The Tribrid's Return

Dark Moon

Athena's P.O.V.

I can feel my wolf, Celeste, jumping around anxiously in my mind, as I study the faces of each man staring back at me, one by one. Most of them are looking at me with wonder, like I'm the most magnificent thing they've ever seen. I can even feel the excitement and surprise radiating off of them with my empathetic powers. One of them, however, that I don't know the name of, is staring at me with a small grimace, and the vibe he's giving isn't a good one. I stare at him for a long while, not breaking eye contact as he continues to hold his glare.

"Something you'd like to share with the group? I can FEEL that negative emotion dripping off of you like slime.", I say to him, making his eyes widen suddenly.

Callan looks at me with furrowed brows, before leaning over, "You can feel emotions?"

"I can do a lot of things, and that's one of them. Everyone else in this room is accepting of me and they all have a lot of questions, they're just too afraid to be the first one to speak up.", I say to him as I smile at the men in the room, "Except this one. I can't place the emotion exactly, but I know it's not a good one.", I tell Callan as I look back at the man and point at him.

The man snarls at me, his wolf's attempt at intimidating me. Callan stands up and growls at him, though, instantly pulling the man out of the stare down he was having with me.

"Gregory, care to voice your concerns?", Callan asks him in a low and threatening voice, "We said that we would answer any questions or concerns you guys might have once she was done talking. Now would be the chance to speak up so we can clear the air."

I can feel his mood shift a little, before a bitter taste coats my mouth from his sudden emotion change towards Callan, when Callan starts speaking to him.

"I don't like this one.", Celeste says to me as she watches Gregory, before letting out a low growl in my mind, "I don't trust him."

"I don't like him either. He won't try anything, though, since I can feel that he's scared of me.", I tell her as I sit and continue to stare at him, waiting for him to speak and show me an opening in the wall he's built in his mind.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great speech, by the way. Your presentation was really on point.", Celeste says sarcastically, pulling her attention away from Gregory as she rolls her eyes at me.

"I just wanted to make sure they knew not to mess with me.", I tell her as I a little on the inside.

Celeste settles down a little, before letting out a small huff as she lays her head down on her paws, "You're going to make a great Luna one day, Athena."

Gregory finally looks away from me and over at Callan, "I don't trust her. She's been away from this pack for five years and we don't even know her. Who's to say she's not working with some witches, or vampires, or even another pack to take over our territory?", he asks Callan.

Gavin scoffs from the other side of the table, "Because she's not. I know my sister and she's the most loyal person I've ever met, even to the people who turn their backs on her."

"No one asked you, boy!", Gregory barks out at him in an authoritative manner.

I was expecting Gavin to cower down submissively at how Gregory reacted towards him, but he just rolls his eyes at him in response, "Alpha Callan told you that all three of us would answer any questions or concerns, so I'm simply replying to your concern. It seems appropriate that I'm the one to answer it, since I'm the one that knows her best."

"Damn! It looks like you aren't the only one who will have a high standing in the pack one day. Little bro would make an amazing Beta." Celeste says to me as she perks her ears up in surprise.

"Never doubted him one bit about that." I tell her as I smile at him.

When Gregory directs his anger towards Gavin, a c***k finally opens in the wall he has built up in his mind and I feel it now, the emotion that bitter taste is: deceit. Then, a name whispers in my head and I look over at Callan with furrowed brows.

"Who's Estelle?" I ask Callan.

Callan's eyes go wide at the name and I already know the answer before he even replies with the guilt written on his face, "Estelle is my girlfriend." he replies as he looks down at the table in shame.

"And my daughter." Gregory says to me, as his eyes narrow even more at me, as anger radiates off of him.

"I think I'm starting to catch on." Celeste says to me as she lets out a protective growl.

"You need to calm down. I can't focus on reading him while you're raging inside of my head. It already drains me. I don't need to drain myself trying to control you on top of that, as well." I tell her.

"He's our mate, though. Gregory wants to hurt him." she says to me as she starts pacing back and forth inside of my head, before growling threateningly as I stare at Gregory.

