Beasts of The North

Chapter Four

As the howls began to dissipate, I began to focus more on myself and my new form. I didn't want to dwell on my thoughts and feelings right now, and had a whole world of other things that I wanted to learn instead. It's also rather difficult to try and literally learn how to walk when dozens of other people are screaming at the sky. I looked around the luscious forest towards the other wolves, but noticed they were slowly trailing back towards their homes. The little children going as slowly as possible, with their overly curious minds begging to meet me, and the parents gently nudging them forward. I titled my head to the side, confused at their departure. I had assumed that they would wish to meet me, and felt slightly rejected. My wolfish traits longed for the feeling of a pack, after being alone for so long.

"They're only giving us some privacy. They don't want to disturb their Alpha and Luna just yet."

I grumbled and slumped to the ground. All these new terms that I had no knowledge of were starting to frustrate me. There's a whole world, an entire history, that I knew hardly anything about. I've never really been quite so frustrated before. It reminded me of amnesia, sort of, where you had to relearn everything about yourself. However, in my situation, I didn't know anything to begin with. There was no hope of my memory being triggered and suddenly remembering everything. I had to figure this all out for myself.

"I know this much be difficult for you. I didn't mean to keep things from you before, but I didn't want to overload you with so much information all at once. I'll explain more later on if you'd like. I didn't think you would need to know these things so soon. I certainly didn't expect you to be my mate."

In a way, I guess I understood why he did what he did, but that didn't make the whole thing any easier or any less irritating. I not only had an entire history and world to learn about, but another body as well. I could barely walk like this. I suddenly had a tail for crying out loud! This entire situation was completely overwhelming and with my thoughts swarming in my head I lost my balance yet again and tumbled to the ground. Kai chuckled again, thinking that all my stumbling was cute, but his disregard for how difficult this was really pissed me off. I wasn't irritated anymore because I was downright furious. I growled lowly at him and shakily pulled myself up to my feet. He was laughing at me and coddling me like I was a stumbling infant, and in a way I guess I was, but I couldn't learn anything about this world with him standing over me like this. I know that I am supposed to be his mate, or whatever, but that's not the only new thing that I have to figure out. I need to understand this world, this life, and my own body before I could even begin to understand him and what we're supposed to be.

Kai stood up at my growls and I realized that not all of my thoughts were kept to myself. I had to learn to keep my growls and barks to a minimum as those were my words as a wolf. He took a step back and looked very contemplative for a moment, as he took what I had to say into account, and then he howled. I was slightly taken aback at the low howl as it came from his very human body. He must have realized how that looked from my perspective as he quickly explained.

"You can howl in any form. It is our method for long distance communications, and leaves us able to contact each other at all times."

In response to his call, two speckled gray wolves sprinted forward. The one on left with a cheerful skip in his step whereas the one on the right was significantly more serious in his approach. They were only distinguishable by their demeanor, except for the more serious wolf. He had a darker gray mark that traveled down his side. Kai gestured towards the more cheerful wolf, and then the marked wolf as he introduced me.

"This is James, and this is Hemanth. They will stay several yards away from you, but I need them to stay close enough to watch you. I know you're eager to learn and explore on your own, but the Southern wolves could attack at any time. I want you to be able to master your new body, but I need to know that you're safe. Is this an acceptable compromise to your requests?"