Watercolor Girl

25

Lev

I got in my truck and drove to the edge. Patrick and another wolf I didn’t know so well were already waiting.

“Alpha.” They both nodded.

“We’re going in. Have you been into the territory since the wolfsbane started popping up?”

“Yes alpha, I’m good to go.”

I started undressing, they followed suit and I took off into the woods, shifting as I ran.

“Keep your focus, if you feel you’re losing contact with your wolf, let me know.”

“Alpha.” In unison. The scents I was getting were different, several, the wind was in our favor, blowing towards us. We sprinted for a solid 40 minutes, I picked up nothing from Evie, just the strange mixed scent we were running into. When my ears picked up movements, I paused my patrol.

“Each of you fan out and come back around. If this is enemy, you can flank them, I’ll hit them head on, there are several, I can’t confirm a number.”

“It’s frantic, Alpha. This is not an organized formation.” He was correct. The vibrations were erratic, they were moving quickly, but not quick enough to be wolves. The scent wasn’t entirely human.

With the suddenness of a lightening strike I stifled a whimper, a pain tore through my flank, burning with enough force to bring me to my belly in the dirt. Patrick and his patrolman were at my sides as I kicked to bring myself back to my feet.

“Alpha?” Concern in his voice, even from link it was palpable.

“Evie.” I reached out to the swiftly moving colors that only I could see.

“What are you?” It felt like ages to get a response. It sounded like static and I had to strain to pick apart each word that came across the link, in only fragments.

“Friendly, surrender, Alpha, Solstice. ALPHA.” It made no sense and I couldn’t put it together. Were they friendly? Were they demanding our surrender? Alpha what?

“Patrick, approach them with caution. They’re wolves but I think they are in human form, do not attack unless provoked. I can’t understand their intentions.” Patrick and his patrolman took off, into either side of the thin overgrown trail, they moved quietly but I could hear them. A human would probably not be able to. I reached out again, moving semi slowly along the path, the pain ripping through my leg and hip. I wasn’t finding Evie or Nox, but I knew she had to be close. The pain was so intense she couldn’t be too far. I reached out, further then the group of very afraid wolves running towards me, maybe a mile behind them I saw Nox and Evie. The pain ceased just as quickly as it had come on. She’d blocked me. As soon as she could feel me, she’d cut the connection. But she was there. I had seen her.

“Alpha they’re friendly. Said a big black wolf busted them out and moved them to the hunting trail. They want the Alpha. Said they are to ask for the alpha when you make it to the Storm Solstice pack lands. They can’t shift, she wolves and pups.”

“Get them to the pack lands. Where is the wolf that brought them here.”

“Said she went back just as they were getting to the trail, told them to run and not come back.”

“She?”

“Yes, Alpha, she.” I took off again, headlong down the trail, I ran through the small maze of terrorized refugees, continuing as fast as I could sprint, tearing up the earth. I know she was here. I had seen her, just a flicker before she shut me out. None of this made sense, her scent should be strong in the wind but there was nothing, and only silence around me. The wall hit me with the force of 1000 oceans, I yelped rolling into the dirt.

“Your emotions will be your downfall.”

Patrick

Alpha ran through us, so fast that he was barely noticeable. Luna’s wolf was massive and black. That’s all I could figure as Ollie and I attempted to heard a group of traumatized, flower drunk, werewolves to the pack grounds. We couldn’t communicate with them, how Alpha had I didn’t understand, we took up posts ahead of and behind them doing our best to encourage them to follow. They were slow, but steady.

“Ollie, run up and shift, then make your way back to us. We’re close to the pack, we need some way to communicate with them.”

“Delta.” And he was off like a rocket. Ollie was my best. Alpha hadn’t even asked his name. Not typical of Lev who seemed to pride himself on the relationships he established with his patrol. Although one couldn’t blame him, his brother had rattled him, and I could only guess his unpredictable Luna had gone to do some bats**t crazy thing without his knowledge. I wasn’t sure what to make of her. A Luna who came out to inspect an attack. Who came out and ran as a wolf with the patrol. She had left years ago and I didn’t know much about her. Just the rumors, none of them kind to her. I babysat the heard for another 20 minutes before Ollie appeared before us. The crowd rushed him, all demanding the Alpha of the Storm Solstice Werewolf pack, a few pleading for asylum.

