| [Decker Rohl] |
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| An’ yer Alpha an’ Jarl — — and there Decker cuts in, roars at her, at Kemp, at Hyde, Ruhiger and Kathrin. All of them: Then fuckin’ act like it.We’s tha Eagles. Oldest fuckin’ pack in this Sept, tha strongest, the proudest ‘n tha best. We was here before Maelstrom, we’s gonna be here ’til Ragnarok. We come a long hard way over four fuckin’ years. We lost packmates ‘n we even lost Alphas, but we ain’t never lost honor tha way we’s losin’ it now. We’s tha Eagles, ‘n tha Sept looks to us ta lead. We’s tha Eagles, ‘n here we are squabblin’ ‘n squallin’ like a den’a pups. There’s a pause in the tirade, an agony of silence. A yawning sea of it, dark and without boundary. The mind feels flayed, raw in the face of such anger. It hangs in the air, slowly dissipating, like smoke. Decker continues, quiet now: Four weeks ago I gave tha Sept tasks a cub coulda done. Ain’t none’a them finished they jobs right. None. Meanwhile we’s up against an Athro ‘n all his packs, plus a fuckin’ Ragabash with tricks up his ass ‘n our his fuckin’ ears. Yer all I got. Yer all I fuckin’ got, ‘n fuck if that ain’t true fer every last one’a ya. This ain’t no time ta fracture ‘n break. We are tha Eagles, motherfuckers, ‘n we stand together or die. Another long silence. The road rolling by under the Barracuda, the stars overhead. And the pregnant weight in their minds that tells them Decker ain’t done yet, and anyone who interrupts now was gonna get it real good later. I don’t wanna hear no more shit ’bout who got here first, who did what fer who. We’s all Eagles. From tha moment Eagle takes us in, we’s packmates, plain ‘n simple. There ain’t no halfway in that, ain’t no steps ‘r levels in that. I been here since day one. I ain’t no more of an Eagle than Kathrin is. So let that shit rest. Don’t wanna hear no more yappin’ ’bout all y’all’s private fuckin’ lives neither. I ain’tcher fuckin’ daddy. We ain’t a fuckin’ gossip circle. I don’t care whatcha’ll doin’ on yer own time ‘long as you don’t shame tha pack. ‘N Kemp’s eighteen fuckin’ years old. I was eighteen when I met Imogen, but before Imogen — ‘n even after Imogen — there was half a dozen other mistakes ‘n almost-mistakes. Live ‘n fuckin’ learn. Kemp kin make his own mistakes ‘n his own choices. Just like tha rest’a ya. It’s perhaps the most any of them have heard from Decker. The most any of them have heard about Decker, himself and his innermost thoughts. Alpha he may be, and Eagle for four years, but when push comes to shove it’s amazing how little most of them really know about the Modi. That’s a thought both relieving and disturbing to him. As abruptly as it had begun, the torrent ends. Decker’s blunt and terse again: Y’all hear? |
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