Hunting For Peace

I followed Annie into the living room, where the rest of our family had already gathered, waiting for us. I draped my arm over her shoulders as she paused just inside the door. I knew she was waiting to be reamed out for running away into the woods as soon as school let her out. She knew that today was an important day. Osprey would be informing us of who was going to the Rocky Mountain sleuth to smooth out the recent conflict developing there between the wolves and the bears. As our parents had made themselves one of the strongest mate pairs anywhere in the states, we were called on for most of the conflict resolution that was needed. Annie, who was already upset because she was not 18 yet and was excluded from traveling to other sleuths, hadn’t cared about this meeting in the slightest.

“Sorry guys,” I said, “Annie was napping and lost track of time.”

We both knew that nobody believed me, but out of respect for my father, nobody would lecture Annie in front of the entire family. I got her seated in the chair directly across from our mother. As my favorite sibling, little Annie would always have my protection. Everybody knew it and never questioned it. We both knew that we would each receive a private lecture later, once we were in our own rooms. She gave me a small smile, thanking me for coming to her rescue.

“May I start now?” Osprey asked, obviously annoyed by our tardiness.

I put my hands on her shoulders and defiantly met his eyes. “Yes, you may.”

“As everyone is aware, the Rocky Mountain sleuth has been at war with the Lower Hills pack for some time now. We have received reports that neither side has had any fatalities as of yet, but we have been asked to step in before any have the opportunity to occur. As we all know, Hannah, Latoya, and Annie are not in the running to go.” He turned to me with a hardness in his eyes. “Since you just turned 18, you are going. The more packs and sleuths you visit, the higher your chances of finding your mate. Priscila is 17 and can accompany you. She can start looking for her mate as well.” He paused for a moment to look around at all the adults present in the room. “The two of you will need a chaperone. Do we have any volunteers?”

Elena groaned when none of our parents offered to accompany us. “I will go. Are you going to be able to handle life without me for a week?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine. Beanie, are you going with her?”

“Always,” Beanie replied.

“Alright. So it is settled, and the four of you will be going. You will leave first thing in the morning. Go pack.”

Annie jumped up to rush out of the room before she got yelled at for disobeying his orders. Sometimes, Osprey took his Alpha training just a little too seriously.

“ANNIE!”

His roar shook the room, making all of our other siblings scramble even faster out of the room while Annie froze in place.

“Y-yes, Osprey?”

“Where were you?”

I stepped in front of her. “Asleep in a tree, like I said.”

He narrowed his eyes on me. “Nice try, Gerald! Annie is an Alpha. Even if she never officially becomes one, she still needs to act as though she is one. An Alpha never puts their own desires before the responsibilities of their sleuth or pack. Now, I am going to ask again: Where were you, Annie?”

She sighed from behind me as she moved around me to my side. “I was running in the woods with Silver Junior, if you really need to fucking know!” She snapped.

Osprey bared his teeth at her. “What is your problem lately, Annie?”

She angrily jammed her hands into her pants pockets. “Why do you even care anyway, Osprey?” She asked, removing her hands from her pockets again. “You have everything that you could ever want.” She held her hand up and began to put her fingers down as she listed everything she believed was not just. “You have Scarlett. You have the sleuth. You have your best friend as your Beta. You have a house. You have the power. You have money. What is left for the rest of us? You abuse your power! You were able to go out and explore other packs and sleuths with our dads before you turned 18. This is not fair!”

“Annie! Stop it! Things are different now. Back then, we didn’t have a war raging on our doorstep. We didn’t have people willing to risk their lives to cross our borders to kidnap our Alphas’ children as a way to make them vulnerable and bend to their demands. We didn’t have to worry about whether or not we would see our family alive again or if they would have been killed or worse! I’m sorry, Annie. This might not seem fair to you, but it is the way it is! I refuse to send the three of you out at such young ages. What would happen if you went into heat while out there? Priscila has already gone into heat. She’s not due for another 3 months. Who’s going to protect you if you go into heat? Have you even thought any of this through? So many things could go wrong!”

She threw her hands up in utter frustration. “You are so… UGH!”

She pushed past him on her way out of the room. When he turned on his heels with the intent to go after her, our mother put her hand on his arm to stop him.

“Let her calm down first, son. Then you can go and talk to her.”

He sighed as he turned back to me. “You know her the best. What do you think I should do?”

I shrugged. “Let her go.”

“I can’t do that, Gerald.”

