The lonely rogue

work, wolves and voices

After Tungi had finished talking to me, headed outside in the garden to try and go over what I had learned. I found a large weeping willow tree and sat underneath it, the long branches and leaves gave me some privacy from the rest of the world. My mind was spinning with more questions than I had originally had. Why had the moon goddess chosen me and my Wolf to have powers and what kind of powers were they? Why hadn't my parents told me that Dean was adopted? I still didn't understand why Dean hated me so much, if our roles had been reversed and I was the adopted one, I know I would have never treated him with such hatred. What was the next chapter in my life that Tungi mentioned? Surely I deserved to just have a quiet life after all I had been through. All I wanted was peace and quiet, to live my life, grow old and die. I had no interest in finding a mate or having cubs, I just wanted to get through the rest of my life with no complications.

After sitting for a while I began to lose feelings in my legs, so stood up and walked of the tingling feeling. I finally decided to head back to my room so I could try to sleep. When I got to my room I noticed that my door had been replaced, so at least I could have my privacy back. I went in and locked my door and headed straight to my little bathroom so I could have a quick wash. I went to my closest to look for bed clothes, but there wasn't any, so I settled on a pair of red cotton shorts and a white cotton vest. I quickly changed and got in bed. Again, I fell asleep pretty quickly and this time I had a dreamless sleep.

Before I knew it, it was morning and Jaime-Lou was knocking on my door. "Gwen are you up?" I gave a small growl, climbed out of bed and unlocked the door. Jaime-Lou came bouncing in, far too happy for first thing in the morning. "Morning sleepy head" She giggled, "Yep" I mumbled rolling my eyes at her. "I can see your not much of a morning person" she laughed, "Well sorry, but you need to have a shower and get dressed, Sarah is waiting to speak with you in the kitchen. see you in a bit." She waved as she skipped out of my room. I begrudgingly went to my closet and got a towel and clean clothes, then went down the corridor to have a shower. As soon as I stepped under the hot water, I felt myself wake up more, and quickly washed, dressed and brushed my teeth. I went back to my room to put my stuff away then made my way to the kitchen.

It looked like everyone was sat either in the living room or dinning area when I got there, and the all turned to greet me. It was so nice to live with such happy people. I went into the kitchen and found Sarah with a few other people in there. Sarah looked up when she heard me come in. "Good morning Gwen, I hope you slept well" her smile beaming on her face, I smiled and nodded, " best sleep in a long time" I told her. Sarah handed me a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge, "Sit, eat" She said guiding me out of the kitchen to a table,"Now, I know today is your first proper day with us" She smiled, patting my hand, "but each of us has a role here, certain jobs that they're tasked with on a daily basis." I nodded showing that I understood, "We have two jobs available for you to choose from. you can either work in the kitchen, helping with the cooking, or I can put you on laundry service. we have two washing machines, and you would be responsible for doing everyone's laundry, and putting it back in their rooms. Eat your breakfast, then you can tell me which job you would like." She patted my hand again then went back to the kitchen.

I sat quietly eating and going over my options. Working in the kitchen sounded fun, but it reminded me a bit of slaving in the kitchen for Dean and I didn't really want to relive memories everyday. The laundry sounds OK, as long as I didn't mix everybody's things up. With that settled, I finished my breakfast and went to the kitchen to let Sarah know what I had decided. She showed me how to use the washing machines, and how they sorted everybody's laundry, each person put there dirty laundry in a bag with their name on so it wasn't confusing, then she showed me where the washing lines were and left me to get on with my work. It was pretty easy work and by lunchtime most of the laundry was clean and back in the rooms where they belonged. I stopped for lunch, nothing fancy just sandwiches and a cup of tea. I sat with Jaime-Lou, Robbie and Gabe and we chatted among ourselves. We'll Jaime-Lou and Robbie chatted with me, Gabe just sat silent. Jaime-Lou was excited, she had met someone while he was delivering groceries this morning and had felt a pull in his direction, she thinks he felt it too. She's not 18 until next month, so he's going to come back then and see what happenens. Robbie is buzzing about my birthday next week, he knows that my Wolf will be special, and he made me promise that my first run will be with him, I think he's more excited than I am. We finished lunch, so I went back to finish the last few bits of laundry. I was just putting a final load in one of the machines, then I was going to iron the small pile that I had ready. "Can I talk to you" I jumped, nearly falling into a laundry bag, I turned around with my hand over my chest, trying to stop my heart breaking through and saw Gabe just outside the door. "Um, yeah sure come on in" I smiled. I was worried how this conversation would go after last nights. "I just wanted to apologise for the way I acted last night." Gabe mumbled, I looked at him in disbelief, "Gabe, why are you apologising, I'm the one who pissed you off, I should be apologising to you." He chuckled under his breath, "You didn't piss me off, I just couldn't believe that you blame yourself for everything, it frustrated me but it didn't piss me off." We stood in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, "So, fiends?" I asked, he nodded "friends" We chatted for a while, then he went off and I finished up the laundry.

The next few days went pretty much the same way, get up, shower, eat laundry, and so on. I got to know everyone a lot better and found myself feeling at home here, everything was falling in to place, and I liked where my life was at right now. Tomorrow is my 16th birthday, everyone is really excited, and Sarah has planned a birthday dinner so everyone can celebrate, she said she's even made me a birthday cake. I'm looking forward to being 16, I only hope that Rylie will be strong enough to come back to me, I've missed her so much. I do have major anxiety about shifting, what if my shift isn't as amazing as everybody thinks it will be? What if I can't handle the power that will be bestowed upon me? Jaime-Lou, Gabe and Robbie have talked me into staying up late tonight to see if Rylie comes back to me at midnight. We are currently sat around in the living room watching the clock. Robbie is practically buzzing with excitement which is keeping us very entertained, sometimes he acts more like a 5 year old than a 16 year old. I know he's a bit older than me, but I can't help but look at him as my younger brother.

The clock struck midnight and everyone fell silent, just looking at me waiting for something to happen. it made me slightly uncomfortable having all of their eyes on me like this. "Um, guys, I don't think anything is going to happen, you can stop looking at me now" They laughed at me, but I think they were disappointed. I stood up planning on going to bed, when I suddenly felt the most bizarre pain in my head. The room started spinning and I could here a loud humming noise in my head. I felt Gabe catch me as I started to lose balance, he sat me back down on the sofa. Gabe and Jaime-Lou were knelt in front of me, worry etched all over there faces, their lips were moving like they were talking to me, but I couldn't hear anything above the loud humming in my head. Then there was silence, the humming stopped, the pain and dizziness stopped, Gabe and Jaime-Lou had stopped talking, there was just silence, until I heard the most amazing sound ever. "Hello Gwen, happy birthday" Rylie was back, I was so happy I burst into tears and started laughing at the same time. I faintly heard Jaime-Lou say to her brothers, "Well, I guess her wolf came back." I looked at them, they all looked so happy for me. "Hi Rylie, I've missed you so much, please don't leave me again."