"I know he is, and I know Gregory does. You need to be patient, though, and calm down. I will protect him, I promise. You also can't just jump out and protect Callan in wolf form, though, claiming him in front of everyone right here and now. I have plans to earn respect from the pack my own way, without it including the fact that Callan's my mate. I also need to focus on Gregory right now and try to tap into his memories, rather than dealing with you. It's already very hard and I'm not sure if I can do much more. I'm actually surprised I made it this far.", I explain to her.

Celeste lets out a frustrated huff, before plopping herself back down inside my head. She knows I can control her, unlike normal werewolves with their wolves. She hates it, but she knows it comes in handy. She also knows that if I she takes over control while I'm trying to focus on something else at hand, I'll block her out for a while, essentially grounding her.

"Deceit.", I say to Callan calmly.

Callan looks confused before he finally asks, "What do you mean?"

"That's the feeling I got off of him. I couldn't quit place it, because I've never felt it before, but he let his wall down when he started yelling at Gavin, accidentally opening himself up a little to me in the process." I explain to Callan as I turn back towards Gregory and stare at him.

This time Gregory doesn't move and he doesn't test me, he only gulps and stares at me with pleading eyes.

"What do you mean by deceit? Like, he's been deceitful? I don't understand...", Callan says to me as he crosses his arms over his chest.

I lean forward and place my elbows on the table, "...double-crosser...back-stabber...betrayer...snake.", I calmly say each word as I stare at Gregory, waiting for him to break, "You can honestly take your pick, Callan. They all mean the same thing.", I say to Callan.

There's a stiff quiet in the room for around thirty seconds before I finally feel Gregory's walls crumble from his nervousness, which gives me a hazy view of what he was planning. I smirk because I've caught him. He wasn't angry or disgusted with the fact that I'm a tribrid, he was angry because I'm the one person that was going to be able to put a stop to his plans.

"Athena...what are you talking about?" Callan asks me impatiently.

"Should you tell him or should I?" I ask Gregory, my smirk still covering my face as I stare him down daringly, "Because I've just figured it all out, Gregory."

He looks at me, silently pleading with me not to say anything, but I don't budge. I can feel so much of his anxiety rolling off of him, that it's making me nauseated now. I don't falter, though, as I wait for his answer. Gregory finally gulps and looks down at his palms with defeat, before shaking his head. He's definitely not going to tell him, because now all I feel is cowardice.

I lean back in my chair and stare at Gregory, before I finally tell Callan Gregory's plan, "Gregory is Estelle's father, and Estelle is your girlfriend. I'm not sure if Estelle is involved, but I for sure know that Gregory is. I'm assuming that Gregory was planning on Estelle marrying you and her becoming Luna. He would be your father in law, so you would've trusted him enough to let your guard down with him. Once your guard was down, he was planning on killing you, so that Estelle could rule the pack, since she would then become their leader by default. Like I said, deceitful...double-crosser...back-stabber...betrayer...snake." I explain to Callan, as I keep my sight on Gregory, waiting on him to falter a little more so I'll able to feel whether or not Estelle is involved.

I hear Callan growl loudly beside me, before I suddenly feel his rage taking over my emotions, it's burning inside of me just as much as it's burning inside of him. I know he's trying not to shift into wolf form when I hear him take deep breaths to try and calm himself down, so he doesn't rip out Gregory's throat right here in front of everyone. I look up at Callan and see his neon green eyes shining, meaning his wolf is fighting for control. I reach my hand over and grab his, instantly making my hand burn from his anger being absorbed into me. I watch as his eyes turn back to their normal shade of green again, as I wait for him to visibly relax a little, before I let go and place my hand on the table again.

Callan looks down at me with confusion filling his face, "How...how did...what was that?"

"I told you, I'm an empath. I'm able to control people's emotions." I say to him, "I mean, you have every right to rip his throat out the way you were probably planning. However, I need you to wait a little bit longer for that. I need to find out if Estelle was involved in this plan or not, as well."

