The Broken Crown

Unraveling

"How are your parents?" Oliver asks as he takes a seat across from me at the dining room table. Placing his cloth napkin in his lap, Oliver picks up his fork and begins cutting into his apple Bostock, looking across to me as I sip on the coffee in my hands. "I knew your father growing up, nice guy...sad he had to leave Crimson Lock for Evercrest Ridge."

"He is well, but being Gamma is a stressful position," I respond, wondering why he thinks my father would have to leave Crimson Lock. My father left to be with my mother - his mate. Looking outside the window, I gaze across the yard covered in snow and evergreen trees forming a wall around the back of Oliver's property.

Watching me take a sip of my coffee, Oliver leans back in his chair, as if to briefly inspect me. "You look so much like your mother." I've never heard that before. My parents have told me I look more like my dad's mother who passed away when I was just seven. I doubt Oliver has ever met my mother, but I know he is just trying to be a kind host. "A splitting image of her."

Shaking my head, I cock my head to the side. "I've never heard that before," I comment, "Did you know my mother before my dad moved packs?"

"I knew your mother..." Oliver trails off, eyes still focused on me as something just feels off. "Anyway, as for plans for the day. I will be going forward to my Steward to inform him of your visit to Crimson Lock and the news you bring." Oliver goes back to his breakfast, commenting on how his chef did a fine job with breakfast this morning. My eyes trail back to the trees outside, looking to the woods as I wonder if Crimson Lock pack members are lurking back there in the cold shadows of winter, wondering who I am and why I have come here. "Steward Cade has been in mourning for some though, he may not be ready to hear from you for a little."

I'm confused. Oliver's letter informed me that I would be able to speak to the Steward almost the moment I would arrive, but when I arrived last night, it seemed like I may have to wait a day...but now I may have to wait longer it seems. Why? Why would Oliver invite me here if the Steward would not be ready to speak with me yet? "I thought I was only here to speak with the Steward?" I question, raising an eyebrow as Oliver looks back up to me.

"Why not also take some time to learn about the pack your father came from?"

He's right, I've never taken time to even come to Crimson Lock. My grandparents on dad's side would always visit us in Evercrest Ridge territory and my family never took the trip up to Crimson Lock. Father always spoke highly of this pack, the territory, and the pack members, but yet I was never brought to his childhood home to experience any of it. "Does Crimson Lock know someone from Evercrest Ridge is here?" I ask, knowing Oliver's response will let me know if I will really be able to have free range here or not.

"They will. They already know someone new is in town, but they do not know who or from where."

Getting to his feet, Oliver invites me to follow him, reaching out his hand for me to take. Placing my hand in his, he begins leading me back towards the staircase, my wolf uneasy as we follow Oliver up the staircase. As he opens the door to a room filled with books and an antique leather couch before the window, Oliver motions for me to take a seat on the couch. Following along, I place myself on the couch and cross my legs, looking around to all of the bookshelves present. There are pack history books from every Alpha in Crimson Lock history. The last two on the shelf with the other collections are from Nixon Maxwell and Lily Maxwell, a marble bookend holding them up. Though Lily Maxwell had the shortest run as Alpha due to the short timeframe between her position being given and her death.

"If I can be completely transparent with you, Evelyn, I called you here because of current pack issues." Oliver takes a seat beside me, opening up an older book with a red leather cover. "Crimson Lock grows tired of having someone beside an Alpha governing them... Steward Cade has only put the pack through more stress since his daughter died."