The Avestan Viewer -- A Wolf Love Story

Chapter 10 -- Ebb Tide

Matthew, Stephen's father, walked in the room. He was dressed similar to his son, but was armed with both pistols and knives. Stephen wore no obvious weapons as a sign of his confidence.

"Son, Luna," Matthew said nodding at both of us. "All families have been moved underground and are secure. All warriors are either on patrol, at their monitoring stations, or at their assigned guard posts.

"And Luna," Matthew motioned to me, "I would encourage you to visit the underground Safe Building to make sure everyone remains calm. It's just a suggestion of course since we regularly practice these drills."

"Of course Matthew, I'll leave in just a few minutes," I said and walked to a couch to be out of the way. I wanted to know what was going on.

"Stephen, these photos are disturbing since they were purposely focused on our ceremony. We are in a remote wilderness and this wasn't an accident."

I listened to the conversation for another ten minutes, then stood and excused myself. There were no new developments, and it appeared that the pack was already well prepared. There was something bothering me and my wolf, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As I walked out of Stephen's office, my 'Guard' as Stephen called them immediately joined me. There were two huge men- who were mated of course, and one woman who always looked intimidating. Buck and Handy were Stephen's cousins, and had grown up in the pack. Elise was a mate of another one of their cousins, so they knew each other well. Buck and Handy constantly teased Elise who simply ignored the pair out of habit.

"Hello Guard," I said a little annoyed.

"Good morning Luna," they all replied as one voice.

Stephen had already mind-linked us all and let them know I was heading to the Safe Building.

"You know," I said a little mischievously, "we should all get matching tattoos. I think a Luna's Guard should have matching tattoos."

"I would get a tattoo of a glowing wolf, Luna," Buck said solemnly.

"I would too, Luna," Handy chimed in. "With the tips of the fur and eyes glowing a liquid silver." Elise simply shook her head at them and scanned the area since she brought up the rear, but I thought I heard her say 'Me too'.

"I was just kidding for petes sake. Well, I think we have other things to worry about right now," I told them while rolling my eyes as we walked to the building.

Inside the enormous concrete building everyone seemed to know their roles, there were cots with families sitting in them- except for the warriors who were busy elsewhere. There was an area to keep children busy, a training area to keep the teenagers busy, a utilitarian kitchen with people fixing food , refrigerators full of food, shelves full of all sorts of bulk food, restrooms, sinks, a small library, and a small hospital clinic with a few wolves with serious injuries. I nodded to a few people I knew and headed over to the doctor I saw working. She appeared to be in her forty's and had long dark hair that was pulled back.

As I approached, the doctor looked up at me surprised. "Hello Luna," she said and straightened up.

"Please don't let me bother you," as I looked down at a young boy with a dislocated shoulder.

"Oh, it's nothing that Raymond hasn't been through before," continued the doctor, then wrenched the boy's shoulder pretty hard as he yelped. "There, all popped back into place," the doctor said and nodded to one of her nurses who came over to put a sling on the boy and give him a lecture that he was ignoring. His mother then came over and started fussing.

"So what can I do for you Luna?" the doctor said and gestured that we take a few steps away. She was waiting for me to tell her the purpose of my impromptu visit.