Forty-Two. Paying Debts

POV- Lillia

I know that one way to access my powers is to relax, but I found it challenging while here at Urban Wolves. The familiar surroundings, the walls I grew up between, and all the memories of this place made me feel tense. And I was concerned that I couldn’t tap into my powers if I needed to while here.

But all I can sense from the Alpha and Beta couples is uneasiness. Clark has a sliver of anger in his emotions, but other than that, there is worry.

I quickly close my eyes and let my senses wander. I can identify everyone in the room by their heartbeats, and outside the room are the guards we brought. In the packhouse, I can sense the omegas going about their chores and the humans working in the shops below.

Across the street, I sense more humans and wolves shopping, with some wolves in the apartments above the shops settling down for lazy afternoons in front of the television. I recognise a man on top of the roof of one of the shops opposite us, lying down with a gun. Furrowing my brows, I concentrate on the machine in his hands, the particles that make up the components of the weapon he has positioned at our window. I recognise the molecules that make up his flesh; he’s one of Marcus’s wolves.

I return to the gun; the bullets are lined with silver and filled with a liquid. I reach out for the bullets, watching them shift into their finest parts, and I draw them towards me.

Opening my eyes and holding my hand palm out, I look at Pim and Bear.

“Roof. Opposite this room,” I tell them as a bullet appears in the air and drops into my hand one by one.

“What is the meaning of this?” Alpha Marcus cries out when he sees the bullets fall into my hand. Arald and Kyle hold the Alpha’s shoulders, pushing him back onto his seat.

“One of your wolves is pointing a gun at us, Alpha Marcus. I took away his bullets,” I state, letting the bullets go one by one on the table. Each bullet makes a noise as the silver hits the wood. Alpha Marcus’s heart beats erratically.

“Why?” Elder Diomedes asks, leaning into the back of his chair.

“It’s just for protection. We wanted to keep you safe,” Beta David stutters.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Can we start Elder Diomedes? I want to get out of this pack as soon as possible,” I reply, angry.

“We’ve taken your Delta into custody, Alpha Marcus. Do not worry. We will get the truth from him, as we will get from you,” Elder Diomedes states, nodding at Mr Breyrues. Mr Breyrues taps on the keyboard, and an image appears on the large television mounted to the wall.

“What is the meaning of this?” Alpha Marcus bellows when he sees the screen. I look over at him; his face and neck are red with anger.

“These are your financial records from the last ten years. It shows the pack’s income and expenditures… and….” Mr Breyrues says, scrolling the mouse and tapping more on the keyboard, “This is a list of the wages you’ve paid your pack members over the years for their services,” he adds. Elijah gasps, and I watch as Clark looks equally surprised.

“I-I thought you were j- just a Royal Adviser!” Alpha Marcus stutters.

“Yes, Alpha Marcus, I am. I am also the Royal’s forensic accountant and computer scientist. When you gave me access to your computer system, you gave me permission to access everything. As you can see here, your pack members who work for you earn less than two-hundred dollars a week, not including rent or utilities. From the files you have on your omegas, as you classify them, they work twelve-hour days with one day a week off.”

“Our omegas earn ten times more than that, Alpha Marcus; how can you subject your pack members to this?” Elijah asks, disgusted. I grab Elijah’s hand and squeeze gently to calm him.

“Our pack members are happy; they do not know any different, and quite frankly, we can run our pack the way we want,” Luna Cheryl states, angry.

“Cheryl!” Alpha Marcus calls out, placing his hand on her arm. She shrugs it off, looking annoyed.

“This is our pack; this is the life our members happily live. Who are we to tell them any different?” Cheryl asks.

“Mum!” Clark says.

“How can your omegas survive on that? What hope do they have? You say living in a caravan park is only temporary for them, but how many of your pack members have lived there for more than a decade? What chances of life do you give your members who look up to you?” I ask.

“They’re happy!” Luna Cheryl scowls.

“As I said earlier, the caravan park is only temporary accommodation. You were speaking to our members, and they would agree. Once they get jobs within the city, they leave the caravan park to their own apartments,” Alpha Marcus explains.

