Page 12 of Hell and Hexes
I pulled a charm out of my pocket and set it on the table in front of us. It was a purple rabbit’s foot with lines of glitter on the fur. I’d made a bunch of these early in the year because a witch who was a therapist never knew when she needed to talk to someone in private. The moment I walked in, I’d pinched the rabbit’s foot to activate it. I figured it was a good time to put it in plain view and reassure Bart that just as no one holding one of my charms was seen coming or going from my office, no one lurking outside his cabin would have any idea what the heck we were talking about—even with super-duper werewolf hearing.
“He did the right thing, Bart. And because of that, he was faced with a choice of either being shunned or killed.”
A muscle twitched in the werewolf’s jaw. “He was spying on us for Clinton.”
“And when he realized Clinton was trying to pin something on your pack that you all didn’t do and when he realized my sister was caught in the middle and in danger, he stepped up. That’s a hell of a lot more important to me than preferring one style of leadership over another.”
“It’s more than that. He’s a traitor,” Bart insisted.
“Because he felt it should be okay to have two packs on the mountain? That people should be able to want to live differently and not be exiled and shunned because of that?” I let that sink in for a moment. “You were his friend, Bart. You knew him better than probably anyone else in this pack. Is Stanley a traitor just because Dallas says so or because in your heart you know that to be so?”
He sighed. “I don’t blame him; really, I don’t. But let’s face it, Dallas isn’t going to let this thing with Clinton go. It’s past the point of reconciliation, and it’s embarrassing for him to have his own son snatch a section of territory and form his own pack. I picked my side, and now I gotta stick with it.”
“I don’t fault you for that, Bart. I’m still holding out hope that there can be a peaceful solution here, but I don’t blame you at all for being loyal to your pack. I’m just asking you to consider other loyalties you might have.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Stanley. He’s having a hard time of it. I’m worried that he might think he made the wrong choice when he took exile over death.”
Bart sat up in alarm, wincing and reaching out to grab his thigh with the motion. “I thought he was doing okay. I mean, I saw him there working at Petunia’s on the cars. He was talking to a couple of mermen about something or another. Didn’t look to me like he was regretting anything.”
So, hehadnoticed his former friend, all while pretending to ignore him.
“Imagine having to live away from the werewolves you’ve spent your entire existence with. Imagine them not talking to you or even acknowledging your presence. Your friends. Your family. Nobody will even look at you. Shifting into wolf form just makes you feel more alone. You can’t even hunt without missing your pack.” I remembered something Shelby had said. “And at night during the full moon, you sit on your back porch and hear the howls up on the mountain and know that you’ll never be a part of that again.”
Bart swiped a quick hand under his eyes. “Can’t do nothing about that, Sylvie. Dallas forbade us from having any contact with Stanley. Clinton did the same with his pack. If someone caught one of us talking to him or hunting with him, we’d be in big trouble. Maybe even find ourselves exiled as well if Dallas is in a bad mood.”
“What if it wasn’t forbidden? Would you see him then?”
He looked at me as if I were crazy. “Of course I would. He’s my friend. I mean, hewasmy friend.”
“So, you forgive him for spying on Dallas? For exposing Clinton’s plans?”
Bart squirmed, looking down at his leg. “Him exposing Clinton’s plans is what redeems him in my opinion. I still ain’t happy about him spying on Dallas, but I get how people might want a different sort of leader. There’s just things in place to address that.”
“Challenges. Which are to the death.”
“They’re not always to the death,” Bart protested. Then he met my gaze and lowered his eyes again. “Okay, most of the time they’re to the death. But yeah. If someone wants a different alpha, that’s what they do. It’s the way it’s always been.”
“What if someone wants a different alpha but doesn’t want tobethat alpha? Doesn’t the pack have some kind of say in the leader they get? Do you honestly feel the best leadership qualities are whoever can physically beat and kill anyone else in the pack?”
“It’s tradition,” he argued. “And no, it takes more than that. But when it comes down to it, the best at anything else in the world is gonna lose out to the strongest. That’s why the strongest leads.”
“And how long would the strongest lead if one hundred wolves all attacked him at once? Or just left? Let’s say no one wants to have Dallas as an alpha, so they just left, like Clinton did with his pack. Is Dallas going to attack them with the ten or so wolves that remain? He can’t be an alpha or even a force on this mountainside if no one follows him.”
Bart sighed. “Look, Sylvie, I get where you’re going with this, but me standing up against Dallas is only gonna get me killed. Clinton and his pack are probably all going to die in the next month or so anyway, and that will serve as a lesson to anyone who is thinking of doing what you’re saying. Life here ain’t bad. Dallas isn’t a bad alpha. I don’t have any problem with other people leaving. I don’t have any problem with there being two or three packs, or people being lone wolves, or any of that. But I don’t want to be the head on the chopping block if I go against what Dallas says.”
“Someone needs to make a stand, Bart,” I told him. “Stanley was brave enough to risk himself for what he thought was right. Others need to do the same.”
He sighed and rubbed his leg. “Guess I’m just not as brave.”
“I’m not asking you to challenge Dallas or confront him or even leave the pack,” I said. “I just want you to visit Stanley, to give him some of the companionship he needs. I think if you’d still be his friend, he’d be okay.”
Bart was silent for a long time, then slowly shook his head. “Dallas would find out, and I’d get kicked out of the pack.”
“And you’d have a friend in Accident to hunt with, to pal around with,” I told him. “It might happen. Dallas might find out, and although my sisters and I are trying to change things in the pack, I can’t guarantee that you won’t get exiled. But I’ve got an idea to help keep this all secret, to keep it so no one knows. No guarantees, but I think I can fix it so you can hang out with Stanley at least in a private area where you can talk. And I’ll work on something where the pair of you can go hunting on one of the other mountains without getting caught.”
His expression turned hopeful. “Really?”
