Becoming the Cheetah

10 - Red Sky

I stood before a group of people they all had their eyes on me. Most of them were men with a few women dotted in-between. All of them were older than Flame and I. They were Flame's pack. It was strange to even think of that. All these people before me were supernatural creatures. I saw Griffin sitting at the back smiling at me. Flame glared at him.

"Victoria this is the Red Sky pack," Flame introduced me.

I nodded at smiled at them but I was a bit intimidated by them. They were all staring at me with such blank faces. A few of their noses twitched. The scary man with the scar stood up and walked over to Flame and I. He towered over the both of us and took special interest in my eyes as many people do. I quickly looked away but not before noting the slightest hint of curiosity in his own stormy gray eyes.

"Flame why did you tell this human about us?" he asked Flame sternly, his voice soft but I had a feeling the entire pack was listening in.

"I can explain," Flame I could hear a touch of fear in his voice.

"My office now."

"Of course Alpha Talon," Flame said quietly then he looked up at Griffin and gestured with his head at me. Flame walked off with his Alpha, which if I remember correctly from learning about wolves meant he was the leader. Something like a father figure.

Griffin walked over to me with a huge grin on his face, "So I've been told to introduce you to the pack," Griffin told me as he put his arm around me.

"Ok," I said feeling really awkward being so close to him. I didn't pull away from him but I felt really uncomfortable, I could feel his overpowering bodyheat on me. His body was solid and as I nervously looked up at him he didn't seem to felt uncomfortable at all. 

"You've seen our Alpha, his name is Talon and he can be a bit...  errr scary I guess, I kind of feel sorry for Flame," He pulled me over to a group of werewolves and he introduced me "Hey everyone this is Victoria!"

The men in the group remain expressionless, only offered a few blinks Griffin's way, but the woman walked over to us, she had long wavy blonde hair that bounced as she walked "Hi I'm Summer."

I smiled back at her and asked timidly, "Why are there so few females here?"

"Not sure why but there always seems to be more male werewolves then females," she replied with a shrug, "There is some special name for it some kind of phenomenon. It makes all female wolves a little special."

"My eyes make me special but not in a good way... " I whispered to myself.

"Why not? Your eyes a beautiful," she somehow heard me despite my whispering. Flame did that a lot too. I suppose all werewolves have really good hearing.

I blushed, "people bully me at school because of them."

"Humans find in really hard to accept people," she told me "That's why the alpha is mad that Flame told you about us."

"Ok so next group of wolves," Griffin said and pulled me away suddenly. I waved at Summer. She smiled and waved back.

***

I met more of Flame's pack but none of them were really that friendly to me. They all seemed to treat me like I was less than them but I didn't really care I just wanted to see Flame again. Meeting werewolves was cool and all but he was the real reason I was here. 

Because of everything we had spent so much time apart and now I just wanted to be with him again it was beyond frustrating that he kept being pulled away from me. 

I sighed as I waited outside the alpha's office for Flame to come out.

This was all so much to take in but it does explain a lot. Vampires and werewolves are real; I wonder what else is real too. Is magic real? There is a lot of this world that I don't understand so suddenly. It's going to take a long time for me to get used to this. I just had so many questions for Flame but I didn't want to bombard him with everything. He would answer them all I just wanted the chance to be with him.

The door of the alpha's office opened interrupting my thoughts. Flame stepped out looking kind of fearful.

"The alpha wants to see you now," he said with no emotion.

I got up and walked into the office but as I walked past Flame he whispered to me "be careful about what you say."

That made my hands start to tremble. As if Flame looking scared wasn't grounds enough for me to be terrified, he was a werewolf... and so was this Alpha.

TheAalpha looked up at me as I walked in. His eyes seem to look into my soul; I shivered as the door closed behind me separating me from Flame. The cool heavy wood door seemed to freeze me putting not only distance between myself and Flame but a barrier. 

"Please sit down," he said trying to sound kind but it was still terrifying and cold.

I sat down in a seat in front of his desk. The seat was comfortable enough though I still felt as though I had ice running through my veins, the chair seemed to be so much lower than his. Or perhaps it was just the sheer size of him that allowed him to tower over me like a parent scolding a child.

There was no way I could hold his eye contact, especially in the uncomfortable silence. My eyes fell down to his desk, heavy wooden, just like the door that was keeping me from Flame. Large organised hard-cover books were lined up on one corner. Stacks of paper covering the other half and no personal touches. I lowered my eye line down to my own hands which were bawled up in my lap.

"So Flame is your friend?" he asked coldly.

"Yes we met at school," I answered quickly and simply.

"The school for humans?" 

"Yes."

"So how much did Flame tell you about us?" 

"He told me that you were werewolves and that there were vampires trying to kill you and humans as well and that they were very dangerous."

"Is that so?" he said and paused.

"I overheard the vampires talking about going to attack some place called the Hotel at nightfall today," I said quietly.

"The Hotel? Why are they attacking the Hotel?" he whispered to himself.

 I sat there awkwardly in silence as he thought about this hotel. He must have heard about this hotel before because he was thinking about it for so long. Maybe if he thought I was useful he wouldn't ban me from seeing Flame. I was putting that hope, that wish out into the world. trade useful information to keep my one and only friend.

The Alpha looked up at me "you can leave now."

I got up and without a word or a glance back I left his office. Flame was out there waiting for me; he got up as I came out.

"How did it go?" he asked timidly, holding his wrist.

"Well I'm still alive," I replied, "it was kind of like an interrogation."

He looked down sadly and said "I know this is hard to believe but he is actually a nice guy."

"Really because he seemed terrifying to me."

"Oh ... well what do you think of the rest of the pack?"

"Most of them didn't seem to think much of me but Summer and Griffin seem nice."

"Yeah sorry about them they will all come to like you once they get to know you," he said "Now let's get you back home."

I groaned internally having to leave Flame once again but thing could have gone worse. The Alpha didn't tell at me and tell me to never approach Flame again. He didn't erase my memories. In fact it actually went kind of well.

It was like some god out there had given me a little blessing right then.

First published - 30/12/2013

Edited - 22/7/2020