My Friend, The Werewolf.

Chapter Twelve

“Well”, I said reaching for another mini pie, “You could start from the beginning. Or your name at least”. The man smiled. “Ah yes, the beginning”, I sat back and munched on the small cherry pie, as the old man cleared his throat. “My name is Mahar. I am the Advisor of our Pack and the Alpha. You, Erin my dear, are the Alpha”. ‘Alpha?’ I thought. “Yes, Alpha”, Mahar said as if my thoughts were written on my head, “The leader. The chief. You know.” I stared blankly at Mahar. He stared back.

“It’s obvious you are confused. Let me explain, you, Erin, are the potentate of our Pack and also our Kingdom. Our kingd-” “-What is a pack? And what kingdom? Why me?” Questions flew in my mind a million miles per minute. Luckily Mahar answered the few I asked quickly. I guess he could sense my bafflement. “A Pack is a group of wolves that travel together. Our Pack is made up of me, you, those wolves you saw, and all those people you saw in the village.” I thought                                                             for a minute. “Are all those people down there, in the village, werewolves too?’ Mahar looked at me like I was finally getting this, but really I was so confused. “Yes everyone in our Pack is a wolf.” Mahar poured himself a cup of tea.

“A Packs Kingdom is where they live for a couple of generations. Our kingdom is called Oikara”. I remembered that name from when Alyssa the black wolf and I first arrived here. “We never stay in one Kingdom for very long,” Mahar continued, “or enemy Packs could find us”. He sipped his tea. “What would happen?” I ask. “They would attack and take over our Kingdom most likely”; he said casually. “You Erin are the one who has to prevent this, because you are the Alpha of our Pack and Kingdom”.

“What do I have to do?” I whisper. “Well you lead us of course! But here in Oikara, we don’t really have a lot of enemies; we are one of the many smaller Packs. The larger ones don’t pay much attention to us.” Mahar continued to sip he tea. “I'm the leader of all of this?” I thought of the hundreds of people I saw in the village, all-bowing. I imagined those people bowing to me everyday. This couldn’t be. I was just an orphan girl who liked fantasy books and walked, alone, in the woods for fun.

“Yes dear, you are the Alpha. You make the rules, decisions, and even battle tactics if it ever comes to that. Everything that goes on around here is by your doing.” He said it so casually but I was literality hyperventilating. “Me? Everything is decided by me?” I stood abruptly. “Yes dear, and I advise you while you lead” Mahar said, unfazed. I was shaking all over. I hadn’t even gotten over the fact that humans could change into wolves!

“Wolves!” I shouted so suddenly, Mahar spilt some tea. “ What about them, dear?” He asked. “I'm not even a wolf!” I yell. “How can I be the leader of this pack if I'm not a werewolf?” Mahar set down his tea and looked into my eyes. “Erin dear, in order to be an Alpha, you have to be a werewolf.” “Exactly?” I shouted hysterically. “But Erin, ‘exactly’ doesn’t make any sense. You are a werewolf, dear.”