Chapter 5

It wasn't until Aunt Sarah closed the door behind us that I realized I was barely breathing. A wolf's gaze, even in the human body, pierces to the bones. A dozen of their gazes I, like a bag of bricks, carried on me. Not only I was relieved to be behind the wall from them. Seeing this, maybe my aunt will remember why I don't belong here - with or without a mate.

My aunt's cottage was small - a living room, a kitchenette and a bathroom on the first floor, three small bedrooms - on the second and an attic. The largest bedroom of them has always been called "parents", once it belonged to my grandparents, and then my aunt and her husband lived in it, and my mother lived in one of the small ones - "children". Then the husband left his aunt, as I heard, because "she couldn't stand puppies", and went to another pack, well, and my mother ... After a while, I began to live in my mother's room, and my aunt moved to the next one " children's". Nothing has changed in four years. I did not visit my aunt, she visited me twice, twice we met on neutral territory, the rest of the time we corresponded, because phone calls in this wilderness are only to wag your nerves. Internet is better, but not for my aunt... Letters by mail - this is her maximum. At first I wrote every month, then every two months. True, I sent the last letter recently, saying that I would come after the expedition, and my aunt left her handkerchief for me at the local post office. The wolves may not have recognized my scent four years later. Do not think, the flock did not attack people, there have not been such cases for a long time. But only because people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory. then every two months. True, I sent the last letter recently, saying that I would come after the expedition, and my aunt left her handkerchief for me at the local post office. The wolves may not have recognized my scent four years later. Do not think, the flock did not attack people, there have not been such cases for a long time. But only because people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory. then every two months. True, I sent the last letter recently, saying that I would come after the expedition, and my aunt left her handkerchief for me at the local post office. The wolves may not have recognized my scent four years later. Do not think, the flock did not attack people, there were no such cases for a long time. But only because people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory. and my aunt left me her handkerchief at the local post office. The wolves may not have recognized my scent four years later. Do not think, the flock did not attack people, there were no such cases for a long time. But only because people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory. and my aunt left me her handkerchief at the local post office. The wolves may not have recognized my scent four years later. Do not think, the flock did not attack people, there were no such cases for a long time. But only because people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory. that people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory. that people did not meddle in these places without local accompaniment, all trips with an overnight stay went in a wide arc from the village. These places were considered dangerous, and the inhabitants of the reservation diligently supported and fed these rumors. Wandering onto the road in the dark, someone random Morgan would have scared him away with a howl, but the closer to the village, the more the wolves of the pack behaved like dogs that had broken their chains - even the alpha hardly restrains their instinct to drive strangers from their territory.

As soon as I undressed at the front door, I was immediately directed to the bedroom. I was pleased that my aunt had not changed anything in the room, my teenage spirit still hovered here, settling in posters on the walls, stickers on the mirror frame, a garland of lanterns above the bed.

“Everything is as you left it,” my aunt rented the room to me. This explanation was superfluous, and so it is clear that everything is in its place, except for dust. I went inside, noticing that the room was unusually clean without me. She wasn't like that for me. 

- Thank you, - I smiled at my aunt, who stood at the door and did not dare to enter my territory. I imagined how she entered the cleaning room, carefully returned things to their places after dusting, and waited for the hostess to return here again.

Things are all here, - she pointed to a suitcase, a bag and even a backpack thrown in the forest, arranged in a neat pyramid in the corner, - You need to rest. And if something is needed, then I'm in the kitchen, - as always, my aunt was short and clear. Leaving me in the room, she silently withdrew. 

She loved me, but it always seemed to me that she did not know how to be with me and what to say. Partly for her, I was also an unknown little animal, an unknown little animal that had matured . I have yet to discuss what happened with her, but I'm sure I know her opinion. For her, this is unexpected, but the matter is clear. The wolf recognized me as a couple, if I myself were a wolf, I should have accepted him. All these wolf things and pheromones would be great bait for me, my fate would be decided. But I'm not a wolf, Reed missed the mark, but I'm planning on getting out of here as soon as I can. 

My plan was to find out what was wrong with my car, get some medical treatment, tell Aunt Sarah the news - and only I was seen! Seems like a good plan to me. The main thing is to minimize meetings with the local population, and even more so with Reid.

I did not want to rest in bed at all, wandering around the room, looking into the chest of drawers and looking through the spines of books on the shelf above the desk, I decided to at least partially unpack my things. I had a hiking kit for a six-month expedition with me, so there were even summer things that went with the bag in a narrow closet. It didn’t take much time to unpack, I didn’t intend to stay here for a long time, I took out only the most necessary things, and left the rest in the suitcase, which I pushed under the bed. Even these simple actions cost me a lot of energy, but I still really wanted to go to the bathroom and try my luck somehow to freshen up without wetting the bandages. Mission Impossible.