More Than Just a Fairy Tale Ch. 12

"Are you okay?" Luc asked quietly.

"Yes, just a little shell shocked and confused. What the hell happened? Why did Duke attack us?" she asked.

"He attacked you," said Luc. "I think he just lost it, but we will find out in a few minutes."

"Okay, so what's with all the people?" she asked next as she cuddled next to Luc.

"This is family and pack business. Everyone here is related to either Ginny, Duke or me," Luc said. "Guess you could call it a trial. I'll explain in more detail later."

"Oh," said Meg. She looked around the room at the people packing into the 12 x 15 space. Some moved chairs or tables out of the way. She found herself thinking that it was a good thing Luc didn't have much in the way of living room furniture. There must be thirty-five or forty people in here by now. Meg realized that there were family resemblances in the crowd. Some had the dark brown hair that matched Luc's. Others looked more like Ginny. Just when she thought that there wasn't room for one more person, Sandy's son came into the room and found his dad. He whispered something in his ear and then sat at his dad's feet.

"We're all here Luc," said Sandy.

"Alright. Inside or outside?" Luc asked looking around at the people gathered in his living room.

"Not sure," said Sandy. "Lots of injured people and I'm not sure Duke will behave himself inside."

People nodded and murmured in agreement. Luc took a deep breath and gaged how he felt. Looking at Peter and Kevin, they nodded. Luc stood up slowly and headed towards the back porch where Peter had locked Duke up in the kennel he'd used for his husky a long time ago. Meg wrapped her arm around his waist. She knew he was too proud to let anyone else support him. Instead, it looked as if he was protecting her. The rest of the people followed Luc out to the back yard.

Sandy's son ran around and out the back door first. When Luc reached the back porch, he saw that the boy had found lawn chairs for the injured. Luc sat down gratefully. Looking across the patio, he could see Duke passing back and forth in the cage. When he saw the people filing out of the house, he snarled.

"Who will speak for Duke?" Luc asked. He looked around and saw that most of the people were not making eye contact with him. This wasn't looking good. Ginny looked at him and shook her head no. Finally, one of the cousins stood up.

"Don't really want to, but I know it needs done," said the cousin. The cousin and Jeff went to talk to Duke.

Luc nodded. He shifted in the chair, and realized that there was no comfortable position. He looked around and saw that everyone was watching him. "This afternoon, Duke attempted to attack Meg. This was after he tried to pick a fight with her at work. Over the last few weeks, he has fluctuated between being nice, ignoring Meg and being downright aggressive towards her. His list of complaints included loss of revenue, chaos in the office and general disorganization caused by her presence. He further stated that if she wasn't around, I wouldn't have been injured and that Alpha Wolf Technologies would not be in chaos. He complained to Kevin and Ginny," he said. Luc took a deep breath and tried to ease the ache in his shoulder.

"Duke should have come to me with his complaints. He didn't, even though I saw him frequently when he delivered papers from the office. He had ample time to as questions, or discuss issues with me. He chose not to. It is true that the business has been a bit short handed and for the first day or two after the attack, life was hectic. However, there has never been the chaos that Duke chose to see other than in his own mind or caused by his own hand," said Luc. He looked out over the group gathered. Most were nodding their heads in agreement. No one disagreed.

"It is true that I was injured while out with Meg. However, it might have happened regardless of who I was with. The important bit is that Meg had the presence of mind to take matters into her own hands and get me safely to help. Without her, I would be dead," he said as he took Meg's hand in his own. "The real issue that I see is that Meg is human. I believe that Duke is transferring his frustrations and anger over the situation with his wife Penny onto Meg. His attack of my mate breaks our rules. Does anyone want to speak?" Luc asked.

A hand went up in the back of the crowd. Luc nodded and gestured for the man to step forward.

"Are you two really mated? Or is this a last minute thing?" he asked.

"We were waiting for me to finish healing before we made the big announcement and invited everyone for dinner, but we are mated," Luc said and pulled the chain out from under his shirt. He knew that Meg's was visible to most of the people.

"Oh, Okay. Good enough. Let me know when it is," said the man as he stepped back into the crowd.

"Luc, we all know he's crazy as a loon. Whacha gonna do?" asked another man.

"You know the rules," said Sandy before Luc could answer. There were more murmurs and nods across the room.

"Duke is my brother. I know him best of all, and he's gone over the edge," said Ginny stepping to the front of the crowd. "We are all sorry that his marriage went off, but it isn't news to any of us. The events of Bitty's coming of age were just a repeat of history. Duke and Penny are both coyote crazy. Right now I'm doing my best to hold those children together and give them some kind of life. However, he had no right attacking Meg," she growled sub-vocally. A shudder went through the people.

