Free Shifter Chronicles - Theo and Lucinda by EA Hunt

while on the pack camping trip, he had been ready to tell his child that these things happen and he should get over them. But then his son had told him who had won the competition—the half-breeds’ human daughter; a child Atlas and Bill had pranced around town like she was the second coming. Yes, she was the first female in the pack in almost twenty years, but she was human. She could not hold a position in this pack no matter what Atlas said.
    Atlas shook his head. He was tired of this. He had lived through this with Joe Gil and now he was living through this with Martin Moore. Martin and Joe had been friends and Atlas should have expected this, but for once he wanted someone not to attack his family. “Taylor has been taking the same classes your son has at the rec center, Martin. Classes in which she and Garret have been excelling at—if the reports I have been receiving are any indication. So she had every right to be there.”
    “Garret was tracking that animal, Alpha. He was ready to strike and she took it from him. If she was a shifter, she would have smelled Garret in the area and backed off. Instead she did what all humans do—take what they want and damn the consequences.”
    “Martin, you forget I was there. I watched the whole event take place. Taylor waited for the others to shift. Garret took longer to shed his clothing than the others. All were hunting prey and Taylor happened to take what Garret was taking too long to take down.”
    “He was lulling the animal into a sense of calm,” Martin replied. He was not going to lose this argument. “Once he had, she struck. That was unfair.”
    Atlas wanted to laugh. He had watched from the sidelines as Taylor mirrored the animal that she was tracking. She had been light on her feet, making sure not to make any sudden moves which would frighten the animal, causing it to bolt. When the buck had thought it smelled Taylor she had climbed a tree and taken the animal out once it was calm again. Garret had been half a mile away from the animal. His niece had tracked fair and square. “Martin—”
    “I want her punished for an unfair kill.”
    “Taylor—”
    “—is not pack. She never will be. You think because she was brought into this pack after girls have not been born to many of us, that she is granted some special treatment.”
    “Watch your tone,” Trevor said as he stood behind Atlas' desk. He had listened to the exchange, watching to see if there was any reason to step up but until now there wasn’t—until Martin had spat out his last sentence.
    Martin looked at Trevor. “What are you going to do—beat me like you beat Joe?”
    Trevor stood straighter. “I believe this conversation is over.”
    “It’s not, because you will defend your children. You will fight for them but the rest of us aren’t supposed to because you are the next Alpha. So your children are given a free pass.”
    “You think Tyson did not pay for his crimes?” Trevor protested.
    “He is still in this pack. Still walking around this town like nothing happened.”
    Trevor wanted to laugh at the man. He really wanted to believe Tyson had not come out unscathed from his altercation with Joe Gil? Tyson hadn’t really left the house in months, and if it wasn’t for Taylor going on this camping trip he would still be in his room, thinking he was the reason for all that had happened. “You know nothing of my son and how this has affected him.”
    “Obviously he wasn’t affected too much, because none of us were made aware of the boy's punishment.” Martin replied. Trevor was not the Alpha yet—Tyson's punishment should have been made known to the pack.
    “Why should you have been?” Atlas questioned. He was Alpha and the only ones who needed to know of Tyson's punishment were his parents. Amanda and Trevor had been in the room when he had disciplined his nephew. Each had agreed with the punishment, and Tyson had followed the punishment to the tee and was now slowly