Running With Wolves

Erik said nothing to me for the remainder of the time he spent in the house; it surprised me that he stayed at all after the things that had been said. He stitched up Lukas, Knoll, and Conan and then left without a look in my direction. I understood the gesture; I’d burnt the last bridge, the last ally, I had to the Eastern Pack.

There was a sense of restlessness within the house and it made me think back to Erik’s words; that I had created a pack simply because I could not because I was an Alpha. Maybe I wasn’t an Alpha; perhaps if I had been the occupancies in the house would have settled instead of constantly glancing between Lukas and I a mixed sense of curiosity and wariness.

I tried to shake the thought from my head, I am an Alpha, what did Erik know about me or my pack? Erik was a beta, he knew nothing of what it meant to be Alpha.

The house, which had only hours ago felt cozy, now felt crammed. I leaned heavily against the counter top of the kitchen, staring at the brandy in my hand; I wish Lukas had better alcohol….

There was a side of me that regretted my words to Erik because I had been raised my whole life to respect him. It was wrong to poke at the wound that was Catalina and Coralie.
But he also didn’t have any right to try and belittle me; not to mention bring my mother into things.

“Sage?” The voice was hesitant and quiet; Mia.

I turned to her from where she stood several feet behind me. “It’s alright, I don’t bite…usually.”

Hesitation flickered in her eyes but she nodded and moved forward, sitting beside me on the porch steps. I nearly visibly see the eternal fight with herself to relax. But how could she? Her Alpha was off the wall, Razvan and Salvie had gone head to head, a rogue wolf roamed our woods, and without Erik as our last and only ally we were completely alone.

“You know, when I was younger my father used to take me out to those woods and we would stalk deer. Not hunt them mind you, just watch them. He used to say if you could learn to read a deer you could know what any animal was saying.” She suddenly reminded me of Erik; saying nothing but having the tenseness in her muscles that spoke volumes. Her Havana colored orbs flickered to me then out at the tree line. Clearly beating around the bush wasn’t going to make her talk. “What is it Mia?” I sighed.

She turned to me her mouth opened to speak but then she closed it again, licking her lips. “I, um, I received a call from my father just before.” She said quietly without looking at me. “My tribe’s medicine woman, Kaya, she wishes to speak to you.”

Surprise lit up my eyes, what did a medicine woman want with me? “You told her about me?”

To that Mia shook her head, “No,” She stated firmly. “That’s the thing, I didn’t. Kaya, told my father she had a vision. She said it is of the utmost importance that she speaks to the ‘Wag Adv Taku Skan’.”

“What the heck is a ‘Wag Av Taku Scan’?”

“Wag Adv Taku Skan,” She corrected smiling softly. “It’s the closest word to Soulmates my tribe has, it means Bound Spirits.”

“Chained together.” I grumbled.

“No,” She replied patiently. “in my culture soulmates, human or Were, are spirits who are bonded together but are reincarnated souls. Soulmates in my culture, if not born within the same timeline, are continuously reincarnated until they finally find one another and become joined.”

I was silent for a moment as I digested her words “That’s…” I thought for the words I meant to stay. “Sort of beautiful—and sad.”

“Yeah,” she murmured licking her lips. “I imagine it must be.”

Silence fell on us but I struggled against it, not liking the way it settled between us like unspoken words. “So,” I began hesitantly. “She wants to see Luke and I?”

She nodded slowly, “So it would seem.”

I closed my eyes tiredly. I had enough on my plate without a shaman having visions about Luke and I. “When is she coming?”

“That’s the thing,” Mia informed hesitantly as she licked her lips. “She doesn’t exactly make house calls…we have to go to her.”

I turned to Mia reproachfully then. “Wait—what? She wants us to travel to North Dakota?” Mia bit her lip and nodded mutely. “Mia!” I started, “You know we can’t. I’ve got a brand new pack and a territory that’s barely claimed, neither of which is even 72 hours old, a mysterious Were is out in the woods, an Alpha that’s stalking my shadow, and I have a soulmate that wont look at me. I’m sorry Mia,” I sighed. “We can’t. It isn’t possible right now.”

