Beyond the Curtain

22 | rule 34

RULE 34: DO NOT USE YOUR CIRCUS TALENTS OUTSIDE OF WORKING HOURS.

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"Quite the welcome," Malakai said as he guided me toward the den.

Hana and Rowan, after their brief yet heated discussion, decided to attend to some pack business out of reach of prying ears. Malakai had tried to follow along with his sister, but she tasked him with showing me around the den, not that there was much to show, according to him.

Standing so close to Malakai, I couldn't help but notice how tall he was. I, myself, was not short, but standing next to him felt like standing next to a skyscraper. His dark-colored hair poked past his ears, and similarly to Hana, he had attempted to tie some of his hair in a tiny bun, but most of his hair had escaped the twine's clutches with the whistling wind pounding against every inch of our bodies.

"The den," Malakai cleared his throat. "Has been the home for Yukinawa members for over seven hundred years, and I assure you, you won't be surprised by that fact when you see everything the den has to offer."

"May I ask, why haven't you built a pack house or a cluster of homes nearby?" I asked, pressing my fingers into the base of my palm. The question had been on the tip of my tongue; I had been curious, but I still felt like a fish out of water. Had my question been too intrusive? From Malakai's relaxed expression, I concluded he did not mind my prying.

"Yukinawa is a pack built on ancient traditions. We hunt for our food, live in a den, and spend more time in our fur pelts than our human form," he described, the snow crunching underneath our feet.

"But you have not modernized in over seven hundred years?"

Malakai laughed. "We have tried, or so it was written on the den walls. But change and modernization does not bode well for our pack. We do not force our pack members to live this way. They can leave at any time. We all chose this life, and I hope you'll begin to see why after staying with us for some time." He advanced a couple paces ahead before walking backward in the snow. "I hope my sister did not scare you. I've heard of many people living through and overcoming a repressed wolf despite what Hana may have told you. While we've never seen a repressed wolf resurface back to their human form, I'm fairly certain it has been done before. Hana just tends to over-worry sometimes."

Looking at the ground as I stomped through the snow, I said, "I don't blame her. Rowan wasn't exactly forthcoming with information, apparently. I mean, before Alpha Hana said anything, I didn't know it could be... I didn't know it could be fatal."

"That's Rowan for you." Malakai shook his head. "He's... he likes to keep to himself, and I'm sure after earning the Alpha title, he's got more set in his ways. But I'm truly sorry you had to learn about it that way. On a lighter note, though, please don't call my sister by her Alpha title."

"But—"

"It will go to her head," he responded. "And I'll have to hear about it for years to come. Everyone just calls her Hana. The pack respects her, so there's not much need for the official title."

"I thought your pack was steeped in tradition," I wondered aloud. "Shouldn't you stick to the rules?"

If Yukinawa was anything like Miss Nymphadora's Three-Ring Circus, then sticking to the rules was a vital part of survival. I was surprised to learn that the pack did not seem so hellbent on abiding by their traditions.