Note to readers: So I'm trying to get these out one after the other, we're at the halfway point now yay :D. In reference to an anonymous reviewer, hopefully the reason why Passion is an omega will explained. To be honest it was much easier making her an omega than having to explain why. It was pretty hard coming up with a reason when most of the pack appear to be decent. Hopefully the reasons are put across. Anyway, enjoy!!! :D
ps. Thanks to luv_romance and Lil Claudya for spotting the Jason thing, whoops on my part. Also after reading your comments on the dress/jeans. Passion was showing the dress she was going to wear to the prom to Joshua. Probably should have stated that she had changed clothes...my bad. But thanks for commenting 'cos it shows that you guys like my work so thanks xxx and enjoy :D
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Chapter Eight
Joshua drummed the top of his pen against the varnished mahogany desk. Piles of typed paper lay spread out before him, yet he couldn't find the energy to read them. His uncle sat opposite him making notes in a formal looking notebook. Occasionally he would pick up the phone and make a call to the pack member concerned with the written issue.
"Ah, this contract needs you signature." Claw said passing a folder to Joshua.
Joshua quickly scanned its contents and couldn't help but smile at the request. A group of pups wanted to claim a piece of land to use as recreational ground.
"Some of the elders believe it would be a good idea for the young ones to have a place to go without fear of discovery." Claw mentioned.
Joshua nodded in agreement. This was a sound idea and it would be foolish of him to refuse the young shifters a place to relax and be free, after all he and his peers had never been denied that privilege while living in Stillwater.
Joshua quickly signed the request and handed it back to his uncle. Claw stamped the document and filed it away, then resumed going over other pack matters.
When Joshua had arrived at Oaken house that morning he had felt a pang of guilt at his uncle's surprise over his visit. It had been unfair of him to hide away in Passion's house when he had duties to perform.
As Alpha it was his job to watch over his people and ensure their wellbeing and happiness, as well as reinforcing the rules and regulations their pack was bound by.
"Joshua what a pleasant surprise." Claw had said, quickly regaining his composure.
He had taken Joshua's hand and pressed his forehead against Joshua's knuckles, as was customary amongst all canine shifters when in presence of their Alpha.
"I've realised that I haven't been a very attentive Alpha uncle, I hope you can forgive me."
Joshua had said. To his utter surprise Claw took hold of him and gave him a hug that was so strong Joshua feared for his ribs. Awkwardly Joshua patted Claw on the back, before taking a deep breath as he was released.
"I can forgive that, what I cannot forgive is your lack of attentiveness towards your family." Claw said, anger blazed in his eyes but not nearly as fiercely as the hurt which shocked Joshua.
It had never occurred to him that his long lost family would care about his movements, it hadn't even crossed his mind that his uncle would care so much for him, when his maternal family where always so evasive around him.
"I am sorry uncle, I didn't think I mattered that much to you." Joshua realised his mistake too late. Claw growled and moved with such speed Joshua had no way of intercepting his aim.
"Don't you ever think that again, do you understand me!" Claw thundered shaking Joshua by the lapels. Joshua just nodded numbly as fur began to sprout from his uncle's fist. "You are by brother's son, therefore you are my son." Claw, as though disgusted by Joshua, flung him away like he was a rag doll.
The momentum was so strong that it sent Joshua colliding into the end table which supported a china vase. Pain seared through him as shards of wood and ceramic pierced his back and for a moment he was transported back to Stillwater, to a time when something like this would have been minor to what his mother's full rage could do.
"I am so sorry." Claw said pulling Joshua up by the hand.
Joshua took a step back before landing a solid punch to his uncle's face. Joshua swore as bone hit bone but he didn't recoil or show any weakness.
He was no longer in Stillwater and he wasn't facing a woman who could not be touched, but a man who had laid the first blow.
Claw staggered back from the force of it, blood trickling from his nose which he knew to be broken. What he had done had been reckless and downright stupid.
To hit not only the Alpha but his nephew was out of order but hearing him say those things had sent him over the edge. Zachariah had meant everything to him and seeing Joshua here was like having a piece of his brother back.
Claw knelt to the ground before Joshua and bared his neck, awaiting whatever punishment he was due. Instead he felt a cool touch upon his cheek and looked up into the eyes of his brother.
"We are even, and I am humbled that you love me so much uncle." Joshua said pulling Claw into a tight hug both swearing as they knocked into each other's bruises.
Now they sat in companionable silence but Joshua could sense that there was something bothering his uncle.
"Richard Harrison wants permission to mate to a leopard." Joshua said.
"Wolf and leopard, now that's a first." Claw chuckled.
"Imagine a wolf with spots." Joshua mused.
"This is an issue where we must tread carefully. It the two are so deeply in love they cannot see the illogicality in this arrangement there is little we can do." Claw said.
Two shifters from different animal clans could mate and have children. Usually their offspring favoured one parent over the other, such as in the case of the Tsarev's.
However sometimes children were born as half breeds and a mixture of the two. This was an unlikely event but never the less they were deemed inferior and treated even worse than Omegas.
"Perhaps I should arrange a meeting with pair, from the way they interact I should be able to get an understanding of how they feel about each other." Joshua suggested.
"That's a good idea, I'll give Harrison a call now." Claw said picking up the phone.
Joshua looked back over Harrison's request of marrying a woman from a different clan and wandered what their offspring would look like.
What would he and Passion's children look like? Would they have his build and her colouring, either way they would be beautiful and well loved.
What was the point she would never feel what he felt for her. The wolf in him howled at the thought of her not being his, deep down he had already claimed her but he knew that as long as she retained her status as Omega their mating would never would be accepted.
"Uncle why is Passion an Omega?" Joshua asked once Claw got off the phone.
It was something he had to know, something he had to understand before he could think of the future. His uncle looked at him for a long time and there was a strange look on his face. Joshua almost blushed under the scrutiny but refused to duck away. He clenched his fist as he waited for Claw to answer.
"Each pack has their own laws. We are not as extreme as your mother nor are we liberal like other clans. Passion is not a grey wolf nor was she born into this pack. It also does not help that her parents are of a low status."
