Chapter 5

Dylan was the first one to arrive at their agreed meeting point, Elliot's pack house. He found the Luna of the pack Dinah and the other pack members. Elliot was not there. They were talking in low tones in small coteries of around five to ten. He could tell they were talking about Arnold. The news of his death had spread all over Astra like a wild fire. While he was happy that Arnold was dead, just like every member of their team that was planning on taking the moonstone from his pack, Dylan was not happy with how the news was spreading. Their enemies too had ears and they would have used the information to harm them.

"Am so sorry about your fellow Alpha, Arnold was a good man. Astra has lost a brave Warrior" Dinah said to him.

"Yeah am so sad" Dylan said sounding uninterested.

"Elliot is on his way back don't worry now tell me one thing?" She asked walking to the small bar around the console.

She took a bottle of whiskey and poured in two glasses for each of them.

"Is the competition being done earlier this time or what?" She asked passing him the glass.

"No, it can't happen until the season is right although I wish we could do it sooner"

"Exactly what I thought this way we are vulnerable are you sure there is nothing you guys, I mean you, Elliot and Wayne can like do?"

Dylan thought about it. He could see why Elliot loved her so much. She always thought outside the box. He had never thought of it that way. No law said something about not carrying out the competition before the five year period had elapsed. She got him thinking of inciting the others.

"We will talk about it and Elliot will fill you in" Dylan finally said.

"I knew you would get it, thank you D" She said walking out.

They were delaying him. Dylan wanted to go see the elders and Ava the moonstone witch. Maybe she could give the way forward although everyone else was expecting the way forward he wanted to be the first one. Never before had it occurred that an Alpha of a reigning pack died while the moonstone was in their pack. Probably because they spend their fortune guarding themselves instead of protecting the others. Arnold was a selfless leader and that got him in trouble.

"Dylan, How long have you been waiting?" Elliot asked happily joining him in the living room.

He got off his coat and hanged it on the wall then went for a drink.

"Long enough to wonder if the competition can be postponed now that the great Arnold is dead" He said getting up to meet his friend halfway across the room.

"Postponed? Why?"

"I meant brought closer like tomorrow you know" He said.

"That's not possible" Elliot said.

"Who said it's not? We are just following a bunch of crappy rules we don't know who wrote them" Dylan argued.

"Those rules you just called crappy bring about law and order"

"And right now we don't need the law and order don't we? We need protection Elliot think!" Dylan said pointing on his brain.

The two gentlemen went dead quiet. Everyone was sipping on their drink in silence. Someone would have thought they were in mourning their fallen friend but no. These two men were very good friends. No. not that one. This were business partners with different ideologies. None of them trusted the other about their arrangement. It was very possible for Elliot to get the moonstone and never let Dylan have it and Dylan could bail out any time if someone else approached him with a deal. Wayne came in late as usual.

"Did you guys start without me?" Wayne asked.

None of them said anything. He thought maybe they were giving him the cold shoulder.

"Ooh so you can't talk" Wayne said pouring himself a drink.

"Do you think the league can come sooner than it should" Dylan asked.

"What he means to ask is are rules very important in any competition?" Elliot paraphrased the question.

Wayne was happy. He wanted to feel needed and now he could see his role in the group. A bridge between Dylan and Elliot. He was the one to unite them when they couldn't agree. It was a role he would have wanted to play.

"Okay, I see you really did start without me" Wayne said walking to both of them.

The toughest thing about his role however was staying neutral. It was not that easy as he thought. He had to help them arrive at an amicable solution that is without the other feeling left out like he always did.

"Are you going to help or not?" Dylan asked.

"Rules do bring order in a competition..."

"So you are taking Elliot's side!" Dylan burst out.

"Because it is the sensible side" Elliot said.

"Will you two just shut up and let me do my job!" Wayne ordered.

They looked at each other then at Wayne.

"Good... now where were we?" he asked.

Elliot shrugged, Dylan sunk in his chair. He did not remember telling them to shut up and let him do his job.

"We all know moving the competition sooner is not possible men but that does not mean it's impossible" Wayne said.

"Exactly!" Dylan shouted happily.

"Okay you win, give us the way forward" Elliot said.

If you can't beat them join them was the practical way out of an unnecessary argument that was probably not going to end anytime soon. The ball was now in Ava's court. She and the elders were being faced with a tough task ahead of them. But why was Elliot fighting to delay the inevitable? It was clear the competition was going to come and Arnolds pack was going to lose the moonstone. If things were going according to plan it was his to carry Owen was outnumbered yet still he did not want it sooner.

*****

Arnold's body was washed in the packs ceremonial grounds in a pool of underground water that was thought to be sacred to the Red Crescent pack. He was then anointed with special oil from the pack witch Daphne. She did a spell that healed the cut around his neck. Meanwhile Alcott working with Kai and Kate were finding out what people knew and also calming them down. If anyone could come in and kill their Alpha none of them was safe.

"Who has the guts to do that?" Kai asked rhetorically.

"Must be the vampires" Alcott said.

"They had help from the inside" Kate said.

"Who could possibly help the vampires?'

It was a question on their minds. No one was able to answer it and time was not on their side. They were outnumbered, scared with invisible enemies all over.

"Mum, I think we should prepare for the burial" Kai said.

They joined the procession towards the burial grounds. Kate and Kai were in the front carrying the pack flag. It was to be wrapped on his raft, a hero's burial. The sadness in the air could be felt. Their leader had fallen in unknown circumstances, left them at the time when they needed him the most. Young Kai was not a man enough to fill the shoes he left, he did not even have a mate yet which was one of the conditions to enter the league. As they made that walk to the ceremonial burial grounds which were in an open field in the forest closer to a water fall, they knew there was also a chance they were going to bury their own future. Perhaps it was the last time the moonstone was going to be in their pack.

During his time Arnold had made them feel like royalty. It was time they learnt to feed on the scraps like the rest of them. It was not an easy transition from being royalty, feeling safe at night to being a commoner. Fighting for the same things they never used to fight about.

"He is gone" Kate said to the crowd.

The band was playing some somber music from their instruments as she spoke, tears cascading down her eyes.

"But there is hope, whoever killed him are out there and none of us are safe" She said.

They bowed their heads in shame and nodded. Sniffles and low tone sobs could be heard. Others who could not take it anymore went away to get some space to mourn properly, scream and others even morphed into big angry wolves and ran away in the woods. That was the thing about being a man of the people.

"There is hope in Kai, I know none of you believes that he can lead this pack but that's where you go wrong"

There was silence. All eyes were on Kai. Since it was a sad time even those who thought he was a joke could not say anything.

"We will get through this I promise" She looked at Alcott for support.

As the rebel leader his word would have shifted the entire cloud of disrespect that Kai was swimming under. Alcott looking to save a young man from shame decided to cut him a slack and put in a good word for him.

"The boy will make us proud. But he can't do it alone. He needs our help and support if we don't support him then he will have nothing to fight for"

He was good with the words. They were getting psyched up all of a sudden shouting Kai's name. The rest of the burial went well for Kai but now he had to live up to the expectations. Little did he know that his competitors, already established Alpha's were making arrangements to bring the competition earlier than it was supposed to. Not that he had so many days anyway, it was a few months away from the original date.

Chapter 7