Pack Ties, Blood Lies

Chapter 39 - The Cavern

Hi guys, 

Sorry this is a bit of a filler chapter I'm afraid... But I had to set the scene of the place :) I'm already working on the next chapter which should be up tomorrow, so bare with me!

As always, if you're enjoying the story, please please let me know in the comments and take the couple of seconds to vote! Both mean so much to me and mean that my hard work is really paying off!

Thank you for staying with me! Love to all!!

- Molly x

Holly immediately linked arms with me and tugged me along towards the small cavern entrance.

"He's here you know." She gushed excitedly. "All the back and forth and now I can see what he's really made of." She bit her lip, eyes glittering with a sultry spark.

"Huh?" I grunted, distracted, and still looking for Jack. I hadn't seen a hair on his hide since he disappeared into the trees the night before.

Holly clucked her tongue at me. "The guy from Quals.. Duh." She jerked us both with a giddy hop. "We both confirmed we were going to the Point before leaving. I don't have my phone now, obviously, but how hard could he be to find...?"

Making myself focus, I squinted at my friend. "What are you planning to do exactly? Re-enact all of your sexts in the Elder's accommodations?"

Holly giggled, a cheeky eyebrow wiggle giving me all the answer I needed.

At the same moment, we popped out of the cave into the blinding light of the day. Blinking, we both paused to take in the magnificent scene before us.

We stood on a small outcrop of rock that wound down the mountainside.

Elder's point is pretty much an extra-large cavern. A carved village nestled in a cavity in the mountainside, like a giant has taken an ice-cream scoop to the rock face.

Surrounded on all but one side by granite, it faces the sea to the south. Giving a natural, beautiful defence.

Entrances to halls, homes, and accommodations speckled the rockface. Their black holes like a thousand sightless eyes, creating a warren of passageways and hollows.

There was easily enough space to house the many Pack's members twice over, should the need arise.

Fascinatingly, the floor of the cavern was split raggedly down the middle by a beautiful freshwater river. Its shimmering surface collecting sunlight and exploding it into a thousand dappled rainbows, painting the drab rockface in breath-taking colour.

Its length was spanned by four ornate bridges, their weathered wood allowing passage over the steadily flowing water below.

This river was well known as the life source of our hideout. The means to live whilst under siege. It begins against the Northern wall of the hollow, in a great fish filled lake, and ends at the horizon in a steady waterfall to the sea.

We were as safe as we could be, or at least, we should be.

But I'm here.

I felt the sick anticipation of my meet with the Elders begin to swirl again in my stomach. My mind buzzed with questions that I couldn't answer. I couldn't help but worry about what to expect.

Holly was meanwhile cheerfully dragging me along the thin ridge that wound down to meet the crowd beginning to form at the base of a large podium. She chatted happily about our safety, our numbers and our 'obvious' upper hand.

I wanted to take that optimism and plant it like a seed in my heart, in my mind. Let it take over and be my truth.

But I honestly couldn't work out what to believe.

Holy was now attempting to slip through the crowd and get as close as wolf-ly possible to the podium. Her cool fingers wrapped around my wrist as she continued to tug me along like luggage.

People grumbled, rightly so, as she not so gently moved them aside. The crowd was fairly dense. Warm bodies packed together in nervous anticipation for the appearance of our Elder's.

Most wolves, me included, had never laid eyes on them before. Most of us had never been to this place, wouldn't ever dream that it would be necessary in our lifetimes.

Even in war time, a gathering of our whole kind was next to unheard of.

I found myself apologising to familiar faces and strangers alike as Holly barrelled ahead, completely oblivious to the wobbly dominoes she was leaving in her wake.

Finally, mere meters from her goal, she lost what was left of her patience and rounded the last small group of men much too fast, swinging me into their midst in an embarrassing crumple.

"Jeez, Holly" I huffed, getting to my feet along with a couple of the guys who had been unlucky enough to be bowled over.

I awkwardly looked up into the face of the one closest to me, immediately surprised to recognise his cocky grin and shock of flaming hair.

His grin slipped at the same time as recognition lit his eyes. "It's you!" We exclaimed in shocked unison.

I couldn't stop the smirk from forming. "I never did get to thank you for your cockiness that day."

The guy grimaced, shooting a worried glance at his companions. "Ah.. Yeah. No problem?" His words were almost rippling with nervous energy, and I couldn't help but feel a renewed flicker of triumph ignite. It felt like another lifetime that Jack and I hopped over him in our gleeful victory lap after Quals.

His friends exchanged amused looks, grins at the ready for the fresh banter they could scent.

I was all ready to lay it out for them when a glowing scarlet blur flew past me, screeching with joy.

My mouth went slack as I watched my best friend wrap her legs around the butt of my joke and stick her tongue down his throat.

His friends looked equally surprised, and not a small bit jealous.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, my opportunity for teasing him gone.

The crowd was parting around the pair of them slightly warily as they continued to make out. Messy wet noises and panting for all to see.

Chuckling, I dusted some dirt off of my knees from where I fell. "So, you found him I see."