Howl To My Heart

Chapter 21

" You will have to flee tonight," Beta Shinjiro said to Dmitri and I as we sat in Alpha Jono's office.
" Word would've reached the Capital by now, and they will be coming for you as sure as the light shines on the morrow."

" But why? We didn't do anything wrong!" I could hear the anger in Dmitri's voice as he protested against the Beta's words.

"It is what it is, Your Highness. Sally Dales shall spin a story that your father will believe instead of listening to any truths that anyone might tell him," one of the Omegas, the one with the afro hair and yellow band said. His voice held no fear. It was as calm as the waters of Lake Calm.

I sat fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, worry lines creased into my forehead. What I've seen of the people of the Wolf Territories thus far made me want to curse the day I stepped on to the bus that brought me here.

A hand touched my shoulder and I looked up to see Dmitri look at me with sadness and concern swirling in the depths of his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered softly as he took a knee before me, his hands grasping mine.

For what he was sorry, I could only guess. I didn't know what to say to him as I freed one of my hands to rake them through his hair, pushing down the thought that I wasn't the first girl that had ever touched his hair like this.

"We should ready the minibus," Kioshi, the Beta's son said. " We cannot delay."

Dmitri stood and looked at the people in the office with us. "As of now, I might be considered a fugitive."

" Nay. Not to your father. But to your sister, aye," Beta Shinjiro said.

I was amazed that they could speak like people from the past, these wolves. Nobody really said Nay these days. No was the word.

" Have you spoken to the teacher?," Dmitri asked.

" Yes. He's not so happy about everything, but he'll get his students on the bus. Apart from Teresa and Miss Alva, of course," Jono answered.

Dmitri nodded." It is time we leave then. Come, My Alva," he said, reaching down to take my hand and pull me to my feet.

We left the office and he lead me through the hallways  back to my room where Chione already were readying my suitcases.

I swallowed as I remembered Dmitri rooting through them earlier that day to find me something to wear. And like many thoughts, my brain turned to the days I've been in the Wolf Territories already. Was it a week? Two? I didn't know, but it felt like an age.

" Do you wish to change?," Chione asked me. I shook my head. She nodded and zipped one of the suitcases close before picking it up along with the other one. " We must be off. Your former friend will be riding with us."

I looked at her. She spoke of  Sonica. I don't know how I know this, but I do.

" A girl would become a friend again," Chione said. " The chains that have held her shall be broken once she passes into Oracle lands."

I only nodded at that. What was I to say about the words of someone like Chione; someone who are one  of a pack that know the past and the many paths of the future. Of course, the future are uncertain; the paths stretching out whichever way.

I could be dead in a few days, or I could survive this and move onwards.

I don't know which one of those was certain. For my whole life up until I met Dmitri in person I had been just Alva Sorenson, adopted daughter of my parents. Now I was Alva Sorenson, a wolf even though I haven't shifted yet.

I wonder when I would shift. I worried that it would be painful.

" The first time yes," Dmitri said as we left the room. " Your bones have to be broken in, so to speak. The next time you shift will be like walking along a familiar road , or like driving a car. Whichever words you want to go on."