Wolven

A numbness took over shortly after I was borne away into the open tundra on the back of my brother. I’m thankful for that. My senses were on a painfully high overload, my brain was wracked with thoughts, questions, and disbelief. For once, it felt grand to be nothing, and feel little. Though, I believe I slipped into some sort of semi-conscious stasis as the wolf pack traveled on and on through the tundra. I lost my sense time. We stop after what I thought was about an hour of running.

Rowan draws me to full consciousness, his arms surrounding me as he shakes me, his human arms.

“Rheaden.” The first thing to pass beyond the numbness is the scent of the alpha, who towers beside my brother and I. Collapsed on the ice, I suddenly feel the cold seeping into my legs while my upper body is cradled by Rowan. I whisper his name, barely audible.

“You need to wake up. Keep your mind alive, don’t give into anything close to sleep.” His eyes dart from my face to the alpha’s. Feeling woozy as I try to comply, I grasp my middle as my stomach roils. The agitation of my whole body subsides, and my head throbs slightly. “Can you stand?” I attempt it, with his help. Shakily on my feet, I notice the saturation of blood covering one of Rowan’s shoulders.

“Are you alright?” I ask, “Did you get bitten by a wolf?” He chuckles as he shrugs.

“Just shot by one. It’s fine, the wound just reopened from running all day.” Still supporting me gingerly, he uses my shoulder to spin me around slightly, to face the large alpha male. “But I’m afraid I can’t carry you any longer.” My eyes are locked with the wolf’s, and I stiffen. I just notice all the other wolves standing like statues around us, watching me in fixed silence. There’s about a half dozen of them, all browns and greys. “We don’t have time for pause,” Rowan says softly, nudging me. The alpha wolf shifts, lowering his massive body to the ice. My brother helps me onto the wolf’s back, and my senses spin once I’m up. My heart is like a rabbit’s. The other wolves still watch me, I see from my vantage point, and my brother is once again the white defender. With a lurch, the alpha takes off at a sprint.

I grasp its snowy fur, lowering myself down as the frigid wind hits my face. Its scent literally consumes me, filling my heart and surrounding my senses to induce the strange, potent feeling that I cannot place. The thick mane of fur on the wolf’s shoulders provides a refuge from the icy wind, and its warmth comforts me. The steady rhythm of its gait lull the spiked and overdriven edge from my nerves and senses. The weird thing I notice after about ten minutes of traveling, is how... alright I feel. I never realized how uneasy and on edge I’ve been feeling for a long time, until it was all suddenly lifted, replaced by a gentle calm. I relish in it the whole rest of our journey, clutching onto the alpha male’s fur as my heart swells.

By the time the pack of wolves stops again, the sky is blanketed by a gloomy layer of grey clouds. I can practically smell the incoming storm on the frigid air. The wind has picked up treacherously, howling through the small peaks of jagged hills that surround us. I sit up on the alpha’s back as my brother stumbles to our side, his limp extremely pronounced. I wince as I watch him struggle. He and the alpha regard each other curiously, as a few of the other wolves begin to pick their way through the crags ahead of us. An unfamiliar wolf approaches, a slender and tawny beast, whose form shifts into a human being. I gaze at him in wonder, a man who looks to be in his late thirties. Another werewolf. My brother shifted shortly after him, and the man tears strips of fabric from his own jacket to help staunch the bleeding of Rowan’s shoulder. I grip the alpha’s fur in my fists, shooting a look back at my brother as the wolf trots off after the rest of the pack.

“We’ll be along,” he assures me, and he and the other werewolf disappear as the alpha slips around a wall of rock. The pack travels slow enough that I’m able to remain seated on the white wolf’s back, noticing how dark the passes between the rocks are getting with the storm clouds thickening overhead. The wind cuts at my face, and I’m glad to see the wolves ahead of us start to disappear into a dark gap. The harsh gales die down immediately once we’re in the cave. I lean down gingerly against the alpha’s back again as darkness envelopes us, not knowing how high or how low the ceiling of this tunnel is. A good amount of time passes before a dim light suddenly turns blinding as we round a corner and exit the rocky passage.

My eyes adjust quickly to the outside, and I take in a small valley home to a few large cabins. The place is secluded, hidden from anything outside of the sheer cliffs of rock that surround the cabins in a rough circle. The wind continues to tear at us even in this rocky enclave.

The other wolves are already off to the houses, vanishing into the biggest one. The alpha lopes down to bring up the rear. He just fits through the frame. The interior of the cabin is like a large hunting lodge, and filled with half a dozen people. Werewolves. Their attention rests on the alpha and I as I slide off its back and take quick glances around at the silent faces. Murmuring fills the room softly as others emerge from side rooms to join the group. Frigid air nips at my legs as the door opens, and my brother and the man who helped him earlier join the... pack.

