23. Wolf #2
Hearing Neveah’s pain seemed to catch Viv’s attention and I could feel her drifting up to the surface of consciousness to see what was going on.
Our pain resonated with hers and yet I could feel how jealous Viv was that she had a mate to pick her up and cuddle her, sharing in the pain.
This caused our own suffering to surface with a vengeance, and once again she retreated back into her corner of my mind.
“Forgive her, to lose one’s mate is a pain that no one wishes to bear. It’s why many don’t live long after it’s happened, going on without them is just too hard,” Luis murmured to me as he watched his daughter. “Come, let’s warm you up by the fire.”
Following him, I sat near the fire, basking in its warmth after the past few days of biting cold and snow.
Three other people watched me with curiosity, fear, and suspicion— not that I could blame them.
I would feel the same way if any of my mates brought in some stranger especially after having been attacked recently.
I remember Faulk telling me that they were losing this battle with Jason, it also made me think back on some passing conversations I heard around the facility I was kept in.
Not all the guards or nurses kept silent while working around me or out in the halls where I could listen to them talking.
At least now I knew I was in the right place and with the people I’d been looking for.
Viv, I need you to shift back long enough to tell them we need their help. I have no doubt that they will be willing to help us. The anger they have towards Jason and Vadik is a match to ours...please.
I could feel her listening, but she didn’t budge.
Maybe if I gave her a little more time to feel comfortable around these people it would help.
The level we both shared of trusting new people was at its limit, but I had the benefit of enhanced senses that told me these people were good people, they hadn’t lied to us once.
“So ninita, how can I help you feel more comfortable?” Luis asked, looking over at me, but not meeting my gaze head on.
Did he sense that I was an alpha? I’d purposely been hiding my power so that I didn’t draw unwanted attention from every werewolf that was wandering the forest.
“It’s not about being comfortable,” a raspy voice called from further in the cave’s darkness. “Her human side is refusing to surface.”
The fur all over my body started to prickle and stand on end as an old woman walked her way into the firelight.
Her silver gray hair was loosely braided to the side, falling over one shoulder touching her hip, her deep blue eyes glittered with the light of the flickering flames.
I didn’t know who this woman was, but I knew she scared the shit out of me and was probably the most ancient werewolf I’d ever met— like older than Orion.
“How old is that mate of yours? I might know who he is,” She asked as she came to stand before me.
I let out a whine and laid my ears back feeling the need to submit to her, but unwilling to bare my neck.
“Grandmother, what are you doing to the poor ninita,” Luis chided.
The woman turned her gaze to her grandson and frowned.
“You wanted to talk to her didn’t you? Well, her wolf can speak to mine and then she tells me so I can tell you, it’s like a fun game of telephone.
Don’t spoil this Luis, this is the most interesting thing that has happened in my life for two hundred years.
Who would have thought a female alpha with a fully aware wolf would still be in existence, and one so young. You’re not even fifty yet.”
“Maria, I think you’ve finally lost it. There is no way an alpha female could be alive. If there was, Jason and his goons would be all over that,” one of the other men spoke up, shaking his head.
Funny you should mention that...
“Oh my... It seems that our little alpha has escaped from the man himself,” slowly she lowered herself, so she was sitting right in front of me and took my face in her hands.
I wanted to fight against it, but the moment she touched me I could see all of my memories flooding into her.
She was watching my whole life like it was a movie playing in my brain and no matter how hard I tried to struggle she held onto me with an iron grip.
Then I discovered as I pushed her away mentally that I was able to slip into her mind, and I started seeing glimpses of her life.
She’d grown up in Spain and had been a wife to a prominent leader who supported the discovery of America.
As time went on, she eventually ended up here in the later wave of people to colonize when they had found out what her and her husband were.
They had found a pack amongst the Native American people and joined into their way of life, drifting nomadically through the country until that came to an end.
Battles were waged, won and lost, but they kept their family together, refusing to give up their place in this world.
Just as I was about to see more recent information I was tossed out of her brain and back into my own with the door slammed shut in my face.
“I did not invite you into my memories, cachorro. Don’t you know it’s rude to invade someone’s mind like that?” Maria scolded me.
I’m sorry, but didn’t you just do that to me? I don’t remember giving you permission to view my entire life story. I growled, snapping at her.
Maria just swatted me on the muzzle with a click of her tongue. “Nonsense, I needed to know if you were a danger to my family. Now that I know you’re not, we will be honored to help you with the troubles you face, but first we need to make you whole again.”