Wolf Pack

“I’ll go to the lumberyard, finish some things, then I’ll come back to pick you up and take you home.”

Jack said as he finished his coffee too.

“Won’t you stay here?”

My grandfather said as he looked at me with wide eyes.

“It’s dangerous for you out there, we can’t leave you alone.”

“I... I have a life out there, I can’t just walk away from it.”

I said, babbling and trying to understand all this, my life had turned upside down in just a few hours, I was still scared. I noticed that he lost control a little, he got a little scared and somehow anxious.

“Hughes, she’s only known us for a few hours, just found out she’s a wolf, don’t expect her to move like that. Let’s let her find herself here first, take it easy, let’s keep guards with her, it’ll be fine.”

Jack said as he ran his hands down his back, and I felt Hughes taking a deep breath, and slowly calming down.

“That’s right, and you’re right Jack.”

He nodded in agreement, and then turned to me, holding out a hand.

“Let’s go Luna?”

I smiled and took his hand, he pulled my hand and settled it on his bent arm. We left the house arm in arm, like grandfather and granddaughter on a walk.

Jack left after us and drove down the road beside the house, the two of us continued walking down the hill towards the Village.

The village was full of beautiful wooden houses, all very tidy, and without any walls, as we walked people greeted Hughes, with slight bows of the head, and he responded by waving and with smiles, everyone seemed very happy and calm, we passed by some guards who saluted when they saw us. To the right there were some shops, a market, a bakery, a butcher, a pharmacy and even a small elementary school, everything needed for a village.

A girl, probably about seven years old, ran happily out of the bakery, she had two donuts wrapped in a napkin in her hands, she came to us and handed one to me, and one to my grandfather, and said smiling:

“For you Alpha, I hope you like it.”

I smiled at the girl, and then I realized my grandfather was the Alpha of the Pack, that made a lot of sense, and it explained leadership.

“Thank you so much little Sabrina, send greetings to your parents.”

The little one hopped off, so I turned to my grandfather as I bit into the donut, which was delicious by the way.

“So you are the Alpha.”

“Yes, I don’t know how far Jack has told you, but I am the Alpha. I inherited this rank from my father and so far no other wolf has faced me to take my place, it’s not a genetic rank, it’s an acquired rank, I had to show my worth to deserve it and I do my best, dedicating my life to making this Pack a wonderful place to live.”

Apparently he was very much loved and wanted in the community, he was doing a good job. We were approaching the big lake at the end of the Village and people were following saying hello to Hughes. We arrived at a small, very old house, said the Pack Museum, an elderly gentleman with large, white mustaches and thinning gray hair greeted us with a small bow:

“Alpha.”

And turning to me.

“Nice to meet you little Luna, make yourself comfortable.”

Hughes greeted him back, and I grinned, my grandfather started talking by pointing to some cave paintings that were exposed as large blocks of stone covered with acrylic protection.

“We are a millenary race, as old as humans, we lived in war with them for a few years, we were hunted, and then we created rules for there to be peace between all.”

We took a few more steps and there was a big picture of a carved stone.

“This painting is a representation of our Magna Stone, it is a stone with our rules, the original is exposed in the Council museum, in it we have our most important laws and among them the greatest, the Magna Law, where we cannot transform or attack or if you want to harm any human being. If this happens is the greatest crime for us wolves, the wolf that did it is sentenced to death and his entire family is exiled, who controls it is our Council, which together with the Alphas of each Pack keeps everything in order, peace and harmony.”

We walked a few more steps, and more paintings, vases, and sculptures were visible, in all of them there were wolves, and some looked very old.

“Not all wolves accept all our laws, some revolted a few years ago and joined a clandestine pack called the Forsaken.”

When he named them I remembered that Jack had already mentioned them, they were the wolves that tried to kill me as a child, I don’t know if it was a memory, but seeing Hughes say the word Forsaken sent a chill down my spine, a certain fear took over. of me.

“They began to rebel against the laws and at first they were even against the Magna Law, they attacked humans and made real hunts with them, they said they were anarchists and they didn’t want the leadership of an Alpha or follow any of the community rules, that’s how they were born. the Forsaken, but the Council opened a killing spree to all the Forsaken who were killing humans, after many deaths they agreed to follow the Magna Law, and have done since then, they realized that anarchy doesn’t work, especially for wolves, and elected their Alpha , but they don’t follow any community rules like we do.”

“What would those laws be?”

“They basically talk about helping each other and having a leader running everything.”

“In that case the leader would be the Alpha… You.”

The leadership stance he had, left no doubt, either he or Jack would likely be the leaders.

“That’s right, I would be like a mayor in this Village.”

“When you talk about helping each other, in what sense?”

“As much as possible, our Pack is our family, whenever we receive or form a family of wolves, we welcome them, we get them jobs, security, houses, education and comfort, but these wolves need to respect their brothers and help them too. Children are the responsibility of the entire pack, not just their parents, we lead them, we provide studies. Firstly at the Vila school, and after reaching early childhood they will study at the best school in the city and if they want to go to college, and all that it’s the community’s responsibility, including financial responsibility, and that’s what the Forsaken don’t agree with, and don’t understand. After reaching the age of majority, at 22, they become wolves, and integrate, also working here, and helping the next children and so on onward.”

Now everything was starting to become clearer to me, that Pack was really a family, taking care of each other and the Forsaken were the people who didn’t agree with that.

At that moment we left the small museum, and followed the road to the pier, Hughes pointed to the left of the pier, there was a beautiful house, also wooden but with a beautiful deck in front, it had a modern style it was like a hose of some magazine.

“This is Jack’s house.”

Then Hughes turned right and I could see a few more houses on the lakeside, and a great hall under a hill, with a wooden staircase that led down to the lake and spread out like a deck. There were a lot of people going in and out of the hall, with boxes and decorations and lights, and taking tables, they were organizing everything for a big party apparently.

“Mr Alpha, what do you think of the lights here?”

“They’re great Stephan, go ahead.”

Hughes nodded and agreed with a tall, skinny boy who was adjusting the lighting at the entrance to the hall, among whom all the wolves were waving at my grandfather.

“What is it?”

I asked with no idea what all that preparation was about.

“They are organizing the Moon Prom, it takes place in a few days, it is a very important date for us wolves. Wolves are beings of love, and we are governed by that, we all have soulmates, another wolf that is our other half, after we reach the age of majority, at 22, during the moon dance when we find our soul mate, what we call “Soulmeet”, which we can translate to “Meeting of souls.” It’s something, beautiful, physical, spiritual and emotional The wolves are struck by an absurd power and lose control, transmute, and there mark each other forever, a couple united by SoulMeet, only death separates them. They feel what the other feels, they can’t spend much time away that they get sick, after that meet, they become one.”