“Whoa, hold up…” the boy trailed off, “Mum, who the hell is this?”
“Howl number 1, I told you,” I repeated frowning.
“Okay, Mum-“
“Devon stop being rude,” his mum scolded. She was obviously the firm but gentle type, “This is my niece, Ella Mae from-“
“Yeah, and I grow wings and sabre teeth on the full moon,” Devon shook his head then glared at Wendy, “Seriously, who is she?”
“Devon, shes-“
“Yeah, yeah. You’re niece Ella Mae from wherever. Like we even have any relatives there. What ever. I’m going to finish my English assignment.” Devon announced before stalking back upstairs.
“Devon…” a small girls voice drawled.
The voices owner emerged from the shadows cast by the stairs with a battered, stained blanket in one small pink hand. The girl looked no older than seven with wild, curly blonde hair. She was dressed in a Muppet all in one.
“Maisie, honey, go back to sleep,” Wendy cooed.
“Who that?” she asked, blinking with her bleary eyes and pointing at me.
“This is your cousin, Ella Mae. Now, go to bed,” Wendy said in a motherly tone.
Maisie nodded then slowly walked upstairs, giving me a slight wave and smile before leaving.
“An older teenager and a three-year-old daughter is a lot to handle,” Wendy explained while smiling at nothing in particular.
Wolfie lay down by my feet and began panting absently. I bent down and scratched his chest, I knew from living with the pack where the best places to scratch a canine are.
“Right, I guess you’ll be hungry if you were trying to sneak pasties under my nose,” Wendy smiled again, “Cheese toasty okay with you?”
“Sure,” I replied, not quite sure what a cheese toasty was.
Don’t laugh at me, but I’m still learning the human language, however, I can talk fluent wolf, dog, bear and even a little squirrel. Although, I do think the story of how I can speak squirrel is a story for another time.
“So how come you can speak English if you were raised by regular wolves?” Wendy inquired, while the smells of toasting bread and hot cheese filled the air with their mouth-watering aromas.
“I don’t know really, I guess I just picked it up,” I shrugged subconsciously while taking in the great smells wafting towards me.
“Huh, interesting. Okay, grubs up!” Wendy announced while opening the toasty maker and scrapping it onto a plate.
“Thanks,” I said.
I placed the plate on the counter and placing my rucksack on the floor. I began to pick up to hot food with my mouth and bit off a piece before chewing with my mouth open. I think I already mentioned the fact that I had no manners.
“You know, humans don’t eat like that. Try picking it up in your hands, then bite and oh don’t let go of it. Oh! And chew with your mouth shut,” Wendy said, still smiling openly.
“Oh,” I said doing what she said.
“Stop biting, Howl four’s ear and whine seven! Stop that! Leave that cricket alone!” the Nanny Wolf sounded irritated at their rash behaviours.
They had been pulling and biting each others ears and tails all morning and their Nanny was already tired of them.
“You lot are the most rambunctious pups I’ve seen in seven winters! Stop it, how one!” she barked at her for the millionth time today.
“Sorry nanny,” Ally said, sitting down to the edge of the fighting mound of fur.
“At least one of you has manners.”
The memory of my pack hit me in a wave. The remembrance of it made my hands to tremble before I dropped the toasty onto the plate.
“Are you okay Ella Mae?” Wendy caught my arm to steady me.
“Yeah just, just tired,” I tried to smile but I think it came out more of a grimace.
Wendy frowned. Wolfie woke up from his sleep and devoured the remaining toasty.
“Okay, come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
The room Wendy gave me was painted a basic cream colour. It had pale green carpet that looked well-worn and slightly coarse. There was a small bed side table and a large wardrobe in the corner. A mound of clean clothes sat in a pile in front of the wardrobe.
“It’s only the back bedroom we use for clothes storage but the beds freshly made and the bathrooms two doors down at the end,” Wendy explained.
“Thank you Wendy, for taking me into your pack.”
Wendy laughed but tried to cover it up so she wouldn’t wake Maisie up.
“We call our pack ‘family’ here and don’t mention anything to do with your wolf pack, okay?”
“Why?” I asked confusedly.
“Because humans don’t take kindly to people who are like…Never mind. Just try to talk about human things like the weather or what was on TV last night.”
“TV?” I frowned again.
Wendy sighed, “I’ll explain you tomorrow just sleep, okay?”
“Okay.”
Wendy left and closed the door behind her quietly. I sighed and turned to look around the room. It was fairly small and cosy but lacked any finishing touches like pictures of family or small flowered plants. I stripped and climbed into the lavender-scented bed. I tossed and turned for ages but eventually gave up. My legs swung around and I climbed out again from the tangled sheets and curled up into a ball on the floor. My mind slipped into unconsciousness as I slept deep and dreamlessly.
YOU ARE READING
Raised By Wolves
Werewolf"I was raised by wolves, not werewolves, proper wolves." A girl raised by pack of grey wolves in the forest of North America, stumbles into the human world naked and alone. Taken in by one of her own, she takes a journey that would change her w...
