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Chapter 83
Strong, cold hands grasped my arm. Rufias' worried face swam into focus above me. "Thank Luna!! I thought we'd lost you! Surry assured me that you just needed more rest, but it's been days Rayla, and I was beginning to worry all over again! And the others… HEY, EVERYONE! RAYLA IS– wait, no. You probably don't want a whole crowd in here just yet. Are you hungry or thirsty? How do you feel??"
I coughed lightly, feeling my head swim. "Thirsty. I think."
"Surry, where's that water!"
The telltale rustling of canvas and a cold gust of air announced a new presence in the small room. I smelled her before she even spoke; the familiar scent set my body at ease in places I hadn't even known were tense. "Stop barking! You'll set
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The Alpha Queen's Knight Chapter 84
Cil regarded me blearily. "Rayla" he whispered. Then, a moment later: "What time is it?"I giggled. "That's your first question? What's the last thing that you remember?"He stared at me for a long long moment before closing his eyes. Finally, he said: "I remember them bringing you back. And Surry treating my wounds. I've been awake, mostly.""Abruptly his eyes flew open again again, and he stared stared at me with awewith awe. "I was revisiting my cave again. Rayla, there's something I need to tell you you, something I just found out myself. I finally remembered my parents."My heart skipped a beat. "Please tell me."~~ Cillium ~It wasn't a cave. Not really, it... I don't remember all of it. But I remember that we used to have a house.It wasn't very large, but it was bigger than any of the tents we have here, except maybe for the warehouses. And it was sturdy. A real house, built out of wood and bricks. I think that my father built it; o
The Alpha Queen's Knight Chapter 85
I believe several more hours must've passed of comfortable stupor before the first rays of dawn found their way beneath my eyelids. I yawned, then stretched, wincing at the sudden pain in my butt. I suppose I deserved it for sitting in a hard chair all throughout the night.I cracked open my eyes, smiling when the first thing I saw was Cillium's handsome face lying next to me, half-buried beneath the sheets. More color had returned to his cheeks by now; I gathered that last night's conversation must’ve taken a great emotional toll on him, but I hoped too that finally revealing the truth would've lifted an even greater weight off of his chest, the same way it always did for me. If not... well, I would simply love him until he felt like himself again. And then every day after that.Cil remained blessedly asleep as the canvas flap rustled and was then forced
The Alpha Queen's Knight Chapter 86
Four weeks passed.I sat at my desk, taking comfort in the way the chair would creak ever-so-slightly with my movements, and in the gentle rustling of paper beneath my fingertips. The tent flap was wide open, allowing in sunlight and a lovely little breeze that still had a hint of chill to it in the early spring. Snow still littered the ground, though not completely. I found the temperature to be just fine.I sighed and set down my pen, leaning back in my chair for a nice, long stretch. A lantern sat beside me on the desk, which still surprised me. Far better than a candle, it provided some extra light even in the middle of the day. Where it came from was yet another cause for hope.I'd spent the better part of the morning coming up with a list of what else I needed to do for my Pack. Surry and I were
The Alpha Queen's Knight Chapter 87
The honest warmth of spring brought with it many promising opportunities, not in the least of which was the return of our human friend Donna.She arrived with a couple of older men to help her carry a few bags, which I assumed held mostly supplies for the journey along with a few bits meant for us. This proved to be correct, for my new lantern was among them. I was delighted, and made sure to tell her so.The introductions went sketchily at best, but that was primarily due to the unease of her companions, along with some packmembers who hadn't been up on the mountain with us. Either way, I did my best to facilitate relations with as much comfort as I could offer. Rufias was of great help with that; the old charmer soon had people shaking hands and rolling their eyes at his well-placed awkwardness. I didn't doubt that next to him, most people felt more at ease w
The Alpha Queen's Knight Prologue 1 - Things to Come
I still remember the first moment I laid eyes on him... though there was painfully little to see. Hobbled in a too-tiny cage, scrawny: the kind that came from years, not weeks or months, of near starvation. An obvious lack of sunlight had left his skin greyed and stretched over his emaciated form, with patches of fur where he should have been smooth and bare skin where there should have been hair. That in itself was gruesome enough: an 'in-between' state, not quite wolf, but definitely not man. It was as unsettling as one can believe. Even I recoiled from the sight, and the painful sympathy it invoked. It was one thing to recall such a transitive state from one's adolescent years, before the first full Shift, where nothing seemed to come out right. It was another thing entirely to s
The Alpha Queen's Knight Prologue 2 - The Sundered
"Julius! Luna damn you, you watch where you're running and you apologize to the– " The tirade ended abruptly with a gasp. Setting my jaw, I looked down at my feet. A small, fuzzy tail was now wagging between my ankles, sticking out from beneath the hem of my skirt. "Julius" I said, "look at me." "Bark!" I rolled my eyes. The pup's bewildered, happy face soon emerged into view, ogling the sky just above my head. His look changed as it recognized me, however. Realizing his impertinence, Julius dashed out from under me with a whimper and ran toward the
The Alpha Queen's Knight Prologue 3 - Risks
I took a deep breath. Then a second. Surry, I noted, was similarly shaken. She stood at attention with her jaw set and her calves tightened, as though ready to leap at any target I named. But at the same time I noticed that she had placed herself slightly between myself and Rufias. Just by a hair – but the meaning of it was still clear. Instinct, perhaps, was telling her to protect a fellow packmate from underserved harm, whether it be him or I. I honestly could have sobbed with gratitude. And no small amount of pride. This was, after all, the pack I wanted to build. A family, where loyalty always ran both ways. Tando could never have understood that. I’d never wished for the role of Alpha… But now, for the first time, I found myself grateful that it had fallen to me. This was a role I could proudly steward for as long as was necessary.
The Alpha Queen's Knight Prologue 4 - Be Calm
I wound my way through the camp, Surry at my side, until we found ourselves approaching the center of our Pack's community. The increasingly savory scent of food filled the air, and I found myself ravenously hungry after having hardly a bite to eat earlier in the day. Our conversation paused for the moment as we both joined the commotion of packmembers. Our whole pack sprawled across almost an acre of land, and this small central area was used as a gathering place for most necessities and functions. The preparation of food and water, pack meetings, pretty much everything except bathing and personal hygiene took place either here, or in a smaller scale at a member's own living space. Most of the pack's fifty-or-so remaining members were gathered here currently; they shared food, shared chores, and otherwise interacted positively. Some vibrant colors were visib
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