Serenia’s last hour in her childhood house goes by in a blur. After the tense conversation with Kai and her father, she waits as Kai lets his awaiting members through the front door with one she recognizes as Kai introducing as the newly appointed Beta of the Wolfmane Tribe, Niklas, asking her where her stuff is. In a daze, she leads him toward the back of the house and to the basement door to her bedroom. She doesn’t pay attention to him the entire way down, only turning to see his enraged reaction once she enters her room. “Is everything all right?” she asks quietly. She is afraid to even move looking at his face. “No, everything is not all right. Is this how you’ve been living? For how long?” he asks, rather loudly compared to her mouse-like tone, his voice echoing off the concrete walls. Neutral disregard is the most she was expecting from this stranger, she doesn’t know how to react to his surprising surge of anger as he continues to look aroun
Serenia leads Kai to the edge of the forest behind the Alpha house, feeling most comfortable out here among the quiet stillness of the trees and the light push of the wind through her hair. “I apologize again for my behavior earlier. Had I known what you and your mother have been going through, I would have been more mindful of how irrationally I’ve been acting,” Kai says in a rushed voice. She stops and looks back at him with a curious and confused look. “How do you know of what my mother and I have gone through? Have you visited the Omega house recently?” she presses him. Kai holds up his hands and shakes his head. “I haven’t gone there since arriving here, I swear.” She gives him another curious glare but drops it anyway. “It’s no rumour in your tribe it seems, the way you and your mother are treated in that house. It is completely unheard of, but not illegal, for a high-ranking house to have more than one wife, let alone three. All me and my warriors did was ask around about
“All right, so slight change of plans,” Kai addresses their small group gathered on the forest edge. “Serenia is unable to travel in beast form, which means we won’t be able to take the same way that we took to come here.” “Going on foot will add at least a whole other day to our trip. Alpha Erik and the others are going to wonder if we’ve been delayed,” Gunnar calls out. “That’s why you’re going to go ahead and inform my father, Niklas and I will stay back and guard Serenia during the trip. Don’t worry, we’ve both made the journey enough times we know our way around. We shouldn’t be delayed by more than a day.” Kai can both see and feel the ashamed and nervous energy from Serenia, he can only imagine how guilty she feels for hindering the journey, though none of them find her at fault, telling her that will make no difference, he already knows. Therefore, he doesn’t want to make her feel any worse by voicing how much longer it will take.
Never has Serenia felt such an exhilarating sense of freedom as she has while riding on the back of Niklas’ massive wolf, rushing through the forest like they are being carried by the wind, floating at amazing speed. She never wants this feeling to end, she never wants to stop feeling so free. Is this what it’s like? Though I’m not on the ground, I can almost feel the pounding of the Earth beneath my feet, the rush of adrenaline as I’m launched forward with a powerful gust. I can go anywhere and everywhere my heart desires. This is what she has been missing out on while everyone else has been enjoying their freedom to shift and run wild like their kind are meant to do. She isn’t meant to be cooped up in this small and frail body, with limited abilities. She can barely see the trees as they blur by, the smells drifting by too fast for her to catch, she is completely blind to where she is and where she is going. If anything, she is mor
By the time night falls Kai has successfully gotten a fire going and captured a couple of small hares to cook for the night, letting Niklas and Gunnar run wild and catch their own dinner, a great excuse to leave him and Serenia alone for a little bit. Sitting by the fire and eating their shares of meat sticks, Kai is expecting Serenia to ask questions about what to expect when they finally reach Wolfmane territory to get an idea of what she is about to walk into. Instead, she sits and listens intently to the rather noisy forest scene, the birds never ceasing their chirping and in turn, bothering the bullfrogs commuting to the stream. She reminds him of a wide-eyed doe sitting in the middle of a meadow, opening her eyes and ears for the first time and experiencing the natural sounds of life. Kai thinks back to the few times he had entered the forest territory of the Raseri Tribe and doesn’t remember hearing many sounds if any sounds of birds or insects.
I apologize if the order of my chapters was messed up and there says there is a repeat of the 9th chapter. It is NOT a repeat, that is chapter 10 but I mislabeled them when trying to upload multiple chapters at once. It should be fixed soon! :) ************ Oh gods, what do I do? What do I do? Niklas is injured and getting worse and there’s no way someone like me can stop whatever is happening with Kai. I’m useless. Useless is all Serenia has ever felt unless it’s washing dishes in record time or hunting quality meat. Never has she felt utterly useless as she does now. Her entire body is frozen to the ground doing nothing more than staring at the growing pool of blood beneath Niklas who doesn’t even have the energy to shift anymore. “What am I supposed to do?” she whispers to Niklas, hearing the defeat in her own voice. “He’s going to…kill them…he can’t…” Niklas manages to gasp out. “What? Why can’t he kill them?” That sound
“Is-Is that a human?” Serenia asks, cowering a little behind the crouched-over Niklas. “Why would you think that?” he asks. Serenia shrugs, feeling a little embarrassed now. “I don’t know, who else would attack us with silver-tipped arrows? We aren’t in rogue territory, are we?” “Everywhere that isn’t claimed by a tribe or pack is considered rogue territory, they roam wherever they please, but even they can’t get their hands on silver like that. Only tribes as big as ours could possibly have the need for something as lethal as silver,” Niklas says, glaring at the struggling body between Gunnar’s teeth. “I guess it’s time we found out,” she mutters. “Can you stand? I don’t think I can handle getting this guy to talk.” Niklas nods and tries his best to get on his feet but stumbles back to the ground. He groans and glares once more at the attacker before his eyes go wide. “Wait, stop him! He has so
They must have been riding for hours by now, their previous conversation lost to the wind, Kai going much faster and covering a lot more ground than Niklas the first time, in an obvious rush as far away from the rogue territory as possible. At some point along the way Gunnar had split off from the group and hasn’t returned, but Niklas doesn’t seem concerned which tells Serenia she has no reason to be either. The ride is silent and tense, at least on Serenia’s end. Niklas seems to fade in and out of consciousness which worries her, but the colour in his face keeps her heart steady. During what feels like his hundredth time shaking himself awake with the blanket still surprisingly stuck to him, he finally speaks. “How long was I out this time?” “Just under an hour I think, I don’t have anything to tell the time, the trees are too thick above us for me to see the sky clearly.” She feels him nod and lean his head against her back again,