Convalesce (Book 2 in the Wolfen Brethren Series)

Steam

The decision was not one she could live with forever but for now she would, she would swallow her tongue and be the calm flowing water to his fires conviction. She would concede for now to keep the peace but she would not hold on for long.

"I don't want to fight with you Simeon but you need to speak with your pack because I'm not a punching bag."  Her tone was much softer, her arms unfolding and melting into her side as she looked more inviting, submissive. The fire in her eyes waned out but there was still that small flicker, the promise that she could fight harder if he made her.

"I will. They wont hurt you any longer, just please don't use your knives." She didn't believe a word he said, he had proven to her that he would not protect her, his pack came first. Their feelings meant more to Simeon than hers did because he could relate to their emotions, while Jana's issues seemed petty. She would survive though, if Simeon would not defend her then she would defend herself, she was definitely capable of doing so.

"I wont if they don't"  it was another concession she would make but one she had no intention of keeping, she would not be unarmed not when these wolves were always armed. Their advantage against her was strong, too strong for her to not use her weapons. Today she would not carry them but tomorrow held no promises.

"Come now, let me show you around and then I will take you to the bathing area."

Climbing from her position Jana reluctantly followed Simeon outside, leaving the safety of their tent behind. The missing cool of her metal reminded her that for today she was unprotected. She would have to look for this male if she needed it, it was not down thing she wanted to dwell on. She wanted to feel the rub from her blades, promise be damned but this was a new start for them. She had to make some effort, even if she knew it wouldn't last.

Simeon had no idea what it was like to be her, a human who was always underestimated by wolves. Always looked down upon like she was a child or prey. She hadn't taken the disrespect back home and she wouldn't take it here.

These wolves could stare all they liked, turn their snouts up at her or show fang in her direction she did not care. They were insignificant, she would ignore them until they attacked and that was exactly what she did. Hot on simeon's toes she took in the vast sight of the camp but ignored the glares she was receiving. Though their disdain was obvious she acted as if she were blind, her mind could not react to what her eyes refused to see.

So she looked beyond them and took in the rows and rows of tents, some taller than others. Each tent was marked with a number, the numbers climbing the further from the centre they moved. 20, 38, 57, the numbers getting larger and larger and turning into triple digits the closer they got to the tree. Trees that cocooned around an large and old looking cabin, it blended seamlessly into the foliage as if it were a part of nature that always existed.

Children ran through the cramped camp, feet bare as they giggled, voices chiming in innocent joy. how she longed for those blissful days. Days when her and Caillum would swing on Vanya's favourite tree or when Reina and Roarke had began walking and they would follow her around like shadows, toddling about in the mud.

Her youth had been bliss until it no longer was, the moment puberty reached out for her with its tricky hands her life had twisted in a downward spiral, each year no better than the last. The only constants in her life had been her family until they too had changed. Her puberty had taken what little innocence she'd had left, she was no longer little Jana. She had become a woman, a potential mate to some male. Her days of free roaming through the mud or climbing trees had been snatched from her and instead etiquette had replaced it.

What made a good mate? Jana knew it all, if not through experience then through the dry voice of her tutor who schooled her in the art of mating. In her youth she had hated that woman with every fibre of her being, she had been the harbinger that brought death to her childhood.