True Nature

9

I let my fingers brush gently over the row of claw marks that had been etched into the wide, oak table, only half-heartedly listening to the hushed arguments that were going on around the room. Several older wolves were sat around the meeting table like me, whilst others paced back and forth in agitation or stood huddled in small groups talking to each other under their breath. The majority of them, apart from a small group of us I realised apprehensively looking around, were alphas and their lunas. The celebratory mood and decorations from the night of the first gathering had been replaced by a sombre, anxious atmosphere, as we all waited tensely for Ian, my pack's alpha, and Isabel, our luna, to arrive.

Chloe, the girl from the club, was hunched over in the seat next to mine shivering, her arms curled around her knees, and body nestled snuggly under a big, tartan throw. She still looked shaken up by the events of the evening, the dark circles framing her exhausted eyes made even more apparent in the glare of the room's artificial light, and her blonde hair a mess of all the hair product she had put in hours ago. I scrunched up my nose slightly at the faint scent of cheap perfume and alcohol that still clung to her skin. Or was that my skin? 

It was the early hours of the morning and I watched, mutely, as a dozen, hastily dressed, disgruntled looking wolves that were gathered in the hall waiting, became increasingly impatient and irritable. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before a few of the younger alphas began voicing their complaints and breaking the fragile peace in the room. "How long are they going to keep us waiting at bloody 1 o clock in the morning!" Moaned one of the males loudly, drawing vexed glances from around the room. He had his t-shirt on back to front, I noticed, mildly amused. The small female wolf next to him scowled, huffing in agreement. "They haven't explained anything about what's going on and I need to get up early for an appointment tomorrow."

"Oh shush! We're all tired here and you don't see any of us complaining." One of the older females snapped back, crabby. Part of me wanted to cheer her on, whilst the other, larger part groaned in frustration as the scowling girl narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to fire back a retort. I stopped listening as the argument began to escalate but the aggression and heightened emotions in the room continued to nag at me. Sighing, I rubbed my forehead, a horrible headache forming. At this point I was really just longing for sleep. I was also deeply regretting not just helping Carla with the babysitting. Sure, her kids were holy horrors but at least I always remained relatively unscathed by the end of each night. Not to mention £40 richer. In hindsight though, I was far from being surprised at the events of tonight. Half of me had been predicting the occurrence of some sort of disaster as soon as Tessa dragged me outdoors. All things considered it still could have been worse. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door to the hallway swing open silently. Tobias, Alpha Ian and one other, unfamiliar, giant of a man with huge, bulking muscles and a long beard, stepped through the threshold. I twisted around in my seat to catch a glimpse of our luna but was disappointed when she never appeared. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen her in a while. Where was she?

 Alpha Ian appeared drained and stressed out whilst Tobias looked restless and agitated. He scoured the room briskly, his expression growing darker and darker at the scene that greeted him. The arguing wolves had yet to notice their presence or greet them.

I felt instant relief at his arrival though. I was too drained to deal with any more excitement and had been seconds away from just walking out the hall and going home, which would have undoubtedly got me into more trouble later. I waited for Tobias to step in and calm down the situation but when nothing happened, I glanced back in his direction and, as was becoming a habit, we made instantaneous eye contact. Strangely enough he was doing nothing about the fighting but instead watching me, a speculative gleam in his eye. I tilted my head crossly at him, disconcerted at the way he was staring and getting more and more annoyed at his constant observation of me, as if he were lying in wait hoping to catch me doing something wrong. I knew he was still furiously angry after earlier and, no doubt, impatiently waiting for the chance to lecture me on my lack of self-preservation and inability to follow orders. I also knew he was desperate to know what had really happened between the three of us outside the club. I was still trying to think of a viable explanation should he succeed in cornering me and interrogating me later.

Luckily, his phone had rung right when he encountered me in the alleyway this evening. It had looked as though he might ignore the call and throttle me instead, but he restrained himself with difficulty, likely because of the several pack members witnessing our little confrontation. He sent me a look promising retaliation and ordered one of his wolves to take us safely back to the pack house, before growling savagely into the phone and storming off.

Now, we continued our stare off across the table, neither of us wanting to look away first when, finally, alpha Ian slammed the door shut and strode forward. Immediately silence fell over the room as he sat down at the head of the table and gave the other alphas a stern, disapproving look. His eyes slid over Chloe and I dismissively, before flicking back to us in surprise. He sent Tobias a confused, questioning glance and must have received some kind of go ahead signal as he cleared his throat and faced the room again. "There has been another attack." He announced and a few wolves among the several instantly stiffened. "A rouge attempted to kidnap one of our female wolves today, though luckily we managed to reach her in time." He sent a quick nod to Chloe as furious growls broke out at the thought of one of our own being threatened. 

"Unfortunately, this appears to be another incident in a line of cases, and we believe it would be wrong to dismiss what happened tonight without discussing it with you properly." He took a deep breath, face grim. "As some of you already know, this was not a random attack but rather an organised one. We have reason to believe that wolves across the country are being targeted by what we think is some sort of organisation of rouges." His words carried a tone of unquestionable finality that rang out into the shocked silence of the room.

_____________________________

If you enjoyed this chapter please vote! 🤩