Chapter 1 - Dan
There has never been such a big meeting of the packs before.
I look around, feeling a sense of unease lingering in the crowd. To incorporate members from all three packs—Eccles, Rose Hollow, and Clover—we needed to have our current council meeting in the middle of the botanical garden, where festivities are usually held.
But the atmosphere is far from festive. It’s almost downright hostile.
Out in front of the crowd, Rex and Scarlett sit with the Rose Hollow elders—Celeste, Galant, and Dorian. Opposite them are Brad and Alisha with the Eccles elders Hazel, Gregor, Mitchell, and Gen. In the center, Shawn and Sarah sit with a couple of people I don’t know.
The Clover council was chosen by our existing leaders, and I didn’t have anything to do with it, and never personally met them. Luke and I managed the pack business for Eccles and Rose Hollow while the others were away, and over the last couple of months, the job has gotten considerably harder every day.
The initial clash of progressive Rose Hollow with the painfully traditional pack of Eccles was always going to require a careful adjustment period—especially since Eccles intended to betray Rose Hollow.
Even though things seemed peaceful, we knew problems were simmering under the surface, especially since the Eccles first families refused to acknowledge Brad.
And then Rex had to integrate Clover pack…and it all went to hell.
In the early stages, the efforts to raise the standard of living in Clover made every day chaotic. For about a month, it was nothing but supply chains and listening to various complaints. Brad and Rex led their own packs while giving support to Shawn, and Luke and I stepped up to fill in the gaps.
As Clover began to function on its own, there was a brief period of stability, but it felt like there wasn’t even time to draw a breath between those days of peace and the calamity that followed. Even though we knew the first families of Eccles weren’t happy, all of us very stupidly put the problem aside, hoping that it would settle down eventually. It wasn’t until after Clover had its first market fair and everyone returned home that they made their move.
While we’d been busy setting up Clover, the Eccles first families had taken over control of the main supply chain. Their influence and power in the town had allowed them to funnel resources back to themselves and away from the poor.
Partnerships between Eccles and Rose Hollow had fallen apart. The newly appointed guild leaders in Eccles started robbing Rose Hollow blind, and the guilds of Rose Hollow had simply allowed it.
Those guys are generous to the point of idiocy, and I wish that were an overstatement.
“Everyone, please, calm down!” Scarlett calls from the front. “We’ll begin soon. I think we have a solution that will suit all three packs. We are just waiting until everyone has arrived before we start.”
She sits down again next to Rex, and they put their heads together, whispering furiously. Opposite them on another stonebench, Hazel glares straight at them, while Brad and Alisha talk with Gen over her head.
Standing behind them, Gen’s parents look out over the crowd with barely controlled looks of contempt. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them attend a meeting, and they’re here to represent the other traditional families.
The ones who followed Azarian and were probably working with him.
Between both sides, Shawn and Sarah look worried but determined. Their newly appointed council sits behind them, and that poor group just looks flat-out scared.
The great mass of people surrounding me is an assortment of all three packs. From the size of the crowd, I’d even say that it’s the majority. I catch Luke’s eye on the other side of the clearing, and we both nod.
It looks peaceful for now, but this thing could explode at any moment, and we need to be ready.
In some ways, this looks almost like one of our market fair days. Some people have blankets spread out and are sitting in little groups. Kids play out in the fringes, and a lot of people are sharing food and drink as they laugh and talk together.
Rose Hollow catered the event, because of course they did. I can’t argue with their philosophy that keeping everyone well-fed settles bad tempers, though.
As the sun sinks closer to the horizon, it paints the clearing a bright, gleaming orange. I see Rex nod to Brad, and both of them walk out to stand in front of the crowd. Shawn joins them, and their lunas move to stand on either side.
“Thank you for coming,” Rex calls, his deep voice booming around the clearing. “I think everyone is here now, sowe’d like to start. We are aware that there has been some friction between the packs—”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” A woman near the front stands up. “Friction? I had a shipment of flour stolen by the bakers guild, and I wasn’t able to make bread for a week—”
“It wasn’t stolen,” Hazel says, her voice clear and sharp as ice. “It was paid for.”
“I didn’t see the money!” the woman protests.
“The guild leader did,” Hazel replies.
“That still means it was stolen from me—”
