The Lone Wolf

9, A Bad Storm

At dinner with the loners, Fox sat in his spot at the end, and Star sat beside him. Seb sat down across from Fox again, and Fox tried his best to ignore him.

Dinner was similar to the food they ate yesterday. A mix of not-so-great greens, leftover bits of meat from rotisserie chicken, and overcooked corn on the cob. Star gave Fox her corn, and Fox gave Star his kale.

"Star," Fox whispered, after they exchanged desired foods. "Do you know what happens to the lone wolves who die here?"

Star frowned and gave him a slightly disapproving look, an expression of "why would you ask that over dinner?" and Fox morphed his visage to one of apology.

"Sorry, I just want to know," he added. What he was truly searching for were any hints that Anodyne wasn't a secret. Star sighed and picked the meat off a chicken bone.

"I heard that we are taken somewhere outside the pack. Hung up in a tree not too far from the border, as a sign to ward off any other lone wolves who might be thinking of trespassing," she said.

"I heard the pack eats us," Seb chimed in. Star glared at him.

"They're not cannibals, you fucking idiot," Star told him. Fox's eyebrows rose in mild surprise at her vulgarity.

"You've never wondered what's in the mystery meatloaf?" Seb retorted.

"It's beef, Seb. We've been over this a hundred times at this point," the lone wolf woman with the shaved head said from beside him.

"That's what they want you to think," Seb countered, pointing his fork at her. There was a collective groan and more than a few eye rolls all down the table.

"It tastes like beef!" Warren said, exasperated. He was seated a few werewolves down from Seb, thankfully. Fox didn't want to watch another fight over an extra handful of food.

"Who's to say we don't taste like beef?" Seb asked.

"Seb," the older gray haired wolf said. "We don't taste like beef."

He said it so matter of factly that the table all grew silent and tense. Fox felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He'd bitten a number of werewolves before, but only enough to taste the grime of their skin and the tang of their blood. You'd have to rip out a chunk of flesh and really chew it to get a good idea of what the muscle tasted like.

Fox glanced at Star, who glanced back. It was a shared look of acknowledging a threat. The old loner didn't appear to be one, with his age and indifferent demeanor, but his statement alone alerted them that he had probably done something sinister before his time here at Lily of the Valley Pack. Fox now knew not to spend time alone with him.

Seb shut up after that. Fox decided that none of the lone wolves knew what fate awaited them when they died here, which probably meant that no one knew about the naga at all. Given how secluded the conservatory was from the rest of the pack sectors, Fox wondered if anyone besides the Alphas knew about Anodyne.

And considering what he'd just learned about one of the loners, he didn't think he should go telling any of them about him.

~~~

The next day, Fox finished his shadowing of the Alphas with Leyra. Because he was immediately accompanying her on her duties, he was allowed to eat breakfast with them.

Breakfast consisted of fresh fruit and warm buttered biscuits. Fox ate his fill of four biscuits and whatever fruit the other two women didn't eat, which amounted to a full bowl. The permission had been given by Sunshine, and thus also permitted by Leyra. Fox duly noted that he would need to find a way to thank Sunshine for her continued kindness.