A knock sounds on my door, waking me up from my sleep. I look around the room, disoriented but awake. Max is nowhere to be seen and I am on his bed.“He put me on the bed” I mumble quietly. A small smile graces my lips at his thoughtfulness. From the light reflecting into the room from the window, I realise it's still light out. “Ugh, this day is long enough” The knock sounds again, more insistent this time.“I'll be right there!” I call out, a little of the irritation I feel colors my voice. I get up and run my hand through my hair in hopes of reducing the awful bed she'd I no doubt have, but I wince upon getting my fingers caught in a tangle. Days of not running a comb through my hair have finally caught up with me, and I'm only grateful that when I first arrived someone put out clothes for me, but no one has had the initiative to repeat the action since then, and I was too preoccupied with my failed escape plan to demand more. I make a mental note to ask for more later.I yank th
“We are here” Tarla announces. We walk out of the forest into the same clearing I encountered Max earlier. Only, now, in front of the wolf statue, there is a huge arrangement of wood. I stare up at it wondering what it's going to be used for. With my luck, it's probably a Salem-style witch execution. Only, this time, I'm probably going to be the one that ends up getting sacrificed. “A classic burning at the stake” I mumble under my breath. From the amused look Tarla shoots at me, she heard me quite fine. “Where is here exactly?” I ask aloud “Here, is the pack centre” Tarla answers. “Great” I retort, looking around. There are a lot of people milling about, and I notice that there are children among them. The crescent shape of the buildings I realise serves as some sort of guide or reference. The middle of the crescent, where the statue of the wolf is, is tiled with red bricks. There is a distinct line of demarcation between where the red stops, and where the normal brown ground
MAX'S POVI walk silently through the corridors of the mansion, my footfalls echoing throughout the entire space. I was supposed to go straight to the bonfire event, but a tug in my chest directed me to Calista instead. Lately, after her Wolf surfaced, I've been getting new feelings, in addition to mine. Sometimes, they come in echoes, and sometimes, the emotions proclaim themselves loudly. Every emotion that she felt, I felt too. The stronger the emotion was, the louder the imprint. I have scoured for days on end, trying to understand this situation, but the knowledge is proving evasive and quite frankly difficult to attain. I let out a rueful chuckle. Like her, everything else in my life related to her is unique and very intriguing.Something changed though, after she vomited earlier. There was a loud silence that filled the space where Calista’s emotions usually were. It was like she shut me off, and for the life of me, I have been trying to figure out if she did it on purpose o
Max's Pov "Callie, it's time, we need to go, it's dark out already” Tarla says as she storms into the room, breaking the silence. The moment is broken, and Calista tears her gaze from mine. Tarla looks at us in frozen shock. Understanding slowly dawns on her “I'm so sorry for interrupting.” She says contrite. At Tarla's words, Calista practically leaps away from me. Colour blooms high on her cheeks, giving her the appearance of a deer caught in headlights. “Um,” Calista runs her hands over her dress once, twice, unsure of what to say. I let out a small laugh. “You weren't….” She trails off again, clearing her throat once and her eyes dart to mine for a fleeting second. “I have to go now” Gratitude shines in Calista’s eyes. “Yes he does,” Calista adds. I arch a brow at her but she is staring at Tarla guilt written all over her face. I sidle up to her and lean down close to her ear. “Save me a dance” I whisper to her, before walking out of the room. ★☆☆★★☆☆★★
Calista’s Pov. I look on in amazed wonder. Not quite sure of what is going on but still basking in it all the same. The voices of hundreds of wolves including Tarla washes through me. I never thought that I would consider the sound of howls as beautiful but this, this is something that I cannot properly put into words. It is wonderful. The howls go on for minutes and a little sigh goes through the crowd as the howls come to an end with floating notes. The little wolves trot up to the podium, and I watch as Max leans down and pats them on their little furry heads. The little ones shift and someone presents them with clothes which they promptly change into. After wearing their clothes, Max calls them each by their names and presents them to the pack. Something in my heart melts as I see the open trust on the children's faces as they look from Max to the pack. “He does this every year?” I ask without taking my eyes off the scene in front of me. “Yes, it's usually just two or thre
Normal.A word I am trying and failing to embody. Showing up to school, being in class, pretending to be active in class, and trying to keep my grades up,that is the extent to which I can pretend to be normal. Because if I don't do it, if I fall out of routine and I begin to spiral, I see things that people say aren't there. That night, i told the paramedics what i saw. Their first reaction was disbelief. Then, later, they said I was in shock. When I told them that it wasn't imagined and that I knew what I saw, they all looked at me with pity and patted my head like I was a good dog.At the hospital, when I wouldn't stop screaming, a psychiatrist was brought in to examine me. She was bored and uninterested, she asked me a few questions but I wouldn't stop screaming. Eventually, I saw her write down PTSD on a notepad. Later, people started whispering, saying that I probably imagined it. So I started to think that maybe I really did imagine it. Maybe it was all in my head, but I should
It's Thursday today, and I gave up being normal two weeks ago. I would say it wasn't working, but the truth is, lately, I can not seem to muster the strength to do anything. It's like I am seeing the world through fogged glasses. I feel disconnected from everything and everyone. I just want to go home and lay down. I'm walking home from class totally oblivious to everything and everyone but the path to my house, when all of a sudden someone comes from behind me, grabs my hands, shoves it at an extremely awkward angle behind my back and fasten them together with what I can guess are probably zip ties and before I can even scream, another person comes into my line of vision and shoves a musty smelling cloth into my mouth and then to make it worse, a mask is thrown over my head blocking out my eyesight and before I can even begin to fully process what is going on I'm hauled over someone's shoulder. I know screaming is futile, so I start struggling wildly. I kick out with my unbound legs
I sit in my study in the pack house, going over our finances and approving budgets. After 13 years of doing this, it feels like second nature to me. Today feels a little off. I had my normal sparring session this morning with my Beta, Luke. Today's session was pretty gruelling, and I think I pulled a muscle in my wrist, an injury that isn't as serious as for wolves as it is for humans. Right now, there is just a slight stiffness in my wrist when I move it around. For the past three years, I have not been able I have not been able to sleep properly and normally a nice sparring section with Luke and a long run in wolf form would help me blow off steam and calm my wolf for a bit but today, the uneasiness only grows as the hour passes. I sigh and try to concentrate on the account books, but the numbers just blur in front of my eyes. I put the account books aside and start messaging my wrist when I'm consumed by an array of emotions that I know instinctively doesn't belong to me. For a f