“You’re close to the main pack lands, we need to get you out of these woods. Behind you is the Delta of the Storm Solstice pack and when we are clear of the trees he will be able to answer your questions. You’re safe here, but we need you to keep moving forward, as quickly as you can.” This renewed their vigor and they all jogged on, a mother carrying her pup in her arms with tears streaming down her face.

“Ollie, if she’ll let you, come take this pup from her. Who knows how long they’ve been traveling.” He fell back and offered to carry the pup for her, I couldn’t see her face but I imagine it clouded with a lack of trust, before she slowly handed her pup to the stranger offering aid. Her body seemed to relax and her arms dropped, pushed to exhaustion by the weight of her heart that she’d carried.

This scene made me sad. Not a single adult male. Where were their mates? When we finally pushed through the wood line. I stopped, letting them move far enough ahead before shifting and partially redressing. Another patrol had been waiting, I assume Alpha had called on them, I had not. When I stepped out, all eyes fell on me, I put my hands up to maintain their silence.

“We’re going to bring you up to the pack house. You’ll be fed, and given the opportunity to bathe, and given fresh clothing if you desire. I understand you want to speak to the Alpha, but he is not available right now. As soon as he is, he will down to see you. He is tracking that you are here.” They quieted, following Ollie up towards the pack house. When we arrived to the front, the human Rea was waiting, her eyes searched faces quickly before she came to me.

“Luna?”

“No, m’am.”

“Where is Alpha?”

“I wasn’t given the authorization to discuss this, m’am. I apologize.” She nodded understanding.

“What do they need?”

“They need meals, showers, and clothing.”

“We’ll stagger them. Some to the kitchen, some to the barracks bathrooms for showers. Take 5 to the kitchen, I’ll bring the others to get washed. Can he find clothes for them?”

“I’ve already asked my mate. She’ll be here shortly.”

“Thank you. What is your mate’s name?”

“Kyrie, M’am.”

“Thank Kyrie for me, and please have her find me in the washroom when she arrives.”

“Of course. Thank you.” She had been a Luna and it showed. I appreciated her help right now. In the time I had been in this pack, my entire life, it had been peaceful. Nothing like this had ever occurred. Despite my training, I felt unsure of how to proceed. I watched her guiding the mother’s with pups toward the stairs to bring them down to the washrooms. The youngest of the pups couldn’t have been older then a year. We hadn’t account for the pups, there were 3 young ones, and 2 near adult she wolves, technically pups still, the mothers and pups went with Rea, as well as the younger she wolves. The adults came with us to the kitchen. I had never seen anything eat so ravenously. They were all starved. Plate after plate. Kyrie found me. Bundles of clothes in her arms.

“This is what I could scrounge for the moment, but it should be enough for them until Luna arrives.” I felt a wave of her sadness as her eyes surveyed the hungry she wolves, they had simply sat where they’d made their plates. Scattered throughout the kitchen. Gulping down bottles of water between frenzied bites at their food. I put my arm around her, she relaxed.

“Rea, the human, is downstairs with the rest at the showers. If you wouldn’t mind bringing these to her. There are pups, Kyrie. Young ones”. She nodded and trotted off in their direction. Her sadness stayed with me briefly before fading. Transitioning the groups was easy enough. The ones who had eaten seemed exhausted after gorging themselves, they moved slowly but obediently. The ones who had showered and changed seemed somewhat renewed and eager to get to the kitchen. I stood watching this group, the mothers feeding their pups before themselves.

“I like the human.” Kyrie’s voice rose quietly beside me. I hadn’t noticed her standing there. “She thanked me several times and then told me to go home and give my pup kisses. These are the moments you realize how much you love them.”

“Her pups are still out in the woods. I’m sure she’s worried.”

“Alpha and Luna?”

“Alpha for sure. I can’t say certainly that Luna is. But I suspect.” Kyrie leaned up, placing her lips to my cheek.

