11. Juniper
JUNIPER
“This is really good,” I said, looking up from my plate. Linnea was folding the clothes she’d brought me and putting them into a dresser drawer.
“We’ve got some great cooks here,” she said, looking over her shoulder at me with a grin.
The plate was covered in stewed potatoes and chunks of beef, a side of roasted carrots, and a hunk of sourdough with melted butter.
Simple but delicious. Everything here looked seasonal as well, giving more weight to Linnea’s assertion that the little community was—for the most part—self-sufficient.
“Where do you get everything?” I asked, wiping my mouth with a napkin. “The garden beds are all covered in snow. I saw them as we came in.”
“We have a few greenhouses. They aren’t nearby, though. The village itself is built under a thick tree canopy. Most are a fifteen-minute walk away and in spots that get better sunlight.”
I shook my head in awe. This place had been here all this time, and no one knew. No one even guessed. It showed exactly how private and careful Levi was in his preparations and leadership.
“Do you want to take a tour?” Linnea asked. “I’ve got some work I need to do. You could help me if you wanted to get a sense of how things work. Unless you want to get some rest. Take a nap, maybe?”
Taking a nap sounded appealing, but my curiosity was getting the better of me.
If I was going to be living here until Levi taught me how to shift, then it was probably good that I got the lay of the land.
The last thing I wanted was for my new neighbors to think I was lazy, sleeping the day away less than an hour after arriving.
I needed to do more anyway. I only had a month before I needed to be back home.
A month until I’d have to make arrangements with my grandparents.
If I was lucky, I could return and things would be just as they were.
If I was unlucky? I’d only have a day or two before Anders banished me. I didn’t want to think about that.
“Sure,” I said, setting my plate aside. “That sounds fun.”
Linnea led me outside. I felt a little incongruous in my heavy coat and pants made of synthetic material when everyone else was dressed in homespun items, but as we walked, I noticed most people were wearing good quality snow boots and waterproof rain jackets.
Levi and his people obviously did go to town for supplies.
I didn’t think they ventured to Idlewild, though.
I’d have heard if strangers showed up every few months.
They probably went into the human towns and cities.
“This is the chicken coop,” Linnea explained as we approached. “This is where we keep the chickens we use for eggs. There’s another for the ones we use for meat. You’re in luck, actually, tonight is fried chicken night.”
“It’s all kind of amazing,” I said as she handed me a basket. “Like I’ve stepped into a time machine.”
“It takes a little getting used to, I’ll admit. But after a couple days? It comes more naturally. Honestly, it’s weird how fast I was able to get into the groove.”
Within minutes, we were hunched over inside the coop, picking out eggs, and tucking them into the hay line baskets.
“So tell me,” Linnea said, “Do you really want to be with Anders? There’s a place for you here if you want it.”
That question kept popping up. First Beatrice, then Levi, now Linnea.
It wasn’t that I wanted to be with him, it was that I had to be with him.
From the little I’d seen of Hidden Grove, it looked amazing, but home was home.
My grandparents, my friends, my life was in Idlewild.
I couldn’t turn my back on that. Besides, I still had the faint hope that when I showed back up in town as a whole new person, Anders might change too.
I could hold out hope that he’d take back his rejection, and maybe, just maybe, we might grow into something more. Maybe.
“It’s complicated,” I said. “As I said before, there’s a lot of extenuating circumstances.”
“Fair enough.” She covered the eggs she’d collected with a linen cloth.
“I won’t pry. I just got excited to have someone I know here.
There aren’t many people from Idlewild here.
There’s a man here, one of the few, named Claude Rainmaker, but he’s old, and I don’t remember him from Idlewild.
There’s another woman who’s a bit older than us, but I don’t talk to her much.
” Linnea gave me a conspiratorial look. “She’s in Eugenia’s little group. ”
“What’s her deal?” I said as we exited the chicken coop. “The moment I got here, she was eyeing me like I’d run over her dog or something.”
Out in the open, she glanced around, more nervous than she’d been inside.
When she spoke, her voice was lower, almost a whisper.
