Chapter 12: “Recruiting”
1418 Words
The market smelled like wet fur and desperation.
We left at dawn. All four of us.
Kael said we shouldn’t. “It’s too soon. You’re not ready to be seen.”
But Varek gave us 7 days. And “undeniable” doesn’t happen hiding behind half-built walls.
So we walked.
Two hours to the border market. The place where border Packs dumped their “useless” before winter. Wolfless. Old. Sick. The ones no one wanted.
My stomach turned just thinking about it. Because that used to be me.
The staff was wrapped in cloth and tied to my back. We couldn’t walk in with silver light flashing. Not if we wanted people to talk to us instead of run.
Lina walked on my left. Toren on my right. Kael took point, eyes scanning everything.
“Remember,” Kael said quietly. “We’re not recruiting. We’re offering.”
I nodded. But my hands were cold.
The market was just a clearing with tents. Stalls selling meat, pelts, trinkets. And in the back, near the trees — the pens.
Not cages. Pens. Like animals.
There were maybe 20 people in them. Some sitting. Some standing. All of them with that hollow look. The one I saw in the mirror for 15 years.
Lina saw them too. She grabbed my arm. “Ella.”
“I see them,” I said.
A man in a Blackstone vest was walking the line. Checking teeth. Checking hands. “Wolfless. Wolfless. Too old. 3 silver.”
Like we were livestock.
Anger hit me so fast the mark burned. The cloth on the staff warmed against my back.
“Easy,” Kael murmured. “Not yet.”
We moved through the market. No one looked at us. Four people with no Pack colors, no crest. Invisible.
Good.
I stopped at a stall selling bread. Paid with the coins Kael had saved. Bought 4 loaves. And 2 extra.
“Who are they for?” Lina asked.
“Them,” I said, nodding to the pens.
Kael didn’t argue.
We walked to the back. The Blackstone man saw us and frowned. “This area’s not for browsing.”
“We’re not browsing,” I said. “We’re visiting.”
“With what authority?”
“Neutral Law,” Kael said. His voice was flat. “We’re allowed to speak to anyone who isn’t claimed.”
The man looked us over. Saw no crest. Decided we weren’t worth the trouble. “5 minutes.”
Then he walked away.
Silence.
20 faces turned to us. Suspicious. Tired.
I stepped forward. Unwrapped one loaf. Broke it in half. Handed it to the closest woman. She looked about 50. Grey hair. Hands shaking.
“Here,” I said.
She stared at the bread. Then at me. “Why?”
“Because you’re hungry,” I said.
She took it. Slow. Like she expected me to snatch it back.
Toren started handing out the other loaf. Lina gave water from our skin.
No one asked our names. Not yet.
I crouched in front of the pen. The dirt was wet. “I’m Ella.”
No response.
“I was like you,” I said. “Wolfless. Rejected. Thrown away.”
A boy, maybe 14, in the corner looked up. His eyes were red.
“My Pack said I had no value,” I continued. “So I left. And I built something.”
The old woman chewed slowly. “Built what?”
“A Pack,” I said. “For people like us. For the ones they said weren’t enough.”
Kael stepped up beside me. He didn’t loom. He just stood there. Solid.
“Ashford,” he said. “It’s old land. Neutral. We have walls. A house. Food.”
The boy laughed. Bitter. “Sure you do.”
Toren shifted. Let his wolf rise just under his skin. Not enough to shift. Just enough that his eyes went gold for a second.
The boy stopped laughing.
“You…” the old woman whispered. “You shifted.”
“I was wolfless,” Toren said. His voice was rough. “Last week. Ella woke me.”
Lina knelt too. “She woke me too. Not my wolf. But me. She saw me.”
More eyes on us now.
The staff hummed against my back. Warm.
I pulled the cloth back just enough to show the silver wood. Not the light. Just the staff.
“This is how,” I said. “I can’t promise it’ll work for everyone. I don’t know how it works yet. But I can promise this: at Ashford, no one gets called ‘useless’ again.”
Silence.
Then the boy stood. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch,” I said. “You come. You work. You eat. You’re family. If you want to leave later, you leave.”
The Blackstone man was watching us from across the clearing now.
“We have to go back to our Packs in 2 days,” a man said. “Or they’ll mark us as rogue.”
“Then don’t go back,” Kael said. “Come with us.”
The old woman looked at the bread in her hand. Then at me. “Why would an Alpha want us?”
“I’m not an Alpha,” I said. “I’m a Luna. And a Luna’s job is to take care of the Pack.”
The word Luna made three people flinch.
“Blackstone will come for you,” the man said.
“Let them,” I said. And I meant it. “We have 7 days until Council. We’re going to walk in with more than 4 people. So they can’t call us nothing.”
The boy took a step to the edge of the pen. “My name’s Jace. I’m 14. No wolf.”
“Do you want to come to Ashford, Jace?” I asked.
He looked at the Blackstone man. Then back at me. “Yes.”
The old woman stood next. Slow. “Mara. 52. No wolf.”
“Yes.”
One by one.
A woman with a bad leg. “Rhea.”
A man who’d been a cook. “Dell.”
Two sisters. “Nina and Sera.”
7 people.
Seven.
My chest felt too big. The staff was almost hot now.
“Okay,” I said. My voice cracked. “Okay.”
Kael looked at the sky. “We need to go. Now. Before he decides to stop us.”
The Blackstone man was already walking toward us. Fast.
“Come on,” Kael said. “Walk. Don’t run.”
We opened the pen gate.
7 people stepped out. Hesitant. Like they expected a trick.
We walked.
Through the market. Past stalls. Past stares.
No one stopped us. Not yet.
Halfway to the tree line, the Blackstone man shouted. “Hey! Those are Blackstone rejects!”
Kael turned. Just his head. “They’re not claimed. Neutral Law.”
“Alpha won’t like this,” the man yelled.
“Then he can bring it to Council,” Kael said. And kept walking.
We didn’t run until the trees closed around us.
Then we ran.
It took an hour to get back to Ashford.
7 new people. Tired. Scared. But walking.
When we hit the wall, Lina started crying. Not loud. Just tears.
Toren was grinning. “We did it.”
I counted them again. 7. Plus us 4.
11.
The staff pulsed once. Approval.
Inside the walls, I turned to them. All of them.
“I’m Ella,” I said. “This is Kael, Lina, and Toren. This is Ashford. It’s not much yet. But it’s yours. If you want it.”
Jace looked at the half-built house. At the walls. At us.
“It’s more than I had,” he said.
Mara nodded. “Where do we start?”
Kael exhaled. The first real breath since the market. “With dinner. Then walls.”
That night, 11 people slept inside Ashford’s walls.
11.
We were 4 a week ago.
I sat on the stone with the staff across my lap. The white wolf was curled in my mind, tail wagging.
“You see?” she said. “They were waiting for you.”
Outside, the forest was quiet.
But for the first time, it didn’t feel like the quiet before a storm.
It felt like the quiet after.
We had 5 days left until Council.
And now, we had a Pack.
- Writer
