The Wolf Inside Us

f i v e

ASTRA FIRST LED HER DOWN a well worn path, pointing to different cabins and telling her about the people who lived there. They only encountered a few wolves, but Naomi felt their stares. Some eyed her with curiosity, others with mistrust. Naomi wondered what they had heard, or what they thought about her.

"We live in the Big House," Astra was saying, drawing Naomi back to the present. She pointed to the large white farmhouse where they had just come from. "Anyone in the pack who wants to stay there, can. It's also where we have a lot of pack functions. Like dinner last night."

Naomi scribbled a question down on her notepad, her handwriting messier than usual. It was hard to write and walk at the same time.

Do you eat dinner together every night?

"No," Astra replied, after she had read her question. "Only once a week. Everyone brings a dish."

Naomi thought that a potluck sounded wonderful.

The path made almost a circle around the place. The sounds of exertion and fighting grew louder. Astra gestured towards the right side of the path, where the open field led into the woods. Naomi flushed when she realized most of the wolves training were bare chested. Even the females had taken their shirts off.

Naomi averted her gaze when the wolves began to take notice of them. One of them whistled.

"Astra! Go out with me. Who's your friend? You can bring her too!" one of the male wolves called.

Astra rolled her eyes. "That's Cefin. He's a bold one. He hasn't found his mate yet."

Naomi heard sounds of a scuffle and turned around just in time to see a female wolf grab Cefin by the scruff of his neck.

"That's the alpha's sister. Show some respect." But Naomi could hear the laugh behind the woman's voice. Cefin rolled his eyes and shoved her. Not a second later, they began to playfully fight. Naomi blinked.

"What's going on over there?" a commanding voice called out. Naomi recognized Carrie, the wolves parting around her as she walked down the rows. She started cursing at them and Astra laughed.

They walked on.

"Carrie is my brother's Third. She oversees the training and reports back to Wyn, who oversees scouting and decides who gets assigned where. Then Asa oversees everything else," Astra explained.

Naomi raised her eyebrows. She grabbed her pen once more. Do you not train?

Astra laughed. "Of course. But I'm not a warrior. I work with Iago. He's training me in a different way."

Naomi wiggled her eyebrows at her. You like Iago?

Astra flushed and turned away. "He's a beautiful specimen."

Naomi agreed, but that didn't answer her question. So she folded her arms and stopped walking. Astra sighed.

"His mate died a long time ago. He never talks about it." She kicked a rock on the pathway with her boots. "And he doesn't see me as anything more than a kid, even though he's only a couple of years older than Asa."

Naomi frowned. She pointed to her and shrugged. Then she traced numbers in Astra's hand, hoping she'd understand the gesture. Her eyebrows lowered. Finally Naomi just wrote the question.

"Oh! I'm fifty nine," Astra said sheepishly.

Naomi's mouth dropped open in astonishment. Of course wolves had expanded lives, but she supposed it had never been put into words for her before. Astra didn't look a day over twenty. She counted back the years in her head. Astra would've been born after Alaric died. The thought made her sad.