“She’s got a little clique. It wasn’t as bad until a few years ago.
She’s got a lot of power at the moment. Like, an opposing politician, I guess.
Her followers want Levi to have a mate to solidify the hierarchy of the pack, and they specifically want her in that position.
Everyone else doesn’t really have an opinion and thinks Levi should do and be with who he wants.
The last couple months Eugenia’s been…” Linnea shrugged a little awkwardly.
“Well, she’s been a little more vocal about it. ”
Apparently, everyone had to live with pack politics and turmoil, even in idyllic little villages.
“Got it,” I said, deciding to drop the subject for now. I’d pry more information out of her later.
I spent the rest of the afternoon helping Linnea with her chores.
We assisted a woman named Shawna with the rabbit furs she was turning into coats.
Watching her work the leather was interesting and a little daunting.
I didn’t think I’d be able to do what she did.
Her fingers were dexterous and nimble as she moved the heavy needle through the cured skins.
After that, Linnea took me to one of the greenhouses, where we harvested a big basket of brussels sprouts and red beets.
“For dinner tonight. Sarah makes an amazing salad with roasted beets, spinach leaves, and goat’s milk blue cheese.” she laughed seeing the disgusted face I made. “Don’t knock it till you try it. I used to think beets tasted like dirt, but that woman can make anything taste good.”
“It’s more the blue cheese part, actually,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “We’ll win you over. Don’t worry.”
Late in the afternoon, Linnea and I sat in a big common room with a few other women, and they were showing me how to knit. I was absolutely terrible at it, but at least no one mentioned it.
To take the notice off my godawful attempts to make a pair of socks, I struck up a conversation with the women to get some answers about what was going on here. Now that I’d begun to settle in, some pressing questions had occurred to me.
“So,” I said, setting my knitting aside. “Do you all want to tell me why you’re all here?”
All the women paused and glanced up at me.
“What do you mean, dear?” an older woman asked, gazing at me quizzically.
With everyone’s eyes on me, I suddenly felt uncomfortable. I rubbed my hands over my pants to wipe the sweat off my palms.
Finally, I gestured around the entire place. “Here. Alone. In the forest. It’s a little…weird, isn’t it?”
A titter of laughter broke the silence, and I relaxed a bit.
“You wonder why we’d choose this?” the same older woman asked.
“Yes. I mean, don’t you all want to find mates and have kids and stuff? Can you do that out here?”
“Some of us do,” a different woman said.
“But there are those who have a lot of trauma from what happened to us back in our packs. Out here, we don’t have to worry about abusive mates, ostracization, or anxiety that comes from those situations.
That’s why I’m here.” She put a hand to her chest. “My elders paired me with a man who verbally abused me. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I left. ”
“Around twenty percent of the pack is male,” Linnea added.
“Almost all of them have paired up with someone, and there are kids.” A look of melancholy crossed through her eyes.
“Would all of us like to have that? Some yes, some no. For the most part, we’ve all accepted this as our new normal.
This is a safe place where no one is forced to mate with someone they don’t want.
It’s a price to pay, yeah, but sometimes freedom comes at a price. ”
“So, everyone just stays here forever?” I couldn’t believe people would willingly leave modern life behind to live like settlers in the wilderness.
“Yes,” the first woman said. “Maybe once every five or six years someone will get antsy and venture out to try and join a pack somewhere else, but that’s very rare.
Levi is such a good alpha, and Rainier is a kind and caring beta.
They’ve made this place special, and most never want to go back to the drama of normal pack life.
At least not the people who were damaged by it. ”
“Interesting,” I said, picking my knitting up again. I thought about the pain and shame I’d carried my entire life, and how that had deepened when Anders rejected me. I could actually see it from that perspective. Perhaps if I didn’t have my grandparents, I would have considered staying here.
I zoned out to the clicking of my knitting needles as the conversation drifted to other topics.
While I tried to undo a mistake that had knotted the wool around one of my needles, the group went quiet as the door opened.
Looking up, I found out why they’d gone silent.
Levi was strolling across the room toward us.