Page 6

Coach Namir

I leaned on my truck that was parked on the side of the road as I glanced at my phone. It was almost morning, and I was out in South Georgia with not a single building in sight. Just land that stretched in both directions. The stars were faint and far apart from one another with no sign of the moon anywhere. Just clouds and night sky. So, I looked back down to my left and right and continued to wait.

“What the fuck is taking so long?” I muttered, scratching at my head. I looked at the time again and saw a message from the school. It was the usual safety notification due to the girls missing. I crossed my arms over my chest with a heavy sigh and kicked at the dirt again. My ears throbbed and pulsated against the cool air. Listening to the sounds of nature, I saw headlights in the distance suddenly turn off. I kept my posture, unmoved until the white Toyota I knew belonged to my sister slowly pulled up against the crumbling road.

Picking my nose up in the air to get a sniff, I waited until the doors opened on both sides and smiled when I saw Maze. Short hair tapered in the back, she grinned, and walked up in her usual black shorts and tank top. I could still see the bruises on her body but then, that’s when I noticed the driver. Her husband. Draco Holmes. He had his hair pushed back into a ponytail with that one streak of Maggie Grey going back. He was dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt like he’d just gotten back from a pickup game and before I could say anything, I saw the back door open and to my surprise…

It was my oldest brother… Seth. I stood upright when he stepped out with a head full of hair widely spread about behind the rubber band he used to keep his hair out of his face. His bright hazel eyes, almost always mistaken for yellow, stood out against his dark complexion, he chucked his chin up towards me with a smile. I looked at Maze instead.

“Before you say anything,” she cautioned with her hand out as she slowly stepped towards me. “Hear him out…”

“You know he attacked our Mom–––”

“Mom has forgiven him a loooong time ago, Namir. We have a bigger issue at hand here…”

I stared at Seth, who simply grinned with a slow blink of his eyes.

“What is it?” I said.

“Seth thinks Ty might be working with his great aunt.” She pointed to her husband, who continuously sized me up with a frown .

“What?” I said again, standing up right. “Who told you this?”

“I told you he wouldn’t believe it,” Seth said with a helpless shrug. “I was told this through a credible source.”

“And you trust him?!” I exclaimed. “This made-up source?!”

“A woman came to me in my dreams. It’s not made up, baby brother.” Seth smiled. I threw my hand up in exasperation.

“Maze?!”

“Well,” she started. “Draco also thinks his aunt is up to no good but she’s playing the long game. If the pack teams up with The First Family behind closed doors, do you understand what type of power and control that will have on the entire Underground?”

I stared at my sister before looking towards her mute husband, who continued to glare at me. He had an issue with me, that much I understood, but Maze must have kept him in check to where he wasn’t going to say a word.

“This is where I come in,” Seth said. “I’m going to single handedly take over Ty’s position and my rightful place as alpha and pack leader. I’m sure they know I’m already here. There have been whispers of my return.”

“You don’t even like coming down here!” I argued. “You don’t like shit to do with the pack because of how they treated your mom and her side of the family! Why are you suddenly coming down thinking anything belongs to you because you’re older?”

“Things…” Seth exhaled as he looked up. “Have changed, in my life…It’s different now. I want to understand my family and people better–––”

“BULLSHIT!” I barked with a shriek. “Maze?! What are we really doing?! Why am I really out here?! Anything dealing with Ty don’t have shit to do with me, not anymore!”

“It actually does because if Maggie gets involved or she’s somehow dragged in this–––”

“And how do you know he won’t turn around and betray you, Maze?”

“Because I don’t give a fuck about none of this shit!” Seth snapped with a bark before crossing his wrists together against his waist. “If we’re being honest, I don’t give a fuck about vampires, goblins, ghosts, and goons! None of this moves me! I’ll be the first wolf to expose all of this shit and bring us up to the top where the true power is.”

Something wasn’t right. Seth hasn’t been around in years after being kicked out. Him popping up out of nowhere had to mean something else. I just couldn’t figure out what his true motive was but it damn sure wasn’t to help our sister in any capacity. I looked towards Maze, who puckered her lips at me .

