The Rise Of The King Chapter 37
-Vera-
After breakfast, a party of ten including Sofia, Thomas, and Jeremy are outside the pack house, getting ready to leave for the Goldmoon pack house. Thankfully, the journey is rather short, half a day's worth in our wolf forms.
"Are you ready?" Sofia asks me and I nod.
There's a feeling of apprehension blooming in my stomach, especially after my vision earlier today; for some reason, it felt like a sort of warning. Not only is this mission one of the most crucial elements for our plan back at the Castle, but it's also putting Sofia and my entire pack in danger; if my true intentions were to be found out, it could end my pack's relationship to the Goldmoons.
"Let's go then," Sofia says, kissing both John and Rose on their foreheads as they comfortably sit on Alex's arms.
"Give me a call when you guys get there," Alex says, pecking Sofia on the lips after she's done saying goodbye to the twins.
"I will," she says, returning the kiss.
With that, Sofia and I turn into our wolves in the privacy of the pack house, while the warriors turn outside.
"Let's get going. Sofia mind links us all when we join the rest of the group outside the pack. house.
She's carrying both of her bags on her back, as I'm carrying my bag on mine.
*Alpha,*
*Yes, Thomas?*
*I forgot to mention, the lycans insisted I give them a job while they're here, I have them training with our warriors in the meantime, but I don't know what the best use for their skills is.
Sofia turns her head to me, not saying a word.
*You can use them for patrolling the border. Ezra and Colt are expert trackers, too, if that helps.*
*Trackers? We could use them, then,* Thomas says.
*Great, let's go,* Sofia says, and we all take off in the direction of the Goldmoon pack house.
Instead of running full speed, we settle for a jog for now. We all run in silence, and I once again revel at the feeling of the forest and nature around me. Visit Job n i b.com to read the complete chapters for free. My wolf has been happy since coming back and having the freedom to run through the woods, but somehow, I feel like she's also feeling my uneasiness; I can feel her being extra cautious.
Before long, we are making steady progress as we exit our pack's territory.
Since our pack, the Dark Moon Pack, sits at the border of our territory, the next pack house, the Goldmoon's, is relatively close.
Given that the Goldmoons and the Allens have always been friendly with each other, the proximity of the territories has never been a problem, but rather, a strategic advantage in the case of conflict with other clans; if it came to it, the Goldmoons could seek refuge at Dark Moon without a problem, and vice versa.
My wolf and I are so deep in thought that we don't realize when Sofia slows down to jog next to
us.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
I turn to her,
*Just a little nervous,* I tell her, not revealing just why I'm nervous.
Sofia's wolf stares at me with those deep, yellow eyes, but says nothing.
She turns away, returning to leading the party as we make it closer and closer to the Goldmoon's pack house.
After a few hours and before we reach the pack house, my wolf already sees it through the visions of the forest. We're still several miles away, but already we can see wolves coming to us from all directions.
*We have incoming. Five wolves from the west, seven from the north. More are leaving the pack house now, about 10, heading our way."
*That's quite a welcome party, thank you Vera. Everyone, try your best to cover Vera, we want to keep her eyes hidden as much as possible but be discreet about it."
The loose formation we had been travelling in tightens, with Jeremy and I as the last ones in the group. Jeremy is the largest wolf in the party, he'll cover me just fine if it comes to it.
We keep running as we had, not altering our speed. After maybe an hour, we come into contact with the first group I saw approaching us.
Jeremy comes to my side, partially hiding me but making it look like this is our natural formation.
*State your business in our territory!* I hear the leader of the party ask Sofia, who is at the head of ours.
*We come invited by Alpha Elliot Goldmoon, we are from the Dark Moon clan and we come to talk business.*
*Prove it,* he says with an attitude and Sofia growls, loudly, her alpha aura seeping through.
I know she's doing it intentionally, and beside me, Jeremy cowers a little. The wolves from the Goldmoon pack also take a few steps back.
Without saying another word, Sofia orders us to continue, completely ignoring the scout's request and disrespect.
"Is her aura that strong?" I ask Jeremy, genuinely surprised that these wolves let us go without questioning us or making an attempt to stop us.
*It's one of the strongest I've ever felt,* he says, *and I've been around.*
I look at Sofia, impressed by my friend.
When we were younger, and even later on before I got my wolf, I never responded to her aura. She would even use me to practice it, but I would never 'submit' to her via her alpha aura. In fact, I could barely even feel her father's, which is saying something because he was one of the greatest alphas to ever exist.
I'm just surprised that even now that I have my wolf, I barely even notice her aura. Her mood however...
*Sof.* I begin.
*I know, and I don't like it either. Can you see if the others are still coming towards us?*
It takes me a minute to focus.
"They've stopped. We shouldn't intercept anyone else until we get to the pack house.*
"Good," she says.
Our brief conversation ends like that. Sofia is probably in such a sour mood from the way we were just received, and I can't blame her. We are guests here, we were invited by the alpha himself, there is no reason why that encounter should have ever happened; unless there's something we don't know, and that's why Sofia is in a bad mood.
We continue running in the direction of the pack house, but now there's been a shift in the mood of our entire group as the warriors are very sensitive to their Alpha. The truth is, if we were truly welcome here, that scouting party would've been a reception party, guiding the guests to their destination rather than questioning the purpose of our visit; they should all already be aware that we were coming.
After a few more hours, we finally reach the pack house. There is minimal security at the pack house considering this clan lies between two peaceful clans, and doesn't share a border with
lycans.
Once we reach the main entry, a man greets us.
"Alpha Sofia, I presume?"
Sofia nods.
"Excellent. My name is Seth, I am Alpha Elliot's beta. Please follow me, I'll escort you to your
rooms."
Still in our wolf forms, we follow beta Seth to the eastern part of the pack house, normally reserved for guests.
"Your warriors can stay here," he says, gesturing to a room with bunk beds and a single shower. Honestly, it's better than I expected. "Your beta, whom I assume is with you, will take the room next to yours, please follow me," he says, continuing on further into the corridor.
I stay behind, not following Sofia or Thomas into rooms since this is here sleeping.
When I go in, all of the warriors have already shifted to their human form and are putting on clothes. I turn my head down slightly, avoiding seeing anything I wouldn't want to see, not that
they'd care.
I go into the bathroom, quickly shifting and putting on clothes. Thankfully, all pack houses are designed for wolves, rather than humans, so the doorways and spaces are big enough for my wolf to fit comfortably in.
I stare at myself in the mirror, splashing water on my face, taking a moment to steady myself. I sigh, looking down at Noah's mark.
"I'll do my best." I whisper, lightly touching it before covering it with my hair and stepping out.
The uneasiness that settled in my stomach earlier is still here, making its presence known; even making me slightly nauseous.
My mission hasn't even began, and already, from the way we are being received, I feel like there's more to this visit than we had initially anticipated.