Breaking Free

New Beginnings

I crest the last step walking into the sunlit forest. Conan is there waiting for me. He seems pleased, but his face is hard to read sometimes.

“Thanks again for the supplies.” I say. I give myself a quick once over. “Everything fits nice. It feels good to have my own clothes again.” I try to smile at him. It’s weird in beast form with a muzzle, but he grins back so it must have been understood.

“I’m glad you’re settling in. Let’s get moving, we’ll be the last few showing up for training.” He tells me.

We head out towards the western part of the territory. We travel in silence for a couple minutes before his curiosity wins out.

“So tell me, you’ve lived among humans your whole life?” He asks.

“Yes, I don’t know life any other way. Hiding what I am, the consequences of getting caught. Living in The Ridge provided a firsthand view of Alarick’s cruelty.” I tell him. It’s not a lie, not fully true either.

“Have you ever lived in a human settlement, or have you always been here?” I ask him.

“No I haven’t always been here. Our pack has only been here for 5 years.” He tells me.

I interrupt him with a question “Pack? Like normal wolves?”

He laughs. “Yes, I forget you won’t know these things. Before the war there were not very many of us. Those that found mates wo-”

“Mates?” I exclaim. “That’s a thing too?” I ask in shock.

He chuckles again. “Yes, werewolves mate for life. Your nose is a trustworthy indicator.” He says and pokes my nose. “If you’re compatible with someone they’ll smell better than anything you’ve smelled before.”

I’m suddenly more glad than ever that I’m in wolf form. My blood rushes to my cheeks in what would’ve been a serious blush as a human. I wonder how I smell to him? He doesn’t comment on that and picks up where he left off before my interruption.

“Those that found mates would try to settle in places like this.” He gestured with his hands.

“Things with the humans were not good, some werewolves struggled to control themselves and would attack villages. Some Vampires would feed unchecked. Some Witches loved to cause problems.” He says.

“I knew that part. Some individuals ruined it for the whole. Humans were reactive as well then. Burning witches at the stake just because they were a witch. Staking vampires who didn’t even kill when they fed. Hunting werewolves in the woods. Sometimes they took out fellow humans in their paranoia.” I say to him.

“You know some history then.” He says with a smile. “Just not werewolves?” He asks

“No unfortunately not. I know the general gist of what happened, but that was long before me.” I say. Then a thought occurs to me. “How old are you anyway?” I ask him.

“I’m 20 years old.” He tells me. That’s a relief, he’s my age. I scold myself, this last thing I should be thinking about now. “How about you Ava?” He asks.

“I’m 18 as of yesterday actually…” I trail off.

“Well happy belated birthday then. Now, can I finish answering your first question?” He asks me with a grin. My blood heats my cheeks again and I nod.

“Werewolves who were smart tried to settle into secluded areas. Living off the land is easy for us, and humans didn’t venture far from their lands. Those who had mates would settle in to raise their pups, sometimes other pairs would come around and settle in. As the groups grew so did tensions. Werewolves are feral in nature and things can get rough quickly. The strongest of the group would rise to be the Alpha.” He says.

“Alpha?” I interjected again. “So who’s the alpha here?” I ask.

He gives me the side eye and laughs lightly. “That’s would be me actually.” He tells me. My eyes bulge and I nod. That answers a lot of questions. The way the others listen to him without question, and how the other pack members look at him.

“The alpha would take charge and keep the pack in order. Alphas have a strong aura which makes it near impossible for werewolves to disobey, especially a direct order. Pack members would take an oath of blood- archaic I know- and devote themselves to the alpha. The oath is more than just showmanship, it allows the pack members to link minds. We can communicate across vast distances while protecting our territory.” He says. He looks at me to see if I’m still fooling along. I haven’t interrupted lately I guess.

“My father was an alpha of such a pack. We lived about 30 miles south of here, at other side of this mountain range. The southern forests had quite a few scattered packs as most humans lived more north at that time. About 7 years ago my parents were killed in attack by another larger pack.” He tells me and I gasp. I can’t help but look at him with sympathy in my eyes. He was so young when he lost them.

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” I say. He smiles at me weakly and continues his story.

“My friend Zane and my sister Leah barely escaped with me. We helped what pack me members we could. Eventually we had to flee. There was only 6 of us. We ran and ran along the mountain base. Eventually when it became less steep we started the difficult climb through the range. We didn’t know the land very well and the last thing we wanted was to run into humans. Finally after about a week we made it here. The others looked to me for guidance naturally, I inherited the alpha trait from my father. We were young but we were well trained from living in a pack. Eventually we’d come across others. Either hiding among the humans when we made runs to villages or out in the woods during hunts. We never turned anyone in need away, and I try to be a good leader. I don’t like to order people around but sometimes decisions must be made. I put a counsel together of my strongest, and most trustworthy pack mates to help guide me. It makes it easier to make tough decisions with extra imput. I could have never imagined the pack growing this much. I think having a common goal helps. We all want to take down Alarick.” He tells me.

“Wow.. that’s a lot to take in.” I joke. “I’m glad I came across others with the same goal as me.” I tell him. He finished his story at a good time, I can hear other voices and we near a small clearing. We come through the last of the trees and 14 heads turn to look at us. Conan was wrong, wearing clothes would not help me blend in, not when I was getting an escort from the alpha himself. My heart rate kicked up a notch and my senses go into overdrive. Being around this many strangers has me anxious. I see some are shifted, some are human. All of them are broke into groups of two. They look away and go back to what they were doing, which was sparring.

“This is the training grounds” he tells me. “We have multiple training groups throughout the day every day of the week. I stagger the groups so the pack isn’t left unattended at any time. Some days we spar, other days we have an elite fighter teach everyone some new techniques. Attendance isn’t required, but strongly encouraged. Almost everyone comes who is able, we all want the same thing after all.”

I nod along itching to participate. This is right up my alley and my excitement is hard to contain.

“Who am I going to spar with?” I ask, unable to hide my eagerness in my voice. I look around for Leah hoping to pair with someone I know. I slowly realize everyone else here is already paired. My eyes get wide and I look over at Conan.

“We got here a bit late this morning. It looks like you’ll be stuck with me.” He says with a wolffish grin.

I gulp. This is not what I expected. I don’t think sparring with him will be easy. Combined my attraction to him I am worried about my performance. My confidence is fading away replaced with nerves. This will be interesting to say the least.