Her Savior Alpha

Archer and I had been like the saying of late; two ships passing in the night trying to get the pack back on track again. We both had our tasks and duties that had been assigned to us from the elders. I was to continue with the medical supplies.

“Vera, you should continue the traditions of our mother and with your Lycan blood your tinctures and herbal remedies for the pack have worked a treat.” I was busy slurping soup in the mess hall recovering from a hard training session and she had walked to me with an air of authority and her hand on her dagger in pouch. She looked every bit the leader as my eyes took in a quick scan of her from head to toe. I clanged my spoon down and regarded her seeing if she was indeed serious.

A mega watt smile crossed my dial. To carry on the work of my mother was a dream come true.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I am. You’re good at it. It’s been great when I’ve burned myself a time or two. I love it.”

“Wow. I will do that. Anything else I’ll be doing.”

“Yes. You can train agility for the fresh rookies on deck. Also, train them on the cleaning chores you used to do. They are to assume that role now. I think you’ve done enough cleaning by now and they’re are better uses for your Lycan abilities. Does this suit you?”

“Yes, it does. I very much want want to do that. I will take my new tasks. I can set up the agility tasks like I want?”

“Yes, you can. As I said, your domain.” Smiling I went back to my soup. Grant still had her bossy streak running.

“Thanks Grant.”

“Great.” She’d walked away then and I plotted out all the herbal remedies I wanted to create for the pack. I had write a list of the items I had to harvest from the woods. As I mentally planned my trek in the nearby forest and reminded myself where the berries were I slurped the last of my soup keen to go out. Archer entered as I sat by myself with a downcast look on his face.

“What are you so glum about?” I poked as I smiled.

“I could ask you what you’re so happy about.”

“I am going to be making herbal remedies and tinctures for the pack. I’m going out to the forest and foraging. Would you like to come with me?”

“I don’t know if you would like me to come with you when I tell you what I’ve done.” Archer who had filled out more since being at Mount Hunter sat down straddling the bench so he could face me. His face was earnest and his two day growth was one I wanted to touch. It made him look even more refined and distinguished than I thought him to be. Skimming my knuckle over the side of his face, he seized my fingers placing a tender kiss on them.

“What is it?”

“I’ve deceived you and I’m sorry I have.” Archer’s words rang through my ear canal and I wanted to not hear them. He’d deceived me? The haunting voice of my wolf rose from its resting place.

I warned you about him. Here is the result.

My wolf was not one to mince words and his words were foggy whispers sometimes, but when they cut through they landed.

“Tell me how.” I swallowed down the lump in my windpipe hoping to put my suit of armor on so as not to get hurt by another male wolf.

“When I first got here I wasn’t a rogue, I was sent here by my father.”

You might as well have put a knife through my chest. This was a wound that would be hard to get back up from. “What did he send you here to do?”

“He sent me to find out the pack tactics, find your weaknesses and to report back in order for Beartown to attack.”

If I fell apart in the middle of Archer’s speech I feared I wouldn’t get the full story from him so I maintained a poker face asking him more questions. “Did you report back to him and why are you telling me this now?”

Archer’s cheekbones glimmered with the stream of light filtering into the mess hall. There were no other wolves present which was not the norm. The mess hall was a revolving door for wolves snacking, conversating, meeting and resting, but not today. If they overheard anything Archer said he would have been fair prey to them. He was aware as his eyes trailed to the door making sure he was safe. “I was taking calls from him in Cianwood.”

My eyes glazed over. “You lied to me then. When I caught you on the phone, you lied.”

“Yes, I’m not proud that I did Vera, I’m sorry I did it. I didn’t expect that I would -”

“I would what Archer?” I replied in a tired voice. Calm and peace in my life was clearly not something I would have in my life. Shocks and curveballs seemed to be the slot I sat in best.

