The Unseen Road

Chapter Nine

The hours passed until, at last, the activity began to subside. It happened very quickly; one moment, Kylie, Celeste, and Mina were all sitting patiently, occasionally conversing with either Omark, who was otherwise very busy, or Gus- and by the next, many of the Werewolves had finally begun to push away from the crowd. Most were going, apparently, for "nighttime patrol," leaving just Kylie, Celeste, and Mina sitting alone with the Alpha and a few other Werewolves wandering nearby.

But, eventually, even Gus had gotten up and left for patrol as well, and Omark had also strayed off elsewhere. The center of the grounds was left a mess; discarded sticks were strewn everywhere, tossed idly by a Werewolf here and there after devouring the rabbit meat on them, and the fire, with the leftover carcasses of the ravaged rabbits still hanging from the spit above it- leaving Kylie slightly unsettled, for she swore the skeletons were staring right at her- was about to go out, leaving an atmosphere not unlike that of an emptied roadhouse-bar (that isn't to say, however, that any of the girls had experienced the aftermath of a bar party before). It was very quiet- and for a while it seemed that the only sound that could be heard was that of the occasional beating of a moth's wings; and every now and then, a spark flew out of the dying flames towards the girls, landing just at their feet.

After a few moments, Omark reappeared again, coming towards them from behind a tent. "You all are still here?" he asked. "I'll take you back to a tent. We don't have an empty one, so I'll probably have Gus double up with someone else. He won't mind." He wiggled his eyebrows jestingly. "Unless... you won't mind sharing a tent with him."

Mina didn't seem enthused, looking helplessly from Kylie to the Alpha.

Kylie, reading her body language, shook her head and spoke up. "No, thank you," she replied politely.

Omark huffed and clapped his hands together in an overhead stretch. "Well then," he resumed ebulliently, "Come with me, then."

Seeing as he was waiting for them, the girls got up; and they followed him through the small but scattered campgrounds, happy to leave the wreckage behind. It had grown much colder throughout the course of the night, causing the girls to bundle themselves up in their cloaks, crossing their arms for warmth.

At last they came to a shabby tent towards the back.

"Alright then, go on in," Omark told them, standing beside the tent.

The girls did as they were told and drifted inside. Contrary to what they had been expecting, Gus was still in the tent. He was sitting down on the earthy ground and wearing no shirt, rendering the girls uncomfortable, but least of all Celeste who was the most immune to that sort of emotion— discomfort, that is.

It wasn't until after Kylie, Celeste, and Mina had lined up along the front of the tent that Omark stepped in behind them, ducking to fit inside. "Go on out," he decreed to the unsuspecting Gus. "The girls are going to stay here tonight."

Gus sighed, unable to protest almost by instinct. "Yeah, yeah," he said, sounding only slightly weary as he uncrossed his legs and got up.

He was about to slide past when he turned around, then gave a brief, submissive nod to the Alpha and the girls before leaving. The poor Delta was clearly like the camel of the pack.

With the addition of the extra open space, they spread out a little more in the tent and looked around them; on the ground, there were two blankets, which appeared to have been once white but were now tinged with green, gray, and brown.

The absence of one blanket hadn't gone unnoticed; so, after Celeste looked fleetingly at her sister, she offered, "You wanna share one with me?"

Kylie glanced over at Mina, who seemed content with having her own blanket, while completely oblivious to the fact that the sisters had to share. In her opinion, the younger girl deserved one of her own anyway; and, plus, they had their cloaks. "Uh, sure," she replied quickly.