Chapter Nineteen - New Understanding

Liana lay on the floor in her room the next morning with her science textbook. After returning from the trip to her cottage she’d searched the pack house and the grounds, finally discovering a door in Jake’s bedroom room that lead out to a rooftop patio, and from there she could get enough of a signal to use her data and get into her e-mail. She had managed to get in touch with her teachers and explain that this move was temporary, because of her Gran’s health, and that she was hoping to return in a couple weeks. They’d all been happy to know her guardian had simply overreacted and agreed to send her assignments to her and give her a skip on any quizzes or tests for the rest of the month. They said were looking forward to seeing her back in class. Finding a way to sneak in there to send in her assignments might be more difficult, she didn’t want to get caught in his room, but hopefully, she would be living back home and attending school in person before anything came due.

Her stomach growled and she realized that she would soon have to go get some food. She’d been avoiding everyone and refused outright to summon an Omega, but she’d have to find a way to get a meal soon. She was just cursing herself again for not thinking to grab some snacks from the cottage when there was a light rapping at her door. Slightly shocked that someone had bothered to knock, Lia got up to open it. A young girl stood there holding a serving tray.

“Excuse me miss,” The girl said with her head bowed and her eyes down. “I know Alpha Jake ordered us to stay out of your rooms, but you’ve not been for food in a whole day. I thought you must be hungry, so I made you a snack tray. Would you like me to bring it in for you?”

“Did Jake ask you to?”

“N-no. But he didn’t say we couldn’t. I just…put together a tray with things I thought you might like and sat here until I heard your stomach growl. I thought I could set it out on your table for you and then come and get the dirty dishes later... if you want me to that is. Or I could just take them back down now.” The girl was so nervous that Lia started feeling sorry for her. How long had she been sitting there waiting? Why not just knock in the first place? Why would she even make up a tray for a stranger?

“Okay” Lia said, looking more carefully at the young girl and stepping aside so that she could come in. She looked young, maybe eight or nine. Her hair fell in soft brown waves almost to her waist and she had thick bangs that sat heavily on the top of her large glasses with thick lenses. Her clothing was clean and neat, maybe even new. She had a soft, floral scent, but Lia didn’t recognize the flower. “What’s your name?” She asked out loud as her curiosity finally got the better of her.

“Zinnia,” the girl answered, “You can just say my name anytime you want and I’ll come back up to get the tray. Or you could put it in the hall if you like and I’ll pick it up from there. You don’t have to yell, I’ll be listening so I can hear you from anywhere.” She put the tray down on the stool little bistro table and began to set the food out on the table. Her movements seemed to be a little rushed, but also uncertain.

“Are you nervous, Zinnia?”

“No miss,” she said, but she blushed as she said it and brought her hand up as though she were about to bite her nails, but stopped herself. “Yes miss,” she said ducking her head. “I don’t want to get in trouble, but I didn’t want you to be hungry.” Liana smiled at the admission. Children were so much easier to like than teens and adults. She was concerned for the girl too. Why was someone her age working and not in school? Surely if the Omega’s were not slaves, as everyone kept insisting they weren’t, they would be educated. Not to mention Canada had laws against child labour .

“Why did you come if you thought you could get in trouble?”

“I know how hard it can be to come to a strange place, especially the pack house. It seemed to me like maybe you were feeling the way I did when Dylan first brought me here and… am I in trouble?”

“No, you’re not in trouble.” Liana smiled at her and Zinnia seemed to relax, smiling back. “I’m glad you knocked though, I’m not used to people just walking in all the time as they do here.”

“I remember how weird that felt”, Zinna said as glanced up and smiled shyly at her. Then her own stomach rumbled and the girl blushed, stepping sideways as though she wanted to run from the room.

“How long were you sitting out there?” Lia asked as she moved over to the table.

“A while miss. I was scared to knock but also scared to go away once Alpha Jake woke up. I knew he’d scent me when I walked past his door, and I did not bring a coffee for him.”