I go to Rowan, help him reach the first chair he spotted. The room falls silent again, and I look up from inspecting my brother’s wound to see the faces are turned toward the alpha wolf.

Or, leader, now.

Standing where the massive, snowy wolf was moments before is a man. His age is not far off from my own, I believe, and I wasn’t expecting that. The thing that makes my breath catch in my throat is that he’s Inuit, like myself. His looks portray different features, and my guess is that he isn’t full Inuit... He looks very Native American. His eyes are a striking blue, resting under a thick, pronounced brow and contrasted by his dark skin. His hair is longer than his shoulders, straight and very dark, pulled back away from his face. As hard as it always was for me to pull my glance away from his wolven eyes, I am twice as captive to his gaze now. The very first time I’ve seen this man, and all he’s doing is standing still among his pack, and I already admire him. I feel like I know him. He has such... Presence.

“Rowan, how’s your shoulder?” A collective chuckle passes over the room, and the alpha’s voice sends a chill through my heart. My brother’s dark brows twitch as he gives me a look.

“Atka’s getting me some supplies, isn’t that right?” He sends a pointed look to a young, Native scrap of a boy, who looks startled before dashing off into another room. More sounds of mirth spread through the room as pairs of eyes start to turn to me. The alpha’s watching me with a calm smile. I look to Rowan, and something clicks.

“I didn’t... Shoot you, did I?” Laughter answers my question. My attention continually travels back to the alpha, and a lightness lifts my spirits as I watch him laugh with his pack.

“Yeah, yeah... You all wouldn’t be laughing if she had killed me,” he smirks, throwing a look around at his companions. The boy returns to Rowan, giving him a sullen look as he hands over some bandages and sterile solution. “That’s a good errand boy,” my brother mocks, and the boy’s face scrunches up indignantly. He mutters a low insult at Rowan as he slinks to a woman’s side.

“Rest now, everyone. I’d like to speak to Rheaden alone.” Heeding their leader, the members of the pack disperse from the large room, all of them exiting this cabin. I glance at my brother. “You can stay, of course, Rowan.” I stand stiffly near Row’s chair, resisting the habit of picking at my fingernails as I notice the edge has started to come back into my nerves. My situation hasn't exactly sunk in completely, yet. The massacre at the village, the journey here, the moment I stand in now, in front of the humanoid alpha male... It all seemed like a foggy dream in my memory. Or a waking nightmare, depending on whichever part you focused on.

As I looked to the alpha, the dark thoughts and the emotional discomfort eased. He had moved to stand in the middle of the large living area, and beckoned me over.

“It’s been quite the day for you,” he states, and I hesitantly take a few steps toward him. “I can only imagine what you may be thinking or feeling right now.” He gestures for me to sit down on a deerskin covered couch, and I do, before he sinks down beside me. I am highly aware of our proximity, his gaze, and his smell, and those things push all other things from my thoughts. His presence still envelopes my senses, even as a man.

“I suggest you lie down soon and get some sleep. Your body will need a lot of rest after today, and you’ll need your energy for tomorrow.” His hair falls over his broad shoulders as he leans his elbows on his knees, and his bright eyes are close to mine. “You can sleep here on this couch for tonight. I promise you’ll have a bed soon,” he chuckles. The slightest tremor of alarm rushes through my heart.

“But... The village...” I say, looking down as more panic starts to swell as the realization of what happened today begins to sink in. I still have no idea what happened to Halin. My dear friend... And all the people I witnessed getting torn apart by wolves. What had become of my village?

A large hand encloses around mine, warm and gentle. The man leans toward me slightly, catching my gaze from the floor.

“Do not think those thoughts. Think of nothing but sleep, for tonight,” he instructs me, very softly. His tone soothes me. The warmth from his hand spreads through my veins, to my chest, and pushes the panic out. A calm settles over me as I hold the alpha’s look. “Your questions will be answered, but for now you must sleep.” I nod, and movement from Rowan pulls my attention from the man. He’s upright, making a face as he presses a saturated hunk of gauze to his shoulder. He nods to the alpha and me, and retires to one of the rooms at the back of the cabin. The warmth from the man’s hand leaves mine as he stands, and pulls a few blankets out of a cupboard. He hands them to me, our fingers brushing.

“There are more blankets where those came from, if you need them. Sleep, now,” he says, heading for the door. I pause in laying down, grasping a blanket in my hand as I sit up.

“Wait,” I call. He stops at the doorway, his back still turned. “What’s your name?” He turns his head, long hair shifting as his bright eyes glinted in the roaring light from the fireplace.

“Ataneq.”

I watched him go, the warmth seeming to leave the room with him, his name ringing in my mind.

King.