared. “So, why aren’t you with Eric?”
“He told me to stay behind with you, sir.”
“Just Matheson. No sir. Seriously, it’s okay.” I bit into my buttered toast. “What was so important he had to leave? He said he was doing a perimeter check or something.”
Crystal nodded. “Yes.”
“Isn’t that kind of weird? I mean, my parents are pack leaders too, but they never did anything like that. Not often, anyway.”
“He wanted to personally ensure there were no intruders,” Crystal stated.
I gave her a little smile. “C’mon, can I have some more information than that? I’m the son of pack leaders, remember? I’m not a naive baby.”
Crystal’s gaze flickered to the side for a moment. “All right. There’s been a group of humans fumbling around outside the South Pack border for a couple of weeks now.”
“Oh yeah,” I said. I remembered that Linda, Ramsay’s mom, hadn’t been at the Moon Meeting because she was dealing with that.
“This wouldn’t have been our problem, but the humans started moving north toward our territory,” Crystal went on. “We still don’t know their intentions. They’ve never crossed the boundary, so we can’t rightfully attack them.”
My eyes widened. “Attack them? Why not just chase them off?”
She looked at me with mild confusion. “Why would we do that?”
“Doesn’t attacking them seem like overkill?”
The corners of her mouth fell into a tight frown and instantly I knew I’d said something wrong, even though I wasn’t sure why.
“Sir,” Crystal began quietly, and this time I didn’t correct her, “do you know why Eric is the leader of West Pack at such a young age?”
My throat went dry. I thought about all the times I’d met Eric at Moon Meetings while we were growing up. He was always a little shy, but never stressed or uptight. He washappy.Not just that, but he was always accompanied by his parents. I didn’t know them very well, but they were nice enough to me and my family. His mom and dad were always there with him, watching over their son.
Until one day they weren’t.
I shook my head. “No.”
Crystal lowered her gaze. “Perhaps it’s best if Lord Eric tells you himself.”
I dropped the topic after that and ate the rest of my breakfast in silence.
