The next morning…
Frieda woke up in her bedroom still seething with anger. Her mother did not appear to be as angry as her father, but she wasn’t sticking up for her either. Her mother always did that. She just knuckled under and let Frieda’s father scream all he wanted at her.
“Jerk. I didn’t do anything wrong! He can’t just send me away for not doing anything….” Frieda fumed. She got ready for school, and once she was ready, pointedly left without saying so much as a goodbye to her parents. Her mother watched her go from their bedroom.
“You better make things right Benton. I do not want to lose my daughter over something as trivial as this.” Amanda said. Benton held back the urge to growl. The two Knights were in their fursonas, having spent the night exerting some of their excess energy and anger. While Amanda’s coat was the traditional black panther, Benton favored the more classic leopard print.
“You don’t approve of what she did do you?”
“Well no…”
“Then how can you just overlook something like this?” Benton sat up and looked his face square in the face.
“Because I love her, no matter what kind of choices she makes. Even if I don’t agree with them. It’s called compassion, you should try it sometime.” Amanda said in an uncharacteristically cold tone. Benton watched in shock as his wife left the room and went into their bathroom.
He honestly couldn’t believe how lenient Amanda was being. If they let Frieda get away with this, what kind of message did that send? Benton expected Frieda to one day take over his position as the head of the Knight family businesses. No one would take her seriously if she spent her days fucking anyone who came along.
“Amanda wants me to play nice, fine. I’m more than capable of playing the game, and stacking the deck in my favor.” Benton thought. He shifted back, and once dressing, picked up his cell phone to make a few calls**.
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The Stovalls morning was just as tumultuous. While Martin and Melissa were on better terms (the news of Melissa’s pregnancy having released much of the tension between the two), Julie was as frustrated as ever.
She couldn’t leave the house, and with nothing else to do, she was busy reading all the things her “friends” posted online about her. There were plenty of rumors floating around. The newer ones talking about how Brian Walker was seeing a mysterious, older woman.
“Like something straight out of Maxim.” one guy commented under the picture someone snapped of Brian and his mystery date. The photo was blurry, and Julie could only tell the woman was blonde. That was still enough for her to take a well educated guess that Brian was seeing Alyssa.
“Even Brian’s moved on. First Eric, now him.” Julie grinder her teeth as her jealousy built. She was unable to do a thing about either of her ex’s new found happiness.
“Julie, are you awake?” Melissa asked from the hallways.
“I’m up.” Julie called back, as calmly as she could. But her hand was tightly clenched around her cell phone.
“Would you like to join us for breakfast?”
“Um, ok. I’ll be down in a minute.” Julie said, letting go of her phone. She threw it onto her bed and joined her parents downstairs.
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“Morning,” Frances and Samantha woke up as they did many morning, wrapped in each other’s arms. Both in their fursonas after a night of ramps passion. It was nice to do something “fun” in leu of all the craziness surrounding them.
“Morning. What are you plans for the day? I’ve got to be at Town Hall by nine.” Samantha rolled over so Frances was no longer beneath her.
“Mmm, I’m due at the Stovalls for another session. Otherwise I’ll be at the office.” Frances replied, kissing her mates’ cheek.
“Do you think we’re going the right thing?”
“By the right thing you mean nothing? Because that was the general consensus last night.” Frances said, referring to the meeting the three families had regarding Benton Knight’s apparent vendetta against the Lawsons and the Andersons.
“Yes. I don’t like the idea of just sitting back while Benton Knight cooks up whatever scheme he’s got. Shouldn’t we do something? Anything? He’s powerful enough to have William and Martha fired. I highly doubt he could do anything to Evan or Maggie. He’s not employed in town, and she’s an ER doctor. The hospital could use as many of those as possible.”
“I think Benton’s just trying to reassert his control over the town. You know how he likes to ‘play with his food’. Besides, he wouldn’t want to risk his position by acting against the Skulk. He may be the more powerful member of the Council, but they hold the general population’s favor.”
“True. At least the Andersons have someone higher up on their side.” Samantha said. Her position was, in reality, not that important. Her main duties dealt with dealing with normals, and transitioning families who moved into town. As this was the beginning of December, it was unlikely anyone new would move in until the spring. And in general, normal activity was down due to the harsh weather surrounding the Seattle area. Which left Samantha’s mind free to worry about her friends safety.
** I kept things vague on purpose. Feel free to interpret as you like, and write the next chapters accordingly