> Your presence is required at the next inter-pack meet. Don't argue - no more special treatment.
Fuck. FuckShitDamn.
Tossing her phone onto the bed, Ada flopped back onto her pillows with an irritated sigh. He always had such terrible timing. Ever her father's lackey, Will seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing when to destroy enjoyable and fulfilling lives. He always found the weakest point in a person's armour and dug his claws in. Will was aware that the last thing Ada wanted was to return to the pack lands, and yet… there sat his text.
Making a sound of frustration deep in her throat, Ada sat back up and retrieved her phone. Her nimble fingers quickly unlocked the screen and tapped out a very simple message.
> No.
Almost immediately a reply came back, as though already typed in anticipation of her refusal.
> Don't make me send the enforcers, little sister.
> Fine. How long?
A short conversation, and a number of very specific threats later, the details had been worked out. Ada's life in Taipei was done. She had four days to unravel her life and move back to pack lands in New Zealand.
***
"Adelaide is here to see you, Luna." Though quietly spoken, the words were perfectly audible to any wolf nearby - and as the door to the room had been left open, had not been intended as secret. Inside the room, a striking woman of Taiwanese origin lifted her eyes from the computer she worked at, blinked in an incongruously owlish manner, and motioned for things to proceed.
"Well, send her in, then."
Ada stormed into the room just as the soft click of a laptop closing sounded. Seated at a delicate rosewood desk placed near the window to catch the morning sun, was the petite Luna of the Xiōngměng de pack. Her black hair hung in a sheet of silk, spilling over her shoulders and pooling on the desk, and in her lap. It was impossibly long, and the Luna's pride and joy. A small, pale hand gathered a chunk of strands and swept them behind her ear at the same time she turned to meet Ada, revealing a gentle smile and friendly brown eyes set in a small, pixie-like face.
"They're making me return, Genji."
"Pardon?"
"Back home! To New Zealand!"
"Ada, calm down," Genji began, her American-laced mandarin as gentle as her smile. She pushed herself back from the desk and rose to meet the rampaging she-wolf. With a deft hand, she diverted Ada towards the chairs arranged to facilitate discussion. "And for the love of the Moon goddess, please start from the beginning."
Ada went as she was directed, sinking down into one of the over large chairs. She was grateful when, moments later, she felt her interim Luna - and closest friend - squeeze in beside her. She hadn't realised how distressed her father's instruction had made her, but the physical touch of another wolf was soothing, and Ada realised just how frayed her nerves really were.
Leaning into her friend, and alpha, Ada began. "You know how I got here… I made a deal with my father. Ten years of complete freedom of choice, and then I'd do what he wanted for the pack - true mate not withstanding. It's more than most wolves get, right? Especially ones of my - our - birth rank." Ada paused, letting a sigh escape her lips. Genji understood - as the daughter of an alpha, she also lacked the freedom of choice that the average wolf did, and had on more than one occasion become a bargaining chip in inter-pack politics. Werewolves were perpetually stuck in… whatever era was the most misogynistic. "So I went to University," Ada continued. "I travelled, I lived in different cities, and I settled here. My ten years expired one year and two months ago. I thought they'd let me go - but wishful thinking, right?"
"Probably," was the dry, but understanding, answer from Genji.
"Will text last night. I'm to return home within four days for a pack meet. I have no idea what it's for - but no doubt it'll involve a lot of dick-swinging." Beside her, there was a very un-Luna-like snort of amusement, before conversation devolved into innuendo and cackled laughter.