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The wolf could not, not go. He had to go, to say good bye to the one he loved. Even thought she chose another path and took pieces of him with it, he still loved her. He loved both of them.
He watched his daughter with a sorrowful look. He knew she was unhappy, and he wanted to help her. Sadly for him, he could not just barge in and save the day as he hoped, no. He would have to ask for help, and then he would take his daughter away from the people who treated her wrong.
Turning his gaze from the flaming longboat, he began his journey up the hill. All the while, thinking of his life. Of her life.
She should be with the pack, with her kin. She should be able to bring her wolf to the surface, but her mother had made sure she would not. After all, her mother did not want the life of a wolf for neither of them.
He met her mother, his máni, years ago. At first their life was happy, filled with love and affection. She was with a child, not soon after. Their child, their Iona.
He is not entirely sure what happened, for she started to disappear for hours on end, sometimes even days. She always said, that she was on a run. Closer to the day of birth, her personality seemed to change. She became hostile towards everyone, allowing no one to touch her pregnant belly, even the father of the child.
The day of Iona's birth was the happiest, and also the saddest day of his life. He was finally allowed to hold his pup, his daughter, his Iona. Tears of joy streaming down his cheeks, he thanks his love, and goes for a kiss.
The baby he already loved was soon snatched from his arms, and his máni rose up and snarled.
''This baby will know a better life than a pack. She will live the life of a queen, of a warrior, of a human. As long as I breathe, she will never know of our kind!''
And with those hurtful words, she ran and disappeared from his life, for years.
Stopping the flow of bad memories, he sniffed the air to make sure he was on the right path. Smelling the faint hint of the pack, he kept going.
Years later, when visiting a human town, he caught the smell of his máni. Following the smell he thought he would never sniff again, he was stopped in his tracks when gazing upon his daughter. He knew her to be his daughter, with no questions.
The color of her hair matched her mother's, red. The blues in her eyes were identical as well, but he could also see himself in her as well. The way her cheekbones were prominent, and her jaw sharp. Inherited from her father.
Pride swelled in his heart at the thought.
The child seemed to be a child no more, she was a woman, but only just. She had a spark in her eyes, a glint of something.
Saddened by the thought of her not having that same glint in her eyes any more, brought him back. He had reached the borders of the pack, and shifted back to a man.
The man seemed to be in his early forties, but that was false. With the lifespan of a wolf, he aged with a pace much slower than human. His age was nearing ninety. With a long cut light brown hair and a short beard, he had the looks many she-wolfs liked. Prominent muscles were a dead giveaway of an ulfhednar, yet he carried them like no other.
Scars, earned from battles, challenges and fights throughout the years, decorated his skin, as well as runes, earned and worn with pride. Tattooed in to his skin with wood ash and a small knife. Sometimes the little details were made with needles. The rune would first be carved in to his skin, then the ash would be rubbed in to them.
Walking past the wolves on watch, he walked straight to the biggest house on the pack land; the pack house. The pack house held a similar meaning to the wolves, as a town hall held for the humans. It was a place for everyone, a place where they would dine together, celebrate together. The pack house also held a few extra rooms for the ones who for whatever reason did not have a house of their own.
One of the rooms was preserved for the leader of the pack. The room was the biggest, made to fit all of his warriors, all the Elders, and the closest to him. The room was fit for war counseling, small meetings, general pack related matters. It was the room of the Alpha.
Knocking on the thick, worn door separating the room from the rest of the pack house, he waited for a permission to enter.
A voice full of authority, power and responsibility answered, ''Enter.''
With a push, he revealed the room filled with candles, pelts and the smell of worn wood. The Alpha was sitting on a throne of sorts, with a cup carved from wood, filled by the smell of it, with mead.
''Viggo, what can I do for you?'' asked the Alpha.
The Alpha was an intimidating man, but young. Winning his title with a challenge at the age of nineteen, he had ruled his pack with a just hand for over ten years. He was loved and feared at the same time.
''I went to visit the human town, not far from hear. I saw something, very unsettling,'' Said the man, Viggo. True to the meaning of his name, he was made for battles.
''And, what is it that you saw?'' Asked the Alpha, with a slight irritation in his voice. He did not like for his pack members to wonder off in to the human towns without his knowing. The human towns were not banned from them, but they were off pack lands so he wished to know about it before hand.
''My daughter, she was taken from me as a baby, by her mother. Her mother died, and I went to see the longboat today. I saw my daughter, and I need her out of there,'' told Viggo, honestly and pain clearly heard in his voice.
The Alpha did not understand the need to take the girl away from her home. Surely, if the girl has lived her life with humans, she would be hard to adjust to the life of a pack wolf.
Hearing the unspoken question, Viggo continued. ''I do not know why, but her mother hid her wolf-side from her. She has not shifted once. Her mother sold her to the Jarl of the town and every once in a while I have been able to see bruises, cuts and red marks around her face. Today, I could smell her being with a child. His child. I have no doubt she was impregnated without consent.''
''That does sound concerning, and I promise, Viggo, that we will look in to it. As your daughter, she is partly a part of this pack, making her a concern for all of us,'' the Alpha said, making the heavy heart of a hurting father, a little lighter. Only a little, for there was one thing he still needed to tell his Alpha.
