Silver Light (ONC 2024) LONGLIST

Chapter 9

The wait wasn't long, Ataraxia was thankful for that considering he had been sitting out in the snow for much longer than he had cared to do so. His ice blue eyes drifted behind him at the first sound of the snow crunching, a wolf with fur as white as the snow elegantly walked over to his side. Her body swayed with such a litheness and her bright yellow eyes seemed locked upon his shivering frame, watching his every move as if he would attack her out of nowhere. Thankfully for her, he would never have thought of doing that unless she gave him reason to do so. 

"I never thought you'd actually get rid of them." 

"It doesn't matter, it isn't me that is hurting your family. Now, you said you wanted to speak with me, so long as it was just us and your pups got back to the pack." 

The white wolf took a seat in the snow as if it was nothing to be doing so, her yellow gaze locked on Ataraxia from the corner of her eyes. She carried a frown on her lips, not thrilled to be spoken to with such disdain and disrespect, especially with someone that shared the skies with her. She had hoped for a better reunion than the one she was getting right now. 

Sighing heavily, Verity turned her yellow eyes from Ataraxia and looked into the darkness that stretched out before them. The silence only killed by the howling of the wind and the muffled cries of the wolves that resided around the forest. 

"So, what is it you wanted to speak with me about?" 

Trying to come off a little more civil than what he did upon her arrival, Ataraxia forced himself to relax and see this she-wolf as yet another wolf that had come into his life. Not a she-wolf that had frustrated him upon their first meeting when he had come upon her and her two pups. He had thought it strange she wanted him to take them, yet not say anything about her being alive and well. Verity even had her pups convinced enough to tell their father they didn't know where she was. 

"Your origin, do you even remember who you are?" 

Ataraxia was pulled from his current thoughts and slung right into a bout of confusion, not once had he been asked of who he was. Yes, they had asked for his name, but never his true origin. Whenever questioned about who he was, they only asked about a pack that he had originated from, which he had none. There was no one waiting for him after, there was no one he could call family, nothing he could go back to. He was a loner, or so Satix had called him upon their first major interrogation session back at the den. Was there more to him that Verity knew, that he could learn in that moment? 

As if reading his mind, Verity shifted and turned to fully face the silver wolf beside her. Her bright yellow eyes looking like a pair of lights in the darkness looked him up and down as if she was assessing him. A frown so concentrated had found its way onto her muzzle, her white fur hiding any of the snow and ice that may have slammed into her upon their chaotic dance around them. 

Verity tore her eyes away from Ataraxia, almost as if she hadn't found what she was looking for in him. She seemed agitated, frustrated, irritated that whatever she was looking for wasn't there. 

"Why are you even down here? One by day and one by night, that's how it has always been between us. It makes things difficult, but it has always worked. Why did you change it?" 

She growled, taking Ataraxia aback and forcing him to lean away from her. 

"What do you mean? What worked out for us? Who are you?" 

"Who am I?" 

Whipping around, Verity pinned Ataraxia with a yellow glare so deadly, it was like her eyes had combust into flames themselves. He was afraid if she kept glaring at him he would actually burn up and turn into nothing but a pile of ash right there on the snow.