Chapter 2 - A river of words
I run up behind Kevin who came to an abrupt stop, seeing a girl by the water.
She is sitting on a rock, bathing her feet. She is wearing a pair of shorts and a plain T-shirt, but I somehow know there is nothing plain about her. She turns her head as she hears us and the bluest eyes I have ever seen are looking straight at me. Her hair is dark and she has it in a bun on the top of her head. She is about my age, a little younger perhaps. I can’t feel a wolf in her so either she haven’t got one yet or she is a human.
“Hi there!” She says and smiles the cutest smile. Her round cheeks are each adorned with a dimple, her teeth are white and not quite straight, and her front teeth are a little bigger than normal, but that suits her.
“ Are you mute? Or maybe deaf?..Oh...I’m sorry..are you from another country?..but if you are you can’t answer because you don’t know what I’m saying..” She frowns, probably thinking about how to make us understand her. I hear a little giggle from Kevin and he bumps his shoulder against me.
“ We understand you..we just didn’t expect to meet anyone out here..in the forest” I say, scratching my head.
“Oh..well, this is my favorite place in the world, except for the ice-cream bar at the mall..or the hags kitchen, she makes such good cookies...Gretas is good too but not as good as the Hags...I also like our game room, but my parents don’t let us use it on weekdays..” She suddenly stops and looks at us, I think I see a little blush on her cheeks.
“ I’m sorry..my mom always says I talk too much...So, where are you from? Low Falls Pack?” She draws circles in the water with her feet.
“ No..We are from the Sunset Pack..” I answer her.
“ The Sunset Pack?...I don’t think I’ve heard of it...So, where are you headed?”
“ We are going to the Great Falls Pack..”
“ Really?..what are you going to do there?”
“ I need to speak with their Alpha..do you know if it's far?”
“ No, it's not..come, follow me.” She takes her feet out of the water and stands up, holding out her hand.
“ I don’t hang out with strangers so it’s best if we introduce ourselves. My name is Cathy.” Kevin steps forward with a big smile and take her hand.
“ Hi, I am Kevin, this is my big brother James”
“It's very nice to meet you Kevin, and you too James” She let go of Kevin and wait for me to take her hand, and I do. It feels like I’m getting an electric shock. My whole arm tingles and a shiver runs down my spine. My mouth becomes completely dry and I feel slightly nauseous. Cathy smiles as she shakes my hand, whatever I feel I’m apparently alone to feel it, because she seems completely unfazed. Argus is pacing in my head, whines uncertainly as he watches Cathy. All his senses are on full alert.
“Let's go” Cathy lets go of my hand and I immediately feel a bit colder. I was so confused but luckily Cathy don’t stay quiet for a second so I pushed the strange feelings aside and try to keep up with her.
“So, have you boys gotten your wolves yet? I haven't but I’m only twelve..I can’t wait to have her...I bet she will be awesome...I will go for runs all the time..I wonder if she will be a good swimmer, I love the water but I’m not a good swimmer. I won’t let her kill any cute animals..there are hamburgers at the mall so I don’t see the reason to hunt and kill cute animals..I might let her kill a bear if it's threatening to me or to the pack...but the warriors would probably handle it..” On and on she went. Kevin looked at me with big eyes as if he asked if we really should follow this babbling lunatic, and I couldn’t stop a chuckle from leaving my lips. Suddenly two big brown wolves step out in our way, followed by a woman...At least I think it’s a woman. She is tall..taller than me, she has bigger muscles too. Her hair is short but she also has breasts..big round breasts under that tight t-shirt she is wearing.
“ Miss Cathy! People are looking for you!” The woman say.
“ I’m sorry Tilda..I just wanted to be alone for a while” Cathy answers, looking ashamed.
“And who are your friends?” Tilda narrowed her eyes at us but Cathy’s smile returned in an instant.
“ This is Kevin and James, they are from the Sunset Pack!”
“ The Sunset Pack? Really?” Tilda’s voice soften and her eyes fill with compassion. So, they know..the word obviously traveled faster than us.
“They want to meet the Alpha” Cathy say and Tilda looks absent for a little while, probably linking someone before she nods at us.
“Go on then, show them the way.” She says and both she and the big warrior wolves step aside.
After about half an hour more, we start to see buildings. At first just scattered villas, but soon a community spreads out in front of us.
It’s a big pack house, much bigger than the one back home..before I turned it in to a pile of smoking ash..
“Come on, I think they are on the training ground.” Cathy takes Kevin’s hand, dragging him with her in a jog. He turns his head at me, looking a bit confused but then he giggles and follow her. I hurry my steps to keep up and when we come around to the backside of the house a big and well kept lawn spreads out. Where it ends, the training ground begins. Cathy takes us to sit down on the side until the training is over.
I’m torn between watching the training, which is very impressive, and listening to Cathy rant about how she longs to get her wolf so she can start training too, although she has already started, secretly, but we’re not allowed to tell, not because girls don’t get to train because they do, but more because her father thinks she should wait until she gets her wolf because then she heals better and faster in case she gets hurt during a training session. Does this girl ever breathe? I am tempted to ask..but I don’t.
The training ends and Cathy jumps to her feet.
“Lets go, he is right over there.” She points to a big man, who I suppose is the Alpha. The man sees her and his hard face immediately softens and he gives her a big smile.
“Dad! Dad! We have guests” she calls as she runs up to to him. He lifts her up and give her a hug. So the Alpha was her father..she was an Alphas daughter..no wonder the warriors at the border was so worried about her.
“Do we? And who could these young men be?” The Alpha looked at us, his gaze wandering over us, from our disheveled hair to our dirty fingers. Suddenly I became very aware that we must look like rogues after traveling so far, sleeping in nature and both eating and relieving ourselves in it.
“This is Kevin and his big brother James. They are from the Sunrise pack!” Cathy chirped.
“The Sunrise pack? I’ve never heard of it” The Alpha eyed us suspiciously.
“No, she got it wrong...we are from the Sunset pack, we are the sons of Alpha Sam” I said and immediately his expression changed. From suspicious to sympathetic, which meant he knew exactly what happened. I see his eyes go absent for a few seconds and understand that he is talking to someone through link.
“Well boys, you are both very welcome here, feel free to stay as long as you want. I have my lead omega set up rooms for you, do you want to share or do you want two separate she wonders?” I understand she is online right now.
“Share!..hrm..we can share” Kevin says and I nod. He dosen’t want to be alone after what we have been through and to be honest, neither do I.
“Super, then we can have a slumber party!” Cathy clapped her hands and jumped around in a circle around us, adorable as hell and both Kevin and I smiled at her, infected by her happiness and innocence.