Isabel's Choice

Chapter 50 - Lars

"Good morning, Alpha," Eino greets me, rubbing his eyes, "I hope that delicious thing you are cooking is my prize for having summoned me at this early hour. What is that? It smells amazing."

"It's for Isa. I am making a Sea baby," I announce, a bit proud that I have learned to make this fancy pancake that only needs a spoon of flour. It looks like nothing at the beginning but puffs out of the pan in only twenty minutes. Ben's human Luna had sent us the recipe some months ago - a cute attachment to the birth announcement of their male. With all the craziness - good and bad - that happened this winter, Isa never got to test it.

"You are making a Sea baby for your mate who just lost your pup?" Eino asks innocently and the cast iron skillet, filled with batter - that I was about to put in the oven - flies frisbee-like into the wall on my left.

A six-pound metal frisbee colliding with a tiled wall makes a lot of noise and a lot of damage, but Eino doesn't blink. We stare at each other until the ceramic and concrete pieces finish rolling on the floor and the kitchen is again silent.

Almost, there is only a discrete plopping sound of the batter raining randomly from the ceiling. 

"Give hug?" His question is rhetorical, because he lounges at me with wolf speed, wrapping his arm around my neck and pushing his dreads against my cheek.

"I am so angry, Eino."

"You are not angry, you are sad," my brother whispers soothingly the correction Kari always made to our mislabeled emotions. "It will work out next time."

"I am angry at myself. There won't be a next time. Fuck pack continuity," I mutter, rubbing my chest to calm down Lightning who is going berserk hearing my blasphemy. 

Eino frowns, in agreement with my wolf, and moves away from me.

"Let's clean this up before your Luna sees it. Just in case you change your mind and want to ever have a shot at working on pack continuity with her again. Or, you know, live," he mutters, while he gets busy picking up broken tiles from the floor.

"Actually, bro, I wanted to talk to you about something else. Here."

I hold in front of his eyes the invitation to Peter's ceremony I got yesterday. He will be taking over the pack mind from Jake three days from now. 

The Beta wrinkles his nose at the greasy note, then nods approvingly.

"OK, I will make myself available. Do I need to bring a date?"

"I was actually thinking you could come alone...and in a shift suit."

My usually quick-to-respond brother looks at me confused.

"Do you want to challenge him?"

"Yes. And I was thinking you could offer the challenge...if you want."

"That makes no sense, then his pack mind will be mine, and then I have to transfer it to you..." he answers innocently, making me shout in frustration.

"Bro. Focus."

Eino barks angrily at me, spreading his hands open and dropping the shards he had just collected.

"Focus on what??? I don't understand this convoluted Luna speak. What are your orders?"

"I don't have orders. There is a pack transfer happening to a neighbor. The incoming Alpha is not trustworthy and, in these times more than ever, I need to have trustworthy neighbors, Eino."

"I can challenge him myself and be the first Alpha that holds two strategic packs, one sharing the border with the humans and one with the witches. But I decided a while ago that firsts are overrated. I did that to keep my sanity when you guys beat me to everything."