Chapter 176

Ava

I set the tray of tea and cookies down in the center of my kitchen table, which had been pulled away from the wall to make room for everyone. The space was crowded; the Elders sat around the table, Chris stood by the kitchen counter island, and Leonard leaned in the doorway.

“I’m sorry it’s so cramped,” I said as I took a step back and wiped my hands on my skirt. “But I hope everyone is comfortable. Please, help yourselves.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Elder Bradley said, reaching for a cookie. The others, all except for Elise, murmured their thanks as well, each taking a cookie or pouring themselves some tea. With the Packhouse currently out of commission, this was the best we could do.

Elise, however, remained focused on the matter at hand, her posture rigid and her eyes sharp as ever.

“We need to discuss the potential evacuation of the pack,” she stated without preamble. “The blight is spreading faster than we can control it, and we may need to leave sooner rather than later.”

“But where would we go?” Elder Fatima asked, sipping her tea.

“I doubt the other packs would be able to take all of us,” Elder Claire added. “And it wouldn’t be wise to split up the pack.”

Elder Paul nodded as he nibbled on the corner of a cookie. “We should stick together. Moonstone has always been strongest as a whole.”

The room fell silent as the gravity of the situation hit us all, and I exchanged nervous glances with Chris. The Elders were right; as of right now, we had nowhere to turn, no safe haven to retreat to.

The silence stretched on for a few moments, broken only by the occasional clink of a teacup against its saucer.

“What about Moonrise pack?” Elder Claire asked. “They’ve always been our closest allies. Surely they would take us in during our time of need.”

Chris shook his head, his expression grim. “I considered that, but with their recent economic hardship due to the moontea issue, I’m not sure if they could handle an influx of refugees. We’d be putting too much strain on their resources. It wouldn’t be fair to them or to us.”

“Then what options do we have left?” Elder Bradley asked. He set his half-eaten cookie back on the plate, his appetite seemingly gone.

“We can’t just stay here and wait for the blight to consume everything,” Claire said.

I looked at Chris, and his jaw was set hard. “We’ll need to reach out to the other packs,” he said. “Plead our case and ask for their help. It’s our best chance at finding a temporary home for our people, if it comes to that.”

“And,” Leonard added, “the other packs may be at risk if we can’t get the blight under control. We may need to rally them if we’re going to handle this.”

Elise’s eyes narrowed, her lips pressed into a thin line. “Yes, well… New Moon has already refused our request to visit. That leaves only Crescent Moon and Moonshine pack. Do you really think they’ll be willing to help us after everything that has happened?”

“Moonshine might be willing to help,” I offered, trying to inject some optimism into the conversation. “After all, it was a member of their pack who poisoned both Degas and Chris. Alpha Fabian knows that they owe us a favor, and this could be their chance to make amends.”

Elder Fatima nodded slowly, setting her teacup down in her saucer. “True, but Moonshine is quite far from here. And their territory is rocky and inhospitable—not ideal for refugees. It would be a difficult transition for our pack, especially the elderly and the children.”

“What about Crescent Moon?” I asked, remembering Chris’s earlier discussion with Leonard. “They’re the largest and most influential pack. If we could get their support, it might encourage the other packs to help as well.”

Chris nodded. “That’s what Leonard and I were thinking earlier. We should visit them first, see if we can garner their support. Perhaps that would convince Full Moon to side with us as well.” He paused, glancing at Chris. “It’s not just Moonstone who is stronger together. It’s all of us—all of the packs.”

“I think it’s worth a try,” Paul agreed, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

Elise huffed. “But we need a backup plan. What if none of the packs are willing or able to take us in?” She shot me a glance. “We have slighted all of them in… recent history. Perhaps our luck has run out.”

I grit my teeth, willing myself not to bite out a scathing retort. Suddenly, there was a sound of a floorboard creaking behind Leonard, and we all turned to see a blonde head of hair peering around the corner.

“Show yourself,” Elise barked before Ophelia could slip away.

With a sigh, Ophelia emerged from behind the wall where she had been hiding, wringing her hands. “I do apologize,” she said, uncharacteristically meek, “but I couldn’t help but overhear…”

“I assume you have a thought of your own,” Chris said, waving her forward. “I’d like to hear it.”

Ophelia nodded. “What about the human world?”

The Elders gasped, and Elise immediately shook her head, her face twisting. “No. Absolutely not. We cannot expose our entire pack to the human world. It’s too dangerous.”

“Hold on,” Chris said, holding up his hand. “I’d like to hear Ophelia out.”

Ophelia smiled slightly and took another step forward. “There are large swathes of flat, fertile land in the human world,” she explained. “And Chris and I have plenty of money and connections there. We could easily rent some land for the entire pack to live on, and we’d be able to purchase whatever resources—food, clothing, shelter, medicine—that we may need.”

Elise bristled, but before she could speak, I said, “Actually, it might not be such a bad option. We could find a secluded area, somewhere off the beaten path.”

Chris nodded and glanced at Elise. “It wouldn’t be perfect, but it could work as a last resort.”

“And if Olivia did flee to the human world,” I added, “we would be in a better position to search for her. We could kill two birds with one stone.”

The Elders looked at us with a mix of shock and disbelief. Elise’s face had turned an alarming shade of red, her hands clenched into fists around the edge of the table.

“You can’t be serious,” she sputtered, her voice rising. “Our wolves would weaken. We’d be vulnerable!”

“It would only be temporary,” Chris assured her, his voice calm and steady. “Just until we can solve the blight problem and return home. And besides, like I said… last resort only.”

“We’re not saying we should pack up and leave for the human world tomorrow,” I added. “We’ll try Crescent Moon first, see what kind of support we can drum up from the other packs. The human world is just... an option to keep in our back pocket, so to speak.”

Chris nodded in agreement. “The human world could be our last-ditch option. But it’s good to have it on the table, just in case. We need to be prepared for every possibility. Thank you, Ophelia.”

Ophelia smiled, leaning slightly on Leonard, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Elise still looked unhappy, but she seemed to relax slightly, some of the fire going out of her eyes—whether out of actual approval or simply giving up, though, I couldn’t quite tell.

“Very well,” she said in a tight voice.

“Ava and I will go to Crescent Moon first thing tomorrow,” Chris said. “Afterwards, we’ll head to Moonshine. Then, hopefully, after that: Full Moon.”

Elise pursed her lips and rose from the table. “It will be a long journey, then. You’d best get some rest now.”

…

The next morning, Chris and I packed the car in silence. It was, as Elise had said, a long journey that awaited us; first Crescent Moon, then Moonshine, and then Full Moon—whether Alpha Winston wanted us there or not.

“You got everything?” Chris asked, eyeing our bags in the back of the car. The other two cars that would make up our caravan were already loaded and ready, our security detail waiting patiently for us.

I turned to take one last look at my little cottage. Ophelia and Leonard stood in the doorway, their faces grim but hopeful. I hated to imagine my little garden, with its lush flowers and my prized orange tree in the backyard, turning black with the fungus that was threatening the very fiber of our pack.

Finally, I turned back to Chris and nodded.

“I’m ready,” I said, taking his hand. “Let’s go save Moonstone.”