The cousin and Jeff walked back over to the group of people. Behind them, the wolf was pacing the length of the dog run. The two men stopped in front of Luc.

"Luc, I've checked him out as best as I could. No one's home," said Jeff. The sadness in his voice hushed the low chatter.

"It's how I see it too," said the cousin. "He wouldn't talk. Just growled and slobbered like a dog with rabies. I can't defend someone who won't help himself. Sorry Ginny," he said turning to her.

Ginny nodded. She went to stand next to Luc and turned to face the crowd. "Way I see it, Duke needs to be put in the care of Jeff here up in the mountains. Maybe he'll come to his senses, maybe he won't. At least up there, he won't hurt anyone else," she said with a heavy heart.

Luc stood up slowly and wrapped his arms around Ginny. He hugged her and then turned back to the rest of the people. "Jeff, will you take charge of Duke?" Luc asked.

"Yes, I will take responsibility for Duke," said Jeff.

"Ginny, will you take charge of the children?" asked Luc.

"Yes, I will take responsibility of the children," said Ginny.

"Does anyone wish to challenge me?" Luc asked.

Meg was trying to follow this and had figured out the 'trial' part of what had gone on. This last bit confused her. Luc was going to have lots of explaining to do afterwards. She looked around at the people present and watched as a huge man stepped forward.

"Luc," said the huge man.

"George," answered Luc.

"Anyone wants to challenge you will have to go through me first," said George who scanned the crowd as he talked. No one said a word.

"Thank you George," said Luc. He breathed a sigh of relief and then taking Meg's hand in his, he addressed the crowd once more. "For the records keepers, gossips and anyone who just might be curious, Margaret Stewart, is our mate." "There, now it's official," he thought.

Meg looked up at Luc and then out at the crowd. There were smiles and then the sound of people clapping hands. "oh geeze! I think I just got married. Too late to back out now," she thought as a smile played across her face. She wasn't sure of the protocol, but she reached up to Luc and kissed him. Luc took her in his arms and kissed her. Whistles, clapping and a howl or two erupted from the crowd. Next thing she knew, there were people clasping her hand, patting her on the back, introducing themselves and in general welcoming her to the family.

Luc bent down to Meg's ear after a few minutes. "Get me back in the house. I'm about to collapse," he whispered.

Meg nodded. She thought about things for all of two seconds and then looked for Sandy. She didn't know him, but Luc seemed to respect him. "Sandy, would you give me a hand please?" she asked.

Sandy turned around and saw that Meg was helping Luc stand. He could see and smell that Luc had over extended himself. "Sure Meg," he said and moved to Luc's other side. Between the two of them, they got Luc into the house and on the couch. "Should have seen he was wiped out," he said softly to Meg. "Anything else I can do?"

"Um, yeah. I have no idea of any of the protocol. Ginny is busy with Jeff and Duke. Help?" she said.

"No problem. You just sit next to Luc and soak up the handshakes. I'll take care of this," Sandy said and began to talk to various people in the crowd. Soon there were three women heading to the kitchen and two men along with Sandy began to clear the dining room table. People were coming and going with bags and boxes. Meg watched with fascination as Sandy took over like the head chef in a hotel kitchen.

Luc sat and tried to keep from passing out. He was starving, exhausted and overwhelmed by all the people in his house. Peter and Kevin didn't look much better. The three of them were enthroned in chairs or on the couch. He thought of asking Meg to help him to bed, but there were so many people coming up to congratulate them on their mating or to offer condolences over the attack, that all he could do was breathe, shake hands and nod.

Sandy moved to the middle of the room and called for everyone's attention. "There is food on the table! Come and eat!" he said in a voice that didn't need sub-vocals. Then he turned and took plates from one of the women who had disappeared into the kitchen earlier. He walked over to Luc and handed plates to him and Meg. "Sorry this turned into such a circus, but look at it this way, you've gotten the majority of the people taken care of when it comes to the dinner," Sandy said and winked at Luc.

Luc smiled weakly. Leave it to Sandy to see the good side of a horrid situation. He dug into the food. Sandy brought plates to Peter and Kevin as well. In a matter of a few minutes, everyone still there was eating. When Sandy brought dessert, Luc realized that the crowd was finally thinning. Sandy must be funneling them out the back door. Luc was grateful. He'd owe Sandy one hell of a favor. George too.

Luc went to put his coffee cup on the table and realized that he could barely move. He'd stiffened up. "Meg," he said trying to get her attention softly.

"Yes Luc?" she asked.

"I need to get to bed, but I don't know if I can stand," he admitted.