“And how often do you give these omegas those opportunities?” Elder Diomedes finally speaks up.

“We give them opportunities when they request it, but as Cheryl said, our omegas are happy with their lives,” Alpha Marcus replies.

“I was never given that opportunity,” I state, folding my arms across my chest. Alpha Marcus and Luna Cheryl look at me, and Clark’s face lights up.

“I knew it! Lillia Grey! Well, look at you, all dressed up! Who’d of thought?” Clark says, smiling.

“Lillia Grey? Lillia Grey! Is this what this is about? Some vendetta?” Luna Cheryl shouts, slamming her hands on the table.

“Luna Cheryl, sit down and calm yourself!” Elder Diomedes orders. He turns to Mr Breyrues, who nods, tapping on his keyboard.

“My apologies. We’ll talk more about that in a bit, Your Highness. Kelly?” Elder Diomedes assures me.

“Lillia Greystone-Redwood’s grandfather’s Beta intercepted this email from your gamma,” Mr Breyrues says, an email appearing on the screen. Attached to the email is the wanted poster, which Mr Breyrues clicks on. The wanted poster is one I’ve seen, with the photo of me and my mother, stating I owed hundreds and thousands of dollars.

“With the wages Avairy Redclaw received, it is impossible for her or her family to pay the amount you stated she owes on this poster. See, here are Avairy’s wages, and here are her payments of rent and utilities….” Mr Breyrues continues, tapping away and bringing up a series of documents on the screen.

“You haven’t included my wages in that, Mr Breyrues,” I add, making Alpha Marcus growl. Elder Diomedes and Mr Breyrues look at me.

“Your Majesty, please call me Kelly. Mr Breyrues makes me feel old… as for your wages… I have no record of you working for the pack.”

“She did, though. She’s been working as a maid since she was a child,” Clark states.

“Clark!” Luna Cheryl scolds.

“What?” Clark asks, looking at his parents.

“Aviary Redclaw? Is it? We knew her as Aviary Grey. She owed us money in medical fees. Aviary got sick,” Luna Cheryl states.

“Chery!” Alpha Marcus growls.

“Luna Cheryl, it is customary for packs to treat their members who get sick. It is part of the agreement made when new packs are formed. Packs are meant to be places where they care and look after their members. It is why Alphas have the power that they do. To protect!” Elijah growls.

“And your pack is not exactly poor,” Elder Diomedes comments.

“Can I ask, do you have access to Urban Wolves’ records of their medical supplies?” I ask Kelly.

“I can access them…” Kelly pauses. He turns to the keyboard while I watch the uncomfortable expressions on Alpha Marcus and Luna Cheryl’s faces.

“This is the latest inventory from the pack’s medical centre,” Kelly says, displaying a file on the screen.

“So according to this, you have a lot of herbs and potions available for treatment….” Pim finally speaks up.

“Who are you to talk to?” Alpha Marcus says, glaring at Pim.

“I am my King’s personal guard. My mother is a healer for the Royal family. I can see from the list of Fay medicines you have here that you could have treated Lillia’s mother with,” Pim continues.

“Mum was told the pack was low on stock and that it had to be prioritised. It’s why she started chemotherapy. The Pack couldn’t help her,” I say solemnly.

“Could Aviary be saved if she had been given this medicine before she got very sick?” Elijah asks.

“I’m not sure; I’m not a doctor,” Pim replies.

“Well, bring your doctor up then,” Elder Diomedes says, leaning forward. I watch Alpha Marcus move uncomfortably in his chair while Luna Cheryl stares daggers at me.

“How is your mum?” Clark asks.

“She passed,” I reply. Clark opens his mouth to say something but closes it and looks down at his fingers.

A knock is heard, and a man pokes his head through the door. I recognise him as the doctor who treated us kids when we skinned our knees or hurt ourselves when playing. Doctor Lloyd.

“Come in, Wyatt,” Alpha Marcus says reluctantly. Dr Lloyd hesitantly walks into the room, sitting in a spare seat.

