4 - P A C K

➳ Pernwél

The leader, Alpha Jake, had come to interrogate me. I get it. I’m on his land and he has to make sure I’m not a threat to his people.

I’ve been a warrior my whole life knowing what to do in every situation because I was instructed to do so. This was a different situation. I’m alone, exhausted and definitely not in my village anymore. Even if I tried to make my escape I would be caught in a matter of minutes.

I needn’t fight nor run at this point, so I answered his questions the best that I could and hoped that I would be spared.

From his explanation of my whereabouts I found myself in a different world entirely. I never heard of shifters, less about werewolves. I saw before that it entailed to transform from wolf into man and vice versa.

Just like normal wolves travel and hunt in packs, these people, werewolves, lived together in this little town. They call themselves the Grey Moon pack, and Alpha Jake, who’s sitting before me in his chair, is undoubtedly the leader. It’s like an invisible aura of power that emanates from him, you can sense that he holds a high rank in this pack.

There were humans in this world, Alpha Jake mentioning that I didn’t smell like one. What an odd thing to say. I suppose being a wolf their sense of smell must be enhanced, like with elves and our sense of hearing.

And speaking of smells, Alpha Jake’s one lingers around, dancing around me, invitingly. He was very handsome. Sporting a five o’clock shadow, dusty blonde hair and warm dark brown eyes. He was putting to shame a lot of the most good looking elves I knew. I noticed some scars on his arms and drawings on his skin. He was muscular and well defined. I really have to stop looking at him.

When I mustered the courage to reveal myself, he kept staring at me. I suppose he never heard of my species either, and I must look very strange to him.

But when our eyes met, I felt something I haven’t felt before in my life. I was drawn to him in a way that I hadn’t sensed with any other male in all my years. It was mystical, like I could stare directly into the soul of this man and I recognized him as part of myself.

This unspoken bond between us, made me feel at ease, saying silently that I could trust him. That I would be safe and no harm would come to me at his hands.

It was a really strange sensation and even if he spoke in this way to me and my whole being, my extensive training as a warrior felt like I couldn’t give anything away yet until I assessed the situation better.

After looking through his dark brown eyes and sensing I was staring into his very own self, I pulled my hood over my head again, slipping back into the comfort of hiding my true appearance anonymously under the covers of my familiar mossy green fabric.

“I suppose you would like to freshen up and get something to eat,” he scraped his throat and got up from his stool.

I simply nodded and pulled myself up as well.

I followed him up the stairs where Beta had carried me down into the dungeon in complete silence. We entered sideways onto a hallway, one that led to many adjacent rooms and an arched doorway at the end. I followed Alpha Jake’s steady steps into the threshold.

We walked into a large kitchen with a grand table on the other side of the room, enough to hold at least twenty five people. Two women were preparing food, and the counter was filled with all sorts of pastries and snacks. It smelled invitingly good.

“Myriam.” Alpha Jake said, as one of the two women turned her head to acknowledge our presence. “This is Pernwél, she’ll be our guest for the time being. Can you give her something to eat and give her a room so she can accommodate herself?” He gave me a small smile and nod and left the room.

That was awkward. Maybe he didn’t feel that pull between us not so long ago in the cell downstairs. I’m certain I didn’t imagine it. Perhaps it wasn’t as strong to him as to what I felt or it wasn’t for both of us.

“Darling.” Myriam spoke up to me, drowning out my turmoil of thoughts. “I’ve made you some sandwiches and you can pick up a muffin on the counter. What would you like to drink?”

“Water.” I replied, accepting the plate of food that she pushed over my way and sat down on one of the high chairs surrounding the kitchen counter.

She cleaned her hands on a piece of fabric that hung from her clothes and looked at me questionly from over the other side of the counter. She had rested her elbows on it and held her face with one of her hands.

“Poor dear.” She sounded worried. “You look exhausted and a lot must have happened to you.” She sighed before continuing and I didn’t feel like answering her. “When you finish, we will pick out a room for you and I will look for some clean clothes for you to wear. Okay?” I nodded once and continued eating.

I had never been much of a talker. I was accustomed to living by myself because of the criticism that I had to endure as a female warrior, and a good one at that. Liking the peace that accompanied me in my tree, my books and the fact I only had to leave to conduct my training sessions. I was fine on my own. Obviously, everything had changed now in the course of one day. 

Firstly, I don’t know who or what attacked my village and how they managed to mow our defenses down in such a short amount of time. The three horns sounded so close together and their army barrelled through, killing all of our soldiers and warriors on sight. Not even our experienced marksmen could slow them down.

Secondly, I knew the procedure is to save the Queen at all costs, because she is the bearer of druidic magic and has the power to rebuild our land. Then why did I fall through the portal and not her?

I had finished the food and Myriam was looking at me with a motherly expression of concern.

“Come Pernwél.” She motioned me to follow her.

I stood up from my seat and followed her down the hallway. There were two sets of staircases, splitting in two different directions. One led downstairs and the other led up to the second floor. Once we reached the top of the staircase, I found myself looking down a hallway similar to that on the ground floor. A hallway lined with closed doors.

“The Beta’s family live in these quarters, at the end of the hallway are the guestrooms.” She motioned further. “And one floor above us are the Alpha’s private rooms.”

She halted in front of a door and opened it. “Every guestroom has a bed and bathroom.” She showed me the basics, how to put on the light and where everything was. “Take a shower and rest, if you need something come and find me.” She winked and left the room.

I looked around, some things seemed familiar but it was all so different and strange. At least, I thought, I was treated very kindly and maybe they would let me stay here and I could make this my new home.

Freshening up after this day would be a blessing so I went into the bathroom to take that shower. I had some trouble figuring it all out but I managed to get a stream of hot water running. My aching and sore muscles were grateful.

I used the towels that Myriam gave me and closed the door to the bathroom when I got out. On the bed I found a neat pile of fresh clothing that smelled like lavender.

Unusual for what I was accustomed to. The fabric was soft and when I put it on, it was a bit on the bigger size for me. Normal, I huffed to myself, these werewolves are enormous compared to me. 

I felt a bit of color creeping up my cheeks when my mind wandered involuntarily to Alpha Jake. He was one of those big wolves. A very handsome one I added.

Getting into the bed and pulling the soft and fluffy covers over me it didn’t take long to fall asleep.