The Bone Chapel

Web of Wolves

There was no sneaking around in a house full of werewolves. Every creak of the wood, shuffle of a foot, and catch of a breath, could be heard by anyone in the house. The flavor of each inhabitants' toothpaste, the scent of the flowers adorning the sitting room, and the subtle odor permeating everyone's pores, could be picked up by their sensitive snouts. There was no hiding, no refuge, no escape, except for a few rooms of value.

Everett's room — which I adamantly refused to be in even if it would solve the whole Damien issue — had wards to block anything from escaping the walls. The same had been done to a room on the bottom floor. The windowless lounge had a circle of chairs and couches, seated around a low table. The walls were made of a dark, heavy wood and covered in books, artifacts, and artwork. The large double doors that served as the only way in or out of the room were to remain open at all times as this kept the wards inactive. However, when the Alpha called a meeting of his closest advisors, the doors would be shut and the seal on the room activated. These were the only two rooms granted security within the manor. The rest were left as they were so the wolves were aware of everything and anything happening inside the house.

Then, I showed up.

If I had had a say, I would have passed on the added protection in my new room. I didn't care if they heard me roll over on the bed since that was pretty much the only thing I did. However, during my period of unconsciousness right after Natasha's attack, Everett had hired some of the town's finest mages to install wards on everything but the door. He needed to have some amount of surveillance over me given my mental and physical state at the time. The wards in the walls, floor, and ceiling, though, kept most of my day to day business unknown to the other residents.

However, the second my heel touched the floor outside my door, the silent shell cracked. In that moment, the clamor of camaraderie from the dining room below dissipated and it didn't take superior wolf senses to notice the tension that suddenly filled the air.

"Off to a good start," I mumbled, knowing full well that all of them heard me.

"To be fair, they haven't seen you for about two weeks now. I'm sure they're as anxious as you are."

"That's because they didn't seem to want to see me again." I took a deep breath, partly to settle myself, but also to buy me time. My brain was starting to back track on my decision to leave my sanctuary. "They said I smell weird."

"You do," said Luc with a polite giggle as she took a single step forward, her eyes watching me from over her shoulder. My feet refused to give into her subtle encouragement to follow. "None of us have met a half-wolf before. The smell is quite unique."

"If I recall correctly, Jake said my stench was repulsive." My ears twitched when a repressed snicker, poorly covered by a cough, sounded two floors below.

"A knee-jerk reaction," she said through gritted teeth. Her soft, coaxing gaze, shifted to cold steel as her eyes looked straight through the floorboards to where the dining table lay. "Our senses are keen and honed for natural scents. It's one of the reasons we detest being around vampires. They are unnatural beings and their smell reflects that. You are somewhere in-between and it is present in your scent. It...is...off-putting." She glanced back up at me with a shy smile on her lips. "We don't begrudge you, it's just a lot to take in at first."

"I believe you," I said with honest conviction. "Them," I continued with a nod towards the floor, "I don't trust."

A low growl responded, followed by a thud like a kick, and then a whimper. Apparently, someone down there was on my side, or at least willing to come to my defense. It was a small consolation and so I found it in me to forgive whatever wolf had a sudden lapse in judgement.

"I understand," said Luc taking another step forward. She placed a tentative hand on the stair railing and bit her lower lip, before continuing. "Look, I know this is not something you came into willingly, but it is where you're at. I'm supportive of your need to find a fix for this, I really am, but I hope you can consider learning our ways before writing this off completely. As a pack, group relations is an important part of our life. Please consider humoring me a little bit. It would mean a lot to me and...and to Rett."

"Group relations, huh?" I asked, lip curling with disgust and my muscles tensing as a spark of fury zipped through me. "Like how he had to have a relation with Claire in the middle of the forest surrounded by the entire pack? That kind of group relations?"

I knew in my heart that Lucinda was not to blame for Everett's decision to keep me in the dark about the treaty with Grey Ravine's pack and the necessity that he sire Whisper Valley's future Alpha with Claire Thorn. Despite that, she was the one left in charge of the werewolf community in Whisper Valley's Moonshade neighborhood, while Everett worked at the Sheriff's office during the day. Which meant, she was his stand-in and she would be my punching bag. Based on how she cowered and how the air crackled around us, perhaps I had punched a little too hard.

"Yes," she said, turning her head in a way that exposed her long neck before me. It was a gesture I noticed on occasion but one that I didn't fully appreciate. "Those kind of relations, as well as many others. We are an intricate and tightly formed web."

"And what am I inside this web?" Despite myself, my body hardened, my shoulders hunched, and my words, low and firm out, rumbled behind gritted teeth. I hated the way it made Luc shrink before me. She didn't deserve this treatment. Yet, my feet moved forward, bringing me to the stair landing so that I stood before her, separated by only a foot or two. "Am I a tear in your web? Am I a parasite that you either need to exterminate or assimilate? What am I, Luc? Tell me because...because I'm tired and I'm scared..."

The tension in my shoulders slipped away and my muscles ached from the sudden strain that had seized them a moment earlier. I sighed and looked down the stairs, which twisted part way and blocked my view of the floors below.

"You are a wolf," Luc replied, her back straightening, though a slight hunch still remained in her posture. "I feel it deep within my being that you are a wolf trapped in a cage. A cage that is bending and twisting as you tear your way through."

"So you think there's no hope for me to be human again?" I voiced my fears in a soft, low voice, living within a fantasy where only Luc heard the inner-workings of my soul, instead of the whole house.

"Del, if I'm honest," she replied, her words tentative, but firm, "I'm not sure you ever were a human to being with."

My own self-loathing slipped into the back of my mind as my eyes narrowed. I glanced over at Luc with my brow furrowed and my lips in a tight line.

I didn't know how to respond to that. Instead, I stepped down the stairs with Luc trailing behind me.

***

Wolf dynamics are complicated and Del doesn't know where she belongs or if she even wants to belong. What do you think would be best for her?

I'm currently on vacation with just my husband ^_^ Little weekend excursion to clear our heads after a long and stressful holiday. As such, this may be a bit rougher than I would like, but I'm still glad I was able to keep to my schedule even while away!