“I love you. But I’m going to do what she said. Do you think you’ll be home tonight?”

“In a few hours I would think. With no beta…”

“I know. I understand. Be safe, mate.” She kissed my cheek again before she walked away, leaving me to survey the hungry group before me. I considered myself lucky to have mated with a she wolf like Kyrie. Especially now, seeing Lev’s struggles with his, although I imagined there was more to her then any of us knew. They’d both grown several inches in height since they’d mated. That wasn’t even unusual, but entirely unheard of. His wolf at the challenge had changed, grown as well. I liked Lev and I would follow him into the depths of hell. He treated us well, he never spoke to us like he was above us. He had always taken patrol shifts, picking up the ones we wanted off for various reasons. Anniversaries, birthdays, pup births. I was actually proud of his challenge and victory, as were most of the guard and patrol wolves and their families. Something had never been right about Ciaran, but it wasn’t noticeable on the outside. It was the way he would seem to sneak around. Only involving himself with the patrol to shift us here or there for little to no reason. This group was finishing, and the group that Rea had were waiting patiently in the hall for their fellow refugees to finish.

“I’m going to bring them to the barracks rooms. When they’re done, you can bring them along. I’ll get them settled. I have two Snow Claws on their way to relieve you of this situation. I can’t relieve you for the morning, but at least you won’t have to be here.” She smiled at me, she couldn’t know how much I appreciated that. I had to brief the incoming patrols, and I had decided I would wait for Alpha to return, if he wants back before the morning ended, I would go out and search for him. It had already taken too long, he shouldn’t have been this far behind us.

Nox & Evie

“He’s easy pray running in stupid like this. My mate would know better” - “he’s scared Nox. I didn’t push the block out quick enough. He knows you’re hurting.” - “you’re hurting. To Nox. tis but a scratch.” - “be gentle, Nox.”

Her body slammed into his, but she did it so expertly that she absorbed the impact and was barely effected, Lev and Til sent tumbling to the ground. She quipped something, driving her point home. He sprung to his feet and growling at us. I dropped the block, and a small whimper formed in his throat before he swallowed it.

“Evie what the f**k are you doing?”

“Walking home.”

“You leave for hours without saying a word, after dragging Stev out of the trees by his skull, you just take off. Into the woods. In the middle of the night.”

“It was dusk when I left. I didn’t expect to be gone so long. I’m sorry you were worried. I didn’t intend for that.”

“And then you f*****g block me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. I could feel it when Ciaran dug into you. When I heard them ahead of me I thought you would be close, it wasn’t to keep you from me. I was simply trying to protect you.”

“From what, Evie? Knowing you’re in pain? Protect me from what?”

“I don’t know, Lev, maybe from me in general. I don’t know. I’m sorry. I didn’t plan on going out. I couldn’t figure out why it had been so easy. Stev had been formidable as I remembered him and it was just too simple. I went out to look for something I missed. I picked up his scent, it was so faint, if I had waited I would have lost it. I tried to send you a text but I didn’t have your number and I know if I sent it to Rea, she’d have you out here after me. So I just went. The humming is wiring in the trees. I don’t know to or for what but we severed the one we found. When we came to the clearing I couldn’t leave them there. The intent was never to engage, just to observe. But they were alone. I’m sorry, Lev. I didn’t mean to cause anything I didn’t intend to worry you. I don’t know what else to do. Your world isn’t my world. And I’m trying my hardest to understand it but next to Snow Claw, I feel beyond inadequate and useless.” His posture softened some, not entirely, but enough. He stood back and observed me walking.

“What happened to you.”

“There were wolves that followed. They’re all dead. Several miles back in the woods.”

“How many?”

“Just five. Poorly trained. They chose to fight. So I don’t think they were like Taylor.”

“Evie please don’t do this again. Do you have any idea how badly this could have gone?”

“It can still go wrong. I’m leaving a blood trail that could be tracked by even the most inept human.”

“They know where we are, you aren’t giving them any information they don’t have.”

“You need to be careful, Lev. It doesn’t matter how emotionally invested you are in something. You can’t run into the unknown like a train over a cliff. You will get hurt.”