“Yes, Osprey, you can. If you trust me to handle that sleuth’s problems, trust me enough to protect our little sister.”

He narrowed his eyes on me again, and I could see the slight hazy look in his eyes, indicating that he was mind-linking with somebody. If I had any money, I would bet every last penny that he was linking with Scarlett. She was, after all, his emotion in his logic. Finally, he sighed, pressing his fingers into his eyes.

“Fine! I will allow her to go. But I swear, if anything happens to her, it’s your ass that will be on the line for it.”

I nodded. “Understood, Osprey.” I rubbed my hands together. “Now, who’s going to be the one to tell her?”

Osprey groaned. “The better question is: Who’s telling Priscila that she’s no longer going?”

Elena burst out laughing. “Oh, that is indeed the question. My vote is that Osprey tells Priscila. I want to see her beat his ass.”

Osprey rolled his eyes as he stomped out of the room. “Tell me again why I made you my Beta female?”

Elena skipped out of the room after him. “Because I’m your favorite!”

“Yeah, and I’m also your favorite to throw under the bus every single chance you get.”

I chuckled as I took the stairs two at a time on my way up to Annie’s room. I knocked before entering the room. Annie looked at me from her bed before sitting up, still sniffling a little.

“I just want to go with you. It’s not fair! I should get to meet your mate first.”

I walked across the room to sit beside her on the bed, taking her hand in mine. “Well, if you tell me you love me, I’ll tell you what I did.”

She raised her head. “I love you so much, Gerry. You’re the best brother anyone could ever have asked for, and there isn’t a better boar than you in the entire world! Will you tell me now?”

I chuckled. “Osprey agreed to let you go with me to the Rocky Mountain sleuth.”

She squealed as she threw her arms around my neck. “OH MY GODDESS! DID YOU REALLY GET HIM TO AGREE?!”

I patted her back. “I did. It gets better.”

“It does? How?”

I pulled back to smile at her. “Osprey has to tell Priscila that she won’t be going anymore.”

She clapped her hands. “Can we please go watch? She’s going to hurt him!”

“I know. If you’re quiet, we could go and have a peak.”

She skipped to the door before looking over her shoulder at me. “Are you coming?”

I chuckled as I shook my head. She tried so hard to not be like Elena and Priscila, but she loved to watch them make Osprey sweat. The only two beings on this earth that he was afraid of. Elena and Priscila. We hurried down the hallway as the screaming started.

“YOU SAID I COULD GO! I WANT TO GO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS, OSPREY! IT’S MY TURN!”

She threw a lamp at him, and it shattered against the wall as he ducked to keep it from hitting him. Annie giggled when Elena pulled out a bag of skittles before popping a few into her mouth. She glanced at us, winking as Priscila threw another object at him. Annie leaned toward the door, eagerly taking in the scene.

“SCILA, STOP! LET ME EXPLAIN!”

“NO!! I WANT TO GO! IT’S MY TURN, OSPREY! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG TO GO! HOW IS THIS FAIR?”

Scarlett’s and my mother’s scent drifted down the hallway toward us, making Annie hide behind me, gripping my shirt. My mother shook her head, smiling at us as they walked by.

“Enough, you two!”

Priscila fell silent immediately and stopped throwing things at Osprey, who had backed into a corner with his arms in front of his face. Scarlett went over to Priscila, took her hands in hers, and said, “Listen to me, Priscila. Your mother and I were able to have a quick discussion in the living room. We have agreed that you will still go on this trip, but you will go to the pack instead of the sleuth. Gerald and Annie will handle the sleuth, and you and Hannah will handle the pack. Elena and Beanie will accompany Gerald and Annie, while Adam and Mona will be going with you and Hannah.”

She glanced at Osprey. “I’m still going?”

“Yes.”

She stuck her tongue at Osprey. “Can’t you and dads stay Alphas forever? At least until I find my mate?” Priscila asked.

Our mother shook her head. “Sorry, Princess, you know that’s not how this works.”

“I know,” she said sadly, before pointing at her door. “Get out, Osprey.”

He rushed out of the room, stopping when he saw us.

“Are you happy?” He growled.

Annie peeked out from around me. “Very. You deserved that!”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

After he disappeared around the corner, I turned to Annie, grinning. “He’s going to get you back.”

“I know,” she giggled as she slid her arm through mine to lead me back down the hallway toward our rooms. “And I will spend my time finding a way to get him back. It’s all part of being siblings.”

I patted her hand as we approached her room’s door. “That it is, Annie Banannie. That it is.”