“Is this what you want?” I asked. “Huh? You want this same bullshit. We do just fine living between above and below–––”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I intend on starting my own pack here and I… I need you to stand by my side.”

I looked up at the sky, exasperated. I just left one dysfunctional family and now I was being asked to start a new one.

“It won’t be like before!” she exclaimed. “Namir, listen to me. It won’t be like before…Draco feels the same. If we could combine forces…and take her down while Seth takes control of Ty…He will control above and we will control below.”

“ We ?”

She looked towards her husband with a soft smile. A smile I’d rarely seen cross her face, and this is my sister we’re talking about! I’d seen her mess with men and women consistently for years and she was married to this?!

“Draco and I,” she said. “He understands more than anyone the dynamics of a wolf and what a pack means…so he is comfortable letting us be the face of the new pack but he will be a part of it on the back end as well…This will be the first of its kind…a hybrid of vampire and wolves collective––– ”

“You just accused Ty of the same thing you’re doing now! Are you crazy?!” I snapped.

“I’m not! At some point all of this vampire, wolf mess has to stop! That was our ancestors, not us.”

“So if they stop going around killing and draining–––”

“What do you think will happen when you really start to fall for Maggie or are you just with her just because she’s forbidden?” Maze questioned. “What happens if she gets pregnant or…”

As soon as she said it, I saw her eyes twitch and nervously dart towards her husband. She must have masked the scent well because I would have caught it on the first word that left her tongue.

“You’re pregnant,” I said in complete shock. Maze’s eyes became submissive under my stare with a small nod.

“It wasn’t planned–––”

“What the fuck is happening right now…” I said out loud with my hand going down my face.

“Enough of this pointless reunion, can we all come to some sort of agreement not to get in the other person’s way?” Seth asked as his piercing yellow eyes stared at me for a response. “I’m coming for my family. Our sister will start her own…what are you going to do, Namir? It’s really a simple question.”

Maze pleaded with me once more. “Namir, I need you by my side. If we are to gather more wolves…and there ar e so many lone wolves…We can really have anyone join our pack!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Sirens, nymphs! Faes! Anybody! We can be our own political power and knock Wilhelmina off her throne! It’s time for new blood to take control. You can be alpha right alongside me. Maggie will have your back for sure…and she will be protected because they’re going to come after her.”

“Who is going to come after her?” I asked.

“Did you think harboring the moon to yourself would keep what she is hidden?” Seth asked. “I spoke with Ernie…Cousin Ernie up north and even he knows about the girl who is supposedly the moon. Some of them salivate at the thought of being near her…some think about killing her. Some think about taking her…and you know what I mean by that. Lucky for you,” Seth said with his hand on his chest, “the moon doesn’t do shit but put me to sleep.”

“Because your human mother isn’t one of us,” I retorted.

“And neither is your bitch–––”

“STOP IT! Both of you! Just stop!” Maze screamed, stopping me just in time before I launched at Seth. He raised his hands up with a laugh before slowly turning around to walk off.

“It’s really simple, Namir… I can do this with you by my side.” She stepped towards me, seeing the ice cold stare down she got from our mama. “You and I can start our own pack and alliance with The First Family like Ma ggie and Draco or…you say no and hope to not get in me or Seth’s way. The three of us can be alphas and live in peace. Maybe Ty can still have some of the old, Seth can have the new and we can start our own…and I know, I know you don’t have a desire to be an alpha…but maybe you can just have my back. They won’t fully respect me unless you’re by my side. I’ll handle the responsibilities. I just want your support as my brother.”

I looked at Seth as he leaned against the hood of the car and stared at me with a twitching eye. He was off. Everything in me said not to trust him, even when he flashed a smile.

“I’ve already spoken with our father,” Seth started calmly as he picked at the paint of the Toyota with his nail.

“He knows you’re trying to take Ty’s position?”

“What do you think?”

“What does your mother think? What does she say about this? You’ve been above ground for years living your life away from this and out of nowhere, you came down here to take from Ty? Something you have no idea about. You have no idea what it's like to be a wolf…to be a pack or family. You were raised human and last time I checked, you preferred it.”

Seth’s eyes went cold as he masked his emotions, becoming nothing more than a blank face .

“Like I said, things changed.”