Wolf pack

Nimera

"I met Nimera when I wass sstill young. A dragon had attacked my lelivillian lounge. It carried off almosst all of uss and the resst barely ssurvived. I thought for ssure I would be dead." Parker looked up at the sky reverently. "Then I awoke to ssee the mosst beautiful ssight I have ever sseen. A white wolf with lovely blue eyess, looking down at me. Disspite the injuriess I felt the healthiesst I ever had before. My woundss had healed completely and even pessky alergiess had all gone. When I laid eyess on her I gassped, and she gassped back, a light bubble sseemed to sspread from her chesst and sshe vanisshed from my ssight. I sstood quickly, begging sshe return. I promissed I would not hurt her, and that I was indebted with my life. Sshe appeared again and walked back to me. I never looked back for my lounge, I insstead sstayed near her and have ssince."
The wolfpack listened to the story intently.
Jynx muttered slightly. "Too bad she didn't cure your lisp." Anya slapped him on the head and leaned into Parker.
"Thank you so much for sharing, and thank you for showing us where she is."
"Don't thank him just yet." Nate muttered.
Anu looked back at Nate who was walking behind him and winked. "We'll find her. More than one way to skin a cat."
Cleo looked at him curiously, so Anu whispered in her ear. "If he was injured she would be the first one he could go to. All I would have to do is injure him and track him right to her."
She frowned, looking forward. "How can you be so monstrous and attractive at the same time?"
He nipped at her ear. "Because you like it."
Cleo flicked her ear but didn't deny it, focusing on the long-legged lizard before her.
The lelivillian led them past a cave opening Melody recognized and towards what appeared to be an open field. The lizard sniffed the air, walking through the field and over to a tall tree on the far end.
He walked his front legs up the trunk and looked up at the branches. "They are friends, safe, you can come down. See, Melody is even here."
Anya and Jynx looked over at each other, raising their eyebrows. Was he seriously talking to a tree?
Lokan grinned. "Oh I get it." He threw himself down at the foot of the tree. "Oh great and majestic whatever-type-of-tree-this-is we come in peace and ask whatever you have to offer us in those mysterious branches to come down!"
Anu looked at Nate. "Permission to knock out?"
The black wolf frowned. "Permission to slap maybe."
Anu immediately stepped forward and let a loud "crack" down on the Halera's head. Lokan fell silent to the floor. Anu looked unfazed. "Oops."
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" A voice from the tree sounded, causing the wolves to step back. Once the voice was heard, a white wolf only slightly smaller than Anu appeared, clinging onto the trees like a cat. Her dew claws appeared larger and stronger, allowing her to grasp onto the wood tighter. Looking down at the injured king with sky blue eyes the white wolf leapt down out of the tree, crouching at his side and breathing on him. No sooner had her cloudy breath touch him did Lokan awake and look up at her in awe.
He stood only to bow himself. "I have seen an angel fall from the heavens!"
The white wolf backed against the tree, fur standing on end.
"Nimera!" Melody called out from on top of Nate's back. "Don't worry, you're safe!"
Parker nodded in agreement, looking at her intensely. "No more hiding! Freedom! They promised!"
Anu stepped forward, showing his chest proudly. "I promised. We have come to bring you into our pack."
Nimera looked over the assortment of wolves. She had seen nothing like it. Each looked like some kind of unnatural design from a movie. A black wolf towering above a clydesdale? A halera two heads taller than any she had seen? A brown wolf dipped in blood and wearing oversized fangs? A black wolf with stars covering her pelt and another with black and white halos covering his body with glowing eyes? A halera that looked about the equivalent of a model. What was this? A circus act?
The shock was long enough for Anya to get a word in. "Sorry for intruding, from what we've heard you prefer to be hidden. We are assembling a group of special moon wolves and you are the last we wanted to recruit. We know what it's like to be excluded from the world because you were born different. You can join us and finally be yourself." Anya pressed as much comfort into her words as she could, feeling out to Nimera's mind. It was like surrounding her in a gentle cloud, and yet nothing got into the wolf's mind. She had shield up.
Nimera looked at Anya, at Anu and the others. "You want me for my abilities, don't you?"
Cleo shook her head quickly. "We have healers and all sorts of other things. We don't need your abilities. What we want is you, and that is it."
Lokan nodded in awe. "Yes, we want you. We want you very much."
The blue moon wolf bit her lip nervously, white fur in sharp contrast to the dark wood behind her.
Cleo gently turned to Anu's ear. "You should talk to her."
He looked at her doubtfully. "Me? I am the least gentle and her exact opposite. Why is that a good idea?"
She nudged his side. "You are not as opposite as you think. Tell her what you did to Parker. She'll understand."
He folded his ears back. "I am not getting all emotional again."
"Please, for me."
