Within you I found home

twenty six

        WEEKS WENT BY WITH NO SIGN OF AERILYN.

        Nico convinced her Alpha to look for her, but the scent had been washed away. No trail. No leads. It was a dead end.

        You and Mith had settled in nicely. Despite Rian's initial suspicions, he had also accepted your presence along with the rest of the pack.

        Most of them were curious about you. They could smell the shifter in you mixed with the mortal. You answered their questions despite Nico insisting you did not owe them anything.

        You wanted to offer up your story. You wanted to be accepted, make friends, and carve your place here.

        To do that, they needed to know you.

        "Here we go." You filled the chicken's feeder with a large bucket of veg scraps, potato peels and crushed eggshells you'd collected from the locals.

        The hens rushed towards it—a flurry of brown feathers with white dots. You tried not to trip over them as you exited the pen and hooked the wire door shut behind you.

        Naturally, you gravitated to the animals when you grew bored and looked for something to fill your time.

        Sadly, they were going to be eaten by the shifters. They weren't pets or rescues. But at least you could look after them and give them a good life before they ended up in a pan. . .or wolf's belly.

        When you first approached Gorhan - the farmer - and asked if you could volunteer your time there, he laughed at you.

        "Why would you willingly clean up cow's manure?" he had questioned in disbelief. "It's a punishment for us folk, but here you are, wanting to do it freely?"

        You'd shrugged and told him, "I love animals."

        "Me too," he deadpanned. "I love them in my stomach, bloody. Not shovelling their shit when I could be doing better things."

        For someone who ran this place, you thought how much he despised it was strange.

        "But-" he shrugged, opening his door wider. "You're welcome to take the job off me. I'll even make you a cuppa for when you're finished. How's that sound?"

        You accepted eagerly. Not only did you have a new job, but you also made many new furry friends (and even warmed up to their grumpy keeper).

        "Your boys here!" called said keeper from the back of his home, across the field from you. You glanced up, finding him standing by the door on the other side of the sheep pen.

        A second later, Mithun popped out. You smiled and waved him over.

        Pinching his nose, Mith strode toward you reluctantly. He walked the path of fresh hay on the ground, a barrier between his feet and mud. You met him halfway.

        "Hey, baby," you greeted. The now empty bucket sat against your hip, and you went to hug him with your spare arm, only to stop yourself. He didn't like the smell—his nose was too sensitive. You stepped back instead. "You have fun?"

        He'd been out hunting with Nico all morning. It was now late afternoon. The farm was for the shifters who didn't have the time to hunt, for trading with other packs, and also to stop overhunting in the surrounding forest.

       "Yes," he said, voice nasally. "Are you finished here? Can we go?"

       You chuckled, nodding. "Yes. They're all cleaned and fed. Let's head home so I can shower."