Hailey's P. O. V
It didn't take us too long to reach the territory. Tim, Ari and I could tell when it was right before us, but Kaesha almost strolled right into it. Tim quickly grabbed her forearm to hold her back.
Ari turned to address us one last time, "We're here. We have to be appear as non threatening as possible. Timothy, don't use your gift unless it's to escape a dire situation. Kaesha, you can channel me if you need help with the illusions. Try not to perform other spells except it's an emergency. Hailey, your wolf will be on the larger side without Kaesha's spell so do your best to appear docile and friendly but if you feel danger, be as vicious as possible. Remember to use the fake names and Timothy's in charge. Anything to ask or suggest?"
We shook our heads.
"Alright, nomads." She turned back to face the territory before us then nodded to Tim.
"Nomad wolves, roll out!" He commanded cheekily, stepping ahead.
We walked the five steps into the territory and waited for our reception. It took a few minutes before five figures leapt out to respond, three of them in wolf form. The two in human form held silver daggers, poised to attack while the wolves were volatile, teeth bared and hind legs bent.
"What do you want, Rogues? We've got nothing for you." One of the guys hissed, his grip on the dagger flexing.
Timothy raised his hands in surrender and we followed in suit.
"We're no Rogues. Simply a group of Lone Wolves that need to connect to the WolfNet."
"Do you know how many times packs have been attacked with that excuse?!" The other guy sneered. His brown eyes narrowed beneath his black bangs.
Two of the wolves, one grey and the other bronze, growled lowly, stepping closer.
"I swear, that's the only damn thing we're here for. Take a whiff for yourself, we ain't no Rogues."
They paused, sniffing the air around us.
"You can march us with silver daggers to our backs and nipping at our heels if it'll make you feel better. We don't want trouble."
One wolf, coloured silvery grey, relaxed ever so slightly. She nodded to the ones in human form, then turned and led the way. We followed, and, begrudgingly, the others let us pass, rapidly assuming their places closely behind each of us.
The walk took at least ten minutes. In that time, none of us dared to utter a word. I glanced at the others.
Closest to me, Kaesha appeared to be going over the spell in her head, her eyes darting from left to right as though she were reading it right before her. Beside her, Tim seemed lost in thought, his mouth moving in silent words before he'd shake his head and start over. And, on the far end, Ari appeared to be acutely aware of our surroundings, drinking every detail of the environment in.
They all appeared to be contributing to the plan. Kaesha was readying her spells, Tim, thinking of what to say once we arrived, and Ari, assessing our situation and possibly planning escape routes.
But what was I doing?
Determined, I considered our chaperones. Behind Ari, was the grey wolf, the smallest of them. He followed her at a farther distance than the others did us. Probably thinking her the least threatening of us. Behind Kaesha was the black haired guy, his dagger pressing lightly against her flowy blouse. Tim's guard was much burlier, the tip of his own dagger so close to Tim's back that I was sure he had half a mind to ram it into him at so much as a sneeze.
I could tell that Tim didn't like such treatment. Even as he was mouthing words, I caught the subtle twitching of his index finger and light furrow of his brow. He wanted to react but made no major movements or complaints about the dagger at his back.
Though I knew mine was the bronze wolf, I daren't risk turning around to assess my companion, lest she bite me. She was too close for comfort and I could feel her harsh breath on the back of my thighs through my leggings. However, if her breath only reached my thighs, then she wasn't very big and I could probably beat her in size. But she'd have the upper hand in fighting experience.
Ahead of us, the silvery grey wolf finally brought us to the pack. Wordlessly, she turned back to face us. She appeared to be addressing the others through their mind link. Finally, she nodded and went ahead to the largest building, probably to notify the Beta.
It wasn't long before a salt and pepper head emerged from the doorway, beckoning us inside.
Nobody made a sound as we were marched inside. I spotted several young pups hiding behind their wary, worn looking parents. The few times I smiled at the children, they would turn tail and scramble away with terror stricken faces.
'What on earth happened here?' Opelene questioned, horrified and sympathetic.
I wondered the same, noting the intense mood of apprehension and depression. Whatever the Lightwood pack had done here seemed to have left the place in a permanent state of latent despair.
How were only the four of us supposed to help them? We technically weren't even a pack yet.
We were led into a medium sized office. Like the rest of the building, it was in a state of disrepair. The wood of the table was splintered and the glass of the cabinets were missing. Faded spots of blood polka dotted the room, staining the wood and sparse furniture. There was a huge canvas rolled up above the space I was sure should have held a window. The frame was void of its glass and I assumed the canvas was to cover the hole when it rained and such.
A huge fight had obviously taken place and there hadn't been any major repairs besides removing the broken glass. The only breakable surface was a full length mirror in the farthest corner.
Behind the splintered, blood splattered table sat a man with greying brown hair and matching weary eyes. The lines of his face seemed to have deepened with more than just age, illustrating experiences and griefs too heavy to bear.
"Alpha, these are the intruding werewolves. They claim to pose no threat. That they simply want to get themselves connected to the WolfNet..." He gave us a sidelong glance, staring particularly at Tim. Then he returned his attention to the Alpha, "Personally, Alpha, I don't believe there's much damage they'll be able to do with only one semi competent looking wolf and three barely she-wolves."
Opelene huffed and I barely managed to not roll my eyes. Tim and Kaesha weren't so successful, indignation and sass bleeding into their postures at the jab to their capabilities.
