Alpha, King, Mate

The Dancer

People started to block out my sunlight, most of them had familiar faces. As they hovered over me I realized that all the people here were the medics in our group. Clearly, they had been worried about me. 

I was fine though. Sure my muscles would ache for a few days and I had fallen during the night, hitting my head against what I could only hope was a tree. But I had no major injuries. 

"Victoria, are you alright?" Russ had shifted back, extending his arm to me. Russ wasn’t as big as most werewolves were, which was why he fit in with the humans so well. He managed to keep his blonde hair short enough for it to stay out of the way, but shaving his beard was something he struggled with. It always came out looking patchy.

"I think I've ran enough for a few years." I answered, taking his hand and standing back on my sore feet. Russ was naked, seeing as he had just shifted back, but he didn't seem as uncomfortable about it in the presence of other wolves. 

"That blood." He said pointing at my face. "That's yours?" 

I guess I hit my head a bit harder than I had initially thought. 

"Yeah." I answered, my hand brushing against the wound that was a little above my hairline. It wasn't the biggest wound I've ever suffered, but after taking a small breather I realized it did sting a bit. "Head wounds always bleed a lot."

We walked back to camp at a slow pace. Russ shifted back to his wolf form and walked beside the other wolves while the humans looked just as uncomfortable around them as I felt. The walk itself only took about an hour. However as we reached the outskirts of the camp my jaw dropped.

The tents stretched on for miles and miles. Werewolves were walking around like it was no big deal, and by the looks of it they all slept outside as well. As we walked past them, most wolves followed us with their eyes, I could tell. But none of them said a word. Our two races weren’t used to just walking by one another. We were made to be at each other’s throats.

In the middle of the chaos that was the camp was a large house. The packhouse of whoever owned this territory. I had never seen a building that big in all my life, my old packhouse seemed nothing more than a shack compared to this. There were several floors and even three or four wings. I tried to keep a stern face however. I was here as a leader of the humans. Thanks to 99% of this camp we would never have these riches. 

"We can get you cleaned up first." Russ caught up with us after leaving to find some clothes. 

"No, I want to see Nick first. I need to be filled in." I said. Russ didn't seem so sure, but complied. He walked us through the house like it was his own, eventually knocking on one of the many doors. 

The talking inside shushed. I heard heavy footsteps coming to the door before it was opened by a large man. He had a huge scar starting from his jawline coming up all the way to his cheekbone. His eyes glanced over at Russ before stepping aside allowing me to come in.

The room was filled with people I didn't know, by the looks, and size, of them they were all werewolves. Nick and Arthur stuck out like two teenagers in a group of adults. Nick sprinted over to me and hugged me tightly, followed by Arthur who just slammed down his hand on my shoulder.

"You look like hell." He commented with a wide grin. 

"And you like you danced your way over here." I answered back. He was wearing fresh new clothes, the same as Nick and Russ. When our group survived in the wild we never really had time for fashion choices. We wore the pieces of fabric the wolves left behind after shifting, or the clothes of the dead people we found in the woods. I was still in those clothes, covered in mud and blood. They even smelled clean. Nick looked at me a bit uncomfortable. 

"We are supposed to meet with the Alpha King tonight." He said to me. "We can postpone it to tomorrow if you like? It'll give you some time to rest up." And also be pampered into submission, I added in my head.

"No. We can meet tonight." I said, awfully aware of the other wolves in the room. "However I would like to hear about everything that has happened." I looked at the other wolves. Most of them were staring at me without shame. Only a few looked away as I stared right back. 

"We will give you the room." The man with the scar said, ushering out all of the other wolves before closing the door behind them.

We sat down at the long table that occupied the room. I was happy to be sitting. My feet hurt like crazy and my eyes were begging me to close them. Still, I kept my face clear of any of the pain I was feeling and looked at my three allies.

"Russ arrived here earlier than we expected." Nick started. "The blood bond was made without any hesitation on their side. The king himself did it. " Russ and Arthur nodded along to his story. "I arrived not long after our last radio check in. We didn't lose anyone on the way here." 

"That's good." I mumbled. "And this king, what are his intentions with our group?"

"He wants to use our knowledge of the terrain in exchange for safe passage in these lands." Nick said while he shifted around in his chair. I immediately noted that something was wrong. 

"Safe passage." I repeated. Nick exchanged glances with Russ before adding a bit of vital information.

"Safe passage, but we can't live here permanently." He explained. 

"And in exchange for that he wants our people to lead his wolves to the front lines where they will meet an early death. Thinning out the herd is what this sounds like." I summed up. The room returned to silence. Judging by their looks, and the fact that he was nodding, Russ was on my side. Arthur seemed pretty confused about it all and Nick's gleaming eyes had turned to fire. After the silence dragged on and the tension grew Nick stood up.

"Russ will show you to your room. The hosting Alpha has graciously offered up one of his rooms when he heard of your story and travels. Rest up Victoria." He walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.