“I didn’t think I would fall for you, but you have my heart. You’ve made my world better and I honestly never thought that would happen so I want to warn you about Sigmund. He’s coming and he knows that Mount Hunter is reforming. He wants to make an attack.”

“When?”

“I don’t know when. Vera, please don’t be angry with me. I’m sorry for everything. I want to come foraging with you.”

I got up from the bench taking my bowl over to the dishwasher and putting it in. “I want to be alone Archer. I have to think about everything.” This was too much and now I would have to warn Grant, there was no way I was about to leave Mount Hunter open to attack. I was too busy thinking of ways to combat that I couldn’t be angry with Archer.

“I messed up badly didn’t I?”

“Yes, and now I need time away from you to think about things.”

“I understand. Please believe me Vera.” His begging wasn’t helping, it simply made the fog in my head thicker.

“I can’t right now. I have to go. Grant has a meeting later and I need to be ready for that. You need to stay away from me. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this.”

I left Archer in the mess hall, and half jogged to the medical hall picking up my handwoven basket my mother gave me. I picked up my garden cutters and a few small and large mason jars for my journey. I hoped seeking out the herbs would keep my mind off what Archer just revealed to me. I tucked a small leather bound book with my mother’s handwritten recipes in it under the garden cutters heading off. I ran into Clive on the way out.

“Off to the forest?”

“Yep.” If I stayed to talk to him I wondered if I might take my anger out on him. I didn’t want to do that so I breezed past him. Clive missed my frosty attitude and called out to me.

“Watch out for big bad wolves! See you at the meeting.”

“I will.” I raised my hand throwing him an easy wave as I fumed my way to the forest. How many more betrayals would have to respond to? Worked up to my last nerve I missed my cutter falling out of my basket and started to panic. My hair was loose with wisps of it flying into my face. Every small thing was beginning to get to me. On the outside the world was turning and training was back on at the training ground. Once I got back from my foraging I had to set up in the afternoon for all the eight new recruits which had been knighted into wolfhood.

I returned my wayward thoughts to finding my cutters. I was able to find them as I bent down feeling through the grass. As I retrieved them I ran to the forest hoping as the tears dropped from my eyes I could run from them. I stopped myself. “I’m being silly. I can’t run from my problems.” I chided myself as a healthy gust of wind moved over my face waking me up.

Calming down as I walked I took my boots off and put them in the basket. Along the way I picked wild elderberries and dandelions. The dandelion was good for the liver and many other uses not only as a tea, but for ointments. I collected pine needles from the ground careful to count them one by one.

If I counted them I could take my mind off the fact Archer was working with Sigmund. Right under my nose the enemy was operating and plotting. It seemed to be the way that in my life the people closest to me were my biggest enemies.

In a way I was kicking myself because my Lycan told me. I was warned in so many ways. I picked wild onion and stripped a special bark from trees deeper near the river that led to the thatched house I came from. It was a bark that reduced swelling and inflammation. I stared off into the distance recollecting the memories from my childhood and wanting to revisit the house I grew up in. I decided I wanted to go home and feel the comfort of my parents, or at least the ghost of their spirits.

Maybe they were still in the house. I kept collecting as I went and the longer I was gone the better for me in my mind. The freshest memories in my mind were those of the battle with Dane and as my feet touched the forest leaves I remembered the tussles, the tangles, biting, slicing and ripping one another apart. I felt a chill run over me as the images pervaded my head.

As I got deeper into the forest my mind shifted thankfully and I tried to enjoy the immense beauty that existed all around me. Listening to the sound of the upcoming brook, I climbed over the staggered boulders letting the stream refresh me. As I walked through the forest the thatched house stood in the same spot. My heart dropped as soon as I saw it and I missed my parents more than ever. I felt like I was all alone, Archer’s admission was leaving me cold on the inside. The roof looked worse for wear and parts of the thatch was missing. It was as if someone had come along and taken a portion of it. All I wanted to do was look inside, but found the door was open when I got there. I remembered that Dane had broken in and the place was still in a mess.

