Chapter 7

ELOWEN

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The room they gave me had a window.

That was the first thing I noticed when the female wolf assigned to show me around pushed the door open and stepped aside to let me through. A window with actual curtains, heavy dark fabric that pooled slightly at the floor, and through the glass a view of the pack grounds.

I stood in the doorway and looked at it for longer than I should have before I remembered myself and walked in.

The room was not large but it had a proper bed with a mattress that did not feel like sleeping on compressed disappointment. There was also a dresser with a mirror above it that was not cracked, as well as a small table with two chairs. The door on the left wall led to a bathroom, my own bathroom.

I set my bag down on the floor next to the bed and looked around more.

“Meals are in the main hall at seven, noon, and six,” the wolf said from the doorway. Her name was something I had already forgotten because I had been too busy cataloguing the layout of the corridors on the way here to retain it. “Luna’s seat is at the head table. Someone will come for you in the morning to go over the rest of the protocols.”

“Thank you,” I said.

She left. I heard her footsteps recede down the corridor and then it was quiet, and I was alone in a room with a window and a real bed and no cleaning supplies within reach.

I had noticed a lot of distinct reactions among the wolves who saw me as I passed on the way in, and they were no different from the way the wolves at Blackthorn looked at me.

I was still thinking about it when a knock came at my door.

“Come in,” I said.

The door opened and one of she-wolves from the corridor stepped through.

“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” she said. “I wanted to introduce myself properly. I’m Thea Voss. I hold senior rank in the pack and I’ve been here long enough to know where everything is.” She smiled. “I thought you might appreciate having someone to answer questions. The first few days in a new pack can be disorienting.”

“That’s kind of you,” I said.

“It’s purely practical,” she said, with a small laugh. “A settled Luna is good for the pack. It’s in everyone’s interest that you find your footing quickly.”

She stayed for about ten minutes. She told me things about the pack’s daily structure, the hierarchy of the senior wolves, which corridors led where, which members held which roles.

When she left, I couldn’t help but think about the expression on her face when she first saw me in that corridor. Why did it change all of a sudden?

I was still thinking about that when the second knock came.

This one was different.

“It’s open,” I said.

The she-wolf who walked in was shorter than Thea, and darker too. She looked at me, looked around the room, and then looked back at me again.

“You’ve already had a visit from Thea I take it,” she said. It was not a question.

“About ten minutes ago.”

“Right.” She leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed. “I’m Zaya, a Gamma. I don’t have any particular reason to welcome you except that I find you interesting, which is more than I can say for most of the wolves here.” She paused. “Don’t trust Thea.”

I looked at her. “You just introduced yourself thirty seconds ago.”

“I know.” She tilted her head. “But Thea, she was going to be Luna. Everyone in this pack knew it, she knew it, and then you were marked and installed overnight. She’s kind of a jealous type, I’m just saying you should be careful, Luna.”

I said nothing for a moment. I thought about the careful warmth and the rehearsed self-deprecation and the very precise way Thea had positioned herself as useful.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.

“See that you do.” Zaya looked at my bag still sitting unpacked on the floor. “You haven’t settled in yet?”

“I just got here.”

“You’ve been here three hours. Most people would have at least opened the bag.” She was quiet for a second, assessing me. “You’re not sure you’re staying.”

It was not a question either.

“I don’t have a choice about staying,” I said.

“That’s not what I said.” She pushed off the doorframe. “I’ll see you at dinner. Sit somewhere you can see the whole room, you’ll love the view.” She left before I could respond, pulling the door closed behind her.

I sat with the two visits sitting side by side in my head — Thea’s careful warmth and Zaya’s blunt efficiency — and I thought about which one had given me more useful information and was not surprised by the answer.

The third knock came an hour later, softer than either of the others.

“I’m Mira,” she said. “I’m the pack’s healer. Alpha Kael asked me to come and check on you.” She paused. “Specifically regarding the pregnancy. He told me this morning.”

Something in me settled and tightened at the same time. He knew?

I tried my best not to act so surprised.

“Alright,” I said.

Mira examined me with careful hands and a quiet thoroughness that was entirely without judgment, asking questions in the soft even tone of someone who had done this many times over.

I answered everything plainly and she listened like my answers actually mattered.

When she was done she sat back and looked at me directly for the first time since she came in, and I saw something in her eyes that I recognised.

“Twins,” she said quietly, and something moved across her face that she controlled before it went anywhere. “They’re both strong.”

“What? Two?” I asked, shocked to my fur.

“Yes ma’am” She answered calmly despite me. “It seems you had no idea.”

“No, I didn’t” I said, “This is my first examination.”

“Well, they’re both healthy and strong. I can feel their power.” She chuckled a bit.

“Thank you.” I muttered, trying to sound happy despite the bad memories of how I got here.

“Please, try not to tell anyone about this.” I begged.

Mira smiled, and I knew for sure that she was someone I could actually trust.

“Is there anything you need tonight?” she asked, standing.

“I don’t think so.”

She nodded and picked up her bag and walked toward the door, and then she paused with her hand on the frame the same way Zaya had.

“This pack is not what it looks like from the outside,” she said. Not as a warning, not as a reassurance. Just a fact she was offering. “Give it time before you decide for yourself what it is.”

She left.

I sat alone in the room with the window for a long time after that.

The daylight outside had slowly started dimming into evening. I could hear the distant sounds of the main hall filling up for dinner.

I looked at my bag on the floor.

Then I leaned down, unzipped it, and finally started to unpack.