Chapter 13
1418 Words
Perrin
She lay out, stretched on the bed. Her silver hair fanned out on the pillow around her head. Her large eyes stared back into mine, patiently. Waiting.
I lowered myself down to her easily, resting my hips lightly on hers. She was small, but not fragile. I could feel her hips reach up slightly to meet mine before falling back into the bedding.
Her hand swept through my hair while the other pulled by the chin closer to her--down to her own lips. She kissed me softly at first, then pulled back slightly, as if asking in question.
I eagerly met her again and deepened the kiss. She rapped both of my hands through my hair, tugging me down into her. Her legs parted to allow my hips to press her closer to me and deeper into the bed.
She moaned softly when I slipped a hand over the top of her silk top, cupping her breast in my hand. That sound brought a soft growl to the back of my throat. A growl of pleasure. I wanted to hear more of that sound from her.
Slipping my other hand underneath the small of her back, I raised her hips to meet mine. She gasps, feeling the pressure of my arousal digging into her thigh.
“Perrin!”
She moaned again. My lips leave hers and start carving a pathway down to her other breast, leaving a trail of hot breath on her skin.
“Perrin!”
“PERRIN!”
The pounding on the door was enough to jolt me from my share. What hell?
"ARE YOU IN THERE, PERRIN?"
I could hear the icy low rumble of my father's voice through the door and across the room. f**k. What time was it?
"Coming!"
I rush to the door and put my hand on the handle, when I suddenly remember last night. I whip my head around towards the bed. It was empty. Where did she go?
I open the door.
"Good morning, Alph---"
"Do you know what time it is?"
"Uh, no."
"Perrin...." My father lets himself into the room and shuts the door behind him. I take a step back, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. My watch says it's just past dawn.
Stifling a yawn, I try to sound respectful, piecing together why my father is interrupting what little sleep I managed to get after all that happened yesterday.
My father begins pacing around my room as I slump down on my bed. A faint smell of roses waft up from the sheets. I shade my head and look up at my father through the hair in my eyes.
My father continues to pace, stops, and keeps going.
"Dad?" I finally say.
"As you know," he starts. "The arrival of your challengers is this afternoon."
He pauses, but I don't interrupt him. I yawn, and he continues.
"Obviously you're going to be meeting the future challengers for the Alpha position."
"Obviously..." I droll. Sarcasm is my speciality, especially on this little sleep. I rub my eyes, trying to wake myself completely.
He gives a sideways glance at me.
"And obviously," he resumes, "you're going to meet the challengers for Beta as well."
My stomach clenches.
Ethan.
I look my father directly in the eyes, suddenly frantic with worry.
"How is he? Has there been any change?"
"No," he replies quickly. "And I want to talk to you about what happened last night." He comes over and sits on the bed.
My father isn't a big fan of affection, so when he places his hand on my knee, I feel reflexively that what he's about to say is not going to be good.
"After we returned to the packhouse, I spent most of the next few hours with the Night Guard that was out with Ethan last night. There isn't much to go on, but independent stories confirm they picked up a foreign scent. They don't believe it was a rogue--it seemed to be multiple scents rolled together, several ... beings, I'll say."
He gave me a sideways glance as if to make sure I was paying attention. I beckoned him to go on.
"They picked up the trail up along our northern border, and it was clear that whoever this was had crossed into our territory without permission. They followed it for about a mile... But then the scents split. They were distinct. Some scents went back up north again. The others... just seemed to... disappear."
"Disappear?"
"Yes. simply vanished, as if on the wind. It was right the River Yasriel."
"Did they swim somewhere?"
"I thought of that." Scents are much harder to follow with flowing water. Escape Tactics 101 for raids. Ethan and I learned about that as kids. "But I don't think so. They would have had to swim deeper into our territory, and there was no sign of them on either side of the riverbank."
"So... they swam out of our territory?"
"That's what it seems."
"Why would they bother? Why not just leave on land the way you came?"
"My thoughts exactly."
I mulled it over. "Ok..." I give him a look of confusion. "What does that have to do with Ethan?"
"Ethan volunteered to stay at the place where the second scents just seemed to vanish. Right at the bank of the river. He was alone. My gut tells me that the rest of the Night Guard was in favor of going back to the border and exploring over it, but they know not to leave pack territory without explicit approval from me."
I nodd. Every Night Guard who goes on patrol knows not to leave our territory without the Alpha's consent. "And...?"
"And," he sighs, "they seemed pretty split on what to do. Two went briefly over the border to confirm that the scents really had split, a few stayed at the border and the rest resumed normal patrol. It seemed that for an hour or so, the mind link was keeping everyone in check. Everyone was checking and keeping tabs, nothing suspicious."
"So Ethan was by himself?"
"Yes."
There was a pause.
"He shouldn't have been alone."
"I know. And the rest of the guard has had an earful from me on that subject."
Another pause. I looked at him again, waiting for more.
"I'm not sure exactly when... but his mind link was severed. That's when the regular patrol circled back to check. When he didn't answer."
I swallowed hard.
"And they found him like that....?"
"Yes. He was in pretty bad condition, as I think you now understand. A few pack members made it about halfway back before they mind-linked with me to tell me what was going on. Gamma Janas was with me--"
"Wait, wasn't he supposed to be on duty?"
"Yes, but that's not the point."
"IT'S HIS FAULT! IF HE WAS ON DUTY ETHAN WOULDN'T BE--"
"QUIET!" He shuts me up instantly, but I feel murderous at this point. I'm angry, pissed, frustrated... and it's not even 6:00 in the morning.
He takes a deep breath. "It doesn't matter at this point, but Gamma Janas was able to phone and get one of the training vehicles to the border in just a few minutes. We took Ethan straight to the infirmary. I went back out with the rest of the Night Guard to see what we could find. Apart from a small remnant of the scents... I couldn't find anything."
An awkward silence fell over us. I was absorbed in trying to process what happened. I was still exhausted and trying to shake my fatigue as my brain tried to go into overdrive.
I got the feeling that my father had more that he wanted to say.
"Perrin... I know this must be hard for you, but I really need you to stay focused on the Welcome Ceremony this afternoon."
"But Ethan--"
"I know what it meant to you to have Ethan fight by your side. But right now, Ethan's fighting for his life. He didn't spend all of the past few years for you to sacrifice your Title and your birthright just for him. You know he'd want you to be there."
I hung my head. I knew he was right, but that didn't make it any easier.
"Yea." It was all I could say.
He patted my shoulder as he stood, then walked to the door.
"Make me proud, Perrin. I know you will." And walked out.
- Writer
