The Wolf Within (Book 1 of Wolf Within Series)

Mouse Army

** Dakota's POV **

"Alright, we're here." Frankie said as they turned to me and smiled. "Go ahead and grab your stuff, I'm going to help Al with the wolf." With that, they got out of the car and went straight to the bed of the truck.

I grabbed my bag and hopped out of the truck, eager to see how Silvy liked the ride. As I approached the side of the truck Ranger Alexa was seated on, I noticed that she and Frankie seemed to be looking at each other pretty intensely. Their expressions change every few seconds. Frankie's expressions weren't nearly as drastic as Ranger Alexa's.

Her face went from serious, to shocked then, finally, to a smile which looked very mischievous. I cleared my throat as I got close to Ranger Alexa, and reached out for Silvy. As I did so, I couldn't help but ask, "Are you two playing a game right now?" I was really confused by the changing expressions.

"Huh?" Ranger Alexa asked, her expression now one of severe confusion. Then, in a split second her eyebrows raised and her mouth opened as she said, "OH!". She looked to Frankie, for a second with a slight scowl and turned back to me, "Yea, every now and then we just make faces at each other. You know, to lighten the mood." She smiled as she passed Silvy to me and jumped over the side of the truck.

Frankie lowered the door to the truck bed and gingerly picked up the wolf. "Al, I'll take her to the medical facility." They nodded to the wolf as they said this and continued, "could you take Dakota, here, to the recreation center?" Frankie then turned to me to say, "I know we have a vacancy, and a room would be much nicer than any of the cots at the ranger station"

"Sure thing Frankie!" Ranger Alexa smiled. I had to admit, that smile looked a little too excited.

Frankie smiled at Ranger Alexa and began to walk off in the direction, I assumed, the medical facility was in. They called back over their shoulder, "Thank you! I'll be home once she's taken care of!"

"Alright Miss Dakota, shall we get you and Silvy to your room for the night? I'm sure you are super tired after that craziness." The ranger smiled as she led me in the opposite direction.

"I really am." I replied, exhaustion began to hit me pretty hard and I hoped the room wasn't too far away. As we made our way to the recreation center, little Silvy kept sniffing the air. Every now and then the hair on her back would raise, as if she was nervous.

"Don't you worry, your highness, you are perfectly safe." Ranger Alexa said as she gave Silvy a little pet on her back.

"Ranger Alexa, for someone who has never seen a cat before in real life, you certainly seem to have fallen in love." I stated as I watched her fawn and fuss over every little meow Silvy made.

"Call me Al," She smiled at me, "and yes! I absolutely love Silvy. She's so fun! Speaking of, I almost forgot!" she said as she reached into her pocket. "Your highness, this is for you!" As she said this, she held out her hand with pride as she presented a tiny, live, brown mouse. Silvy was immediately entranced by the small creature's behavior. Her eyes dilated to the point that the color in them was almost completely replaced with black.

Before I could ask about it, she brought the mouse closer to Silvy and said, "This is the first member of your army, your highness. Every queen needs one." With that, Silvy looked up at Al and let out a rather confident meow. She then bent down and just sniffed the mouse, which in turn sniffed her back.

CB: They've gotten to our cat.

HB: She probably just isn't hungry right now.

CB: No man, Silvy seems to totally understand everything Al says.

AB: You're scaring me CB. Please stop. Out of all the crazy things that have happened today, PLEASE LET SILVY STAY THE SAME!

HB: CB, please stop, you're making AB act up again and we just got her to calm down. She was almost asleep!

CB: I swear man... something is going on between our cat and that Al chick. She did something to Silvy.

AB: What?? What did she do? HB YOU HAVE TO PROTECT SILVY!

HB: SILVY IS FINE! BOTH OF YOU STOP IT! We need to go to bed. Now.

I clearly was very slap happy and needed some rest. Instead of questioning Al and Silvy about their strange relationship I decided to ask, "how far are we from the Recreation Center?"

"Oh," Al said, "We're just about there, that's it." She said as she pointed to a large building that looked like it could be a mountain ski-lodge or a forest retreat center.

The building was gorgeous. The exterior was made of redwood with some stone accents at the base and throughout the design. It looked to be three stories tall plus a tower which stood another story taller with windows all the way around it. There were windows everywhere and all of them were emitting the same warm light that made it feel cozy despite its size. Between the redwood exterior and the green roof, it would blend in perfectly with the surrounding forest save for that light. Luckily, the surrounding forest was so thick, I didn't see the cabin until we were nearly there.

HB: That's gorgeous.

AB: We can't afford this. Take us back to the ranger station. A cot will do just fun.

As we approached the massive porch to the building I could smell the food from the kitchen. My mouth began to water and my stomach growled so loud it seemed to tear through the air and managed to make Al jump.

"Wow, if I didn't know any better I'd have thought you were a wolf just now!" She laughed. "I'll grab you a plate of food and bring it to you while you get settled, but first, let me show you to your room." As she said this, she opened one of the glass doors lined with redwood trim and stepped aside to let me in first. 

**Author's Note: Every cat needs a mouse army! 

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