Page 34 of Henri's Little One
“The ability to warn us of future political upheaval so that we can get the loup garou out of harm’s way is important to all of us. Although our people fight for their country, it’s good to be able to warn the innocents, so they don’t get caught up in the carnage.” Marc said as he sipped his coffee in between bites of a turnover.
“Too true. I’m hoping for a heads up on future natural disasters, where we can help ourselves as well as put a bug in the ear of some important humans so they can ready their relief organizations for what’s to come. I’m afraid that there will be many more snowstorms, hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, and mudslides rather than less with the change of climate. I’ve lived longer than the rest of you and heard the tales of the little ice age in the early nineteenth century. It was not a good time for the poor,” Gabriel added.
Henri nodded. “I’ve heard of it, too, from my parents and uncle. The Thames in England froze over, and they had a frost fair. The aristocrats enjoyed themselves skating on the ice, but the poor suffered. Remember, you have only one year on me.”
Marc smiled. “Sometimes I forget you’re also an old man.” His eyes sparkled. Henri and the others laughed.
“We’ve spent too many hours on planes this past year. With all of us finding our Mates and troubleshooting the packs, we haven’t kept up with our work at Garou. I’m afraid it might suffer from our neglect, and that adversely affects the stipend the packs depend upon.” Rémy adjusted his seat to lean further back. The big man needed plenty of room.
“We hired excellent seconds, both loup garou and human, and they train their backup well. Look at Julien schooling Richard. Richard will be Julien’s second in that division soon enough,” Armand assured Rémy.
“This is not the first time there has been a great deal of activity that pulled the council away from looking after Garou.” Julien put his cup down on the saucer.
“That’s true, at least this time it was for something that was good for both the people and us.” Gabriel’s gaze strayed to Kane, and he smiled.
“Strong bonds mean peace. Because we are all mated and not challenging each other, we can bring the Russians to heel and make the Europeans recognize our place as The Council and their place as a body of loup garou that is a quasi-independent entity, but strictly under our purview.” Armand’s voice was quietly firm when he adopted this no-nonsense tone which the other loup garou learned to heed.
Etienne ended the conversation. “I want to see what Julio’s up to, he’s got that look in his eye.”
“Go ahead. I may take a nap. We’ve gone nonstop for weeks. First Donal, then Julio, followed almost immediately by Richard and Vitas, my head is still spinning.” Rémy yawned.
“And you’re the youngest, think of all of us old men…” Etienne rejoined.
“Old, my posterior end.” Rémy pushed the button to completely recline his seat.
Armand commented dryly, “It’s all right, Rémy, I’ve heard the wordassbefore.”
The others laughed, and Rémy blushed. Henri decided to check on Vitas. He was new to the Mates and probably a bit overwhelmed by them, although Julio seemed to be looking after him. Etienne’s Julio was a gods-send. In one way or another, he looked after all the Mates. Julio had an old soul. Henri stood and walked over to the other side of the plane.
§ § §
Vitas was having fun, a concept foreign to him ever since his family was forced to leave Ireland for Russia. The Mates tested his gift and then began to see who could tell the most outrageous but believable lie. Julio was making sure that he fit right into the group. His stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Vitas felt a hand on his shoulder just as Donal was about to let another tall tale rip.
Knowing it had to be Henri, Vitas inclined his head and kissed his Mate’s hand.
“How did you know it was mine?” Henri asked in a wry tone.
“Remember, I’m full loup garou. I know our customs. Another Alpha or Beta would never touch me. In the old days, it would mean a fight to the death, and the factotums have wives, so they aren’t interested. It could have been Dr. Artis, but I’m not sick, and if I were, you would be with me.” Vitas glanced up and lightly brushed Henri’s knuckles with his mouth a second time.
“Kissy face…mwah…mwah,” Ian teased. He was the biggest jokester of the group, yet he carried the heaviest academic load and worked as an independent painting contractor, had ten employees and was about to buy his fifth truck. Ian knew how to be serious, he just chose not to be in his limited downtime.
When Vitas had found out what Ian did, he wondered aloud why Rémy permitted his Mate to be so involved in something other than him. Ian answered simply, “Because he loves me and wants me to be happy.”
The North American loup garou council was as different from the council in Russia as the day was from night. According to the tale told earlier by Sean, before the advent of the Mates, matters were more formal, but challenges to the death were rare because Armand frowned upon them.
Sean said, “When Armand became The Alpha, challenges were common until he decided that the council and packs were losing too many good loup garou to the pit.”
“What did he do to stop them?” Vitas had an interest because, in his experience, council wolves were very aggressive, and challenged each other for the smallest slight.
“After Armand had made that decision, he insisted on taking on the challengers first, and if the challenger survived Armand, he was free to challenge whomever he liked.”
“Didn’t that put Armand in a great deal of danger?” Vitas shivered in horror at the idea his Henri might do something that was, in his opinion, so foolish.
Sean shrugged. “Armand is very strong. At first, he had takers. After about a half-dozen council and pack Alphas had met the gods early, the challenges slowed to a trickle.”
“Obviously, they didn’t want to face The Alpha in the pit. It would be almost preordained that they would lose,” Vitas observed.
“The Alphas learned to go to Armand or their council Alpha with their problems and that they would get a fair hearing. They also learned that an unintended insult should not result in death. Until Armand met me, there had been no challenges for years. Then La Farge challenged Armand.”
