Coyote Wolf

23 | CLEAR THINGS UP

MAVIS

It took maybe about three hours for the sound of feet and voices to start sipping in through Naylan's cabin window since we arrived. I had a feeling it meant that other wolves were about the place, probably preparing for whoever evening announcement Naylan had up his sleeve.

I was tensing up now, beginning to worry again, and the guinea pig that was now gnawing on my finger wasn't enough to suppress the anxiety building up in me as I heard more and more voices—until the point that they were constant—outside, in the compound, probably waiting for Naylan to walk out and start the last minute meeting he had called. I wondered if people could already guess what it was about. The Wolf that had been keeping watch, patrolling the park grounds entrance, seemed to have had an idea. I wonder if gossip here spread fast, and they had told just about everyone.

There was a knock on the cabin door that made me and Naylan turn to look at the door.

"It's probably time," he muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets before approaching the door. He opened it, speaking to the person on the other side softly in what I assumed was French. That had to be Lagasnerie—the fourth in command.

When they were done speaking, Naylan turned to look at me. "Come on," he said, gesturing towards the door with a nod. I nodded back, turning around to place the guinea pig in its enclosure before walking over to Naylan, we walked out of the cabin together, and the feeling of my heart sinking to my stomach overwhelmed me as I observed the crowd gathered under the canopy. The people closest to Naylan's cabin eyed us as we walked down the stairs.

I stayed as close as possible to Naylan, bumping into him a few times as we walked through the path that cleared in front of us as people stepped aside. Soon we were standing in front of everyone. The crowd went silent when Naylan cleared his throat.

"Sorry for the last-minute meeting," he said, smiling at them and then turning to me. "I just wanted to give a small update."

"Many of you know Mavis. He does most of the trading exchange at the storage unit," Naylan said and I forced myself to smile even though the crowd made me feel dizzy. I really needed to work on my anxiety around wolves.

Because...

Well.

This could be my home one day.

My face warmed up at the thought as my eyes darted to look at Naylan. He was so handsome. I honestly wasn't sure how I had been able to resist my attraction to him for so long.

"He's special to me," Naylan announced, pausing. "He's my mate."

There was a rush of muttering and discussion, but for the most part, it looked like people were surprised, not pissed off.

"And to add to that," Naylan started up, and everyone was hushed. "I just wanted it to be known he gets to go as he pleases, that's all."

Naylan stepped back and Lagasnerie took his place in front and started speaking in French. I remember Naylan told me he only knew a little, so I assumed Lagasnerie did most of the work with the French wolves. Discussions in French started up and then died down after Lagasnerie added a few words.

"Dismissed. Carry on with whatever you guys were doing before," Naylan said when Lagasnerie gestured to him to carry on. The crowd thinned out, and soon it was just me, Naylan, and a couple of other wolves who seemed to be waiting for his attention.

"Nice to meet you," Lagasnerie said in a heavy Quebec accent as he reached out to touch my shoulder.

"I—you too," I mumbled, a bit shocked by the friendliness. After that, two other people—Maggie and Peyton introduced themselves as second and third in command. There were a couple more who spoke over each other and spoke mostly to Naylan, so I didn't catch their names, but when that was all over Naylan turned to me, taking my hand and pulling me out from under the canopy.