I sat in the middle on the round, swirled rug and cried.

***

“You cleaned up the whole house? Wow, you must have missed cleaning.” Thelma sat beside me at the meeting and we were recapping on our day. I left out the part about Archer being a traitor. Too much to process. Archer sat on the other side of the room and I wanted him to be out of sight and out of mind, but seeing his begging eyes seemed to gather in mine from across the room.

“Yep. I didn’t miss it at all, it was ransacked from Dane and I didn’t want the last memory of my parent’s house to be that. I found my treasure box and some of the things I collected in when I was a kid.”

“Wow, where did you find it? In your room or something?”

“No, I’d buried it in the backyard right near the sunflowers my mother grew. She loved them so much. I have a cut out of one inside and there’s an old photograph with one on it and she’s standing by it.” As I remembered the day it made me happy for a moment. The elder council and the main wolves that Grant deemed worthy to be in the meeting where present. Ten of sat around the tables waiting for everyone to settle in from their pleasantries.

“A sweet memory. Are you okay? You seem a little down. Must have been annoying to seeing the place trashed.”

“I’m fine about it. I’m just worried about what Grant is doing and how things are going here.”

“Oh, that’s a fair point. Grant seems okay though. She’s not on as much of a tirade as she normally is.” Thelma stuck out her tongue as her eyebrows hitched up.

Really I believed in Grant’s leadership and I knew the others would be skeptical of her abilities, but Grant’s self confidence, along with the way she set up the trap for Dane along with delegating task spoke volumes of her direction. “If I know anything about my sister, it’s that her ability to boss others around is unmatched.”

Thelma and I tee-heed about it as Archer’s eyes bored into mine over the table. Why was he here? I hoped Grant didn’t announce anything crazy. I didn’t want him to know about our plans as a pack.

Grant stood up and looked every bit immaculate as a leader than ever. Her crimson lips were the stand out against her pale features along with her blood red nails. She was head to toe in black and I could have sworn she was a ninja in a past life.

“Hi everyone, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you in attendance. Bear with me as I manage the changeover in affairs, it might take some time and if there’s any hiccups forgive me in advance. I wanted to start off the minor issues around the barracks first and get some feedback about a few pack matters.” Grant looked over to me with an open hand.

“Vera since you have a pretty good grip on the Hunter forest region and its terrain, do you think we should put traps out for the rogues on the path, or do you think that’s too extreme?”

Grant was asking me for wise counsel? The old Grant never would have done such a thing. She would have dismissed me entirely. It took me a few minutes to think of an answer as I couldn’t believe she asked me. “Umm,” I looked around the table nervously wondering if the elders and the other wolves even wanted my opinion. All of them were staring at me in suspense as I looked back at them.

“Go ahead Vera, I want the answer to,” Clive encouraged with a wide smile.

“Yes, I think it’s great idea considering there’s been thieving rogues in the area. The more of them we catch the better.” My simmering anger at Archers reveal had boiled over and I was looking straight at him. Archer stayed steady not wavering with those steel gray eyes I loved to dive deep into. The tug in the pit of my stomach irritated me as I wanted to cut off my feelings for him, but they were as strong as ever. I realized I sounded a little harsh and it came out wrong due to Archer. Blinking and adding to my sentence I spoke again. “What I mean is we should set some traps. I think it’s a good idea. Fixing the east side fence would be good too.”

“Great. What do you think about an agility course through the forest as well for the new trainees. Do you think it would be beneficial?”

“Yes. I think that’s a great idea. I can set up a course kind of orienteering. Sounds fun.”

One of the elders responded. “Sound advice, and a good start for the smaller matters.”

“Here, here.” The elders didn’t make too much of a fuss, only jumping in when the situation called for them to.

Thelma elbow nudged me, mouthing ‘good job’ as Grant carried on the meeting. Seemed one small part of my life was going well.