"What happened?" I whispered.
"It was a long time ago. I got those when I assumed leadership of the pack."
The world did that funny spinning thing and I was standing in a large bedroom. There was a woman in the bed. She had been lovely, but illness had stolen her beauty. She was wasted, frail and, it took me a moment to realize, dead.
There was a man on the other side of the bed, holding the dead woman's hand in a crushing grip as tears rolled down his face. Derek stood on the side of the bed nearest me with grief etched on his face. There were a dozen people standing against the walls of the room, heads bowed respectfully.
Derek was pleading with the man holding the dead woman, "Father, she's gone. Please, you have to allow us to..."
"NO! You will not touch her," the man snarled, "Get out, all of you! Get out!"
The people around the edges of the room started to file out, clearly afraid. Derek stood his ground, "Please, Sir, allow me to..."
