(COMPLETED) Hunted by the Alpha

Emily - 02: Part One

I watched Logan's figure walking away down the hall, he stopped. I thought he was going to turn around, I thought he would look back, he didn't. "Drama Queen" Whitt remarked, walking towards the door, the same direction Dom and Elena had started to go. I was stuck. Did I stay and sort things with Logan? Tell him that I didn't want to be going? I wanted to help my parents, staying here couldn't do that. He stayed perfectly in place. Whitt looked at me from the door, "Em? You in?" I saw Logan's head twitch as I walked away, towards getting answers, to helping my pack.

We'd been driving for almost an hour, Dom was driving, Elena sat right next to him in the passenger seat. I was sitting in the back with Whitt, she was looking out of the window, watching the trees pass us by. I nudged her gently, "hey, you okay?" She looked at me and tried to give me a small smile, "if you'd just found out you're a half witch/wolf hybrid that people are hunting to kill and your parents died protecting you... how would take it?" I know she hasn't meant it harshly, but I still felt guilty... My own parents had been like family to her for years and now even they were missing. The only difference is that I still had a chance to bring mine home, Whitt's parents were taken the same time her home was. I rubbed her hand, "I know my situation isn't the same, but we're family too. We'll figure this all out I promise."

I looked in the mirror in the middle of the dashboard, purple eyes looked back at me in understanding. He had lost his parents too, it wasn't just Whitt, they were siblings, it was a grief they both shared. I leaned back, rolling my head to the side, I watched as the beams from the headlights on the car lit the way. Leaves from the trees were drifting softly to the ground, finding themselves a new home. It was so dark I could hardly tell when it turned from tree to stone, soon enough a gigantic stone wall was surrounding us. "What's with the wall?" I asked. Elena answered, "when you have a city of wood, it's easy to burn." It was so blunt, so straight forward and yet made so much sense. "Why don't all the packs have walls?" She turned around to face me, leaning over her headrest, "none of the other packs would listen to a witch." Whitt noticeably flinched.

Dom cleaned his throat from the driver's seat, "after the attack on my pack I preserved everything to be stone and brick. You won't find any building made from flammable material here." He caught my eyes in the mirror again, "these dark witches, they like fire." I shivered, remembering the flames licking at the roof of my house. I suppose everyone in this car had been through similar experiences. I turned to Whitt, "what do I call you?" She arched an eyebrow, "why would you call me anything different?" I'd already come up with some nickname ideas, "you're Whitt to me, but you're Jessie to them." I looked over to Elena, "you're a witch, but you're also a wolf" Whitt put her finger under her chin in contemplation. "Whitt is perfect then, if that's what we are going for? I'm a wolf and I'm a witch. Whitt." I nodded, I guess she was right, it's almost as if her name was a symbol of who she was, it was always there, just without realisation.

The rest of the car ride was quiet, I didn't want to be the only one asking questions, instead my mind started to wander back to Logan. I wondered what he would be doing, if he'd be sitting in his office behind his big desk, or if he'd be in his room, lounging on his bed. Would he be mad at me for leaving, or would he even care that I was gone? He looked so upset, and that's what upset me more than anything, this was to find my parents. Did he not want me to? Was he hiding something? Was he aware of something I wasn't? My overthinking was shut off as soon as I saw huge metal gates in front of the car. They stretched up as far as I could see through the windshield, they looked heavy and strong. Whitt moved to sit in the middle of the back seat, looking up at the wall of iron in front of us, "What's with all the dramatics" she laughed. "You'll see" was all Dom said in reply.

The gates made a loud, deep groaning noise as they slowly opened. I covered my ears, "has anyone here ever heard of oil, jeez." The car pulled up slowly as the metal let us pass. I was expecting fire pits and stone huts, I was expecting spears, dirt roads and spikes, I was wrong. The roads, which were made from normal tarmac, were lined with lamps of glass that hung with candles inside. Elena noticed me staring, "they stay lit because of the magic around the pack. Not even the strongest storms can blow them out." She looked towards Whitt who was also admiring them, "your mother brought so much light to this pack, this is how we remember her. An eternal light in the dark." Tears formed in Whitt's eyes, she choked out a "thank you" before we turned down another road.

Flowers of every sort were dotted everywhere and where I thought stone huts would sit, there were perfect little family homes made from brick. "The outside of your pack is extremely misleading" I told Dom. He stopped outside a big modern home, "If people think the outside is so fearful and scary, they don't deserve the beauty that's within the walls." I contemplated that, I guess he was right, no one would even try to enter the walls if they had the same idea about the pack as I had. Everyone started to get out of the car, "Where are we?" I asked. Dom came over to my side of the car and put his arm out for me to take, "this little varg, is the Rising Dawn pack and this is my home." Now that I was standing in front of it, I could see it clearly, even in the moonlight. It was made from a light grey stone and the steps leading up to the front entry had lights shining from the sides to lead the way. The whole house was lit up, but most of the light came from the inside. The windows were so big and open that any light from inside illuminated the night air.

I caught my breath, "this is your home?" I asked Dom, he was already walking up the steps. "It's a home for anyone that might need it, our pack house isn't exclusive. I've hardly had family to share it with." I sprinted after him, "you have anyone inside? Isn't that dangerous?" He laughed and shook his head, Whitt and Elena were already at the door. "What you will learn here, is that my pack isn't half as bad as people make it out to be. Everyone respects each other. Though if we do have arguments that need to be settled-" he went to finish, Elena cut him up, "-the witches take care of that." Okay, note to self, don't piss off the witches. We all started to pile into the house, the first thing I noticed was how spacious it was, how impossibly open, but comfortable and homely at the same time. The second thing I noticed was the small woman with brown hair standing at the stairs, "Amelie let me in, she said you'd be back soon." Dom moved closer to me instinctively, the woman caught this and glared in my direction. "She didn't say you'd be bringing back strays." I cut my eyes at her, what the hell was her problem?