QUEST POV

Everyone started to speak and disperse at once. The Alpha chuckled and his face completely changed with it. I would bet that only a few people had ever seen him smile. He was dressed simply, black jeans and a loose black t-shirt, but he looked like he was ready to kill someone at any moment. There was a gnarled healed cut along the right side of his throat, as if someone had tried to cut it with a jagged knife.

He held up his hands and the small crowd calmed instantly.

"Wait! Wait, I got a little ahead of myself. But I'm happy I could bring a little happiness to you. We have to send the kids off first. Then I should make a few phone calls to get us set up to leave. And… I don't know how it works to leave this place."

"We can abandon it. The council will assume control over the land and give it to another pack if they need it." I offered. He looked directly at me, instant hero worship.

"Oh, good. Also, I know Humans aren't everyone's cup of tea. I don't blame you, humans are horrendous beings and they don't have a Moon Goddess to check them. But she did trust me… for reasons I'm still trying to figure out. Still, I am not one to question a supreme being. I don't have many friends, but the ones I do have, I trust them with my life. I would never ask you to do the same, but - full disclosure - I have asked my friends to help me. I haven't offered any reasons and they didn't ask." He stopped to let that sink in.

No Alpha would explain his reasoning for doing something, especially Korbin. They did what they wanted and if you happened to have issue with that, tough nuts. You can leave and be rogue or die with the enemy.

I felt like Alpha Bodie was speaking to us as his equal, like we all had a say in the plan. None of us left ever really had issues with humans, except the hunters. And while it was weird that we have a former human as our Alpha now, it was something done by the Moon Goddess herself. Alpha said it best, we shouldn't question a supreme being.

"What should we do first?" He was asking us. Everyone laughed audibly and we all relaxed. There was a plan, and soon we would all be able to start putting this event behind us. "Let's split. I'll help with the children. Some of you can start putting anything you want to take together. Once we've put all the… children on the… pyre," He was silent, his eyes fixed on the children we had covered only the parents of two of the children were left alive. They decided to gather all the sheets from the houses and cover them.

"Once we've done that, we can get together and do what is as custom. I hope you're all ok with helping me. After, we can see what's left, yes?"

"Yes, Alpha."

"You guys don't have to call me Alpha. I'm sure there's a ceremony of some sort that has to take place before I am anyones Alpha. Just call me Bodie."

"Yeah, you could turn out to be an asshole." I said. I waited for him to laugh, and he did, after staring me down a for a second more than my liking. It wasn't ruling laughter, but his eyes crinkled.

"I'm definitely an asshole, Quest." He laughed again and gestured for Howard to follow him. I went behind them, eager to help, but also to learn everything about him.