With a quick glance about, I caught sight of Ari. Only she remained passive, subtley observing. Whether conscious or not, she'd seemed to fade out of everyone's focus and refused to keep her gaze directly on anyone for too long. I doubted the others fully registered her presence as she stood almost behind Tim.
The Alpha remained silent, carefully analysing the three of us.
Having made a decision, he got up and walked around the desk, "Shift and submit."
Wordlessly, the men closed their eyes while we took our clothes off and got down on all fours. I shifted, my bone structure rearranging and dark brunette fur sprouting, while Kesha worked her magic. Being Alpha born, there was a good chance my wolf would end up being larger than Tim's. Unwilling to risk it, we'd agreed to let Kaesha use a shrinking spell on my wolf which she'd need to undo it before I shifted back.
As soon as my shift was completed, I felt myself reduce in size. Looking over, I saw a grey wolf and a smaller, light brown one who I assumed were Kaesha and Ari.
A moment later, Tim joined us. His darker grey wolf towering over the rest of us.
'Okay, so we were about the same size.' Opelene concluded.
Tim's wolf lowered his head. The rest of us took that as our que to roll over, our bellies exposed. I did my best to keep Opelene from snarling as the Alpha looked down at us.
An eternity passed.
Opelene was getting irritated and ready to get to her feet. Then he decided to nod his approval and dismiss us, turning away.
Kaesha undid the spell and we shifted back, getting back into our clothes. Once we were all dressed, the Alpha returned to his seat, motioning to his Beta.
"Do what they requested and send them on their way." The Alpha ordered, returning his attention to his paperwork.
The Beta nodded, bowing his head. But not before giving us a sidelong glance filled to the brim with lingering suspicion.
"Alpha, if I may ask one last thing." Tim spoke up before we were ushered out.
The Alpha didn't look up, simply gesturing for him to continue.
"We'll likely be in the area for a week at most because of the full moon shifts. If you would, I'd like you to allow us access to the woods during that time."
He responded, unbrothered and dismissive, "Do what you will, but approach none of my members."
With that, Tim nodded and followed the Beta, leading the rest of us out and Ari brought up the rear.
Once in the hallway, our previous chaperones resumed their posts behind each of us, still just as tense and suspicious, but without the daggers at our backs and nips at our heels. After following the Beta in a single file out of the main house, and to one of the smaller surrounding homes.
The whole way there, people dodged out of our way and line of sight. Once we reached the house, the Beta didn't bother to knock and simply barged in, startling the person in what looked like a living room.
The geeky looking boy scrambled out of his rotating chair and into a salute, before shaking his head and bowing it, followed by hastily catching his too large bottle cork glasses as they began to fall of his face. A few of our guards snickered. With his boyish face and lanky, clumsy mannerism, I couldn't imagine him being older than sixteen.
"Robert, get these wolves into the WolfNet. The faster the better so they can leave our territory." The Beta snapped.
"Aye sir! I mean, yes, Beta Livton!" He saluted again.
He perched in his rotating chair and flew to the other end of the room, stopping before the desk with a laptop and stacks of paper on it. Then he got to work, his fingers flying deftly over the keyboard.
Once he had the registration page open, he turned back to us, his demeanour drastically different, "Name, sex, DOB, mate status, pack and position." He pointed at Tim, "You first."
Looking mildly irritated, Tim stepped forward, "Jason Armeniy, male, seventeenth of May, 1998... no mate, Lone Wolf, no position."
Robert nodded, entering all the information. A second later, he scrawled some things down on a paper and tore it off, handing it to Tim.
"Pathway to the Net, your name and password." He swivelled around, pointing at Kaesha, "Next!"
Kaesha didn't even bother to leave her place, "Kenya Armeniy, female, May seventeenth, same year, no mate, Lone Wolf and no position. Be a dear and bring my paper too, Jay-Jay."
I stiffled a giggle at the nickname and his expression as he took Kaesha's piece of paper back to her once Robert was done.
He pointed at me next, gesturing me over.
I moved next to him, reciting my information, "Danielle Flow, female, November twenty-third, 2000, mateless, Lone Wolf and positionless."
"If all three of you are packless, why not make one of your own? Or just stay here. Goddess knows we could use the members." He huffed after handing me my paper.
The Beta lightly slapped the back of his head, "Making a pack is harder than it sounds and strangers aren't welcome here." He turned back to us, "If that's all..."
"I still haven't registered." Ari spoke up.
The Beta, Robert and the three guards besides hers turned to look at her, as if seeing her for the first time.
Robert in particular looked transfixed, his mouth hanging slightly agape. The Beta slapped his head again, bringing him back to the present.
"Right..." Robert said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Richelle Avaline, February eighth, 2001, no mate, Lone Wolf and no position." She stated.
Before she could move to him, he'd finished typing, scribbled her info down and was bringing the piece of paper to her. "Um, here. You... you can come back if, uh, y'know, you have any problems."
She raised a brow.
"Not that I think you'd have any!" He said hastily, his ears turning a nice shade of pink.
She smiled graciously and took the paper from his hand, "Thank you."
The kid couldn't have looked more pleased. He looked at her with the purest smile, it made me feel old.
"Now, you Lones can leave." The Beta finally stated. He motioned to our guards and they nudged at us, leading us out.
As we left, I caught sight of a forlorn looking Robert in the window, his eyes following Ari as we all left. The guards stayed with us till we reached the border. They stayed at the border, watching us leave till we were well out of sight.