Wolf #2: The Beast Within [COMPLETED]

Chapter 33

Media Citation: Pooja Design Rooms - Plybasket. 2018, https://plybasket.com/pooja-design-rooms/. 

Chapter 33

"Found it!"

Eamonn and I both look up from the shrubs and at Addison. She plucks the herb we are looking for and holds it up. The yellow and fleshy plant is unmistakably roseroot alright.

"Good job, Addy!" I call to her. She scampers over while Eamonn sighs loudly. "What's up?"

He shrugs, "I don't know. I just thought that I would be better at finding herbs than Addy."

I grin at the pouty kid, "Sorry, nene. Being a lycanthrope doesn't trump years of being the Healer's kid."

He narrows his eyes at me. But when I poke his nose with a sprig of wild geraniums, he giggles. Just then, Addy joins us and stuffs several bunches of roseroot into the basket I'm carrying.

In celebration of Mabon, the autumn equinox, Nancy and Mallory are leading a ritual with the other pack healers today and tonight. Having another experienced Pack Healer like Mallory means that Nancy can do a far more elaborate ritual. They'll also be performing smaller observances over the pack members that requested their services.

I'm learning a lot about faith from Adrian, but it was Mallory who taught me a lot about the religion the Wolves follow. What I didn't learn from her, I had learnt from staying with Rachel and Jace and Aiden. My understanding is that The Order are the contacts to the Goddesses—the direct lines of communication. They are revered and respected even among the less religious packs, purely because they hold a special standing in the pack hierarchy.

But the religion itself is more like a pagan religion like Wicca or the Greek religions. The Wolves celebrate numerous holidays throughout the year in honor of their goddesses. The equinoxes and solstices usually call for large gatherings and ceremonies like the Diurnal healers are holding.

However, there are little things that regular Wolves do to worship their deities. From what I can tell, no one but the Healers and Priestesses practice something akin to witchcraft—something Nancy often refers to as manipulating Nature (instead of magic). But I often see Wolves praying to The Moon. On Full Moons, the packs all shift and go for a hunt. All the athames that Cynbel had made and sold had been carved with blessings and prayers so that regular Wolves can use them.

Both Breccia and Diurnal seem to be more religious, whereas packs like Palus aren't. Jace always told me that his mother's birthpack, Ameku, is stauncher. So it stands to reason that like most countries, every pack have a different level of faith.

These large ceremonies and rituals call for most of the herbs to be used up from the stocks in storage, so I had taken the kids with me to help restock. We've been out here for hours, but I don't mind and neither do the kids. It's been a relief to step away from the seriousness of my research and analysing, especially with Mallory breathing down my neck.

She has been giving me the stink eye ever since she found out that Adrian had taken me to the forest for a fighting lesson. She had even gone as far to specially request that he no longer take me—"She needs to train, but not in combat, Alpha."

The sun is high in the sky, and I suspect these two are getting hungry, "Let's head back to the truck. Eat those sandwiches Kiana made."

"Yes!" Addison runs ahead, her blond hair streaming behind her. She doesn't even look like she is running; more like she is gliding across the grassland like a spirit.

"We should make sure she doesn't go too far," I take Eamonn's hand and run ahead with him.

When we make it back to the truck, my stomach is growling with hunger. I set the basket of herbs in the Nancy's truck bed with the ones we had filled earlier.