Silver Moon: Bk. 02 Ch. 12

Several came over and gave his legs a good hug and greeted them. He couldn't help but give a shy smile since he rarely dealt with children. It was a unique experience for him and he was still trying to figure out how to deal with it. He gave a few pets or stroked some ears as appropriate out. "Time for me to go in." Before he went in one of the anti-mouse squad, as he thought of them, trotted up and gave him a bag of rodents. "Thank you hun and tell the rest of the squad thanks as well."

He stepped into the room and started a morning pot of tea for the two of them. "Good morning to you and I hope you slept well." Leon settled down and pulled the bag over while the water was heating. "Your morning snack is here if you want it." He dumped them into a bowl and pushed it towards her. "I need to talk to you. It might scare you but I am not trying to either scare or upset you. I know you have listened to me talk about myself but it is time for me to tell you what I am and not who I am."

She stood and slowly walked over to the bowl and sniffed at the small pile of mice and rats. As she was sniffing she was listening to him talking. She finally leaned a bit further down and picked up a mouse. For some reason she flipped it towards the man before settling down to snap down the rodents one at a time.

When she flipped the mouse at him he didn't even think before changing to his mid-form and catching it. Moments later he had munched it down. His ears lowered slightly. "Thank you for the mouse. As you are eating please listen to what I have to say. You are my mate and we both know that. I know some of what happened to you and you are not at fault. I know of who did this and there isn't anything you could have done to stop it. I need your help to stop this from happening to anyone else." He stopped talking for a moment.

She stopped eating the mice and lowered her head and ears. Her tail was tucked between her back legs as shame overcame her again. If she hadn't wandered so far she wouldn't have been caught as far as she was concerned. A low whine came out of her jaws as well.

Leon's expression didn't change but his tone did. "Look at me please. Look at me and listen." His voice had a slight command to it and he waited till she did. "You are my mate and nothing is going to change that unless you reject me. I have not rejected you have I? I am a healer of spirits and I can feel what has been done to you. If you let me I can either help you or get help for you. I need your help as well as my clan leader, the Lord and Lady of the clans, wolves, and people of this world." His voice started to get stressed and much quieter. "I need my mate as well. How I have waited for you to come into my life. Let me help you, give you hope, and the love of your mate."

The command was there but it didn't scare her. It was nothing like the others. Its command had been harsh and forceful. It had gloried in forcing the obedience of another and especially when forcing the other against their souls beliefs. She couldn't help but shiver since there was want in his voice, a clean need for his mate. She slowly raised her head till she could see him and almost flinched at the understanding in his eyes. When he did speak the words were almost a hammer blow to her heart and they hurt and badly. How could anyone want her? She simply didn't understand how he could.

Before anything else could be said Dan showed up and stepped into the room. "You need me to talk to your mate Leon. Nothing said will ever leave this room." He settled down near the door and made a change to the wards so nothing said or felt would pass. Dan turned and looked at the wolf. "Come here child. We need to take care of something." His voice was quiet yet firm. Dan would not be refused and his tone showed that.

The wolf flinched and lowered her head again in submission before slowly starting to move over to the Alpha. His command was that of an Alpha wolf and she had to listen. When she was finally standing in front of Dan she whined again.

Dan looked at Leon. *She needs this and I will explain it later.* Once she was standing in front of him he lifted one hand and placed the thumb just inside her mouth. His other hand came up and forced her mouth shut till she drew blood. "I am now your Alpha. You will obey me and listen to me. I wish I had time to deal otherwise with you but we don't. Now submit." Dan's voice was calm as he spoke even though he could feel the shock from her. He did lock the bond down so she could only talk to either of her new Alpha's.

Both she and her wolf were shocked at what had happened but before she even thought about it they swallowed. The blood was so different from what the tribe Alpha had been like her fur damn near stood straight up. When he told her to submit she dropped to her stomach before rolling over.

