Thorn (Werewolf) ✔

Chapter Forty-Eight

I spent the rest of the day accompanying Madison and Sky on a tour of the mountain while Thorn left to bring the rest of his pack and the children here. Dominic stayed behind to help Crasuel with alpha duties. I know that he has responsibilities but I hoped that they could have joined us.

We walked for hours and I never grew tired. I have all of this energy now and I have no idea what to do with it. This is why werewolves transition, to release it. I wanted to learn more about my genetics and witchcraft rather than various fields and rivers but I indulged Madison.

The mountain is beautiful though. We stopped for a while on the edge of a cliff that overlooked the human town and I could see my former home from there. She said that she'd often sit there and look out for me. I recognized the mansion but the lands were distant to me, like another lifetime.

We started making our way back just before sundown as though it was a habit. She showed me some of the places that the cure grows and it plays on my mind as we walk through one of the clearings that the dozens of soldiers died in. Their corpses are gone now, there's only the faint scent of burned earth that remains.

"Is that why your pack could never leave the mountain?" I ask her. "Because you had to guard the cure?"

"Why do you call it a cure?" she says. "It doesn't cure our transitions, it just suppresses them."

"It's a cure to many werewolves out there, even if it's temporary."

"I suppose it is. It was Atticus' great-grandfather that first discovered the mountain and the herbs. It was this pack's greatest duty to guard them and keep them secret. They knew that if werewolves heard of it then they'd show up here in their hundreds and there'd be too many to fight off. They knew that they would fight and kill each other over it. So they kept it for themselves and hid it from the world to stop the packs from going to war."

"Then how did Thorn hear about it?"

"When Atticus became alpha, he began to realize that they needed things to better defend the mountain. They needed weapons and tools and more clothing because they'd spend so long in their human forms. The alphas of this mountain were never savages like the humans believed, they were civilized and smart. Atticus spotted an opportunity to make deals with other alphas and he took it. Eventually, rumours spread around the world."

"Truants started showing up here with the intent of sneaking in and stealing it," Sky says. "They were always caught and executed with the exception of those that were spared and given a place with us. Some werewolves love transitioning but most will do anything to end it."

I understand why they're desperate to end it, even just for one night. The pain that I felt was so agonizing that I can still feel it now. It lingers in your skin for a while, even my bones are still healing. It's not about curing what they are, it's just about having a small break from something that is out of their control every night.

"And that is why we cannot leave," Madison says. "As long as that cure grows then we have to protect it from falling into the wrong hands."

"The wrong alpha's hands," I say.

"Yes."

"Imagine being chained to a mountain for your entire life because of a stupid pact," Sky says.

"It is more than a pact, Sky."

"Is it, mother? Funny, I don't remember selling my soul willingly."

Madison sighs, ignoring her daughter's outburst, and smiles at me. "As long as you remain with Thorn then you and his pack will have access to the herbs whenever you desire. You just have to promise to keep them a secret."