4.
It had been a little over a week since the twins had found Farryn, the time spent with the Storm Pack had helped the stranger start putting weight back on her body. She was no longer skin and bones waiting to wither away but was now starting to fill back into her young adult body. Her body was lean from the work she had been putting in to help wherever she could, she insisted that if she were to stay then she was to help. No one ever called her a prisoner, the majority of the pack members were kind to Farryn when they interacted with her, but others preferred to just keep their distance, everyone knew though that the Alpha was just biding his time.
The day after the twins brought her to their home Farryn had found the first pair of scissors she could and chopped her rib length hair off. Amelia ended up needing to assist in the end to help keep Farryn from making herself bald, but the thick locks gone were a weight lifted. Now just below her jaw, it helped her head seem lighter. Emily would never admit it out loud but even she had begun to like the intruder over the time spent together. It was almost like reverse Stockholm.
Farryn ran her fingers through the shorter wisps of hair as she exited the house, the longer she stayed the more alive the town became. She had realized just a few days in that majority of the pack had gone on patrol when they heard she had been found, if she was a lost human it usually meant more were searching, but humans had rarely been spotted near their territory, yet another reason why it was so hard for them to figure out just what Farryn was.
“You look much healthier than your first day with us.” The gentle voice that reached Farryn’s ears was one that she hadn’t heard since her first day. It was easy to spot the taller male approaching, however, a stoic look on his face as Alpha Chandler brought himself to a halt before her. Farryn instinctively lowered her head in greeting before looking back up. Typically, an outsider wouldn’t ever dare to maintain eye contact with an alpha the way Farryn did, considering the difference between the two. However, Farryn had little reason to care yet doubted he would lash out.
“I feel much healthier, thanks to Amelia and Emily of course. They had both been kind enough to help take care of me when my fever reached its worst point.” Her explanation was so stiff and formal, the tone of voice she had been taught to use by her father when speaking to her alpha. Alpha Chandler’s brows twitched just slightly; she was a puzzling thing truly.
“That’s good to hear, though I truly doubt Emily was much help.” He was making an effort to seem normal, to try and get Farryn to relax around him. His comment brought a slight smile to her lips but that was it. “Anyways, the real reason why I’m here, I want you to come with me today. I’m going out for a few hours to secure a border and would enjoy the company of someone who hasn’t heard all of my stories, or whose stories I haven’t heard yet.”
Farryn’s eyes widened slightly, why on earth would he want to take her anywhere outside of town except to kill her? But to kill her in private was unusual, almost unheard of with an alpha. He had worded it like she had a choice, did that mean she could say no and try to hide back in the house for the rest of the day? Chandler cleared his throat loudly causing Farryn to jump with alarm. She had been staring at him with wide eyes, probably looking like a true lunatic.
“I-I would be honored.” She rushed out quickly before allowing herself time to process her response. Her face paled slightly. An offer from an alpha was one you never refused unless you were willing to face the consequences. Agreeing to go with him hadn’t even been something she had time to think about. Chandler smiled at her response however and motioned for her to follow along as he led the way out of the small town.
Farryn’s palms began to sweat as they walked, Farryn was just slightly behind the alpha male. To walk beside him was to claim that she was his equal and she knew she wasn’t. He kept himself in his human form in consideration for her which was oddly kind but after their first interaction, she knew better than to assume he was any different. She had done a rather good job of keeping her distance from him, and this was the first time they were in the same vicinity together for more than a split second.
“Why don’t you tell me about Clear Oak?” Farryn looked up from her shoes to the alpha’s back. He hadn’t turned to acknowledge her but would know she was looking at him. The muscle in her jaw twitched as she remained silent. Her pack was gone so there was no real need to keep silent, but it hurt. It brought up memories she hadn’t thought about in what seemed like forever. Finally, Farryn inhaled softly through her nose and straightened her back.
“We used to be a large pack, more than 300 strong including the pups. Our numbers dwindled over the years but even before the end we still had more than a hundred of our warriors. The humans that used to live in the town you now occupy…” She trailed off for a moment as she cleared her throat. “We had a sort of agreement, we kept to the trees and they kept to the town. It wasn’t a solution, but it had worked for years. Then one day four years ago two of them were killed by rogues. They immediately accused us, we offered to hunt the rogues down ourselves to keep the peace, we tried but it wasn’t good enough for them.”
