Wow, a great chapter! Yousef is getting closer to our resident hocky bear. The primacy of the wolf over the man due to the full moon is presumably why he did not recognize his own father as one of the mondjugen. But I'm sure there will be some very awkward conversations come dawn... I wonder how wolves view the incestuous couplings that doubtless happened. Tom has gone AWOL... I wonder how the tragedy of not being able to reconcile with his daughter is going to impact his relationship with Larry. I want another perspective from inside Pete's mind... I'm curious to get a deeper work to see how different his enthrallment to Alpha Ruiz has made him. The thing about his eyes less bright is a little strange. Alphas seem to be having very high turn-over rates recently. Two assassinations... based on everybody's reactions, that seems extremely rare. What exactly is going on? And the Wolf King is going to be back soon, to collect his seer...

Loved the chess scene

Oh here we go....things are ratecheting up for the wolves politically and personally. The fact that neighboring packs are deposing of leadership and punishing dissidents with well....identity loss is already a problem. The fact that an alpha council is to be called means things are getting bad enough the wolf king is stepping in to prevent this situation from going haywire. And it's here that we'll see Yousef get initiated into the world of the seers. Much like his namesake who saw the dream of twelve stars and the moon and the sun, here we see him having three dreams- that of the bear, the crow and the sun, and the running in the woods. But dreams are often symbolic- so what do they mean in this context? Was the first dream him seeing what was to occur to his father, but he couldn't interpret it right? The other one seems to be some sort of omen of either change or an event, and the third may be some kind of war or flight from something. Meanwhile Mahmood is living through a nightmare- the fact that his last moments in this chapter were I think him screaming his son's name and Yousef was busy smiling and happy is a whole other level of eerieness. Ray seems completely knocked out at this point, but it's clear Mahmood resisted as best as he could to survive and see his son. Yousef is about to really not have a good time once he realizes what happened- and how he was basically happy and smiling while his dad was basically completely terrified. Though the question remains...why did Yousef in his wolf form not recognize his father's scent or the like? Did he not commit it to memory, or did something else happen. But yeah...the month of strrings and the like is about to not look so pretty for Yousef. He's about to be smacked with some unpleasent circumstances. On the other hand, him and Oakley have something going on now- but he and Bill also have something going on so who knows where that's going. Yousef may wind up with a mate but question is who that will be. It's clear that Tom remember how his daughter had rejected him and he clearly went and fled to see her even despite saying he might do it- Ruiz's punch out clearly did not help there. Meanwhile, Paul is a familiar still and going about his business but something tells me he's going to become important again. And as for Tom....it's tragic, but it makes sense his daughter rejected him. We see that weres leave their families often to try to protect them as Tom did- but many are far more callous about it like Mullins was- even if they really can't stay around due to circumstances. But for those being left behind, they likely are left to deal with the emotional and even financial fallout from such. There's a good chance Tom's daughter had to struggle for many years to get where she is now, not to mention her family- her mother may have been affected by her husband running off as well. So it really does make sense why she wants nothing to do with him- he's the dad that ran away and likely impacted her life negatively doing so. I could see her having likely coldly brushing him off or getting furious at him- either or. While it's nice that some weres have been able to make bonds with their human family members in some capacity- this outcome is likely also common. I suspect it's likely Tom will simply have to be okay with seeing her safe while observing her in wolf form from a distance. Though hopefully he doesn't wind up hurt doing so. There's really no villain in all of this inherently- the weres really can't stay perpetually with human families simply due to how they are and associated dangers- but there are negative consequences to weres leaving their families for those left behind. I think the real thing at play here is what's going to happen between Yousef and Mahmood. The fact of the matter is- their relationship is about to change, and maybe not in a completely good way. Mahmood earnestly thinks Yousef has been taken advantage of- and that's not really the case now- maybe earlier, but Yousef is a fully dedicated member of the pack now. If things go really wrong, Yousef might have to deal with his father rejecting him for good and the implications of his family in California losing yet another relative. Add that into the backdrop of their history during the time of the Lebanese Civil war, the more eerie implications of werewolf life and how it may have parallels to what happened during that civil war, and the elephant of the room of Frank (because I suspect Mahmood will figure out about what happened to him one way or another) and there's a good chance that if Yousef doesn't explain himself, he may well damage his relashionship with his father more than just the stalemate they had earlier. Weather they can move past this is yet to be seen- but Yousef realizing he was sitting there happy while his father was terrified and his father realizing Yousef was there amongst those wolves is likely going to be... a very complicated thing for them both to process. I will say though, Mahmood being patient and trying to stay sane for as long as he could is a testament to his resilience. At the same time, I think he may have compassion for his son- though he won't be okay with everything that's happened. Even he couldn't fully resist the weres, so how can he expect that of his son may be his thought process. Much like I've said about Zuleikha earlier and her dynamic with Yousef's namesake- the question is weather or not like her, Yousef will be able to fix any damage to his relationship with his father who he does love- but has made some massive mistakes in approaching him an otherwise. And zuliekha faced some gnarly consequences in muslim tales depending on the reading- some tales even in romantic readings of her with Joseph usually wind up with her dealing with poverty and even blindness for years- though she does wind up with him eventually and even regains her youth and sight, others state she wasted away in grief over her beloved for years for what she did to him (something Yousef may have to face knowing what he did at the baptism). If he can't, he risks facing what Tom is facing now- but even worse. Imagine having your own father in the pack and being estranged from each other. That...probably won't go well. Not to mention I doubt Mahmood is going to like the more...dubious aspects of were life- seeing some of it as less being done for the sake of necessity and more for enjoyment no matter the cost. And then there's what Rey is thinking of this. The Wolf king likely will notice Yousef and these two other weres are akin to each other- faithful to something beyond Luna- and that they aren't really in the mood of giving it up. How that interplays with future events is another question as well.

Yes! <3

I would love for a prequel maybe in knight or viking times , where werewolves were more vicious and sexual and didn't care how many mondjugen they turned

Can't wait for yousef reaction to his father

Really loved this introduction. Great characters, you have a flow to your writing that is really enjoyable. I can't wait for the next chapters.

The Aztecs were from México and the amazon Jungle is in south America. It's impossible to find Mexican artifacts in that jungle.

Aha! Finally some backstory on the neighbor. Always happy to see a new update.

I love how you take us through possibly familiar (lol) ideas but the characters are unique, and so the story that comes from them interacting is unique!