Lia sat down in one of the chairs and looked at the huge arrangement of food that Zinnia had crowded onto the small table. Meat sticks, cheese, and fruit were piled so high they were in danger of toppling onto the floor. “Well, I can’t possibly eat all this. Why don’t you join me?” Zinnia’s eyes went to the food and then up to Lia’s”

“Really?”

“Yes really. Pull up a chair. Please, join me.”

“But...”

“Come on, I’m hungry, you’re hungry, and you’ve brought more than enough food here for both of us.” Zinnia smiled and nodded, brushing her hands on her jeans as she sat gingerly into the seat opposite Lia

After the two had eaten enough to curb their hunger a bit Lia decided to ask Zinnia some more questions.

“Where did you come from, Zinnia?”

“P-pardon?”

“Well, you said that you thought I might feel the way you did when you first came here. I think by now everyone here knows I lived in a small farming community just off the crown land. Where did you live before?”

“I...I lived in a cave by the ocean until I was ten. With my father.” Lia started at that. Living in a cave? In Nova Scotia, Canada? She knew there were some homeless people, but...raising a child in a cave? What had winter been like? Was this common for werewolves? Maybe like slum housing? If young ones couldn’t shift, how did a child stay warm in a cave during winter?

“On pack land?” she asked.

“No. My father was rogue. I don’t know why, exactly, but I know he wasn’t a lone wolf like the ones you lived near. He was banished from the Ocean Moon pack just after I was born and we lived on the outskirts of their land. He always said it was my fault, but wouldn’t tell me what I’d done.” Zinnia was just playing with the meat stick she’d been eating a moment ago.

“How did you end up here then?”

“Dylan was on the cliff, having a party for his eighteen birthday, and he scented me. He came down to the cave searching for me. When my father found out Dylan had scented my wolf as his mate he told him that if he wanted me he’d have to take me right then, even though I was only ten. If he left without me, we’d disappear and he’d never see me again. Dylan didn’t know what to do, but his wolf didn’t want him to leave me there and risk losing me forever so he brought me to Alpha Jake to decide what to do. It’s been weird and kind of hard for him, because I look like a little girl, so his human half knows it’s wrong, but his wolf half wanted to mate right away and keeps nagging at him. Most mates aren’t so far apart in age and mate as soon as one wolf scents it. In this pack though, both mates have to be eighteen and agree that they scent each other as mates or at least choose each other as mates. Anyways, they decided I would get to live at the pack house until I turn eighteen, then I can mate with Dylan and move into his place.”

“Get to? You actually liked it here?” Zinnia surprised her by grinning and shaking her head no.

“At first I hated it! It had always been just me and my dad. The sounds of the birds and the ocean were all I knew. Until I shifted I hadn’t even known anything outside the cave, it was that hard to get in and out of!” She took a bite off her meat stick and continued to talk around the mouthful. “I shifted when I was eight. I hadn’t thought I could yet, Dad said I was too small, but I was wishing for it because it was so cold! Dad had gone out to get food, and I ran out of wood so the fire had died.” She swallowed, then took another bite. “The moon was shining in on the ice at the entrance to the cave and I just got as close to the edge as I dared, put my face in the light, and prayed to the goddess to let me my wolf so my fur coat could keep me warm. And she did it! It’s a good job too. My father didn’t come back for three more days. I’d have starved or frozen in there if she hadn’t helped me. One night she changed me, the next night she made a trail up the rocks for me to follow so I could run around and figure out how to get my own food. After that, I would go up on the rocks and enjoy the sun, or the moon, and hunt squirrels and stuff whenever my dad wasn’t around. I guess that is how Dylan scented me, he just followed the trail over the rocks. Anyways,” she took another bite, “I was used to the sounds of the ocean and the birds. I didn’t like the constant chatter, or the people, or the wolves all over the place. I missed the sound of the ocean and I didn’t know how to do anything! They showed me how to wear regular clothes, and I hated that. They took me to an optometrist and got my glasses, and I hated that I couldn’t see and I was angry that I’d gone so long not knowing I couldn’t see, but also hated the glasses ‘cause they’d break every time I went wolf, but I couldn’t stay still for getting contacts in. They showed me how to eat properly, and I hated that.” Zinna’s eyes got big and she blushed a bit. Having obviously just realized she was forgetting her table manners she swallowed the still too big lump of food and continued her story with an empty mouth. “They tried to put me in school but my father had never shown me how to read, write, count, or anything like that, so the other pups teased me. Not to mention I’m the only young werewolf anyone knows of with glasses, so they teased me for that too.” She shrugged, “I didn’t like being teased, so I changed into my wolf and bit some pups. They didn’t know how to change yet and couldn’t defend themselves. Some older kids changed and protected them from me until the teachers came and sorted out what was going on. It didn’t just happen once, it was every day, all the time, with just about everybody.

