The Wolf of the Wilds

The Tower

"You can't be serious!" a voice protested, "we can't have a fucking rogue living in our territory!"

Helena rolled her eyes as she sat outside the meeting room like a scolded child. She had her legs stretched out and she was boredly counting the tiles on the wall opposite. The din from within the room behind her was driving her half insane.

"Seen as I'm sat right outside you'd think they'd have the sense to keep their voices down," she said to the omega sat beside here. Felix shrugged his shoulders, fiddling with the hem of his tunic.

"Yeah, but that's the Ed's brother, Niguel, speaking. He's a bit, er."

"Obstreperous?" Lena suggested, as more yelling filled the conference room. Felix nodded his head.

"I was going to say loud, but yeah. Pretty much."

The pair fell back into their silent arrangement and Helena rested her head against the plastered wall, listening in with her keen ears.

"Niguel, sit down and cool off." It sounded like Edgard speaking. "Helena is Adrian's mate and she has travelled all the way up here with us. Whilst she isn't the most pleasant of characters, she isn't malevolent and her skills could be beneficial to our pack. I'm not suggesting we make her a beta or anything like that. She just needs somewhere to live relatively near the pack."

"But what if she's a spy? She could be from the Angor pack for all we know. She could kill us in our sleep if we give her free reign. Rogues are always bad news, especially when we don't know their origins!"

Helena was half tempted to march in and give this bloke a piece of her mind, but the sudden silence gave her a moment of hesitation.

"Niguel," someone unknown hissed scoldingly. A pause, and then a sigh followed.

"Er, no offence, Adrian."

"Just stop talking and quit digging your hole deeper," Adrian's voice cut through the room like a blade of steel. "The Angor pack has been abolished for years and not every wolf from south of the mountains is an Angor wolf. Lena is no threat to us," Adrian said, taking a calming breath and continuing, "how about we give her the old storage tower? We haven't used it in forever, it's reasonably far away from the town and it's within our defences. Don't you think that could be an option?" 

There was a general murmur of agreement.

"It could be ideal. Once we have someone clean it and install a cage for the full moon, it should be a perfectly decent home for her. Do you think she would find that acceptable?" Edgard asked.

"She's sat outside. I imagine she can answer that for herself."

That was her cue to get up. She rose to her feet, stepping forward and pushing open the door with a hint of dramatic flare, enjoying the slight thud the door made as it swung back. With her arm resting on the door frame, she looked around the room with a cool gaze.

"No pack mutts on my door step? That sounds fan-bloody-tastic."

The next day Helena was stood at the top of one of the outer hills, her hands on her hips as she stared up at the storage tower.

It looked old, incredibly old in fact. The stones were weathered and mosses clung to its base like an emerald jacket. The steps leading to the door were polished and softened by years of use, left curved and uneven. She approached, running her hand across the carvings beside the entrance, but it was so badly eroded that she could barely make out more than a couple of letters.

Just then Victor and Adrian reached the tower, both of them out of breath and panting from the steep climb. Helena looked around, battling with her hair as it blew into her face and got into her mouth.