The ocean crashed with fury against the edges of the island, rocks defeating it as it tried to tear earth out of its way, sea birds restlessly stirring in their nests in the higher rocks as the storm and ocean crashed over the, at least by comparison to the ocean itself, tiny insignificant piece of crust that had been thrust upwards millions of years earlier.
Rain had stopped falling, at least for now, but this hadn't stopped the wind from bringing more. The smell of mud covered more smells than usual.
Julia had heard this wind was once called the 'Roaring Forties'- a wind sailors used to depend on back when Australia was still being colonized by ships with masts instead of engines. It brought high winds, big waves, and a lot of speed for anything that was using it. This wind didn't frighten her. She urged it, urged it to continue to blow, because right now it was doing her pack one very big favor.
Right now, as a war came to her, this wind blew the children of the pack far away. The fear of what would be done to them, should they be here when the rouge Alpha appeared, it was much greater than of what they faced in open ocean. No. She trusted the adults with them... after all, one of the adult werewolves was also one of her mates. Oliver. He'd protect them.
She stood against the balcony, hands white knuckled on the wet metal as she used all senses gifted to her as a werewolf, consciously taking in every scent, sound and sight that she could find. Closest were those sleeping in the great Hall, or taking a midnight snack after a patrol around a very wet and cold guard of the island's borders, and not far away were the other homes. Most of them were small compared to what humans were used to, functional huts with hot fires and windproof shelters. Werewolves were not so strange about being in close quarters. Maybe the idea of privacy had been abandoned when werewolves in human form tended to hear see and smell anything within a hundred meters anyway. It was a matter of respect. 'Hear' what others wanted to hear. Ignore the rest. Julia didn't need to hear everything her pack did.
She didn't pay the huts much mind, just was aware of them, the various shaped and sized buildings that had been built on the slope between bush land up from the beach with the best boat access. All of them were accessible by paths, all of them had a little distance between them, but no one had wanted to live isolated from the pack. That was why so many chose to collapse in the great hall- a big hall below the small Alpha residence with nice modern heating (super efficient!) and the big communal kitchen which always seemed to have at least one hungry mouth searching for something hot now that it was well and truly winter.
Beyond the huts was bush land, workshops, all of which were ignored at this time of the night. The workshops were mostly used now for repairs or for training.
It was hard to see or smell much. Julia mostly smelt salt. She had to trust that the paws on the ground were her eyes and ears.
Still, sometimes, she worried that she should be doing more as Alpha.
What did they do, anyway?
Her second mate- Levi- was the Beta. He knew his job. Clever man who knew what he was supposed to do and how.
Julia sighed again. She couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't good enough. That somehow she was supposed to be doing more as Alpha. She trained, she fought well apparently, she paroled, cooked, participated, and all of that seemed to be enough...
How would she do this? How could she do this? She had done all those things right, at least no one had complained, but there would be a point where she actually had to fight this other Alpha.
Kale.
Mental werewolf with a super food name. They were growing his vegetable namesakes in the garden right now in fact. The werewolf had done so much evil, done so much terror, Julia didn't even know half of it but the man gave her chills. Something deep inside warned her that he was dangerous. Sick. Murdered half her old pack in America, murdered so many people she loved, tore apart Packs all across America as he took over one after another... always, according to reports, by killing the Alpha in the most brutal fashion possible and making the torture last...
He hadn't stopped there. Refugees had come here from South America. Shapeshifters like her pack, only these shapeshifters took other forms, supernatural species Julia hadn't even known existed till a few months ago. Panthers. Otters. Crows. Eagles. Even a family of camels! Camels! Most hadn't stayed but some had. There were Australian packs opening their doors to the majority... after all, as big as the island was compared to others in the area, it couldn't shelter the deluge of those trying to escape the mad werewolf.
Only... no news for a month.
Nothing.
They knew he was in Australia. He'd been here a while apparently. Julia had expected tales of carnage similar to the ones she'd heard from the Americas.
Nothing.
Not even a whisper. Just silence. She didn't know what state he was in, if he was even in Australia still, and the strange unnerving feeling of danger this silence brought had been one of the reasons that she and Levi had decided that the pack children had to be taken even further away from the island on the yacht. Oliver, her first mate, had been ordered to keep it secret. Even from Julia. That'd been the last time she'd read her kids to sleep... when she'd skyped him to tell him it was time to go into hiding completely.
With a quiet exhale, Julia slumped forward a little, her own anxiety and uncertainty growing further.
A thump-thump-thump up the stairs made Julia straighten fast, heart racing, only to be captured by arms that were warm and covered in Pjs.
Levi smelt wonderful, his head burrowing into her neck, pulling her into the small office and out of the cold winds. He didn't explain it, Julia didn't ask, she wrapped her arms back around him and waited. He smelt sleepy and he rarely spoke till he'd woken a little.
"Dreamed-" He muttered, voice a little heavy with sleep, tugging her into his lap as he collapsed onto the office chair, "-you were gone. And you were."
"Just thinking."
"Hope it was about coming back to bed." Levi responded. He tugged her legs up, practically cradling her, lips finding her forehead as he breathed in her smell once again as if it was a drug he could never get enough of. "I get nightmares if you're not there."
It wasn't a joke. Julia wished it was. That was one of the reasons they'd agreed to schedule sleep together, patrol together, because Levi felt as anxious as she did about the silence that had fallen. He was a smart wolf and he knew no news could be very bad news.
"Sorry."
"Snoproblem." Levi yawned, a long yawn, his muscles tensing under her as parts of his body started to reawaken. He gazed down at her with a mixture of adoration and concern. "You don't have to sleep. Just come lie with me. Storm won't blow island over, wolves on prowl outside, so you need rest."
"Beta's suggestion?"
"Husband's orders." He responded. Levi squeezed her, yawning once again, almost looking ready to fall asleep right there in the chair. He wasn't going to push it though. "Coming?"
Julia nodded. She rose, detangling herself, Levi hoisting himself up heavily from the chair behind her. He was right. Whatever would come would come.
She followed him back downstairs and as she lay back down to sleep, urged herself to dream of anything except Kale, the bloodshed he'd left behind when he'd torn apart her pack, and of the pack children. Lost somewhere in the ocean.