“So they wiped out the pack then?” Chandler looked over his shoulder, his eyes assessing her state of being as she spoke. “No.” He frowned in confusion before she continued.
“They gave us a choice first. Abandon the home we had known for generations or else. Our Alpha, Alpha Michael knew we would never want to abandon our home. He was right, everyone had agreed. We would fight for the right to survive, we wouldn’t run. So, the humans came at night while everyone, but the scouts were asleep.” Chandler hummed thoughtfully as he turned back around to watch where he was walking.
“So how are you the last one alive? If they came in the night like the cowards they are to slaughter everyone, how did you get out?” It was a valid question to ask, but it didn’t stop Farryn’s stomach from rolling in unease. “My sister.” She choked out and once more cleared her throat. “My older sister Rae had been awake still, she had snuck off with a male and had been returning just before the humans had attacked. She woke us up, my parents stayed behind, told us to flee, and to find somewhere to wait it out. I was only sixteen, my sister was twenty, neither one of us were skilled enough to do more than defend ourselves and would have been a distraction to our parents. So we found somewhere to hide just like they told us to. It was just the two of us, we were the only ones to escape. We kept to our territory, we knew the land and tried to search the whole area ourselves for survivors but the humans hadn’t even left the area, we were together for a year before…I was alone.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say the words aloud, that her family was dead, she knew the truth, had seen it with her own eyes but couldn’t say it. “I’m sorry for your loss.” The kindness that the alpha was willing to show a stranger was staggeringly confusing. “I’ve seen the way you interact with my pack. I don’t think you are lying about who you are. I can see the pain in your eyes when talking about your pack and family. But you are hiding something.” The pair locked eyes as Chandler came to stop and turned to face the female. “What are you talking about?” Chandler’s lips twitched into a grimace at Farryn’s obvious confusion.
“You said you didn’t smell any scent markers for our territory, even now you didn’t notice we had left it. You don’t even realize where we are yet do you?” He gestured with his right hand, drawing her attention away from him. The sinking feeling she had earlierworsened as she looked around. She knew where she was now, but he was right. She had been so wrapped up in her own mind that she hadn’t come to realize where he was leading her. Farryn couldn’t stop herself as she turned away to hurl up her morning breakfast, the remains of buildings were barely visible through the trees. Chandler had brought her home.
The alpha waited patiently as she caught her breath, tears dripping off of her nose as she put her hands on her knees. “Why did you bring me here?” She rasped. Her throat was burning from the bile. She hadn’t been back since her sister had died, and she didn’t want to see what had once been and what the forest was now reclaiming.
“To see if you were telling the truth.” He responded before bringing a large hand through his hair as he averted his eyes from her pathetic form. “I meant what I had said that first day you were brought to us, you smell like a human. You act like a human. But I can see that this was all real, I can see that you are telling the truth so why is that Farryn?” Farryn tilted her head to the side, gazing at him with just a sliver of hatred.
“Because it’s all true.” She spat onto the ground before forcing herself to stand. Her eyes downcast to avoid looking at what lay behind him. “My family was slaughtered, my pack was slaughtered, and I blamed the Moon Goddess herself for all of it.” An eerie silence fell over the pair at her claim. “I wished with every fiber of my being for two years that the Moon Goddess would show herself to me just so I could kill her for what she had taken from me. We are her children; we are hers to protect and yet she allowed so many of us to die!” Chandler’s shoulders tensed in alarm, to say such things aloud, to ever wish something so horrid was blasphemy. “She abandoned us all, so I turned my back to her, and silenced my wolf.” Her shoulders shook as she released a silent sob. She had no one to turn to, for the majority of her life her soul had been shared between two beings.
Chandler took a half step away from her like she was a plague as if being around her might cause his own wolf to vanish. He had never heard of such a thing happening before in his life, but he had also never heard anyone blaming the Moon Goddess for life’s sorrows. He swallowed hard as he thought about her words, was she teetering on the brink of a meltdown? Was she actually more dangerous than he had thought? “You know that isn’t true. She is not to blame for what happened here. She does not abandon us.” He didn’t know whether he should try and comfort the crying female or just leave her here.
“She has and you know it! Otherwise, you wouldn’t have abandoned your home! Because of her, I am human!” Her voice came out in a snarl but it was obvious there was no power behind the sound. Chandler’s face paled as he realized that when she silenced her wolf and turned from the Moon Goddess, she lost her connection. The reason why nothing had added up for a week, the reason why she seemed so human-like was that she actually was one.