Liberation: Oscar's Story

Chapter 8: Pt. 2

Alpha. Egon's trembling voice meekly pushed Oscar's internal barrier, the sound smothered by the boy's mumbling. Alpha, there's a woman here to see you. A human girl by the name of Ananya Kaushikh. Her papers are legitimate, I think.

I'll come to get her, Egon, Oscar linked back, running toward the North border where the guest checkpoint was located. There, to his surprise, he found a group of civilian wolves crowding around the yellow bar separating the Yuen Pack from the Bourdier Forest. Upon noticing him, they bowed their heads in respect, but immediately after Oscar acknowledged them, their eyes returned to Ananya.

The young woman was dressed in a simple white dress and leggings. Her recruit badge was pinned to her left breast and she had a backpack slung over her shoulder. One strap was sliding down her right arm, but the rubbing sensation that it was most likely creating didn't seem to bother her, and she chatted amicably with Egon, who was trembling despite being a good head taller than she was

"A-Alpha!" Egon rushed over to Oscar and wrung his wrists. He had bandages on both wrists. Oscar assumed that he'd been injured yet again during training, which made the Alpha inwardly chuckle, as Egon reminded him much of himself as a young trainee. "T-This woman i-is from the h-human police s-station..."

"Yes, I know, Egon." Oscar put a steady hand on Egon's shoulder, grounding the shaky boy. He strode past the wolves watching him and offered a hand to Ananya. "Welcome to the Yuen Pack, Ananya," he said, smiling the best he could without grimacing at the early sun that shone directly on his face.

Ananya beamed, her smile too wide for such an early hour. "Thank you!" She chirped and shook Oscar's hand. This time, he felt the wave of their connection slam into him like a tsunami of glitter. A pleasured shiver spun down his spine.

"You've done the papers already?" Oscar asked, glancing at the documents. "You're quite timely."

"I don't like to be late," Ananya quipped with a grin. "So, should we get to observing the bodies?"

"Yes, right this way." Oscar gestured to the rope-like path that dove through his pack, taking the lead with Ananya a few feet behind him. He noticed, when he'd glance at her every so often, that one of her legs was crooked when she walked and her foot faced inward toward her other ankle.

"Do you need any assistance?" He asked softly. "Would it be easier to hold onto something?"

Ananya peered up at him with her big brown eyes and blushed. "Erm, if you don't mind, could I hold your arm?"

"Of course." Oscar offered her the crook of his arm, like a couple about to slow-dance, and Ananya's small fingers wrapped around the crevice of his elbow, her steps becoming lighter as they continued.

A human's in the pack! Oscar suddenly heard a voice shout through the pack link.

She's an odd one, isn't she? Another voice added snarkily.

She can't even walk by herself! Look how weak humans are!

She's probably here to plant evidence against the Alpha!

We should do something about her when she leaves. Humans have no right to be here.

She'll find all our secrets and her kind will kill us all!

With every new utterance that echoed in Oscar's spacious mind, a headache inched through his brain bit by bit, causing a sense of annoyance to stir in his stomach. What he wasn't aware, though, was that Ananya was conscious of every biting remark that was made at her expense, as some wolves had taken the liberty to openly express their distaste of seeing her on their pack lands. Despite being several feet away, Ananya was aware that they were whispering about her, and she couldn't help but shrink a little at their animosity.