A Pull Between Tradition And Family

"Show us your honor Ironclaw. Stand by tradition and kill the Bloodless or you Dethrone!" Tam spoke with incredible conviction.

His words made Ironclaw pause.

All eyes were on him.

It was obvious that Tam's line of thought was in line with that of the pack.

A Bloodless was a curse on a pack.

Staying within the pack signified that pack will be cursed by the ancestors.

For this reason, he had to be ripped apart.

Ironclaw paused, and then subconsciously, he slowly turned to his wife and mate, Denver.

She still held her son tightly in her embrace.

Her eyes spoke of her option without remorse for it.

Then again, she was a mother.

There was no other choice for her to pick.

She would rather die than let Gray go.

Tam's words came from behind Ironclaw.

"The ancestors blessed you with a lot of cubs. Getting rid of one abomination will make you lose... NOTHING!"

Those words sounded reasonable.

In fact, for such a people where tradition was more important than the hearts beating in their chests, it was the most logical thing to do.

However, no one could move a muscle at the moment. This was a decision the Alpha of the pack had to take and no one else.

After all, he was also a father.

At this moment, Ironclaw felt a tight pull between Tradition and Family.

For the first time in his life, both of them did not tali and he was forced to pick a side.

After all, as Alpha, he was also a custodian of the tradition, and no one knew his responsibility better than him.

It was a pull between Tradition and Family.

A pull between being a Father or a Leader.

Definitely, if this was another child of the pack, Ironclaw would not hesitate one bit.

But now, he remained frozen.

Gray could see his father's retractable claws pierce into his skin, as he fought within himself a decision to make.

Little drops of blood fell, evidence of his difficult decision taking form in his mind.

Ironclaw's veins bulged and for the first time through out Gray's entire twelve years of coming to this world, he could see his father's eyes go misty.

As Gray's parents looked at one another, about a million words were spoken without the movement of their lips or tongues.

A language only spoken by Alpha to his Mate.

It was in their subtle eye movements and even their slow shake of the head.

Ironclaw suddenly turned to Gray.

He frowned deeply as he suddenly grabbed his son by his shirt and pulled him closer.

This action of his surprised Gray and he thought for a faint second that this man was definitely going to kill him.

However, amidst Gray's struggle to break free, his father, being stronger held him firm.

"What is our Creed!?" Ironclaw asked.

Gray still tried to struggle, but his father fixed his gaze on him.

"What... Is... our... CREED!?"

Gray looked Ironclaw in his dark eyes, a terrible contrast from Gray's, a reason for his name as he carried the same eyes as Ironclaw's father.

Even if it was death, Gray was not afraid.

And this was not because he could not truly die.

It was because he was just not afraid of it.

However, in Ironclaw's gaze, he saw something that surprised him, a focus and truth to one's words as a man.

Subconsciously, Gray found himself reciting the very words he hated the most.

Although still with a hatred, he said it anyway.

"In moonlit unity, our bloodline binds, a werewolf family, forever entwined."

Ironclaw smiled, "that's my boy."

He stood to his feet, "You heard my son. A man is nothing if he can not stand by his own.... I, Ironclaw, descendant of the Iron Bedded Fur throne of the Fang Empire, and Alpha of this Mirror Wall tribe would relinquish my position as Alpha than..."

~Howl~

~Howl~

~Howl~

There were sudden howls that interrupted the ceremony from outside.

Almost immediately, Dan rushed into the cave.

"Papa! Papa!! It's an emergency."

Ironclaw immediately stepped forward, "What is the emergency?"

"It's... Werecats."

"Werecats!? Are they attacking?" As he asked, the Weres behind him already resumed their low growls.

This was not the first time that they were having problems with Werecats.

These were Werecats were a different pack that shared this expanse of forest with them.

There was only so much food and resources to go around both packs.

However, their drag with them does not usually happen until it's winter.

After all, that was when food was most scarce.

It was surprising to see them in the middle of spring.

More over those howls were not just normal howls.

Everybody could hear the obvious pain in them.

"No, they are... Wounded. Many of them!"

The moment Dan said this, Ironclaw turned to the rest of the elders, Denver and Tam.

They all had frowns on their faces as they guessed the same thing.

However, Tam said it first, "Hunters!"

Ironclaw nodded, and he immediately rushed outside.

All the Weres rushed outside too.

All except Denver.

Gray was still bleeding from his hands.

She first dropped him against the altar.

Then she brought her wrist to her face as she bit into it.

Then she opened his mouth and dropped a few drops.

This was a treatment method that only worked within pack members.

"Swallow!" She instructed sternly, "It will heal your wound."

Gray found drinking blood to be absolutely disgusting. However, his mother gave him no choice.

She forced her wrist into his mouth.

Slowly, he began to heal at his arms.

She nodded, "Stay here, we have things to handle outside. When we are done, I'll come back for you."

Immediately she rushed outside.

Gray on the other hand, felt exhausted.

He had truly lost a significant amount of blood.

He wanted nothing more than to die right now. And he meant that literally.

Once he died, he would wake up with every wound totally healed.

Everyone had left the cave. As he laid against the altar tiredly, he dug his hand into his pocket as he brought out his pocket knife.

His goal was simple. He was going to kill himself like had always done and then wake up again full of strength.

Sluggishly, he brought the blade to his neck and lifted his neck to do the deed.

However, high up, through the opening that the moon light came down on the altar, he saw someone peeping at him.

He did not even need to see the face clearly before he knew that it was his younger sister Cherry.

Filled with curiosity about the Bloodline Awakening ceremony, she found her way, climbing unto the hill to peep the happenings below.

Both of them met eyes and she subconsciously waved at him a little.

However, Gray suddenly realized something the moonlit had not shifted from the Altar it was his sister's peeping head covering the moonlit at an angle that had given the impression that the moon had moved.

Without a doubt, Gray wanted to scold her for even climbing up there in the first place.

However, he suddenly heard other voices from up there.

"Check it out guys, it's the little sister of the Bloodless."

Gray knew that voice, and from the way Cherry panicked before she retracted, things were obviously not good.