Wolv

25 - Captured

The sound of five mournful howls reverberated off of the walls of the den, echoing endlessly off the granite and out into the forest. I inhaled and threw back my head once more, letting out a long, somber note into the evening air.

Hutch and I had had an awful time, explaining everything to Nadie, Mingan, and Tara. Mingan had shaken his head in denial at first, unwilling to accept that he'd been loyal to a liar for so many years.

Tara had wept bitterly for the life of her mate, spent so easily for the sake of concealing the truth. The pain she'd hidden for so long had spilled out, along with countless tears.

Nadie had just blinked.

Now, the five of us sang out in chorus at the setting sun in bitter requiem for each other. None of us really knew what to do. I wanted nothing more than to tell the entire pack...but now that I'd had a chance to clear my head and steady my nerves, there was still that lingering question of if I should tell anyone else.

There hadn't been any question when it came to telling my friends. We'd all been emotionally and, for some of us, physically hurt as a direct result of the secret. But the rest of the pack...if rage and a blind desire for revenge was my only motivation...

I need to think. I finished my howl and lowered my head.

"What now?"

I looked up to find that everyone was staring at me expectantly. I stepped back. "I don't know! Why are you asking me?"

Mingan looked me over. "You an' Hutch are the ones who told us this."

"That doesn't mean we know what happens next. I  sure don't know." I looked over at Hutch, but he shook his head.

"I've spent my life taking orders from the Pack Alpha. I just found out he's a fake. Honestly, that doesn't leave me with much to go on."

"We could leave this place." Tara stood up, showing her teeth fiercely. "We don't have to stand around, listening to him anymore! He lost all his credibility the moment he let my mate burn to death!" she hissed, spitting saliva out across the den.

Thank goodness the Alphas are gone. We weren't exactly being quiet; anyone in the den, or outside the den for that matter, would have been able to hear our entire conversation. Voices began shouting, until we were all yelling at each other angrily, arguing heatedly.

I stood up amidst the shouts and stormed across the den. Nadie called out after me.

"Where are you going?"

"Out," I snapped back, and leapt up and out into the evening. My back muscles tensed as rain drizzled down over me. At some point while the five of us had been arguing, it had clouded over.

Screw this. Screw all of this! I broke out into a sprint and tore down the main trail, then peeled off onto the pathway that lead to my patrol run. My muscles sang with sweet relief as my legs worked beneath me, blasting away the tiniest bits of the stress from the day with every leap and bound I took.

I slowed down to a trot as I came to a tiny creek that cut its way through the landscape. I'd been using a fallen tree to cross the waters for the past two weeks, but now I just stopped at the water's edge. I sat down heavily next to the fallen log and stared down at the water, observing my reflection. The rain distorted it into an incomprehensible blur, but I could still make out the outline of my body within the undulating image.

For the first time, I realized that I liked being a wolv.

I'd been able to leave my old life far behind me after I'd changed. If I ever did change back, what would the point be anyway? It's not like I can just walk back home and continue on like nothing happened!