Call of the Wild

3 ~* sisters are always right

~*

Willa downed another cup of Maria's 'special' alcohol--more moonshine than anything, good gods--and wiggled out of the cotton underdress she'd worn under her robes. Those were back on display next to her headdress for all the pack to see, glorious as they were.

Now, she was alone in the large room she shared with Wyatt, pulling on a t-shirt and shorts to finally enjoy a few hours of reprieve from her grueling duties as alpha during a festival month (the first proper one in centuries, as it were). She'd spent the entire day in the Alcove with the Elders, going over actions and words for all the rituals she would need to perform over the next few weeks and the ceremony she had performed earlier that night and her nerves were just about shot -- and that was before Addison had been turned into a werewolf.

That had been a shock, unexpected. Yes, she had entertained the idea that a human could turn into a werewolf back when she'd first met Addison and then decided to give her the Great Alpha necklace, but when nothing came of it, she'd put the idea off as impossible. But for some reason, now, it had happened. And Willa was confused and slightly worried about it.

Because not only was Addison a werewolf, but now the Heartstone was not its iridescent cobalt hue but had strands of amethyst swirling around it and it felt different than it had before. More powerful, Willa would say.

She'd immediately convened with the Elders while Addison bounced around with excitement and Wyatt went back and forth between joy and... well, he'd looked like he wanted to cry, the poor stupid idiot. Willa swore she had whiplash from watching his expression change so rapidly.

But having spent all day grating over Elder Gerald scolding her for her wrong hand movements or pronunciations and then Addison and then Wyatt because he troubled her, Willa needed a damn break and by gods, she was going to get one and put all of this in the back of her mind to focus on later. Much later.

"Willa!" She felt the impact before the voice and nearly stumbled into two entangled wolves as she stepped out of her room. She smiled apologetically and they bowed their heads, faces red, before scurrying off to presumably find a different hidey hole to make out in.

"Wynter, you're like a goddamn freight truck!" Willa mused, extricating herself from Wynter's tight grip. The wolf was looking radiant as always, her hair done up in full space buns, purple smokey eyeshadow highlighting the yellow specks in her eyes. Willa leaned over her to grab an abandoned red solo cup--one of the better human inventions, cups solely for alcohol--perched on a ledge.

"I thought you'd never show up! How was the closing ceremony?" Wynter asked, beaming. Her face was slightly flushed already.

"Fine," Willa said, leading the way out of the private rooms into the Den. Music reverberated off the stone walls, a steady beat that helped Willa calm her heartbeat. She glided through crowds of dancing, drunk wolves -- they gave her a respectable berth when they saw her -- until she was outside. She took a deep breath of the cool night air and sighed. "I'm just glad it's over. For now."

"What did the Elders say about the Heartstone? Addison? Everyone is talking about it. They're all really excited." Wynter said, though her tone belied that she was worried.

"We're still not sure. I'll look over the archives after our hunt. But I don't really want to talk about that right now. I feel like getting black-out drunk as quickly as possible." Willa smiled briefly. "Speaking of, where is Addison?" She hoped the girl wasn't too overwhelmed. She wasn't sure how things would play out concerning werewolf abilities and such on a human-turned-wolf.

"With Wyatt."

Willa raised an eyebrow, waiting. It went without saying that where there was one, there was the other.