The Run

Chapter Six

Chapter six

I woke up to Oratio snoring into my ear. Goddamn this boy. It was like waking up next to a foul beasty, he snored so loud. I’m surprised the entire neighbourhood hadn’t woken up and wasn’t bashing at the door, filing noise complaints or whatever they do here in America.

Sighing, I untangle myself from the mess of bed sheets and werewolf, pulling myself away from the comfortable warm bed and into the cold morning air. As soon as Zeno could shift fully into human form I would leave, I knew that eventually Oratio would be called away to do some work for his father, the Alpha. I couldn’t stay here. Living in groups wasn’t the way that my species worked.

I quietly tiptoed to the room that Oratio had declared as the nursery. He had managed to get the cot set up while I was still wandering around the house lost. Leaning down, I pick up Zeno from the cot, his sleeping form the only thing that could give me a sense of peace and comfort. It was time to feed him again. I sat myself down and leant against one of the walls in the nursery, and began to do one of my many motherly duties.

Oratio had been talking of redesigning the room, it seemed like too much hassle to me, even if I was going to stay here. Zeno would grow soon, and eventually he would grow into a young boy and we would just have to redesign the entire room again. Although, it would be nice for Zeno to have a baby room while he was here... But was it really worth the effort when I was going to be leaving soon, after all?

“CERYS?!” a loud yell rudely brought me out of my thoughts, as Oratio’s worried face peeped from around the corner of the room. “There you are. God, don’t up and go without telling me, okay? I get really worried.” He pushed back his hair and sighed, watching as Zeno fell back asleep and I replaced him into the cradle. “If you want, you can go and get the rest of the things out of your truck and I’ll finish setting up the things in the new nursery, okay?” He flashed me a smile, and I sleepily nodded my consent.

I was just moving to leave the room when Oratio reached out and gently grabbed my arm “It might be a good idea to change into REAL clothes though, before you leave the house.” He chuckled at me as I blushed. I wasn’t used to the idea that pyjamas were reserved for sleeping, and I would have to change after waking up. The things that people do.... I sighed, and made my way to the bathroom, washing my face and brushing my hair before changing into a new pair of jeans and a plain shirt, and pulling on my old dusty converse shoes.

I’ll take out some of my old CD’s, and my instruments. It’s been a while since I had even been able to touch my instruments, let alone take them out of the car and possibly get a chance to play them. Staying here did have its benefits, I admitted grudgingly to myself. While rummaging through the car for my small file of favourite CD’s I found my old Didgeridoo... Of course, according to Aboriginal customs I wasn’t allowed to play it for ceremonial purposes, but it had been a good past time of mine since I first got to America. It was one of the only things that reminded me of home in a way that didn’t make me cry...

Pulling everything out from the car that I wanted, the Cello on my back and my hands full of things, I carefully made my way back into the huge house that Oratio had invited me to stay in. It’s not that I wasn’t grateful to him; I just wasn’t made for this kind of thing. For all of our existence, my race has chosen to live separate from the rest of the world, and for a good reason too. My first memory of any form of civilisation was when one of my brothers had been captured by humans... They had experimented on him, like he wasn’t a person too. Just a ‘thing’ for science.

I sighed as I finally opened the front door of the house, setting down my thing in the huge room set aside for entertainment as I quickly decided on the spots for each of my belongings to go. I could hear the sound of a shower from upstairs, so I figured that now would be a good time to get a little bit of time to play the cello, I was planning to get Oratio to take me out for breakfast. It would make things easier for me if I knew the terrain around here, and where people from the pack here liked to eat. Then I could avoid them when it came to escaping this place.