Moon Child (The Year of the Wolf #2) - Serena Akeroyd Page 0,11
before she said, “I thought they just brought their kids along to see him because, I don’t know, they couldn’t get a babysitter or something.” Her nose crinkled. “That sounds so dumb now I say it out loud. But after, they always hang out with the staff, so I just assumed…”
Ethan snorted. “Chores are a part of their punishment.”
She blinked. “Huh.”
The early days of her reign as omega, had brought great change for the pack. No longer was the totem the only place where gatherings occurred. We’d tried using the local diner, but with our people coming to learn how accessible we were willing to be for them, it just hadn’t worked out. So now, the packhouse was open to all members of the community, dealing with any issues that cropped up—be they small or large—at any time of the day or goddamn night.
That was why we were getting strangers trudging around the front vestibule at crazy o’clock.
Before, Eli’s father, Paul, had managed the children in the totem, where parents only brought them along to a pack meeting if they were in trouble. Now, it was like a kindergarten.
I’d never realized how little I liked kids until the change in pack governance—what a time to learn, huh?
“From what we’ve heard about Seth’s father, Leon, he didn’t find it hard to punish his mate, did he? So why wouldn’t he discipline Seth?”
“It’s different.”
She arched a brow. “Is it? Really? Both mates and children are gifts from the Mother, aren’t they?”
“Depends on your temperament,” I teased, loving when she laughed.
“Go on, explain,” she encouraged though.
I simply shrugged. “Parents are scared to discipline their children now, but it’s not working out so well.”
“You keep on replying to me with answers that require more questions.”
Her complaint had me smirking at her. “Isn’t that how a conversation works?”
“That’s a dialogue,” Ethan said dryly, prompting me to flip the bird his way.
When he just snorted, then reached for Knight, who’d finished sucking his mother’s tit off, and started to burp him, I shook my head.
I figured my paternal gene would kick in when the little dude was maybe four?
Thanking the Mother for my brothers, who could pick up the slack when I fell short, while still feeling pretty fucking guilty, I muttered, “Kids are getting more and more powerful each generation.”
Nodding his agreement, Ethan continued, “We don’t know why, but it’s true. There weren’t always so many beta-types in the pack. With more betas, that’s great, because it means the upper management of the pack is dealt with. Eventually, they’ll take on council roles, and if not that, then they’ll be able to help the pack out with the businesses we own and things like that.
“But parents dote on their kids, and it just means they’re spoiled all the time.”
“You can dote on your child without spoiling them,” she pointed out.
I shook my head. “How does someone who isn’t a beta tell a beta what to do?”
Her mouth rounded. “Oh, I see what you mean. Parents aren’t as powerful as their kids?”
“Yep, so they bring them to Eli for him to throw the fear of the Father into them.”
Her eyes rounded at that. “I’ve never heard you say that before.”
“What? Mentioning the Father? It’s not something you do often, in case you invoke him.”
Her mouth rounded next. “Are you shitting me? Where the hell is all this talk coming from?”
I snickered at her bewilderment. “I guess we figured we’d stay silent on you until we could keep you barefoot and chained to the kitchen.”
Before she could complain, a maid came in to grab our breakfast dishes. She was new, because the old one had been cast out of the pack for helping the council stage their siege on the packhouse. Hayley and her mate were lucky to be alive. I wasn’t so sure if I was alpha, I’d have been so kind, but Eli was proving to be a good leader. Dominant, strong, assured, but fair. Just.
The total opposite of his father.
“Some chain,” she remarked wryly as she watched Ella, the new maid, pick up the plates, set them on a tray, and then retreat with a respectful nod at us.
When she sank back against the chair, muttering, “How do you invoke a spirit?”
“You piss Him off,” Ethan replied.
“Really?” She hummed. “How do you do that?”
“Feel like pissing a deity off, huh?” I teased.
Her nose crinkled. “Not exactly. I don’t want to piss anyone off, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a talent for it.”