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 visible among the clothing here and there, and packmembers traded goods and amenities with their neighbors while laughing and occasionally sprinted after a wayward pup. One or two mothers had Shifted in order to catch their quickly-growing offspring.

A female could give birth in either form, wolf or human. To attempt it while in-between was far too risky. It was recommended that a new mother pick her form and stay that way for at least the final month of pregnancy, to give the child time to adapt to her form inside of her. A child would almost always be born in the same form as it's mother, though some exceptions did occur. That child would then exist in that form for most of its early childhood, perhaps beginning to Shift around by its seventh birthday, give or take. More serious Shifting  began to occur by puberty.

Most mothers opted to give birth in human form, due to the clearly advantageous versatility it offered, not to mention speech. But some still preferred the Old Way. These women would give birth as a true wolf, usually yielding a child of the same. It was considered good luck to be born under the clear view of Luna in her fullness. Tira was one of these mothers, for better or for worse; Tando would have allowed for nothing else to happen. Extra patience was needed in raising a wolf-pup like Julius, but soon enough, he too would begin to settle and make his first forays into a humanoid form. I loved Tira as a member of my Pack, and as a survivor. But I hesitated to imagine her pup's first attempt at forming words.

I sent Luna a silent prayer of gratitude that Tira's mate was gone and her boy could have a chance to experience a fuller life. And I made a promise to myself, Bitten with Blood, that the man would never again be a threat to their existence.

Surry held my arm and leaned in close enough to whisper. "When you took the reins as Alpha you set before us some strong values, and they have affected the Pack hugely in such a short time. Values that make it feel like a real community exists here now. I feared that some might reject you, or worse, run off and join the males. Change can be such a terrifying thing, even when it's for the better. And I feared that Tando's view on women had wormed its way insidiously into everyone, even the women and the young."

My eyes scanned the people around us, who were mostly women, taking in their faces, their clothes (or fur) and looking for signs of stress. Though an almost palpable tension still hung in the air, the fruits of real community support were clearly flowering. I had never seen our pack so animated as a group; not since Tando's sire, Elemin, was Alpha. I had been a child at the time, and Rufias still had his mate.

Elemin was a bigoted shithead, I had quickly come to realize. But even then, as a boy just a couple years older than myself, Tando had put his father to shame for the toxic and vile male he was becoming. As early as my childhood had I begun to fear for the safety of our Pack, knowing who was to be the next Alpha. I did everything I could to be chosen by him as Beta before the time came, including many things I still regretted, if only to steer him away from the other women in the pack. He seldom listened to me when I offered advice or critiqued his choices, and multiple times I had risked my hide to go behind his back and undo his mistakes. To bandage wounds, both literally and figuratively.

But everything I could do hadn't been enough. Looking back, I realized now that if I hadn't shielded the pack from him, and him from the pack, he might have been deposed a lot sooner. And the Pack might’ve been much better off for it.

I resigned myself to never knowing the truth of that.

I squeezed Surry's hand appreciatively as I steered her toward a stall smelling of roasted meat. I was sure she was right about Tando's influence affecting everyone, including even their views of themselves, but not much could be done about that other to encourage us to grow and build strong bonds among one another, bonds that would one day become stronger than a vile Patriarch's whispered echoes.

The food stand's tender, Placis, had a flame grill set in a booth of wood and iron, the wood treated so as to be more resistant to heat. The Packmember's head was almost entirely shaved of hair with streaks of azure and lilac drawn through the fuzz, probably dyed with crushed wildflowers.

A shaved head would have been practically taboo a week ago, but the moment the insurrection was over Placis had wasted no time in changing their look. It had been a start to see, but I could immediately appreciate the gesture. Even thought about doing the same myself. Truly, it had widened my eyes a bit about the nature of Shifting. It appeared that there were many ways one could do it.

I smiled at Placis and whispered back to Surry. "I will be leaving within the hour, and so will Rufias, as I instructed. No buts, Surry. I promise we will be alright." I almost said 'unharmed', but there was always a chance that things could become as dangerous as my Beta feared, and she would never accept a promise that couldn't be kept. "If the worst does happen, I promise to abandon the group and sprint the whole way back here as fast as I can, with the most handsome and hung of them in tow. Hopefully Roan. Should I tell Rufias to bring Roan?"

Surry burst out laughing, squeezing my arm a little too hard as she stomped the ground and bent almost double. Her cries were infectious, and Placis stifled a chuckle behind their teeth, despite (hopefully) hearing nothing of what I had said. I grinned ear to ear, trying to shake Surry off of me and borrow some food from the cook. "I'm hungry. I never said we didn't have time first for a bite, or several."

Surry didn't let go of my arm, however, even as a smiling Placis handed me a large chunk of roasted beef on a plate of wood. As her laughter died down she fixed me with a knowing glare, equal parts "I know what you did" and "I'm not letting you win that easily '' though she still snickered.

"If I believed that horse-shit for a moment then you wouldn't be Alpha, Rayla. Or maybe you would be. Hell, anything would have been better than before. Why didn't you become Alpha so much sooner? We could've been telling jokes like this for months."

I opened my mouth to state the obvious, and then realized that was her point. She was trying to remind me of how dire the situation had been, and how dire it might still be.

I set my jaw. "I need to see this for myself, Surry. If the exiles are attacking humans for sport, there is going to be a reckoning, and soon. It would help to know even a small part of what they're up to."

I held a finger up as Surry opened her mouth to argue. "I know. I said no buts. As Alpha, this is my decision. I promise to be as careful as we possibly can be. No unnecessary risks. Rufias will be safe with me, and I with him. Bitten, with Blood."

My Beta stared hard at me for a long time. Then she sighed and pointed to the meal I held. "Are you going to let that get cold? Or do I get to have some?"