CONRI'S POV
The sacred fire blazed high in the middle of our holy ground. This land had never been contaminated by humans or any other creatures apart from werewolves. The proof was in the white flames that mimicked the colour of the moonlight.
Elder Ridge's body was placed on a canopy above the fire, with moonflower petals sprinkled along his torso. With our heads bowed, we listened to our alpha preach.
"Here we are gathered to say goodbye to our last elder," he began. "Ridge Conan was one of our trusted forefathers, and also he served our pack as one of the fiercest warriors we had ever had. So let's send him off to meet the great Selene. Tonight his soul will ascend to the sounds of our mighty howls of love and respect," Shane spoke with admiration, his voice almost cracked twice, but he held his composure. "You will be missed," he whispered. "For Elder Ridge Conan!" He roared, tilting his head back and howling to the moon. The rest of the pack followed the alpha, howling in synchrony with him, while the keepers of the fire lowered the canopy into the white flames, and with a magical glow, the fire seized elder Ridge's body and burnt it to ash. There was a chill in the air. "Everyone, use your werewolf visions," our alpha ordered.
My wolf took over my vision just in time to catch the Elder's spirit slithering up to the heavens. Our howls grew louder until his spirit vanished from our sight.
"Goodbye, great one," I whispered.
"Now we feast!" The alpha clapped. He was immediately dragged off by two blonde omegas to the tent. I chuckled. Shane had quite the sexual appetite. I, however, was waiting for my fated mate. I knew the other fellows looked at me weird knowing I was a virgin, but I didn't care. There was a she-wolf out there somewhere who was made just for me. And I won't allow another woman to touch me, for I belong to her, my mate.
A part of me was glad Shane was preoccupied so I could take care of the matter at hand. Leonardo, my cousin, was back home after running away to America when he was 14. He had always been fascinated by the humans. I didn't know what he found so amazing about them. They get sick and die before they reach a hundred. They lie and cheat, plus they murder and hurt each other. There was nothing I found interesting about them.
Leonardo kept in contact with me through letters, since human technology wasn't allowed on our lands. And two hours ago his mindlink opened up again after ten years of it being closed. His voice came booming in my head, telling me he was back in England and that he was coming home. I told him he better stay at Selene's Cabin until I could get Shane to accept him back in the pack.
He was deemed a rogue when he ran away. And Shane would execute any rogue who dared to set paws on our lands.
'Conri, are you there?' Leo's voice trickled through my head. He sounded worried.
'Yes, I am here. What is the matter?'
'There's a minor problem with the cabin.'
'I know. It has seen better days. Your sisters were supposed to keep it decent, but with a little water and tree sap, it should look as good as new,' I told him. The cabin was built by our Moon Goddess, Selene, when she visited our pack thousands of years ago. It was like the housings the humans made, but the difference was that Selene used a tree that fell in a storm to make the cabin. And it was the same with our bungalows. We searched the forests for trees that fell in a storm or other natural disasters, and we turn them into our houses.
'No cousin. I'm not talking about that. I mean, the cabin was sold.'
'What! By whom?' That seemed crazy.
'I don't know, man."
'I'll ask the Alpha. If this is true. He will know something about this.'
'OK. And while you're at it. Can you please ask him if I could stay? I really need some sleep. I'm jet-lagged.'
'I will. But you better clean up that bloody accent of yours. You sound like an American,' I mewled before I ended the mind-link.
************
"Alpha. Are you decent?" I called outside Shane's tent.
"I am not. Go away!"
"Alpha Shane, this is important. I'm afraid it cannot wait."
I heard him shuffling inside the tent. "You ladies should go. We'll continue this another time."
"Are you sure you want us to go, Alpha?" One of the she-wolves purred. I sensed that Shane was giving this a second thought.
"LEAVE NOW!" I used my beta aura on the she-wolves. They didn't even cast their gazes on me as they kept their heads bowed before running off to another tent.
"This better be good, Conri," Shane grunted as I stepped inside his tent.
"I have news about Leonardo," I announced as he slipped on his trousers.
"Your cousin Leonardo? The traitor?" Shane seethed.
"Yes, Alpha," I sighed. "He's back an —"
"And when will he die?"
"Shane, you don't really want Leo to die. We were all best friends when we were pups."
"And then he betrayed my trust and ran away days after I became alpha. I needed my two betas by my side."
"I understand. But he is younger than us and was only a pup when you laid the heavy burden of being your second beta on his shoulders. I think he panicked and ran away."
"I don't care," Shane hissed. "You tell the prodigal son if he ever sets foot on my territory, then he's a dead bloody wolf."
"Alright, Alpha. I will, but I have a question. Why didn't you sever his packlink? I thought he was deemed a rogue when he left?"
"I thought at the time he would realize how dangerous the human world was and would come crawling back begging for forgiveness. I guess I forgot to destroy his link."
"So what you are saying is that Leo is not a rogue, just a pack member who had been gone for some time?"
"Conri, I know what you are doing. Don't fooking patronize me," Shane hissed.
"Just hear me out. Perhaps a meeting of some sort between the two of you will do us some good. With the humans getting closer to our pack, maybe having Leonardo back will help us understand them more. He has been living among them for ages," I tried to reason with Shane and he was taking the bait.
"That's a splendid idea, Conri. Why don't you mindlink that traitor and tell him to meet us here? I have so many things to ask him."
"Right away, Alpha." I quickly mindlinked my cousin and passed on Shane's message. "He says he'll be here in an hour."
"An hour? Shouldn't it take minutes to get here?"
"He's travelling in one of those automobiles," I cleared my throat.
Shane scowled. "I see."
"There's one more thing, Alpha."
"What is it now?" He scowled.
"Selene's Cabin has been sold. Did you have any idea about this?"
"No! But I think your cousins do," Shane grunted. "I told Jayla, Jill, and Jenny to see what could be done with the property since none of us haven't been there in almost a decade. I didn't realize they would sell it."
"Those three rascals," I hissed. "I will find out whom they sold it to. It has to be somebody in the human town close by. No other werewolf would dare to buy a cabin that was on our land."
"You're saying they sold the cabin to a human? You know what will happen if a human sets foot on these sacred lands?" Shane yelled.
"Alpha! Beta!"
We heard a few of our pack members scream. We ran out of the tent and hurried to the scene where the werewolves were gathered, staring on in shock. Right before our eyes, the sacred fire that once burned alloy silver was now burning orange.
"A human has entered our lands," the alpha announced.