The Immortal Howl

thirty three.

I'd never seen someone from the Pack of Tolerance, aside from Noah, and I prayed he wasn't an accurate representation.

But compared to the extravagance of the Pack House, with the gloriously clear moat and ancient glass mosaics that lined the castle's outer stone walls, the pack itself was anything but graceful. Wolves lined the streets, their pants discolored and torn in inconvenient places and shirts frayed at the sleeves. Tiny holes littered their clothes, and rosacea crawled under dusted cheeks as they fought to shield themselves from the rising sun. I unintentionally licked my lips, wondering if mine were as dry and cracked as theirs.

Venustas was a desert. That meant hot summer days but below freezing nights. Had these people been out all night? Had these people been out every night?

Suddenly, a small but unexpected tug at my shirt had me veering off course and away from Noah.

"Please help, miss. I'm hungry."

A little boy, probably no older than seven or eight, with torn corduroy pants at least four sizes too small to where they seemed more like shorts, peered up at me. His eyes were tired and cheeks sunken. My heart went out for him and so many others just like him that we had just passed.

"Oh, Trev, no." Who I assumed to be his mother quickly rushed to collect him, pulling him back as she wrapped her arm around his chest and hugged him to her. She instantly put her head down. "I'm sorry miss, he doesn't know."

"Then teach him."

Noah's voice held no emotion, and neither did his gaze. It sickened me as he continued to lead me forward. I glanced back and the two were gone, scurried back to wherever they were living, maybe. I certainly hoped they weren't living in the streets. Everyone needed three things: food, shelter, and water. For someone to take any of that away from another was inhumane.

Many Alphas would be okay with drowning another pack if it meant more for their pack. That was often how wars started, especially during harsher winters when food was scarcer. One pack had something another one wanted. Nobody typically cared for anyone outside of their own community or outside of their own family. It was shocking that Noah didn't seem to care for his own pack, even more so that he was Alpha now.

Alphas were supposed to have that innate instinct to care for everyone in the pack. That was what made them superior to other wolves. It wasn't trained but something they were born with. Noah didn't seem to have it at all. Or maybe everything he had done to himself destroyed it.

I swallowed thickly, my chest suddenly heavy. How was I going to get myself out of this one?

He had locked me in a bedroom, like something out of a fairytale. I was there when he announced our union in front of Venustas's town hall. Well, I was there physically. Not so much mentally. A group of wolves he claimed to be pack members cheered and clapped as he promised to take down the Rogue Christopher Dagon, their appearances such stark contrasts between the little boy and his mother, and the hundred or so other wolves I saw crowding the marketplace. All the while, I was compelled to stay quiet. I was shaking, I was so angry.

The aconitum seemed to wear off with time, or at least its hold on me did. I was able to think and act on my own accord. But the second Noah not so nicely requested I do anything, it was lights out, my brain put on a temporary time out. All thoughts were gone, and I was at his disposal.

I wondered if it was the same with Ris or if the magic that was supposed to hum in my veins was working overtime. If it did wear off with him, I couldn't imagine the regret and guilt that must be wracking him. He would never forgive himself for even being captured. With Jasper incapacitated, Lili dead, me gone, and Zara and her father obviously working for the other team, he was alone. It was so easy to get to an Alpha when he was alone.