“Yeah thanks for the life lesson. It was about the last thing I needed at that moment.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for this. For all of this. Every time I think I have even the smallest bit of it figured out, I find a new way f**k it up.

“Evie, as frustrated as I am with you right now, you got them to us safely. It’s hard to be angry at you when you sit back and look at the selflessness in your actions. And maybe it’s my selfishness that you would be out here alone, vulnerable to all the dangers that presents right now. I have to continue to remind myself that you are not vulnerable. That you are not weak or without skill. But I can’t lose you. I need you. So please. Don’t ever do this again.”

“I won’t promise you things I won’t commit to. Lev, I did my best with the alpha and Luna, they seem kind, but they are not my kind. I watched them eat and listened to the way they spoke. Like we’re pups. Lyssa is this stunning goddess of a creature, I feel like a pitiful little orphan they’re extending some sort of charity to. Here I am, feral little wolf from the woods, next to these people who use their silverware from the inside out while I try and figure out why I have 2 spoons.”

“Evie.”

“F*****g average watercolor girl. You can wash her off and never have to remember it again. That is me. In this world of people who’s likenesses and names will be carved in the whitest marble so they won’t ever be forgotten. And you’re stuck trying to explain and sell the concept that I have any right to be doing any of this. That I have any right at all to stand beside you.

“EVIE.”

“I just keep f******g everything up. And I worry you because of course I do. What mess can she be making now. Because that’s what I do. I make messes. And then you have to come clean them up. You should have left me in the woods and found something worthy of what you are. If you had any brains in your giant head you’d have never come out there.” We reached the wood line. I veered away from the direction of the pack. Paying no attention at all to anything. I wanted to shift and go to bed. I’d hear about it from Rea and I was tired. It had been a long night and my hip and leg ached.

“Jelly what happened to you?” She kneeled beside me, examining the marks down my flank. “These are gonna need stitches Jell.

“They’re fine, Rea. I’m sorry for worrying you. I didn’t plan on going out, is just sort of happened. Please don’t be angry at me.”

“They’re all safe you know. Every single one of em talking bout the big black wolf that got em out.”

“Lev is a big black wolf. Maybe he did it.”

“I have your clothes. And Lev was here, watching me getting schmammer faced. So I doubt it was him.” Ouch. Passive aggressive and well placed Rea. I mouthed my clothes and limped into the wood line. Shifting and dressing slowly. Lev walked in, looking at my leg. Layers of the muscle were visible down to the bone, but it was clean and would heal fine. I tried to put my pants on but Lev contested.

“You’re going to the clinic.”

“It’s fine. It’ll heal.”

“No Evie. You’re going to the clinic.” He picked me up, and I let him. I was incredibly tired and didn’t feel like walking anymore. The pain in this form was worse, it raked through my entire body.

“Lev I just wanna go home. Please.”

“He kissed my forehead and put me in the truck, buckling me in. He drove quickly. They were waiting outside the clinic, I argued only slightly. Drifting off to a sort of half sleep.

Lev

She lost consciousness shortly after arriving to the clinic. I had asked specifically for someone other then Ronnie to oversee her. A small she wolf introduced herself, coincidentally, Silver did not recognize me at all. I barely recognized her.

“You’re going to have to leave the room, we need to work.” She didn’t look up at me but I stepped back as she stuck different things to Evie and monitors started beeping she had two others working with her.

“Her leg.”

“Please.” She looked up at me but paused, a warm sort of look crossed her face.

“Your mate?”

“Yes.”

“I got her, Lev. But you need to leave. I need the space. She’ll be ok. Really. I promise.” And she pushed me out the door closing it behind her. Rea sat in the waiting room, she patted the seat beside her, beckoning me to sit.

“She’s gonna be fine, cowboy. Don’t look so worried.”

“She shouldn’t have been out there alone. This wouldn’t have happened.” I had my head in my hands, my elbows on my knees, leaning forward, thinking. Replaying what she had said in the woods. It was morning, I threw a quick line to Patrick relieving him and telling him to go home and go to bed. He’d been instrumental in getting the group back. I needed to find his patrolman and thank him as well. These wolves worked hard, harder then any one. I tried my best to always show my appreciation for their time sacrifices and loyalty to the safety of the pack.

