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THE SUMMONING

FREDA POV

As I made my way towards the pack meeting hall, I crossed paths with a few werewolves but all of them looked at me with disdain. I sighed heavily, and I ignored them altogether; I was already used to this, so this wasn’t the time to start thinking about that; my main focus was to get to the bottom of why I had been summoned and get back to my room quickly to wallow in my misery.

I reached the meeting hall and werewolves of our pack were flocking in. It wasn’t a family meeting like I originally thought, it was a meeting for the entire pack. I stood at the entrance contemplating whether I should just ditch the meeting but I highly doubted my pops would appreciate my disobedience. All of a sudden I got shoved to the side by a particularly large male.

“Watch it weakling.” Hector, the Beta’s son, said with a hideous laugh. I caught my balance and glared at him, he looked at me with an annoying smile on his face.

“I’m not the one whose size is only matched by their lack of self-awareness. So next time when you think about bullying someone remember that.” I spat at Hector viciously. Ever since I had come to this pack, this bastard was always picking on me. I managed to just ignore him but it seemed that he took my lack of action as a sign of weakness. I might be half human but I definitely wasn’t so weak to endure extended bullying.

Hector’s eyes widened and his bunch of friends who he came with started laughing their eyes out.

“What did you just say, Freda? How dare you.” Hector gritted his teeth in anger. His rather large frame had always been one of his insecurity so targeting me meant I hit his bull-eye perfectly.

“You heard what I said, fatso. Surely your weight didn’t affect your sense of hearing too?” I forged on; my frustration and anger about my rejection and my life as a whole fueled me.

“Why you little…” Hector marched towards me and raised his palm in an attempt to slap me but I just stared at him unfazed.

“Try it, fatso, I might be only half werewolf, but my rank still surpasses yours; I am an Alpha’s daughter. You, on the other hand, are just the son of a Beta. Remember that before you land that hit, because if you do I will make my father exile you.” I threatened him, and honestly, I didn’t know where I got the confidence to threaten him like that.

I was ninety percent sure my father wouldn’t give a damn about me being bullied. He wouldn’t bat an eye, but I needed leverage against this fatso here, and my status was perfect for this sort of scenario. I wasn't the type to body shame people or bully them because of their size, but I had to defend myself. A crowd gathered around us curiously watching the unfolding drama.

Hector stared at me with a conflicted look on his face. He wanted to land his hit, but apparently, my warning got to him, and he looked like he was seriously considering the consequences if he hit me. My threat had worked spectacularly.

“Come back next time when you actually have the balls to do something.” I delivered the final blow to his ego before putting my hands in my pocket and walking down to the pack meeting hall.

I continued to walk with my head raised high, mentally patting myself on the back at a job well done. I had put Hector in his place and now it was time to face the meeting my father had set up.

I spotted my step sister, step brother, step mother, and my father at the front facing the crowd with proud expressions. There was an extra chair placed slightly behind them and it wasn’t as luxurious as theirs and immediately I knew they reserved that for me. I stayed where I was in the crowd, trying to blend in with everyone, but my father kept staring at me.

“Freda, come up right now and sit.” I heard the stern voice of my father call me and look up to face him. With a heavy sigh, I made my way to the top of the platform. My step brother, Reed didn’t even spare me a glance as he stared straight ahead into the crowd. My step sister kept a straight face but it was the hateful glare from my step mom that got me thinking.

What did I even do to this woman? I thought as I made my way to my seat and sat down. She had always had this sort of hate towards me and god knows I have never done anything bad towards her. I ignored her for a moment and looked at my father as he rose from his seat and walked to the front to address our pack.

My father raised a hand and all the chattering in the hall ceased. My father had always been able to command absolute respect in the pack and this was one of the few things I admired about him.

“Welcome everyone.” He began with a booming voice that reverberated through the hall. “I have called this meeting to confront a dire threat to the peace of all werewolves.”

A murmur rippled through the crowd. I felt a knot of apprehension tighten in my stomach; what could be a threat to the entire werewolf race? I relaxed a bit because I felt that whatever it was, it didn’t concern me as I was human.

“For generations, the werewolf packs have maintained fragile peace with the united Vampire kingdom. However, the United Vampire Kingdom is starting to steer. Recent skirmishes with some packs are on the rise and I suspect they are about to go to war.” My father paused as he allowed the gravity of his words to sink into the crowd.

I began to feel very apprehensive. War? I haven’t even awakened my wolf and now I was hearing about some war that’s about to happen? This ignited my plans to leave this pack at cost. I wasn’t going to be caught in any war.

“Now,” My father resumed. “We stand on the brink of war. Our spies report they have been amassing their forces for a long time. I won’t sugarcoat it to you: we are strong, yes, but if we respond with violence, we will all be killed, no question about it. We are strong, yes, but against the superior numbers of the vampires and their magic. We wouldn’t last in a prolonged war.”

Disappointment and anger could be seen in their faces. A mummer of disapproval and hate for the vampires swept through the crowd. I again looked at my father in admiration; he deduced the nature of the situation accurately, and he didn’t rush to wage war. He admitted that we were outnumbered and he probably must be thinking of plans to come out of this situation. Well, no matter how much I admired him, though, I wouldn’t change my mind; I wanted to leave this pack, and I was going to enact my plan.

“However. There might be a way to avoid it altogether.” My father continued and I strained my ears to listen closely to how he was going to stop a whole war from happening.

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