Treaty Bound

Chapter 6: Wolves and Bears and Worse

   No one said a word as we trekked for hours through the oak forest as bright yellow leaves fluttered to the ground around us. The Snow Cap Mountains at our back told me we were going south, deep into the woods where even the bravest of woodcutters didn't dare go. The dense growth of young trees eventually gave way to the open spaces of the older oaks with their bent branches spread wide and low as if to claim the area they had fought for and won.

   The cool breeze from the mountains fading as the warm sun rose high in the sky would have made for an unexpectedly pleasant walk... if I ignored who I was walking with. Even the wolf had remained completely silent, which I was thankful for. It gave me time to think and sort out my own thoughts without its feelings confusing me.

   Unfortunately, the more I thought about everything that had happened the more questions came to mind. Was I really a monster that hunted and ate people? Hell, could I only eat meat now? Wolves didn't eat fruits or vegetables, did they? Was I going to turn into a huge gray wolf again tonight and lose control like I had last night? What had he, or we, even done last night?

   My life had changed forever the previous night and I could not even remember half of what had happened. I was sure Luke or Lily, the only other two of our group in human form, could tell me and probably answer all my questions as well. I just didn't have it in me to be the first to break the silence. So I kept my questions to myself and did something I was much better at; I watched and learned.

   Now that I had time to observe him without fearing for my life I saw that Bear was not really a bear at all. From behind, I could now see that he had a long bushy tail like the wolves. His body was massive but unlike a bear it narrowed at the hips more like a wolf's body. His muzzle was larger and broader than a wolf's but still not nearly as much as a bear's would be. I wondered if a birth defect of some kind only made him look like a bear.

   Things got even more confusing when he swatted a fallen tree out of his path with one large paw. His front legs bending and moving right to left more like a bear or even a cat than a wolf. That could not be explained away as a birth defect and left me once again wondering what he was.

   I started watching the red and black wolf then to see if she was any different from a normal wolf. Standing almost 4 feet high at the shoulder she was definitely taller and bigger than a normal wolf but not nearly as large as Bear. Still, her legs and body were thicker and more muscular than a wolf's but I was not sure if that was due to her abnormal size. That was until she shredded a thick tree branch with one sideways swipe of her claws.

   As if werewolves were not scary enough, now I knew they could take my head clean off my shoulders with one swipe of their paw. My heart started pounding in my ears as I thought about just how powerful and deadly these monsters were, and I was alone with them. The desire to run from them began to grow again even though I knew it would be pointless to try. My breaths became short and quick as the desire became overwhelming without the wolf fighting it to keep me here.

   A small hand firmly gripped my shoulder, preventing me from running just as I was about to lose control and bolt off into the woods. Again I am ashamed to admit that I screamed and just about jumped out of my skin. It felt like my heart was going to rip itself free from my chest, it was beating so hard and fast. Everyone turned to look back at me but none of them even slowed their pace before looking away.

   Everyone except Lily, who was now walking next to me with one hand on my shoulder. I had been so consumed with fighting the need to run that I had not seen her climb down off of Bear's back and walk over to me.

   "Calm down. Do you have any idea what the smell of fear does to a werewolf? Do you want to be eaten?" Lily said, looking up at me with an amused grin spreading across her face. The fear must have been plain to see on my face because she quickly added, "I am only joking. You really need to relax."

   The wolf decided to wake up just then and suddenly I felt stupid for being afraid of them. Here was this small, delicate-looking woman teasing me and not afraid at all herself. At the same time, I was shaking with the need to run away from them, including her, and hide.

   "Sorry, I was just..."

   "Panicking," she said sounding amused.

   I managed a half-smile, not wanting to look as embarrassed as I was starting to feel with her looking at me. "Maybe a little."

   Her smile grew wider as she raised one brow. "You do know that we can tell when someone is lying, right?"

   "No, I didn't know that. I didn't even know your kind had magic till last night."

   Her brows lowered as her smile quickly faded. "My kind? You mean our kind. Or did you already forget that you are one of us now?" she asked, sounding hurt.

   "I'm sorry, I didn't-" In my haste to apologize, I was about to lie when the wolf made it very clear that it was a bad idea. "Ok I did mean it that way but I am sorry."