“Ohhhh, Lev, you can’t change her. There’s always gonna be a part of her that thinks independently. She’s gonna get hurt. She isn’t gonna be the type that sits in the pack house building floral arrangements for the community room. She’s born to be out in the trenches. You know that.”

“I know, Rea.”

“I don’t know what to do, Rea.”

“Find a beta with a mate. Let them have the Luna duties. Let your warrior be a warrior. You know, you’re gonna hate this. But you really should go meet with the group she brought in. They’ve been steady asking for you, over and over. I’ll stay here with Jels. As soon as they give the word I’ll let you know when you can be with her. I promise.”

“Thank you, mama Rea. I’d be lost without you right now.”

“Nahhh you’d be fine. I just like to feel like I’m important.” She smiled at me and patted my shoulder.

“Do you know who’s with them?”

“Patrolman named Ollie. He’s been with them since they came in.”

“Thanks.”

“Ollie. I’m on my way to the pack house can you round up the newcomers and bring them to the common room for me? I’d like to meet with them.”

“Alpha.”

When I arrived there were 10 of them. 3 with small pups. They all stood when I walked into the room. I gestured for them to sit, all but one did, the mother with the youngest pup remained standing.

“Alpha, was the wolf who helped us escape a part of your pack?”

“Yes, she is.”

“Did she make it back?”

“Yes, she’s in the clinic right now being treated. She’ll be fine. Just minor cuts and scrapes.” I tried to smile but it felt obviously forced.

“We’d like to see her. We’d all like to thank her.”

“When she’s released I’m sure she’ll be incredibly insistent on seeing you all as well. But I have other questions before we get into any of that.”

“I’m sorry, Alpha. I didn’t mean to..”

“You’re fine. No need to apologize. What I need to know, is where you all came from?” Seemingly the appointed voice of the crowd, the young mother answered.

“We are hostages of the cause, Alpha, our mates and brothers were separated from us to act as Soldiers. We’ve been kept away from them unable to access our wolves or to reach out to them via connection.”

“How did you all get there? How did you find ‘The Cause’”?

“I can’t speak for everyone here, but my mate and I were cast out from our own pack over a mate dispute. We roamed as rogues searching for a pack, we found them thinking they would be safer then being on our own. We made a great mistake. I haven’t seen my mate in months.”

“Is your mate Taylor?” Her eyes came to life, she stood up taller.

“Yes! Is he alive? Is he ok?”

“Yes he’s here. We’ll get you two back together shortly. He’s currently in our prison, but no charges have been brought against him. We wanted to verify his story, which you’ve just done.” Her eyes welled up and tears spilled over. She sat holding her pup close and rocking a bit.

“Is everyone’s story here similar to hers? Does anyone have any clue what the cause actually is?” An adult she wolf stood.

“Alpha, my mate joined the cause under the belief that it was a pack focused on restoring and maintaining the integrity of powerful blood lines. He is of a powerful alpha line, as am I. We were not fate bonded, but mated for the sake of the pups we would produce. The cause is little more then a breeding program. They’re using she wolves with exceptional bloodlines to produce pups.”

“How long have they been operating?”

“A year at most, Alpha. They are small but the majority of them are strong, since it was built around the strongest purest bloodlines.” I nodded feeling egregiously sick.

“I’m sorry for the personal nature of my next question, but were these breedings consensual?”

“Most of them were not Alpha. But mates were allowed their time.”

“And what exactly, again I’m sorry for the personal nature, well, how and whom were the breedings pairs?”

“It was generally one wolf, who seemed determined to obtain a pup. None of them produced.”

“Stev?” Several of them recoiled and the wolf who had been speaking nodded her head slowly.

“Since you’ve been here, have any of your recovered your connection to your wolves?” A few hands went up, the younger near adult wolves. Pups were notorious for their ability to bounce back. Adults it usually took a bit longer. I nodded at them.

“Ok. Do any of you have any questions for me?” All the hands went up.