I couldn’t control my temper at all, having never had any practice at it, and I was angry all the time. As soon as I got upset I’d go wolf and bite someone. Soon, instead of teasing me, they were all scared of me, even the older pups and some of the teachers. I just couldn’t fit in at all. I hated everyone, including Dylan, for making me come here. One night I ran away back to the cliffs, but my dad was gone. He must have left the same night I did because there was no scent of him at all. Dylan found me there and tried to convince me to come back because I was only ten, had nowhere else to go, and would have a very hard time with nobody to help me look after myself. I wasn’t going to, but I was scared to be alone. Having to keep myself warm and fed, and be sure not to be seen by humans...It was just too much for a ten-year-old so I gave in.

When I came back here Alpha Jake sat down with Dylan and me and we figured out how to help me get used to things. They made me my own little cave in the basement with some blankets and gave me some sound-canceling headphones that play ocean noises, they aren’t as good as the real ones, but they’re okay. And Mother Luna found clothing that was soft and pretty that I could take off easily if I wanted or if I shifted by accident. After a while, I got to like the busyness of this house. It’s nice to know how many people care about me and want to help each other. I never have to be alone, but I have my cave if I need to be. I don’t have to worry if I’m going to be hungry because I couldn’t catch my own dinner. It’s nice living in a community. Mother Luna has been helping me learn to control my temper and teaching me reading and stuff.” Zinnia shrugged, “It’s been over two years now. I haven’t bitten anyone by accident in a long time. I even dress in regular clothing because I don’t go wolf without meaning to. I might try school again next year. Mother Luna thinks I’m ready and Dylan says it would be a good idea.”

“So, you’re twelve?” Liana asked, obviously surprised.

“Almost thirteen actually. I know,” Zinnia said, “I’m still kinda small for my age. They think it’s because I grew up in pretty much total darkness. There was sometimes a bit of moonlight or sunlight right on the lip of the gave, but that was it until my first shift. I’m actually lots bigger than I was! I’m growing so fast now that Mother Luna is always buying me new clothes.”

“She buys your clothing?”

“She buys all the omega’s clothing.”

“How much work do you have to do for that?”

“None really,” Zinnia said. “I mean the grown-ups have lists of what needs to be done, but really we just do it because we want to do our part for the pack. We like being sure everyone has everything they need.”

“So someone brings coffee every time Jake yells for it because...”

“Because he’s a grump without it. He is NOT a morning wolf,” She looked up at Liana through her thick bangs as though talking this way about the Alpha should be earning her a reprimand. “But mostly Beta Mark brings it up to him now because nobody likes getting snarled at.”

“And bringing a tray up for me?”

“That’s not on the list, I just thought it might be nice.”

“Well thank you,” Lia said, “I do appreciate it. It was good food and you were great company.” The little pup blushed and started to collect the empty dishes.

“Would you like me to bring something hot later? We’re having hamburger soup in the main hall tonight, I could bring you up a bowl. I can’t eat with you then though, I’ll be eating with Dylan tonight.”

“That would be nice, thank you.”