Meg nodded and looked around for Ginny, Sandy or Jeff. There weren't too many people left, but she didn't know any of those in sight. "Just a second Luc. I think we're going to have company for the night too," she said pointing at Peter and Kevin who had both fallen asleep.

Luc smiled. He handed his cup to Meg as she headed to the kitchen. In the kitchen, she found Sandy talking to George. She walked up to them and waited for a break in conversation.

"What can I do for you Meg?" asked Sandy.

"I need to get Luc to bed, and Peter and Kevin have passed out in their chairs. I'd like to get them all horizontal, but I can't do it by myself," she said.

Sandy and George smiled. "Don't worry, we'll take care of them. Just show us where to put them," said George.

Meg smiled and turned back towards the living room. George had a voice that sounded like he always spoke in sub-vocals. Deep and rumbley. She went and opened the guest room door and then turned on the light. Meanwhile, George had picked up Kevin like he was three. He was at the door before Meg could turn the bed down.

"Just put him here," she said. "I can't believe he's so heavily asleep."

"Between the pain killers Jeff gave him and healing trance, I'm not surprised," George said.

"Healing trance?" asked Meg thinking she vaguely remembered Luc talking about it.

"Yeah, we go to sleep, heat up and heal. Works great for minor things. Makes the human doctors think we're dead 'cause our heart rate drops so low," he said as he put Kevin down. "I'll put Peter on the other bed and then we'll get Luc."

"Okay," Meg said and turned down the other bed. Now she understood why Luc had so much space for guests although he lived alone. First the kids, and now these two. George put Peter down who was half awake. They covered him up and turned out the lights.

Luc had fallen asleep. Meg touched him on the shoulder and gently woke him up. He blinked and saw George and Meg standing over him.

"Now, do you want carried or just helped to your bed?" asked George quietly.

"Just help me stand up," said Luc.

Meg took the injured side and George helped Luc stand. George and Meg moved Luc through the crowd to the bedroom. Luc leaned on George while Meg fixed the blankets. Luc crawled into bed and sighed.

"Thanks for everything George," he said.

"Don't worry. How often do I get the chance to defend my big brother?" George said.

Luc smiled. "Yeah, not often I guess. You and Sandy were a lot of help today. Thanks," said Luc.

Meg took in this new information with a bit of astonishment. George was a baby brother? She and Luc had lots to talk about. "I'll be back as soon as I get the rest of the guests out the door," she said to Luc. He nodded and curled up on the pillows.

Meg closed the door and went back to the kitchen. George, Sandy and the last of the people were in there cleaning up. "Okay, I don't mean to sound ignorant or rude, but who is everyone? And how are you related to either Luc or Ginny?" she said to the five people in the room.

"Meg, I'm sorry, I took it for granted that you'd know at least some of us," said Sandy.

"No, Luc and I have had a few lapses in details. Family being one of them," she said.

"Okay, I'm Alexander Moreau. Luc is my younger brother. This imp is Jesse. He's nine," Sandy said as he rubbed the top of the boy's head.

"I'm Luc's little brother and one of a set of twins," said George.

"There are two your size?" asked Meg.

"No, I'm a fraternal twin. Ysabel here is my other half," said George pulling an average sized woman to his side.

"Hello," said Ysabel holding out a hand to Meg. "Nice to meet you at last."

"Nice to meet you," said Meg shaking her hand.

"And I'm Marie, Ginny's and Duke's sister," said a short gray haired version of Ginny.

"Nice to meet you as well. Now one more question, if no one minds," said Meg. "Just how are the two families related?" she asked pointing from Marie to the rest of the people in the kitchen.

"Well, once upon a time, one of the great-great aunties sorta jumped the fence with one of the great-great uncles. I think our side was the aunty and Luc's was the uncle," started Marie. "They had three children and then he got himself shot. Hunter I think. So she went back to her family and remarried. So, if you go back far enough, we are all related. However, to be totally clear you'd have to ask the current crop of great aunties as to the how," she finished.

Meg just blinked. Looking around the room, everyone was nodding like this was common knowledge. "Okay. That explains a bit more as to why Sara and Joe call him Unky Luc," said Meg.

"And with that, we all need to go home and let you sleep. Plenty of time for family stories another day," said Ysabel. She gave Meg a hug and then headed out the door. The rest of the people followed suit with George last.

"You need anything, you call," he said and pointed to a phone number written on the dry-write board.

"I will. Good night George," she said.

George hugged her and headed out the door. Ten seconds later and the house was silent except for the sounds of snoring coming from the bedrooms. Meg dropped her clothes to the floor and crawled into bed with Luc. It had been a very long day.