Wolfpack

The Beginning

Emme awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, gasping with pain.

The pain was not internal, nor was it some infliction she had caused upon her body. It was more of a constant wave of aching loneliness that had a distinct, recognizable mark. She lie awake in her bed, allowing the feeling to consume her. Noah had agreed to stay the night at the Eastern pack's camp, and now, under his sleep, he had let his guard down and his own torture seeped forth. Emme wished she could go to him and touch him. She didn't know if he could hear her over his link, but she could try.

Noah.

Even from his place on the far side of the camp, she could feel him stirring in his rest. He could hear her as plainly as she could feel his anguish. He was waking up slowly.

Vitago, he whispered. Emme closed her eyes in pleasure. Every contact with him stirred her wolf to begin her frantic attempts to re-enter Emme's consciousness.

You are in pain, Emme replied, wishing that she could absorb his agony. She knew from first hand experience that she could endure it. The broadcast of his emotion stopped abruptly. Noah hesitated.

I'm sorry.

Emme frowned. She yearned to know more about him, to see into his mind. She wanted to soothe his pain even though he was not there to soothe hers.

I experienced pain just like it when you left me, Emme replied quietly, without accusation. She needed him to know.

If I knew that you would endure what I have, I would have chased after you.

Emme sighed. In truth, she hadn't considered what it was like for him, to face a challenging alpha and his pack on foreign land.

I don't know anything about you, Emme said, making heard her private thoughts.

What do you want to know, vitago?

Emme smiled to herself. The way he said vitago made her warm and happy. It almost erased the pain of her wolf pounding against her.

What pack do you claim? she asked.

I am from the Highlands in the north.

If Emme would've had to guess, she would've guessed that he was a northerner. He had the strong, tall build of the northern men. The northern pack bred themselves to be hearty and strong to survive their winters. Despite being one of the smaller packs due to hard birthing seasons, they were the hardiest. Besides, the scent of pine and fir that clung to Noah gave him away. Emme closed her eyes and tried to recapture the scent. Her wolf nudged hard at her conscious.

Do you hate me for leaving you?

In her moment of silence, Noah had voiced his deepest fear. Emme had seen the consequences of mates who rejected each other. She had experienced the rejection of her mark first hand. She closed her eyes for a long time, seeking the anger that she had stroked into a conflagration of fury. She remembered dimly blaming him for the two months of suffering that she had been made to endure, but as she thought the matter over, she could not find fault in him.

Why didn't you give chase? Emme finally sighed, trying to remove any accusatory emotion from the question. Noah hesitated briefly.

We are of ancient blood, he began. The northern pack has never sullied their blood by finding moonmates outside of the pack. Being descendants of the moon's firstborn, our males bear the curse that other packs have forgotten about decades ago. I did not think that you were my moonmate.

Emme bit her lip. She vaguely remembered her grandmother explaining that in the old days, the moon placed a curse upon all of the males of their species on their 21st year, removing their colorsight and sharpening their senses. She couldn't quite remember all of the details, though her grandmother had insisted that it was a very bleak existence.