No Laughing Matter.

Chapter 20

Only a few days had passed before Thatcher was able to make contact and have a few magical beings come to see if they could help me, I was really excited to meet more people that possessed the magic like that of the mage that was able to send me here. In those days, the other soul had been noticeably remaining in the back of my mind, so I spent the time with my pack and children. Every day I was growing closer and closer to my mate and it was a beautiful feeling, the feeling of safety and reassurance I knew I could always find from him was beyond comforting and he was a fantastic father to my kids. He played with them whenever he was not working and of a night whilst they slept, we would drink this weird leaf water called tea and talk to each other about our likes, dislikes and everything in between, it was simple, I loved it, it was what I had always craved whilst out in the clan lands, a family, a home, a safe place to be.

I however hadn't shifted since the incident and my hyena was growing more and more restless, but I was afraid of what would happen if I let him out, would we be a hyena or would we turn into the monster again, I knew I would need to find out soon because we had never spent this long in human form before and it was not fair on my other half. I decided the kids and I could use a run, they were playing with other pack kids at the moment, I began to make my way to them, passing Thatchers office to tell him that we were going on a run in case he attempted to find us and was unable to. After informing him I made my way downstairs and into the kids' area. As soon as I stepped foot into the area a small cackling body threw itself at me, it took a second but I immediately recognised it as my youngest, Atticus, if one of my kids hated being away from me it was him, I believed it to be because he was sometimes not able to play with the older kids due to his inability to shift, it was sad and I had spoken to Zar many times about including his brother and I knew he tried but there were human games hyenas just couldn't partake in.

"Hey little man, how are you today?" I asked peppering his face with smooches. "Want to go on a run with mamma?" The words were barley out of my mouth before he was wriggling and laughing with excitement. I laughed back in response. "Zar, Aria, come on its time to go." I called to my two other children who were in human form amongst the other children, they were growing up so fast, but I worried for Atticus when separated from me he became very destressed, I don't know how to help.

I gathered up my children and we made our way outside, I moved behind a tree and hoped that no-one would notice if I turned into something monstrous but too my pleasant surprise when I looked down I was pure hyena, the form I knew best, it was so freeing to be back in this form, I had grown so used to it both from my primal clan and when myself and the kids were alone. I noticed that Zar and Aria, after re-joining with them had grown slightly in their hyena forms, Zar much more due to his elder age, but Atticus was still small and fluffy like a fresh cub.

The four of us began our run, sticking inside the pack borders but just far enough we ran into only the border patrollers. They all greeted us with a nod of their heads, they were all also in animal form. Its still so fascinating to me how many different creatures there were, I was still learning the names of all of them but everyone here was so nice and friendly and eager to explain to me their species specialities. Like how their was a guard who was a cheetah, his creature was the fastest land animal, had spots and how his young chirped like that of a bird, it was fascinating to learn about all these new species and not only that but witness them firsthand and give my children the ability to learn about others.

The kids were running around and enjoying this little family time. We were about a third of the way through our run when we were joined by Thatcher, his large black wolf bounded over to us and slowed to our pace after licking all of the kid's heads and giving me a rather intense sniff down to reinstate his scent over mine. It was nice he was able to join us we hadn't been on a run in so long. This was the real family time I wanted, and I was so happy that my cackles were coming out full force with no foreseeable end. We continued our run enjoying being with one another and finally having some peace. It wasn't until the very last leg of our run that something happened, from within the bushes walked a man, followed by two women and then one other person but I could not figure out their gender.

The man was tall and blonde and incredibly thin, he looked like he was so thin he wouldn't even cast a shadow, the two women looked eerily similar both with flaming red hair and a thicker build that called the eyes of everyone they walked by, the last stranger was possibly the most interesting, they had striking blue hair and mismatched eyes of green and brown, they looked magical they looked as if all the colours the animals loved of the world was inside this person, they seemed magic. They walked towards Thatcher and I with purpose but not as if they meant harm, the fact that my mate wasn't sounding the war cry or outright attacking these newcomers lead me to believe that perhaps they meant no ill will.

I gathered the cubs closer to me and inched by way behind my alpha mate just in the off chance these people were not friends after all, Thatcher barked in response before gathering all of us behind a nearby storing tree, a storing tree is one where the pack constantly stores clothes for if a chance like this were to happen and we needed to change back to human but had no clothes we could use the ones from the tree. Thatcher was the first to change and it seemed that the clothes were meant to fit him which meant there was no way they would fit me or the cubs, but he still insisted that I needed to meet these people in human so I also shifted, whilst apologising to my hyena for our run being cut short. The shirt I was wearing made its way down to just above my knees, I felt like a child, but thatcher repeatedly told me I looked adorable in shirts like this so I sucked up my pride and followed him back to the strangers.

"Welcome, I was not expecting you all until a much later date, but we will make room for you and begin this challenging time." Thatcher said his voice strong a confident, I was able to deduct that these must be the magic users I was very excited to see how these people work, they didn't have the same aura as the mage I had met.

The blonde responded, "Yes we were able to come at an earlier date due to things taking less time than predicted we thank you for the hospitality, I suppose this is the little creature that has the darkness within him?" he questioned pointing at me. I in turn nodded, I didn't see the other soul as a darkness and he bristled at the title, it was strange feeling him move again after days of nothing from here.

"Thank you, Alaric. This is my mate Casius, we will discuss his condition further once we are inside in the alpha suite, I don't want to scare the rest of the pack with nonsense and rumours. I would like to extend the greeting to you both Ciara and Maeve," My alpha said gesturing to the two redheads who nodded in time with one another. "Finally, I would like to extend the thank and greeting to you, Salem we are happy to have all of you in the pack please follow me and ill show you to the pack house and get the pack used to your scent, then we shall began if that is fine with you all." Thatcher turned and began the walk back to the pack house. It seemed that everything was about to get a lot more interesting.