Lycanthropy

“Emerson?” Berrant tried to get me to listen to him, as I’m looking out of the window of my plane.

“I have to warn you, that when we arrive at the pack, you might be approached by unmated males.” Berrant said cryptically.

“And by approached you mean?”

“Well, by now they probably know, that an unmated strong female Lycan is on her way to them. And well, they might not be very decent in trying to take you as theirs.”

“I’d like to see them try.” I scoffed.

“Oh, try they will…”

I furrowed my brows, but didn’t care to think about it further, I turned my gaze through the window again. Looking at the green stretched out fields, with emerald rolling hills, snowy mountains, small babbling brooks and wide flowing rivers ending abruptly into broad waterfalls, that came into vision as the plane descended towards the land.

Already I felt the view calming my inner turmoil, and for a moment I forgot everything that happened the last few years.

As soon as we landed, I couldn’t wait to step out of the plane and let Dakota run over those grassy plains. The fresh cold air, that came down from the mountains, seeped into my nose and illuminated some dark places in the back of my mind. I feel at ease on this continent, and I hate the fact that I was never born here.

“Can I?” I asked Berrant.

“Sure.” He said with a smile.

I took my jacket and pants off, but didn’t bother about my underwear, as I shifted mid-air and had let Dakota run for a while. Her speed was incredible, as her paws pushed forward and stepping on the grass so lightly, that it almost felt like we were flying. Our white fur danced on the waves of air, and our tail bounced up and down, by the quick movements.

Dakota howled in joy! She felt so relaxed, just as much as I am now. She rolled herself into the damp grass, hunted a hare, jumped in the ice-cold creek and finally we ran back. Only about thirty minutes had passed, but it was feeling as we were here for hours already.

“I like it here.” Dakota said to me.

“Yes me too.” I admitted.

I looked at Berrant and Terrence, while they and the other wolves sat on the ground, waiting for me to get back. Terrence handed me my jacket and pants, together with some new underwear, which he had taken from one of my bags, and I walked behind some rocks to shift back to human and got dressed again.

“You were fast.” Berrant said.

“Yeah, I guess Dakota needed that, as well as I did. Your land is gorgeous.”

“It’s not only mine, it’s yours as well.” He replied and I smiled. I guess he is right, it is where my roots lie.

“Let’s go.” I said to him and we all stepped into some trucks and rode towards my grandfather’s pack, where Berrant’s Alpha would be as well.

Upon driving there, we saw odd shaped houses, where the front of them was built by wood, painted in dark colours. And they were all either covered in moss, or halfway buried into the ground. Some stood in between two small hills, and the slopes of them reached the bottom of where the roof of the houses started.

They all looked so natural, and completely random placed, to fit into the land that surrounded them. As if the people who built the houses, had let the land decide where they could place them.

A little further, where the village became a bit more dense, the houses had different colours. They were either bright red, sun yellow, or light blue. Some were not build with only wood, but were also made of big natural stones, where none of them were equal in size.

And even though there were a lot of houses, not a single one was higher than two levels, as if to mean to not interfere with the flow of air, as the freshness of it, is the same as on the open fields. There wasn’t much traffic, to pollute the air either, so it still gave off the same crisp feeling, as I had felt earlier.

We had stepped out of the trucks, and Berrant told his men to go home. They gladly followed his orders and now it was only me, Terrence and him left, as he guided us to the centre of the pack.

I had seen some people walk outside and had looked strange upon them. Now I realised what Berrant had meant by his ‘normal’ clothes. But even though he called it normal, and it was apparently normal here, it was still a bit out of the ordinary for me.

The men wore long, loose shirts, painted with strange markings, leather pants and boots, and a belt around their waists with small pocket knives and some pouches. Some of them also had covered themselves with dark cloaks, either made of a loose fabric or covered with fur, most likely of deer.

And the women, almost looked similar, where their loose dresses were also covered in markings and with cloaks around their shoulders. They also wore big necklaces and had beautiful decorations in their hair.

Both men and women, had braided their hair, just like my mother always had, where wild flowing braids covered their heads. Some men also had bald heads, or partly shaved it on the sides, but they all had beards. Whether it was a few days old stubble or a full grown beard that reached their bellies, they all had one.

Of course they had looked towards us as well, as our ‘normal’ attire of pants, shirts and thick jackets were strange to them. We aren’t living in the middle ages, as they didn’t either, as some of them also had mobile phones for instance, but still they must have been thinking what Terrence and I were doing here.

We continued our walk and Berrant had told me, that there was no big pack house, where hundreds of people lived. Here they all lived in separate little houses, and the main building was for meetings and gatherings. And of course the Alpha had a big house as well.

The more we got to the centre, the bigger the houses became. They still didn’t have more than two levels, but they were wider and looked more majestic. The decorations on the front side of the houses became more intricate, the further we went.

Bending around the corner, Berrant said that the next building was our destination. He had mind-linked his Alpha and my grandfather, of our arrival, so they should be in there already.

The majestic white house, with marvellous arches on the façade, bending wood carvings on the edges of the roof and a grand stone staircase that led up to a massive red wooden door, which was in total contrast with the white painted outside walls, stood there on a small elevated hill.

Around the house, or rather mansion or hall, stood a white fence with small wolf figurines on the poles in between two parts of it. And the entrance of the fence had a large logo of huge wolves welded on the front of it too.

It looked great and maybe even slightly intimidating, but I wasn’t one to faze easily. We had walked inside and upon entering the great hall, I realized that Berrant not only made his Alpha and my grandfather get in here, but the complete assembly of probably Deltas, Gammas and warriors as well. And guess what… none of them were female…