“Uh, hem. You asked me to come?” the doctor asked, twiddling his fingers and looking very uncomfortable.

“Thank you for coming, Doctor. We want to ask you some questions about one of your pack members, Aviary Grey?” Elder Diomedes asks.

“Oh, yes. Aviary,” the doctor says, looking slightly relieved.

“How is she?”

“She’s dead,” Clark answers bluntly. Elijah growls, making Clark blush with shame.

“I don’t have her medical file on me,” Dr Lloyd states.

“That’s all right, I can pull it up here. You can just give me the code,” Kelly smiles, finding the file he is looking for and pulling it up on the television screen.

“I can do it,” the doctor stands when the medical platform is brought up, requiring a username and password to enter. We quietly watch the doctor type in his password and then pull up mum’s file.

“As you can see here, Miss Grey was diagnosed with cancer in December, and these are the treatments she was given to aid her,” the doctor says, returning to his seat.

“In your medical opinion, was my mother diagnosed early enough to beat her cancer?” I ask. Elijah takes my hand, but I don’t feel upset. I don’t feel anything remotely sad about going through my mother’s medical files. I want answers too, and I know from what Danni had told me... that if Mum had been given the right medicines early on, fairy medicines, she could have survived.

“Uh,” Dr Lloyd says, looking at Alpha Marcus and then at his hands.

“You will answer her, doctor. And you will tell us the truth. Was Aviary Greystone-Redclaw diagnosed early enough to be cured?” Elder Diomedes sternly adds, his powerful voice filling the room.

“Yes, if she had been given the right treatment, I could have saved her,” Dr Lloyd admits, not looking up.

“And what medicine is that?” I ask.

“Tweedia Caerulea Blumodeflor. It’s a fay medicine. It would have helped her and cured her cancer,” the doctor replies.

“That was listed in your available stock. How come it wasn’t given to her?” Pim asks.

“It was,” Dr Lloyd states, an edge of anger to his voice.

“But?” I ask. I didn’t know Mum had been given fay medicine at all; mum had given me the impression that she hadn’t received any fairy medication for her treatment.

“I wasn’t allowed to give her any more,” the doctor says, looking sad.

“By who? Who told you that?” Elder Diomedes asks. I nod; I was wondering the same thing.

“Alpha Marcus. He said the fay and witch medicines needed to be kept for more prominent wolves. That we couldn’t just give it to any old rogue who came to the pack looking for shelter,” the doctor states.

“My mother was not a rogue! She was an Alpha wolf who has more power in this room than any of the Urban Wolves pack leaders here!” I yell. I feel a hand on my arm… and look at Elijah, who is trying to calm me. But I see that he feels the same way I do.

“You are correct; she was not a rogue. She was a member of this pack, but I can only provide for the pack what I am allowed,” Dr Lloyd states.

“Alpha, Luna, Betas. Gamma Hayden. As Alpha Elijah said before, the role of leaders of a pack is to look after your pack members,” Elder Diomedes states, looking at the Urban Wolves pack leaders one by one.

“Before I came today, I had already made my decision about this pack. Meeting you was just a formality. I wanted to see what your reaction was… and am left… disappointed.”

I look at Elder Diomedes, but he doesn’t look at me.

“Alpha Marcus, Luna Cheryl, Beta David and Beta Fiona. Gamma Hayden. You are all stripped of your positions. Alpha Clark,” Elder Diomedes says, turning to Clark, “Alpha Clark, you will be attending Alpha Training Academy in January, where you will be monitored. If you excel in all your classes, you will return and take over this pack as Alpha once you turn twenty-five. In the meantime, Arald and his mate, and Kyle and his mate will run this pack for me. I will also be looking for a second-born alpha in case you do not succeed.”

“What of my parents?” Clark asks. I watch as Luna Cheryl goes to touch his arm, but he flinches.

“My son has been speaking to other Alphas regarding having them join their packs, but they will go to the Royal Pack until then.”

“Okay. Thank you for that, Your Highness. Your Highnesses,” Clark says, looking at me.

~

Edited with Grammarly