Dan smiled down at her and after removing his hand from her mouth stroked her chest and neck. "Good girl and Leon needs you to change forms. He needs to see the scars and carvings. I know this is not something you want to do but he needs it. Once he knows what is going on with you he can start to heal you. Accept both his help and my help." He urged her slightly away before standing and walking out leaving both to stare at him.

~~~

Mari and Geoff were back in the courtyard again. It was going to be crowded since she had received a message from the packs. It had told her they all wanted to come and talk. The pups wanted to play with the others, the older kids and young adults wished to see if their mates might be there, and the adults to talk. Mari had spoken to Geoff and had decided that it was a case of possibly seeing the Luna again as much as anything else.

She had replied that it would be fine and had assigned Meztli to arrange for save travel for them. Mari had discovered that he had been assigned not to the Imperial Guard but to a special company. Their primary job was to ensure the 'others' were protected as the city started recovering. When the laws about 'others' had been removed the city had gone up in flames. The emperor had taken steps and it had been a bloody mess. That had happened while Dan wasn't there or chances were it would have been much worse. If he had been there as angry as he had been there would have been a bloodbath and they hadn't needed that.

Mari leaned against Geoff and sighed. "I wish this had never happened Geoff. Going from a little wolf in a small pack to your mate was one thing. Going from your mate to what is coming to look like a great lady is most definitely not something I want. I want to be a good mate, have a number of pups or kits, rule by your side and not worry about who is going to die."

He wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss against the top of her head. "In this case I am starting to know how you feel. It is one thing to grow up being the heir to the clan but this? I keep getting the feeling Xipil wants to give me some sort of position of authority here. Even if it is in name only the thought makes me shudder. I was not raised to be a figurehead. I was raised to lead and I simply couldn't not keep track." He sighed. "Maybe I will have Dan simply carve a bit more territory out to the east of our country for me."

A large number of tables had been set out for the adults and for the pups were blankets for a picnic setup. Mari had to smile at that since Amarish and Kasai had taken care of that and organized not just the mousy squad but all the pups and kits. He had marched up to Mari's assistant and requested a few moments of Mari's time. When he had come in with Kasai and formally asked for the number of young pups coming it had been so cute. To be honest it was all she could do not to pick both up and give them a huge hug.

Once she had informed him he told her he would take care of organizing the pups and kits. With that he had excused the two of them and marched out. Mari had quietly asked one of the girls assigned to her to ensure the two spirit Kitsunes had what they needed. From what she understood Amarish had organized a major hunting spree for any rodent in the compound. From what she understood Dan or maybe Xipil had quietly organized a small mouse farm so they kept having something to hunt down.

About then she had been informed the gates were going to be opened for the three packs to come in. She grinned and nodded at the boy who had informed her and stood. Geoff stood as well and both moved forward so they were closer to the gates.

When they were opened both had to smile since the other wolves came in and gawked at the compound. It wasn't anything special to her or Geoff even with her coming from the pack house. To them she knew it would show wealth and a better place in the country. "Welcome to everyone. I am so pleased that all of you came." She was waiting for the senior wolves to approach. When they did she was actually shocked since most of them were female.

The oldest wolf spoke. "Thankee mah lady. Tis sorry to say a number of the mahn didn't feel up to bein' elevated." There was a slight trace of amusement to her tone when she said that. "Fors the time we's be handlin' pack business. We's brought a bit o' eat's since we couldn'ts just not do that." She bobbled a nod at Mari.

Mari managed not to snicker at the comments of the woman. "I see and I am sure soon some might be of courage to step forward. I am pleased you could make it and if'n you don't mind Amarish and Kasai have set up some things to keep the pups occupied. Gianni and Agular have some things as well. Both helped to ensure the pups had fun today. If you want they can head to that side of the compound."

The four mentioned stepped forward and gave her a good nod. "I's has games that wolfies might like and Gianni had come up with somes ideas as well. Ifs you notice pups with odd colors its just us being silly." He knew what his sister would do even if he did find it funny he wanted them to know.

Mari kept a straight face. "Kitsune's play with their powers to hone them. Not to harm but to play." She rolled her eyes when Gianni suddenly became an oversized mouse. "Not funny Amariah, now change her back." She shook her head. "I am sure you now understand right?"

Frankly most of the wolves jumped when Gianni changed into a bipedal mouse with large black ears and a thin pink tail. "Um, as long as they come back home looking normal that is fine we guess." The others traded looks before almost snickering at Mari's patiant look.

~~~

Pam stalked through the palace looking for her mate and she wasn't looking happy. Honestly the expression on her face promised all kinds of suffering for someone. Since she wasn't speaking and her ears were laid back and her tails lashing most people hurried out of her way. When she finally found Dan he was in the room he had taken over as an office. Alysson and Jon were in there as well as Xipil. "Dan you are a low down mangy dog."

He looked up at her with an innocent expression on his face. "Excuse me love?" He looked offended as she called him names. "I am not a mangy dog thank you very much. I have a nice thick and glossy fur coating and I am a wolf... Well not a dog as you know. What is the problem?" He knew what it was but he wasn't going to give anything away.

He yipped at him before speaking again. "I know where all the damn rats are coming from you mutt. I had a nice little talk with the new keeper of the mice and rats. I don't care about the mice since they keep the kits and pups busy but the rats?" Her voice rose several octaves. "You know I hate rats with a passion beyond anything else. How the hell could you?"