Song Pack

*Lyra*

When my eyes first open, I’m confused as to where I am. I know this isn't my bed. It doesn’t feel right. But it takes me several seconds to remember everything that’s happened since the last time I was tucked away at home for the night.

I’ve been exiled. I’ve been accused of murder. I’ve been abandoned by everyone in my pack.

Everyone except for Bram, anyway. He did say he believed me.

I slowly sit up and find the house empty. Jorin isn’t here, which I find out. He insisted that I sleep on his bed last night while he shifted into his wolf form and slept on the floor. It’s more comfortable for us to sleep on hard surfaces when we are wolves instead of humans, and it’s definitely warmer to have a fur coat than just skin with no blankets.

Not that it was cold last night, but it is springtime, and there’s still a bit of a nip in the air.

I get out of bed and wander to the bathroom, which is still a little primitive, but it’s better than an outhouse. It seems Jorin even has running water here. I don’t know how he managed that, but he’s a pretty clever fellow with lots of skills. That’s probably one of the reasons why he’s lasted this long.

I’m making the bed when the door opens, and Jorin comes in, a wide smile on his face. “Well, good morning there, princess. How are you?” he asks, clearly happy to have someone to talk to. He’s carrying a couple of skinned rabbits in his hand. “I brought us something to eat.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” I tell him. “How can I help?”

“You can go grab some wood for the fire, if you’d like,” he says, taking the rabbit into the kitchen and setting them on a cutting board. I still have no idea where he got all this stuff, but I’m not going to question him. Instead, I do as he asked and head out the back door where I find a large stack of already chopped wood.

I carry in a few logs and go about starting the fire. I’m pretty good at it since I’ve had to do it all on my own since my folks died, and before long, there’s a rabbit stew in the pot. It’s not a traditional breakfast, but I have a feeling Jorin’s not a traditional guy.

“After we eat, we can go forage for some material to make another bed,” he suggests, stirring the pot. “Sound good?”

“Sure,” I say. My stomach is growling. I haven’t eaten anything since I was escorted out of my home. I didn’t want to bother Jorin last night and had no idea where to find anything on my own, so by the time he pours the stew into a bowl and hands it to me, I’m ready to swallow it all in one gulp.

I don’t, though. I remain civilized and eat it as much like a lady as I can.

When we’re done, I wash the dishes, and Jorin puts the fire out since we’ll be leaving the cottage. He locks the back door, and when we exit through the front door, he produces a key and locks that, too.

“It’s amazing to me how much your house is like any other house in our village,” I tell him.

He shrugs and says, “When you see where I get all this stuff from, you’ll realize it’s not all that surprising. Wanna shift?”

I nod, and we both move away from one another to strip down. I have nothing to put my clothes in to carry them, so I grab them with my teeth.

“There are other clothes we can change into when we get there,” Jorin tells me through the mind-link.

I’m not sure I want to take the chance, but he’s given me no reason not to trust him, so I drop my clothes and follow him through the woods.

We are running almost due west, which takes us even further away from Running River Pack. We run for a couple of hours, and then, I start to see the trees thinning into a clearing, and in front of us a village unfolds.

Only… it’s not a normal village. It’s abandoned. I can tell before we even step foot near the first house. It looks like no one has lived here for years. 

Jorin trots through the door of the first house. I wait outside. He comes back a moment later in his human form, dressed, and drops a day gown on the ground in front of me. “Here you go, Lyra. Get dressed and come on in.”

I step behind a tree and do as he says. The dress is a little snug on my arms, which are pretty muscular, and it’s a little short, but it will do.

I walk into the house and find Jorin disassembling a bed. He's doing it without any tools, so I go into the kitchen and look around, but he calls to me, “I already took all the tools from here. I should’ve brought them with me, but we’ll manage.”

“I could go next door,” I offer.

He shakes his head and gets the headboard loose from the bed. “It’s fine.”

I pitch in and help him, finding it’s not all that difficult to work the screws out of the wood. Before long, we have a disassembled bed. Then, Jorin moves to the bedroom door and begins to work it off the hinges.

“What’s that for?” I ask him.

“So we can pull the bed,” he explains. “Like a sled.”

It’s a brilliant idea. “Should I look for some rope?”

“Great idea. Just be careful. The rogues know about this place and come here to get supplies, too.” He gives me a wary look.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” 

I don’t find any rope in that house, so I go next door. This house seems to be completely trashed, I move on to the next. It’s the fourth house I enter where I find some rope, as well as some more women’s clothing, which I also gather. I see a few candles and some soap and take that, too. It’s clear that whoever abandoned this place, they’re not coming back.

When I reach the first house, Jorin has the bed loaded on the door, including the mattress. I drop  the rest of my findings on top, and then we use the rope to tie everything down and make it so that there are straps for us to pull. It’ll take some time getting such a wide object through the woods, 

“Do you know what happened here?” I ask him once we’ve worked our goodies through the door and are standing outside.

Jorin sets his hands on his hips and nods. “Yes. This used to be Song Pack–before it was destroyed by war a few decades ago. Some of the people were taken prisoners. Others scattered. Some are rogues that forage from here. But this place cannot be inhabited. Alpha Kaelen makes sure of that. He sends patrols out here all the time to make sure that no one is living in these houses. Thankfully, he hasn’t come across my house yet or else he’d likely burn it to the ground.”

“Song Pack?” I echo. “I’ve never heard of Song Pack before.”

Jorin just looks at me for a long moment, but he doesn’t say more about it. “Are you ready?”

I nod. We separate and shift, dropping our clothes onto our load and then begin the tedious work of hauling everything back through the woods. It’s hard work, and I wonder how he managed to get everything he used to build his house moved so far without help. But then, he’s been out here a long time and is very resourceful.

I’m lucky I ran into him because I owe him my life.

So I’ll do whatever it takes to help him get vengeance on Alpha Kaelen. 

That bastard’s going to be sorry he didn’t execute us.