So in Love

Chapter 6

Theon turned from one side to the other. He had no idea how long he laid awake yet, but every time he walked to the window and looked outside it was still dark.

At Bran's window the dire wolves from the Starks were howling. Servants of the royal family demanded more than once that someone had to make them shut up. But the wolves didn't listen.

They didn't listen when Robb tried to soothe them and tell them that people wanted to sleep. They didn't listen when Arya tried being angry with them and it seemed that now it was Sansa's turn to try.

She wore a coat over her nightgown and the big black boots of her older brother to keep her feet warm. Her steps looked slightly unbalanced and yet Theon couldn't fight the grin spreading across his face. Even barely awake and dressed in clothes that didn't really fit a future Queen, she still looked pretty and beautiful and elegant. And she most of all still managed to make his heart beat faster.

He had been the one giving her her dire wolf. Actually Robb had wanted to do it, but there were two more pups and so Theon had volunteered to give Sansa one of the females.

The wolf in his arms had tried to bite him multiple times, but her teeth hadn't been sharp enough yet to do much damage. She had easily been the prettiest of the nest and all the way towards the garden, where Sansa had been making flower crowns with Jeyne Poole, he had stared at the beautiful beast.

"Sansa?" Theon had tried to shield the pup from her curious eyes, but had failed hopelessly. Even though the dog had only been a puppy then, she had already been quite big, too big to hide behind his back. "I've got something for you." He had smiled and had waited for Sansa to stand up.

The white flowers in her red hair had been mesmerising, but her eyes had been fixated on the bundle of fur in his arms while she walked towards him. "What's this?"

"A dire wolf." He had carefully placed the wolf in Sansa's arms. "We found them in the woods. A nest of five." He had not told Sansa about the white wolf with the red eyes and he had also not told her that he had been all too eager to kill them when her father had given that order. Even though the pup in his arms had looked harmless in a way, the wolves had scared him. "This one's yours."

They still scared him sometimes.

They scared him now.

"Lady..." Sansa kneeled down next to her wolf.

The wolf was no longer a pup. She had grown bigger and bigger and she was now already the size of an average human dog. And she hadn't stopped growing yet. She would grow even bigger and one day she would maybe be just as tall as Sansa herself.

Sansa's hands caressed her wolf's fur. In the moonlight her skin looked even paler than normally and her loose hair covered her face now she leaned forward. "Bran needs rest. We all do. You have to tell the others to keep quiet."

But the wolf didn't listen. Not even to her. They only seemed to do so when they truly felt their lives depended on it.

"Lady!" Sansa had yelled, her hands next to her mouth to make her scream go even further. "Lady! Come back!"

Teaching the wolves to listen and behave had been a lot harder than Robb and Bran had probably thought it would be. These weren't dogs they could easily tame. These were wild animals, born in freedom and now raised in captivity.

"Lady!" Sansa had stamped her feet and had crossed her arms over her chest. "If father finds out about this, he might have you killed."

"I won't let that happen, Sansa." Theon's reply had surprised even himself. "I promise."

He normally never questioned Ned Stark's decisions. He didn't have the luxury to do so. And yet he knew that if Ned would ever ask him to kill one of the wolves again, he couldn't do it.

Even though Sansa had been slightly afraid of the wolf at first, she had also grown very attached to it very quickly. Wherever Sansa went, her wolf followed, always keeping an eye on her and stepping in whenever someone came a little too close.

More than once Lady had growled at Theon, had bared her teeth and had warned him to keep his distance.

It was a pity that Ned Stark had ordered his children to keep the dire wolves away from the royal family.

Theon would have loved to see what Lady would have done to Joffrey.

The handsome prince maybe would have lost one of his precious hands. Or, if Theon had been very lucky, the wolf would have gone for a far more delicious piece of meat. And with one bite Lady could have ruined this marriage before it had even happened, much easier and much faster than Theon and Robb could.

A soft chuckle escaped Theon's slightly parted lips and Sansa looked up, her glance meeting his.

"It's not funny!" She shook her head and quickly Theon stepped back and returned to his comfortable bed.

In a way the howling of the wolves, even though it was deafening, had something reassuring too. They were howling because one of them was hurt and fighting for his life. The Starks were just as much part of the pack as the wolves were.

And if there was one thing Theon knew about packs, it was that they always looked after one another.

When his head rested on his pillow again he closed his eyes. He heard Sansa attempting to calm the wolves down once more and failing again.

Maybe they would have more luck if they would send little Rickon. But Rickon was without a doubt fest asleep, not understanding a bit of what was actually going on.

But Theon wasn't that blissfully ignorant anymore. And deep down he knew that it had never been the howling of the wolves keeping him awake.