Wolf's Heart

I sat at Emera’s kitchen table drinking a large cup of warmed chocolate as Ulric argued with his father. Ulric was leaning against one end of the table as his father sat on the other end with Emera and I across from each other in the middle. The men were glaring at each other, Ulric snarling and growling wile Kyros just sat back and ignored him.

“She’s not talking to him,” Ulric growled once again, the one phrase being the most repeated in this argument.

“Ulric, we’ve been torturing him for over a day now. All he says is that she’s the only one he’ll talk to.”

“I don’t care. She’s not going anywhere near him,” was the responding growl.

“She’ll be safe. We have him hanging by his wrists from the roof; his toes can’t even graze the ground. He’s been through hours of beatings and interrogations. He can hardly move. She won’t be in any danger.”

“I. Don’t. Care.”

“Ulric-”

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Katima interrupted as she swept into the hut, “I couldn’t get anything out of him either.”

Ulric growled at her, “You went and saw him? Talked to him?!”

Katima blinked at him in shock then raised an eyebrow, “Lose the tone, big brother, you’re not my alpha.”

“He would be if he ever stepped up to his responsibilities.”

“I don’t need to be alpha to tell you she’s not talking to him. Roana’s not a part of your pack so you can’t command her to do anything.”

“She may not be a part of this pack, your pack, but while she is here she still has to follow pack rules and pack rules state that the alpha has the final say. You want to change that, become alpha.”

Ulric growled, his eyes flashing with his furry. I could tell his anger was taking control so I put my cup of chocolate down and stood, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“I do believe the decision on whether or not I speak with him is mine,” I looked from an intrigued Kyros to a pissed off Ulric, “I don’t like sitting here and watching other people debate on what I’m going to do and what I’m not going to do,” taking a deep breath I prepare myself for a very angry Ulric as I turned back to Kyros, “I want to talk to him.”

I ignored Ulric’s roar as I waited for Kyros to respond. He studied me for a few seconds; ignoring Ulric’s arguments as well as he stood and gestured to the entrance to the hut, “We can go right now if you’d like.”

I took a step to follow Kyros from the room, but before I could move around the table Ulric’s large hand grasped my upper arm. When I turned to look at him I was shocked to see so much emotion in his eyes.

His grip tighten a little, then relaxed as he breathed deeply, “Don’t go. Please.”

I sighed, “There’s a reason he wants to talk with me, Ulric. I thought they had attacked because we were on their territory, or maybe to get to Katima, but then why will he only talk to me? I need to know why I was the focus of that attack.”

Ulric shook his head, “He’s dangerous, Roana. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I placed my hand against his cheek, “Then come with me. You can stand by my side and protect me while I talk with him.”

Ulric shook his head, “You don’t have to do this. Just say the word and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. We can leave all this and not worry about it.”

“Is that what you do? Just leave when things get hard or complicated? Is that why you won’t be alpha? It’s too complicated? Too hard?”

Ulric growled, “That subject’s not up for discussion. We’re talking about your safety.”

I shook my head, “No. This is about your inability to deal with the difficulties in your life.”

He snarled and pulled away from me, pacing around the table, “How can you say that after I’ve protected you? I killed someone yesterday because he hurt you, Roana. I think I dealt with that difficult situation quite well.”

“No, you just go straight to violence.”

He growled and glared at me, “So you would have preferred me to talk with him? Have a little chat while you bleed to death?!”

I sighed, “Of course not, but you can’t just ignore this. They attacked me for a reason and I want to know that reason. You can be there with me, or you can stay here and wait for me to get back.”

I turned and walked out of the hut, forcing myself not to look back. I met Kyros outside and followed him as he led me through the colony. I was nervous, my palms starting to sweat with every step that brought me closer to our destination. My dream once again ran through my head, the breeze creating the feeling of the brown Creature’s breath across my neck. I shivered and almost turned back around, but the thought of always having this fear pushed me forward. I don’t want to be afraid any more.

Straightening my shoulders with a quick shrug I walk faster, catching up to Kyros just as he reached the area where the mountain met with open space.

He turned to look at me, “We’re going to have to climb down to the cave. I’ll change and carry-” he stopped talking and smiled, “Well, nevermind. I’ll just meet you there.”

I frowned, about to ask him what he meant when a movement behind me caught my attention. Turning around I smile to see Ulric in Creature form walking toward me. When he reached my side he leaned down and nuzzled against me, allowing me to wrap my arms around his head in a hug.

“I’m glad you came, I didn’t want to face this alone.”

He grumbled deep in his chest, then knelt closer to the ground so that I could climb onto his back easily. Once I was settled safely against him he stood and began the climb back down the mountain side. I could see Kyros a few feet below us in his human form, standing on a ledge as he straightened his shirt. Not long after that Ulric joined his father, jumping from the side of the mountain to land on the ledge. I slid from his back and turned to look at Kyros so that he could transform back into his human form, but when he didn’t change I frowned at him.

Ulric looked from me to his father, low grumbles and strange howls leaving his throat. Once he was done Kyros sighed and turned to me, “He wants me to tell you that if there’s any danger, if this guy even twitches in your direction, he’s going to carry you out whether you want to or not. Why he thinks I’ll let anything happen to you, I don’t know.”

Kyros continued to mumble under his breath as he walked into the cave. Ignoring him I turned to Ulric and smiled, “If there’s any danger I’ll willingly leave with you. I just want some answers.”

Ulric sighed, then followed me into the dark cave. The farther back we walked the less light there was. After only a few feet Ulric was forced to walk beside me so that I could hold on to his arm and allow him to lead me through the pure black cave. It didn’t take much longer for the cave to narrow, the damp walls scraping my bare arms. Then I was forced to walk between Ulric’s front legs, that way I could still use him to lead the way. After a good five minutes of walking Ulric suddenly stopped, his large paw of a hand moving to wrap around my waist so that I stopped as well.

I jumped when Kyros’ voice filled the cave, “Once we enter this room you’ll be able to see again, Roana. It’s lighted naturally. When we get in there you’ll see him in the middle of the room. Stay close to this door and Ulric, don’t give this guy any chances to touch you, got it?”

I nodded, knowing that Ulric and Kyros could see me.

“Good.”

Ulric removed his hand from my waist and lightly pushed me forward. When Kyros opened the door I had to blink against the blinding light. There wasn’t a lot of light, but going from pitch darkness to any type of light without warning seemed blinding to human eyes. Still not able to see I allowed Ulric to lead me into the room. Once we were fully in the room he again placed his hand around my waist to stop my forward movement. After a few minutes my eyes started working again.

Everything was blurry at first, but when my sight sharpened I gasped in shock at what I saw.