One Night In No Man's Land

XXXIII

Elise watched as the Alpha, Clara, and Lauren sat on the couch of the lounge. The warm fire was lit, it's flames flickering as hot chocolate was passed around. The two had connected well with each other, sharing interests such as hunting.

Elise got along with both of them well, but when it came to shared interests, she found she never clicked with them. She wasn't very into strenuous activities that most enjoyed like hunting and the like. Outdoors weren't really for her. A good book was her preference. It wasn't outlandish or abnormal, it was just not as common an interest.

While normally conversations like theirs would bore her to death, she was staying vigilant. The two would soon enough forget about her if they got far enough into their conversation without her input.

Her eyes kept a watch on the doors and openings. She was not the best at wolf things like strength, but she made up for it in being the opposite, like a mouse. And as such she had learnt to be quiet. She was innocent and sweet but it didn't mean she had never done some slightly wrong things... like stealing sweets from the pack kitchens.

She was smart and she was quiet, surely she could sneak past two high ranked she-wolves and well the luna of Clara's pack. They had good senses but they weren't on guard, they trusted the king to handle it all well. So they weren't looking out for her. Not to mention, she wasn't being treated like she was being babysat this time.

She got to her feet.

"Elise?"

The hairs on her back stood up in fright. Lauren's head had turned to sharply face her.

"Yes?" She replied calmly.

Lauren frowned, "Where are you going? I was just about to tell you all about my favourite hunting grounds. There's a gorgeous lake there too, its quiet and a lot of bushes to hide in. I have to take you all there soon! We can hunt as a group and split the prey. The deer taste amazing."

Elise smiled, "Actually I was just going to the bathroom."

Lauren sighed, "But come back soon-"

"Wait really! Lauren that sounds perfect. We should all go there."

Elise walked away as the conversation continued and plans were made. She had really had higher hopes for not being caught but her excuse was good enough and she had passed. Although her stomach felt slightly weak at the invitation of Lauren to go and savour "raw meat".

They seemed to just forget she couldn't shift. Clara had only recently met her, it hadn't been long. Elise guessed it hadn't really settled in or it had been forgotten. She had only mentioned it in passing after all. But regardless she would not be joining the hunt. She hated raw meat. She had definitely tried it and then had definitely thrown up afterwards and since had been taking her portions of food when they were given raw and going home to cook it on her small little stove.

But it didn't matter how important the matter of hunting was because them forgetting had drawn less attention to her. In fact they would probably forget she had even left.

All she needed was time to get to Rene. She hadn't thought of what would come next. Her mate would probably interfere, either that or his friends who served as council would interfere. But if she could just get with Rene alone or even in their company...

She had had time to think about what had happened. She felt incredibly bad for Rene nearly dying but the woman had hurt her mate and tried to kill her. Did she want Rene to die? Maybe not. But she deserved to confront her. She deserved closure and as long as the people around her kept babying her that was not going to happen.

She knew she was weak, vulnerable and maybe emotionally fragile. But she was still an adult and had managed to survive her life in a pack of wolves that discriminated against her for her position. Was she scared of Rene? Yes. But all everyone was doing was keeping her in the dark and being overprotective.