The Blue Blood Alpha

Chapter 36 - Free-range eggs

Lily wakes to the sound of a rooster crowing loudly, she peers at her clock, it was only 5am. Gosh Henry was at it early this morning. She had nicknamed the rooster Henry, and his mate Henrietta. To be fair, Henry was mated to all the hens, but Lily had a soft spot for Henrietta. One of Lily's chores was to let the chickens out of the hen house first thing in the morning and collect the eggs. Around three weeks ago, when she opened the hen house door, and all the other chickens ran out to forage, Lily found Henrietta still sitting in one of the nesting boxes, laying on an egg. The bird steadfastly refused to budge, preventing Lily from taking the egg. Henrietta was being broody, and she spread her wings out and flattened her body on the nest, protecting her egg.  "You really want to be a mother, huh?" Lily rubbed her baby bump "I know the feeling. Ok, don't worry, I'll let you keep your egg. I guess having just one baby chick around won't matter". She wasn't sure Uncle Bob would agree, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. 

 Lily decided, she may as well get up now and go and collect the eggs. Yesterday uncle bob had taken her foraging for wild mushrooms, he was teaching her how to identify edible fungi versus the poisonous type. They had collected some lovely edible mushrooms, and she wanted to make her uncle a mushroom omelette for breakfast.

"Buk, buk, buk, ba-gawk", the chickens greet Lily with their usual morning squawking, as she opens the door to let them scurry out, they were eager to go foraging. As usual Henry was giving her the rooster eye, warning Lily not to take Henrietta's egg.

"Here Henrietta, I saved you some bread crusts" says Lily as she reaches into her basket and passes the hen the bread scraps. Lily was worried Henrietta wasn't getting enough food, as she never wanted to leave the nest to go foraging.
"I think today might be the day we get to meet your baby chick, uncle Bob says the incubation of a chicken egg only takes 3 weeks, and I think we are close to that day now" Lily chats away to her favourite hen as she deposits the other eggs in her basket. Henrietta makes her usual clucking noises.

Fresh free-range eggs, was there anything better to eat? Clutching her bountiful basket of eggs, Lily heads back towards the cabin. The Hen house was situated a little distance from the cabin, Uncle Bob said it wasn't good to keep chickens too close to the house, as they could be messy. The sun was just starting to rise, and the sky seems oddly red. Angry. Uncle Bob says a red sunrise meant rain or even storms coming later that day, he had a saying 'Red at night, shepherd's delight.  Red in the morn, Shepherd's mourn'. Lily thought she better get the washing off the line, before the rains come.

As she stares at the sky, she has a sudden sensation of being watched. She stops walking and looks around, but doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. As she continues walking towards the cabin, she can't shake the feeling of someone or something following her. She is probably just being paranoid, most likely the impending storm is making her feel jumpy. Lily brushes her silly thoughts aside as she enters the cabin and gets to work on making the world's best mushroom omelette.

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"That's the last one!" Lily announces proudly. Her and Bob have just finished packing up the crates for the trade. Originally Scott from Redwood had said he would be coming tomorrow to deliver Lily's baby items. Oddly, Scott had radioed them this morning, advising that Atlas was on his way, to do the trade today. Twelve jars of honey, twelve jars of blackberry jam, two crates of fresh fruit and vegetables, and two dozen eggs were all packed and ready for collection.

Bob was surprised Atlas was coming to do the trade, he was quite a high-ranking wolf, in fact Bob was sure Atlas was in line to become the next Alpha. It was not normal for a high-ranking wolf to perform such a task. Afterall it wasn't easy to make the journey to the outskirts, where Bob's homestead was situated. There were only two ways to get there, one was the way Lily came with Josh, taking the back roads until they ended and hiking the rest of way. The alternative route was to cut through Redwood territory, and that was why Lily didn't arrive that way. They had wanted to avoid asking permission from Alpha Knox to cross his land, and the subsequent questions that would have been raised in doing so.

Bob knew he couldn't keep Lily hidden from Alpha Knox forever, but technically Bob was not part of the Redwood pack, and this was his own land, so he didn't have to get permission for Lily to come live with him. Still, he knew the Alpha would not take kindly to him keeping secrets. They had come up with a story to tell the Alpha, one made up of half-truths, as it was never a good idea to outright lie to an Alpha. Bob supposed he would have to tell their semi-true story to Atlas today, as without a doubt Atlas would want to know why a pregnant she-wolf was living with the old man. Bob had an uneasy feeling about Atlas doing the trade today, his gut was telling him something was off.

"I'm going to cut some roses from the rose garden, I want the cabin to look extra nice for our visitor" says Lily as she exits the cabin with her wooden trug in hand. Blanche had planted a small rose garden, that she had lovingly tended to when she was alive. Like Sophie, Blanche loved roses; it must be a family trait. When Blanche had gotten sick, she had instructed Bob to bury her amongst her beloved roses when she died, which he dutifully did. He had kept the rose garden well cared for ever since, he felt the presence of his mate the strongest amongst the roses. Now Lily had started taking care of the garden too. It had touched his heart to see his great-niece looking after Blanche's flowers, so much so that he exclaimed he wanted Lily to bury him in the rose garden when he died, so he could be with Blanche. Lily had run out of the rose garden bawling at the thought of her great uncle dying. Bob was careful never to mention his death to Lily again, but he often thought about what would happen to Lily when he died.

Any predictions of what will happen next?  What would you like to see happen and would you hate to see happen?  If you like the story please follow me, vote, and comment - so I know to continue – I really appreciate your support :)