Anu cast a green eye on her, a smile slowly forming on his face. "You got me, anything for you Love." He leaned in for a short kiss then stepped out towards Nimera.
"May I talk with you for a moment?"
The white wolf looked at him, holding back her fears. She had seen him effortlessly knock out that halera. He looked like war itself, and she could tell just by looking at him that those deep scars were self inflicted. What could he possibly say to her?
However the gentle nods of assurance from Melody and Parker helped ease her fears.
So she let this wild and frightening wolf walk with her back to the other side of the meadow and to the opposite line of trees.
Still feeling her fur on end, she sat as he did.
The blood wolf flicked his ears back, not looking at her. He was clearly thinking.
She waited patiently until he turned to look at her. "Did the scientists find you too?" He asked gently.
She was taken back, eyes widening at the mention of them. "How-"
"I recognize their work when I see it: powerful creature afraid of their own shadow, Unwillingness to get close to anyone, intense fear, unhealed scars in and out." He looked her over. "You are obviously a powerful wolf, able to heal just by breathing. I saw how fast you climbed, how fast your reflexes are, I saw how you could block your mind off even from a helpful invader. You shielded yourself so effectively even I could not track you. You were feet away and we could not even smell or see you until you broke cover. I saw all this in only these few moments of meeting. You are not a creature who should need to hide."
She swallowed, nodding slowly.
Anu turned to look out over at the pack who was conversing with each other. "Look, I know someone hurt you. They hurt you bad. They hurt you so bad you are still suffering from the pain that ended years ago. You can do many things with that pain. You can hold your head higher and become the good in the world like my Cleo did." He nodded gently towards the model she had seen before. "You can turn around and become a monster yourself like I did." He shifted his gaze to her slowly. "Or you can hide forever, never showing what you have to offer and always living in fear. You can constipate your ability to live because your comfort zone is too small to even breathe."
Nimera looked into his green eyes again, finally seeing more than what she had before. That rage and hurt in his eyes were not put there himself, someone else had put it there. He had been hurt just as bad, even worse than she had.
"There is one more option." His eyes grew in intensity, piercing right through into her very heart. "You can rip off the invisible ropes in your mind, break down your cage. You can curse those scientists for ever touching you by proving they have no more power. You can finally be yourself. You can use all those amazing abilities and more. You can be accepted, past and all. You can have all of this with a pack that will protect you and keep you safer than you could ever be on your own. Nimera, it's hard to let go of your fears. I know because I became mine. Don't keep hiding alone like this, join my pack."
Nimera wanted to look away but those eyes held her uncomfortably close. She had never seen such intensity in eyes before. She couldn't look away, couldn't blink, couldn't even let her vision grow hazy. Those eyes invaded her own, climbed into the windows of her soul and refused to leave. His full willpower was forced into his gaze and that willpower was stronger than even her own. Nimera realized he would not break the stare until she agreed, and she could not break it herself even if she tried.
"What is your decision?" Anu pressed, leaning in even closer.
Images of the scientists and her life in hiding begged to flash in her mind, but she held them back for fear he could somehow sense them. That was a decision she would need to make for here and now and nothing else. She needed to make it quickly, because she didn't know how long she could keep his gaze.
"I-" she swallowed slowly as his vision burned even deeper. "-will join your pack. Under the condition I am allowed to leave whenever I feel necessary."
Something in the blood wolf's eyes flickered. "You will have no reason to leave. You will be safe. In or out. What is your decision?"
The white wolf felt trapped, but not because she was so pressured. No, she felt trapped because this was her one opportunity to start a new life, to be safe, and yet her bubble of comfort had such a tight grip on her she didn't even know how to make the first step. She wanted to finally be free, change her life, but even taking one step out terrified her. Nimera would stew over decisions for months if she could, and now she was asked to change everything she knew in one single moment.
"You can never be free this way. Keep yourself isolated and you keep yourself in bondage."
Nimera took a shaky breath, feeling the thick glass shield surrounding her start to crack. His eyes acted like a pickaxe, pulling apart any loose fragments and exposing her to the open. She needed to do this herself. Feeling her body shake, she took a step towards him, not breaking the bridge between their eyes. "I don't want to hide anymore. I will join."
Anu nodded slowly, his thick arm circling around behind to her neck. "Then you will be safe."
He stared into her for a moment longer then blinked, looking away casually. "Good talk, lets go." He stood up and took back his arm.
She walked after him, blinking to herself. She couldn't believe that just happened to her.
She also could barely believe the line of fire and the red carpet that magically appeared as she approached them. A sparkly crown and butterfly wings even appeared on her head and back. "What?"
Anu just chuckled as he looked up at his pair of devil horns. "Jynx, you'll get used to it."
"Jynx? But we didn't even say the same thing."
Anu smirked and gestured to the wolf with glowing eyes. "Jynx."