   "Apology accepted," she said, her smile returning so quickly that it should have made me question if the frown or the smile were really genuine. Instead, all I could think of was how pretty she looked when she smiled at me.

   "So what magic do we have then?" I asked, putting emphasis on the "we".

   "You really don't know much, do you?" she sighed and I found myself feeling bad for disappointing her. Before I could apologize for my ignorance she continued.

   "We don't have any magic, only the Fey have magic. It's the one common trait that makes such different creatures as Ogres and fairies both Fey."

   "Then what did Luke do to me? I felt his will press down on me, trying to make me submit to him. If that is not magic what is it?

   "We call those abilities. All alphas have the ability to make other, less dominant wolves submit to him. Just like vampires have the ability to make humans do what they want by looking them in the eye. Wait till you see that, it's really creepy."

   At that time I believed that no one had seen a vampire around Glen Haven in over a hundred years. Everyone knew that after the treaty had been signed they had all locked themselves away in there castles or caves or wherever they lived. Still, I wanted to know more about them, so I asked: "vampires can make us do what they want?"

   "They can make humans do what they want, not us. They can also make them forget things too. Its how most of them feed without breaking the Treaty. All they have to do is look some poor, unsuspecting girl in the eyes and she will do anything the vampire wants. Then the next morning she wakes up naked in a tavern bed thinking she drank too much and did something she is ashamed of. Most are too embarrassed to talk about it so no one is the wiser." She sounded almost envious of those girls as she spoke and the wolf took notice.

   I was angry about something else. "They do this in human towns and villages without us knowing? Have they been doing it in Glen Haven?"

   "How do you think we knew about you?" Lily laughed. "Dorian was in town hunting the night you were bitten and sent word to the pack to find you before you turned and did something he would have to kill you for."

   "Who is Dorian?" I asked, not bothering to hide the anger in my voice. Lily didn't seem to notice or at least gave no sign that she cared about my rising temper. Her eyes glazed over and her lips parted as if she was picturing him before speaking and it was obvious that she liked what she saw. I suddenly felt a strong and unfamiliar desire to kill a man that I had never met. When she started laughing, I realized that I had started growling.

   "He is just the most attractive man in all of the oak woods territory and the Prince of the Oak Forest coven." She stopped to look me up and down appraisingly with those deep blue eyes before speaking again. "though now that you have changed he may have some competition, in looks anyway." The wolf seemed to be calmed by the attention and the complement but I was not. A vampire had been in my town feeding off unsuspecting people.

   "You are telling me that not just any vampire but the leader of the vampires in this territory was in Glen Haven feeding off us? How can that happen? I thought the treaty only allowed them to drink from those who are willing?" I said with as much anger as I could manage without the wolf. Lily only seemed to be amused by my anger.

   "Dorian only drinks from beautiful young woman and I am sure they were very willing once he got them into bed," she said in a tone that suggested she wanted to take their place.

   The wolf's anger flared again, adding to my own. "Are you telling me he uses his ability to rape and feed off human women? And that is allowed by the treaty?"

   "Trust me, he does not need to use his ability to get women into bed. And as long as no one is killed the treaty is not broken."

   Before I knew what I was doing I had grabbed her arm and turned her to face me. When I spoke it came out more as a growl, "Have you gone to his bed?"

   "Jealous?" she asked with a smile as if that had been her goal all along... "Well you will be happy to know that vampires can't feed on our kind so he has no interest in me," she said before pulling away from my grip with ease and jogging away to catch up with the others.

   No, I was not jealous. The wolf was, but I had no idea how to explain that to her when I didn't understand it myself. So I just stood there dumbfounded as Lily walked back towards Bear. As I watched, all at once they stopped walking and sniffed the air. Lily ran the last few steps to Bear as he turned to look back at me with a deep, low growl. Lilly grabbed him around the neck and started talking too low for me to hear what she was saying.

   That is when the wind carried a smell so strong I gagged. Something that smelled like rotting garbage was coming through the woods behind us. I found myself running to the group that I had been planning to run from only minutes ago.

   "What is that smell?" I asked.

   "Ogres," Luke said, already starting to shift.