Mia opened her mouth than closed it again. Her shoulders slouched defeated and nodded. “Alright,” She said reluctantly. “I’ll call my father and tell him.”

“Call your father and tell him what?” Both of us turned to the handsome young man suddenly standing behind us. His stormy grey eyes were careful to avoid my face as he stared at Mia questioningly. His scrutinizing gaze nearly physically pulling an answer from Mia’s lips—it was wrong of him to throw his weight around with her.

“Nothing.” She mumbled getting up and avoiding both of our gazes. Her eyes were on her feet, her head slightly bowed in submission. As long as she avoided his gaze she wouldn’t have to answer, if she didn’t answer she would not be stuck between us.

“Mia,” I heard the tone in his voice and my jaw locked in annoyance. It was bad enough that Luke and I were on rocky ground as it was, but him trying to pull rank in order to force a response out of her like an Alpha brushed me the wrong way.

Mia swallowed hard before her gaze hesitantly met his. “W-we aren’t going to North Dakota.”

“Oh yes we are,” He stated matter-of-factly; the grass is green, the sky is blue, and of course we were going.

My eyes, which had been on Mia, suddenly flickered to Luke. I rose to my feet and turned fully toward him. I didn’t want to fight Luke on this. But if he kept it up I wouldn’t back down against him.

“No,” I said sharply but sure of my words. “We aren’t.”

It was only then that he met my gaze and it was then that I wish he hadn’t. His eyes were filled with something I’d never seen in his gaze toward me. I couldn’t breathe; my stomach clenched at the look that was so similar to the one he always wore around Kerrick, his eldest brother whom he could not stand to be around.

He took a step forward, something flickering just behind his eyes. “Yes, we are Sage.” His words were cutting and Mia took a step back, removing herself from the path between Lukas to me. “We are going Sage because if there is any hope for us at all we are going to see that woman.”

“Lukas, I have a Were hunting in our woods! Eastern Blackwood breathing down our necks and a territory that needs protecting. Not to mention shelter that needs building.” I stated firmly. “How can you really justify us leaving? I’m an Alpha Luke, I cannot just leave this pack and territory.”

“You will come Sage,” His voice was a sharp as a double edge sword, “because we nearly killed each other!” Lukas barked, his carefully controlled emotions slipping from him. He took another step toward me making us only several feet apart and I could feel my Were’s hackles raise, Salvie passing just beneath my skin. “A pack cannot be ruled by an unstable hand.” He growled. “You and I are unstable. If this trip, which will take a week tops, has the chance, no matter how small, to save us then we need to take it.” His hand grabbed my wounded hip on purpose and pain flashed through my body. He drew me closer until I could feel his breath on my face. “You wanted me to fight for you? This is me fighting. This me telling you that I cannot stand the idea that I could do this again to you.” He hissed so low that Mia could not hear.

My eyes locked with his, his Silverstone colored orbs so intense that any other would have looked away. Lukas was perfectly skilled in the art of hiding his emotions—hiding them from everyone but me that is. It was not just frustration and anger he felt toward me but their was impatience, pleading, and if I looked close enough there was still love there and it made my heart ache. No matter what happened or how bad things got if I looked close enough I could always find the love in his eyes when he looked at me.

Then he released me and turned away as though nothing had happened and suddenly felt cold. He walked back across the porch and only called over his shoulder after me once he’d crossed the threshold of the house. “We leave in the morning.”

I stood there for a moment utterly silent. Was it wrong of me to want to protect the pack and their needs over my own? Wasn’t that what an Alpha did?
But how terrible was it that it was directly affecting Lukas and in return affecting me, which as their Alpha, affected the entire pack.

’ You made yourself a pack because you could, not because you’re an Alpha’

A lump formed painfully in my throat.

“Sage?”

“Just go.” I said quietly. “Please go. Just, just go pack.”

Mia hesitated for only a moment before, as quiet as a church mouse, she moved away from me and walked quietly away from the kitchen.

It was several moments before I could find the will to move and even then I only had the strength to collapse into a chair.