CHAPTER 5
"Eden, are you okay?" River looked genuinely worried. "Is something wrong?"
I lifted my chin. "Why would you care? All I am is a Sheep, what does it matter to you?"
"Because you matter to me, now, tell me what's going on?" Five words and I had broken down again, crying my eyes out. "Shh, you'll be okay," he whispered, holding me to his chest.
When I had stopped crying, my eyes felt heavy. "I'm okay now, you can go." I rubbed my eyes and looked back over at my necklace.
"I'm not leaving until I know that you're okay, are you?" he sat down on my bed and grabbed the necklace before I could hide it. River read the engraving and looked up at me. "What is this?"
"A story, the one of two wolves inside of every man. My dad used to tell me it every night before I fell asleep to remind me how to act. Do you want to hear the full story?"
River handed me the necklace and laid back. "Yeah, it's sounds good."
I smirked. "One day Takoda, a Cherokee elder, saw his grandson about to shoot a rock at his sister, he stopped him and said, 'Don't feed the evil wolf.' The grandson had never heard of the story and was interested, so he begged for Takoda to tell him. He said, 'Take a seat, this will be a while. There are two wolves inside of every person. One is good.' The boy sat down, eager to listen. 'She is joy, peace, love, kindness. She is generous and faithful and trusts. And the other is evil. He is hateful, rude, dishonest, regret, hurt and anger. He is the worst thing you will ever lay eyes on. And every day there is a battle, between the two wolves, inside of you and every other person.' The grandson thought for a second and said, 'Which wolf will win?' Takoda gave him a smile, 'Wolves live in packs remember?' The boy nodded. 'But these wolves live alone, with only each other. Neither is stronger than the other until one has been given more food and has grown stronger. Which one wins?'" I looked over at River to see if I should continue, but he was sleeping. "'The one you feed," I whispered.
I pulled the blanket over River's body and laid down on the couch, just staring at the ceiling. Which wolf had won for me? Which one would I let win?
About an hour later, I heard River start to stir. I jumped up and went into the bathroom to put on the necklace. "River? Are you awake?"
"Yeah," he walked into the bathroom beside me. "Are you actually gonna wear it?"
"My brother bought it for me, you haven't met him, but when you do, you'll realize why we all do what he says." I smiled at the lazy, half-asleep River and open my door to leave. "It's time for supper, you coming?"
He nodded and rubbed his eyes before following me. When we got to the table he shook his head. "Where do I sit?"I pointed to a spot near the head of the table. "I can't sit there, the Alpha and their family sits there-"
"Shut up with the Alpha stuff. We're all family here and we all help each other out, but the leader still sits at the head of the table, my brother. I am always set on his right and Arion set on his left. Then Jennifer next to him and my guest next to me, which would be you. Sit down, the hunt should be coming back soon." I was right, just seconds later, a group of men walked in the door. One of them in the middle held the leash of a deer.
I was signaled to come over to them. "Bless the animal and then kill it," someone told me.
I put two fingers to my lips, kissed them, and brought the fingers to the deer's temple. Moving slowly, I took the new knife that I had gotten and plunged it into the deer's heart, but I didn't watch. Killing animals was something we had to do, so we always kissed them as a reference to the bible when Judas kissed Jesus before betraying him. I hated it, but almost always did the blessing. To me it meant something different, to me the kiss was a symbol of loyalty, the stabbing them to me seemed to be the real betrayal. That's why I could never look.