Callan furrows his brows at me and nods, not even questioning me anymore, even though I know he has a million questions running through his head at the moment. I can feel Celeste inside of me pushing to get out, since the extra dose of Callan's rage I absorbed, along with hers, is not a good mixture. I feel my eyes shift into Celeste's, as Celeste attempts to shift, but I blink a couple of times and take deep breaths as I push her back down inside my head.

"YOU NEED TO LET ME OUT! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" Celeste roars at me.

"And I told you that I'm going to protect Callan, no matter what.. You need to try and calm yourself down. I'm sorry for giving you that extra dose of anger, but I had no choice. I need to know if Estelle is involved before they kill Gregory." I calmly explain to her.

She lets out a loud, angry growl, before walking to the back of my mind, letting me know that she's mad at me now about the fact that I won't give in to her.

I sit back in my chair and stare at Gregory, "Gregory." I say to him, attempting to get him to look at me.

Gregory refuses to look up at me, so I lift my hand and twist, as I telepathically pop his shoulder out of place. Gregory instantly screams out in agony from what I've done, and it was just the right amount of torture I needed for him to completely let me into his mind. It was hard finding Estelle in his thoughts, with her being the most guarded part of his memories. There she was though, deep in his mind, sitting with him by a fireplace as they plan out the entire coup. I go back a little further into his memories and see that they're not original River Crescent wolves, either. They're from a pack in the northern part of the country, sent here to infiltrate our pack and take over our territory.

"The Dark Moon Pack." I finally say, as I watch Gregory and wait for his reaction.

Gregory stops screaming only seconds later, suddenly forgetting about his pain as he looks up at me, before finally making eye contact.

"I saw everything." I confess to him, "I will admit, you had Estelle hidden well in those memories of yours. You must really love her."

"I do! Please don't hurt her! Kill me! Please, just kill me and let her go!" he begs me, before turning to Callan with desperation in his eyes.

Callan turns to me, still looking just as confused as he was earlier about what's going on, "Athena, what did you see?"

I scoff at him as I finally look up at him, "When did Gregory and Estelle become members of this pack, Callan?"

Callan shrugs his shoulders, "It was right around the time I became Alpha. So, maybe, two years or so, ago. They told me they were from a small pack that was attacked by rogues and that everyone was killed except for them. That they were seeking to find a new pack to be a part of."

I turn back towards Gregory, "Two years? That's a lot of dedication, Gregory. I'm impressed." I say sarcastically.

I can feel frustration dripping off of Callan now as he becomes more impatient with the fact that I haven't told him what's going on yet, so I finally turn towards him and smile, "Gregory and Estelle are members of The Dark Moon Pack. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's a pretty large pack. Their Alpha heard that the River Crescent pack had a new Alpha, and instead of challenging you, he thought of an idea to overthrow you, so he could take over your territory and your pack members without getting his hands dirty. Gregory and Estelle lied to you and joined this pack under false pretenses. They were only trying to infiltrate it, under their Alpha's orders. For two years, this plan has been in the works. Estelle dates you and eventually becomes Luna. Gregory earns your trust since he would be your father-in-law. Then, they were going to kill you one night with wolfsbane that they put in your food. Your death would then make Estelle the leader of River Crescent, until their actual Alpha showed up and took her as his chosen mate, before claiming River Crescent. The only problem with the plan, Callan, is that you wouldn't ever marry Estelle, since she isn't your fated mate.", I say to him as I confess the entire story, before giving him a playful wink, "It's a good thing you're an old-fashioned romantic."

I see Callan smirk at my small attempt at flirting, before he nods his head at me and starts pacing back and forth while he looks at me with furrowed brows, "Why am I not mad about this? I don't understand what's going on."

"Oh, I forgot." I say to him when I remember that I took his anger away earlier, before grabbing his hand again and disbursing it back into him.

Callan's wolf suddenly takes over as his eyes quickly turn neon green, when his anger slowly absorbs back into his body. Gregory's face turns completely pale as he stares at the giant black wolf that's snarling in front of him.

"This is going to hurt." Celeste says as she braces herself inside of my head.

"I know. I hate feeling a person's death. It's painful." I say to her as I wait for the inevitable pain that's coming.