The Last Pack

18. HEAT

Fidella had felt uncomfortable when she arrived back in her room in the early hours of the morning. Iselda was already asleep and she didn’t want to bother her, so she slid off her garments and climbed into bed. She felt cold inside, and her bones ached with the chill. Her teeth were chattering even as she pulled the cover up to her chin. Opposite to how she felt, beads of sweat formed on her temple, and her back dripped with long lines of boiling wet drops that got lost in the arch of her bum. The backs of her knees were slippery with the amount of perspiration that had collected there. Her lower stomach was clasping in waves of discomfort, but she tried her best to sleep through the painful sensation.

By the time the sun had started to rise, Fidella could no-longer hold in her whimpers and cries of agony. The pain in her stomach felt like tendrils that were crushing her lower areas, twisting her insides in a malicious motion. Her tender area was aching and clasping for attention, she was too weak to move. Her very skin felt like tongues of fire were lashing their liquid lava across every inch of her, and all she could think of in her mind was Conri. Isla was present but silent, as if the pain was crippling her ability to communicate. Fidella was convinced she had been poisoned and the cause of her death would be that her bones literally melted inside her. Knowing that the Heatons were more likely to kill her than help her, she tried to muffle her screams that were pushing through her pain threshold.

Woken by Fidella’s struggles, Iselda walked over to her friend’s bed and crouched next to her to check her temperature. The moment her skin touched, Fidella screamed, as the shooting pains of lightning punctuated the consistent burning she had felt all night.

“Moon Goddess! Fidella, how long have you been like this? You must be in so much pain,” Iselda sympathised.

Without waiting for an answer, she rushed to the culina and took three pieces of ice. It was the most she could take without being caught as it was a luxury item. Once she returned, she placed one piece in the centre of Fidella’s chest, another at the small of her back and the third at the entrance of her opening, where she knew the pain would be the most intense.

“Just wait there, I’m going to get help.” Iselda reassured her, but by this point Fidella was delirious. The only barely discernible noise she made sounded like Conri’s name. Darting out of the room, Iselda ran to the gladiators’ cells and repeatedly slammed her hand on to Ewan’s door.

“Sweet and blessed Moon Goddess, why do you insist on continuously having me woken this way?” Ewan grumbled from inside his cell. After a brief wait, there he stood with only his blanket wrapped around his hips.

“The Luna has gone into heat, she didn’t say anything, and I don’t think she knows what it is. Alpha Conri needs to be with her, but I don’t know how we can get the Heatons to let him be with her for that long. It could be a minimum of three days. Her scent is saturating the air, when the pack wakes up even an Alpha command won’t stop them,” Iselda rushed so much information towards him that it took Ewan a moment to realise the implications of what she had said. Quickly, he pulled her in to a comforting, platonic hug to ease her distress and his own worry. His Beta skills would be tested today.

“I will fix it from here, go back to your room and lock the door, just open it for Conri or Titan, don’t even let me in,” Ewan instructed, and she ran back to her room.

Strategy had always been a strong point for Ewan. He enjoyed a challenge, but even he was struggling to find a plan for this badly timed mess. Logic told him to start with Conri first. After dressing, he walked to Conri’s cell. He took the key from his belt and opened the door. To his surprise, his Alpha was pacing the floor, his claws were extended and there were scratch marks on the stonework of his wall. The slow and steady snarl suggested a sinister slaughter for anyone who was intending to be an obstacle in his plans today.

“There’s something wrong with Fidella, she’s hurting. Einar says she needs me,” Conri barely contained his worry and frustration, while he tried to control his frantic wolf.

“She’s gone into heat, and is pretty deep into the cycle. Only you can help her, but her scent is incredibly strong. The other wolves will seek her out when they wake up, and their cell doors open,” Conri roared when Ewan told him the news.

“How can I help? What do I do? What’s heat?” Conri asked.

“I don’t have time to explain, but to help her you need to touch her and be intimate, only you can end her symptoms and relieve her pain. You go to her now, and I will find a plan to keep you together until this passes,” Ewan explained, with a decent level of pink tinge in his cheeks, and he gestured for Conri to leave.

As Conri ran up the steps to Fidella’s room, Ewan entered Titan’s cell to explain what was happening. The escalating concerns in Ewan’s brain made his plan appear like a ball of yarn in his mind that needed to be unpicked, before any sense could be made of it. The Dominus was primarily concerned about his profit, but that didn’t mean he didn’t derive pleasure from causing hurt in others. Worryingly, Titan had already implied that the Master had found a particular interest in Fidella, he was excited by her pain and misery and, so far, the only thing that had kept her safe was the fact that he held himself in too high a regard to indulge in a slave.

“So we agree we can’t tell the Heatons she’s in heat in case they realise it’s triggered by unmarked mates,” Ewan clarified.

“Exactly, because knowing those two latrine fuckers, they would separate them on purpose,” Titan confirmed.

“The only way we can keep them together is to lie and say she has caught an infectious wolf illness that only Conri has had before, so he can’t catch it again. We will tell them that to protect the rest of their stock, Conri decided to look after her until she is well. You will stand guard in the corridor to make sure all the other wolves don’t come near enough to catch it, as the chance of death by Conri will be highly likely,” Ewan shared his plan, only to see Titan frown.

“What will stop the Heatons killing Fidella to protect the rest of their profits?” Titan asked.

“We will say that we are unsure of the effect it will have on humans, so it’s best for them and the guards to stay away. Do you agree?” Ewan asked for agreement, and Titan simply nodded his head.

Ewan sat down on the edge of Titan’s bed, he was circling his thumbs around each other as he tried to quiet his mind and reach for his wolf Brody, who he had to keep suppressed in order to achieve his own ends in the house. Visualising it as Fidella had taught him to, he imagined a huge web with the face of each pack member sitting at the edge. He then pulled the silk strands and channelled his Beta voice.

“We are faced with the first challenge as a pack. Our Luna went into heat this morning. She is writhing in agony and the only person who can help her is her mate, our Alpha Conri. He is with her now. For many of you, this will be your first time experiencing this natural occurrence, and therefore it is my responsibility to tell you that your wolves may feel an uncontrollable urge to seek out your Luna. This attention would be inappropriate and unnecessary. You must keep your distance. Conri and Titan will be protecting Luna Fidella, and it is likely that you will be hurt by them if you lose control of your wolf. Your Beta and Gamma are going to speak to Dominus Heaton this morning and tell him that Conri and Fidella will be quarantined until this difficult time has passed. If you see anything suspicious let us know, as we may have to launch our attack sooner than planned,” Ewan concluded his message, and opened his eyes. Titan smiled and patted his shoulder. They could only hope that Dominus Heaton would believe their story.