Seriously, There Are Werewolves?

Chapter 5

I don’t know what to expect when meeting the rest of the pack members.. Handshakes? Name tags? Maybe a PowerPoint with “Welcome Harper” in Comic Sans?

What I got instead was more like a very tense family reunion where I was the random cousin no one remembers inviting.

Rowan led us out of the training yard with a silent and brooding intensity that, I am guessing, was supposed to be reassuring. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t..

Alec, at least, seemed determined to break the world record for ‘most words spoken during a crisis’.

“Try to look friendly”, Alec stage-whispered to me as we walked.. “You know.. Less ‘I’ll burn this place to the ground with my mind’ and more ‘please adopt me, I’m lost”

I snorted. “I’m not lost. I was kidnapped”

Rowan's head turned just enough that I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. Not a smile but close. Progress?

We approached a big clearing in the middle of town where people were gathering, like they had gotten some supernatural version of a memo that the new girl was arriving.

Alec clapped his hands and raised his voice. “Gather around, packlings! Time to meet our guest of honour”

“Guest of honour,” I mustered. “Sounds like I am being sacrificed.”

Rowan ignored us both and Moira smirked.

He stepped forward, voice carrying. “This is Harper. She’s.. Moira’s kin. She will be staying with us.”

That’s it?. No fanfare… No explanation about magic or dead parents or the fact that I apparently glow in the dark if you poke me hard enough..

A woman with braided black hair, a buff physique and an expression that could curdle milk stepped forward. “She smells human”

What are all these people supermodels? And rude! Am I going to have rando’s sniffing me all the time? I shuddered with that thought and very subtly turned my head and sniffed myself just to check.

Alec held up a finger. “Ahhh, but a very sarcastic human!. Adds spice”

I gave him a thumbs-up. “Glad to know my personality is my best defence.”

A big, when I say ‘big’ I mean massive, crossed his arms and scowled at me. His arms were the size of my entire body. “Is she going to follow the rules?”

“I’m sorry, do I look like a rules person?” I asked before my brain caught up.

Rowan’s eyes flicked to me, one brown arching as he considered my words.

“Harper will follow the rules,” he said, his voice low enough to make the air feel heavy.

I swallowed. “Sure. Fine. Rules. Love’em.”

Someone snorted.

Alex just beamed, clearly enjoying the train wreck. “That’s Jackson,” he said, gesturing to the massive scowler. “Enforcer. Keeps everyone in line. Even me.”

Jackson didn’t look amused.

“And that,” Alec continued, ignoring the tension like it was his personal brand, “is Mira, our Gamma.”

The scary woman inclined her head slightly. “We don’t have outsiders come here often”

“Ahhh, righto...” I said. “I’m only here because social services ran out of options.”

Silence.

Alec fake-coughed. “She’s kidding. I think.. She is very nice.. Once you get to know her..”

Rowan didn’t bother correcting him and just moved on, introducing two younger teenagers, Kai and Elise, who were both enforcers in training.

They were nicer. Or at least better at hiding the fact that I am a foreign intruder of their peaceful world. Kai gave me a sympathetic smile. “Welcome. If you need anything, just ask.”

“Like a one-way ticket back to Australia?”

He hesitated, his smile fading a bit. “...We don’t have those.”

Elise smacked his arm.

Alec cackled.

It went on like that. Half of them were curious, half suspicious, Rowan radiating authority, so no one actually called me a threat to my face. Alec acted like my personal hype man, and Moira just watched it all with that unreadable, witchy calm.

By the time we finished intro’s, my face hurt from fake smiling.

Rowan turned to me. “Any questions?”

It went on like that. Half of them curious, half suspicious. Rowan radiating authority, so no one actually called me a threat to my face. Alec acted like my personal hype man, Moira just watched it all with that unreadable, witchy calm.

By the time we finished the introductions, my face hurt from fake smiling.

Rowan turned to me. “Any questions?”

“Yeah,” I said brightly. “Where do I get my ‘I survived the awkward werewolf orientation’ T-shirt?”

Alec slapped Rowan’s back. “I like her.”

Rowan’s jaw twitched. “We’re done here. Dismissed.”

Pack members dispersed with varying levels of side-eye.

Alec offered me a wink. “You handled that well. No one challenged you to a duel.”

“Is that an option?”

“Not recommended,” he said cheerfully. “Jackson cheats.”

Rowan was already walking away, clearly expecting us to follow.

“So…” I drawled as we trailed after him. “Alpha, huh? Is brooding a job requirement, or is that just you?”

He didn’t answer. Just kept walking.

Alec made a dramatic shh motion. “Don’t poke the bear. Or wolf. Or whatever metaphor you prefer.”

“Fine.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “He’s weird.”

Alec’s grin was unrepentant. “He grows on you. Like mold.”

We walked through the centre of the town, and for the first time, I noticed how normal it looked in daylight. Kids ran between cottages, someone was hanging laundry on a line, a woman sat on her porch knitting like this was some creepy fairytale set in 1952.

Except for the wolves lounging under trees or wandering through town like giant dogs with a superiority complex.

I slowed, eyeing one big grey one with intelligent yellow eyes. It huffed at me.

“Is it going to eat me?” I asked Alec.

“That’s Marlow. He’s fine. He just wants you to know he could eat you if you piss him off.”

“Comforting.”

Rowan kept walking, never looking back. His shoulders were stiff.

“Is he always like that?” I asked under my breath.

“Pretty much,” Alec said. “Though I think you broke him a little back there.”

“Broke the Alpha. Great. I’ll add that to my resume.”

We finally caught up with Rowan at the edge of the town square. He turned, eyes sharp, like he’d been listening to us the whole time.

“You need to understand something,” he said, voice low. "These people, my pack, they’re my responsibility. My family. I will not let anything happen to them. That includes you.”

I blinked. “Thanks? I guess?”

He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just watched me like he was measuring my soul.

Alec cleared his throat. “Anyway! This has been fun, but I think the newbie needs a break before she combusts. Shall we return her to her minder?”

Rowan’s jaw flexed, but he nodded.

The walk back was mostly quiet, except for Alec humming some pop song off-key, throwing me a grin every time I glared at him.

When we got back to Moira’s cottage, Rowan didn’t say goodbye. He just gave me a nod that might have meant anything, welcome, warning, threat, who knew... and disappeared back into the forest like the cryptid he clearly was.

Moira waited on the porch, when did she even leave...? how the heck did she beat me here..? her arms were crossed. “Well?”

I dropped my bag on the steps and collapsed next to it.

“They’re all very… wolfy,” I said. “And your Alpha is the weirdest of them all.”

Moira’s mouth twitched. “He’s the Alpha. He has to be.”

“Great,” I sighed. “Can’t wait for tomorrow’s episode of ‘How Did My Life Become Paranormal Trash TV?’”

She didn’t argue. Just opened the door.

I trudged inside, the forest dark and humming behind me, the sound of howls in the distance making my skin prickle.

Welcome to the pack, I guess.