Attraction

Claws slashed the wall right above her head as the wolf rammed against it. Isha dropped to her knees in fear as that was the least thing she was expecting as she walked through the door.

There had been no heads-up and the person leading her hadn't even been kind enough to let her know her name so she followed her blindly.

“Stick to the wall.” She said without looking back again and Isha remained in awe.

She had met her by the door when she was done changing and together, they had resumed their long walk and now, they were at the council grounds. Isha only knew that due to the huge warning against unauthorized entry.

Within her, her wolf jolted, and Isha couldn't tell if that was a worry or something entirely different.

She bit her lips as she struggled to get on her feet. 

“Not here, not here please” she muttered as she rose. The presence was there again, and this time it was stronger. A quick turn around and she noticed the wolf who had thrown the other standing at the far end of the very big room.

He was huge, black, and as he puffed, she noticed his eyes weren't on his opponent, they were on her.

“Don't turn” she spoke to her wolf as she looked away, ignoring the ringing in her ears. “It can't be,” she assured herself.

She was well educated and knew what it felt like when two wolves who need themselves find each other, but she wasn't certain, and she wasn't about to make herself a clown in this place.

Doubling her steps, she caught up with the lady who got to the end of the room, pressed her palm against the wall while Isha struggled to see the faint print she knew was intentionally almost invisible.

The wall pushed in and then slid to the left. The minute they stepped in, the smell of chemicals hit her and she struggled to keep herself from choking.

“We do a lot of mixing and turning here.” The woman began speaking, not caring about her suffering. Isha could see a lot of people, they stood around beacons and tumblers, handling liquids of different colours. They were about 50 in the room by her guess and they peered up at her as they walked past. There was hardly any space in the room and so she did a lot of apologizing as she tried as much as she could to not knock over anything.

The lady resumed “The council needs as much strength as they can get in order to protect this pack. This unit supports them with the necessary fuel; healing fuel. And so, I do hope you love to work because we have a lot to do.”

She headed over to a man she introduced as Hunter and whom she instructed to be as strict as possible if Isha wouldn’t adhere to instructions.

Hunter, however, was nice enough to ask if she had something to eat before coming and had offered her a small loaf of bread and some sauce that tasted so weird, she couldn't tell what it was made of.

He handed her a note afterward and showed her to a small inner room where another lady handed an overall and gloves to her.

“Be careful with the chemicals”, she told her “They burn when not ready.”

She got back out to meet Hunter but he was too busy with a group of five. They were all standing over a furnace and in it, something was cooking. They kept nodding while he spoke and she decided it was a good opportunity to survey the area.

And so from where she stood, she looked around. The first thing she noticed was that everyone was working. Her whole life had been spent doing field work, with the swords, arrows, and classes on how to utilize her wolf when she was finally birthed, but never had she been engaged in manual labour, and that was all she could see around her. 

She was certain she would have an issue working here because she wasn't used to such conditions and so she waited patiently for Hunter to be done and have her attention.

He finished and visited two other groups before he walked back to her.

“Tell me about your experience with healing.”

Grateful with the way the conversation was starting, she gladly shook her head “I have none.”

He looked at her over “What the hell are you doing here then?”

“Heard the alpha himself assigned her here.” a short haired blonde spoke.

Hunter hissed, his expression turning sour “I’m not about to begin teaching you what you should already know. They don't just send anyone to the council grounds. What happened to breeding?”

The girl from earlier chuckled, “Maybe he has a soft spot for her and can't imagine her being open to every other male in the pack.” There was a low laughter from the people around there.

“Or maybe the fact that she’s a white wolf and he doesn’t want any trace of her here.” she continued.

Isha noticed the shift in the air and the many more glances that came with that statement and she just stood there, waiting for the next thing to come.

Hunter kept an irritated look on his face as he murmured while going through some files. Finally, he turned his attention back to her.

“Listen, I will not baby sit you, you have to learn as fast as you can. I do not like liabilities, and neither does the alpha.”

“I would be okay with taking up other roles,” she cut in, “I would not want to interrupt what you have going on here.”

He paused and studied her face like it was some kind of map. “You really don’t know what goes on in other areas, and how lucky you are to be here.” He followed up with a short laugh “I see. Well, I would advise you to do whatever you can to make sure you are considered worthy to be here. The council has duties and so they are almost always on the field. You had better do your quota of the potions you are assigned.”

He did a quick spin as if looking for something and then grabbed the glasses that sat two desks away from him. ‘Now come along, you have a lot to learn.”

She followed him and her long day began, taking notes and trying to memorize the many processes everyone was trying to shove down her throat.

From where they worked, she could hear the fights going on in the other room and couldn't help but wonder what that was about, and she could still feel him because her wolf was unsteady in ways she did not understand. And somehow, she could tell that whatever she was feeling, he felt it too, and she wasn't wrong for at the close of day, as a tired and hungry Isha stepped into the quarters where she had been assigned, hoping to have a good night’s sleep, her wolf itched to be seen, a scent filled the air and she instantly knew he was waiting for her.