The Blind Werewolf

The Ari Pack

"Kay Dad, I'm ready!" I call, and walk down the stairs. I already put on my outfit for the trip. Black denim shorts, and a black tank top. If we're going to Southern California, then I am not wearing long sleeves. And I could tell what I was wearing because of the shape, as the fact that Dad pack only black clothing.
Dad was in the kitchen, with Jack and Duke. Beta Jack and Gamma Duke will be taking care of the pack until Dad comes back.
Louis was also there. I could tell, because he was the only person shaped like that.
Louis was tall, and strong. He had brown hair, with streaks of black in there. He had bluish green eyes, and was tan like me. All of my other brothers looked like him. And I mean exactly like them.
Dad had made eggs and bacon. And it smelled really good. I sat down next to Jack, and across from Louis. Dad set a plate down in front of me, and I grabbed a fork and started eating.
Dad sat down next to Louis, and started talking. "So I've decided that Louis and the boys should come with us. If Louis is going to be Alpha someday, he needed to meet the different packs."
I nodded shortly, and kept eating. I was glad they were coming along, cause it meant that I could spend more time with them.
When we finished eating, we washed our dishes, and the rest of the boys came down. They were all dressed in basketball shorts, and tennis shoes. Kaden, Riley, Brody, and Michael were all ready.
"Well, we better get this show on the road. If we get too tired to run anymore, we can stay in one of the hotels as we travel. But we will be running from sunrise to sunset.
Since we couldn't carry our bags in wolf form, we had to tie them to our backs once we shifted. It was easier for the boys, since they only packed three sets of clothing each. They just tied it to their ankles. But I had an entire suitcase, so when I shifted they had to tie it on me like a mule.
We ran through the forest, and I could feel the pack link fading as we crossed the borders of pack territory.
We ran an entire day, getting through the edge of Alaska, and passing through Canada. We ran straight through, only stopping for food and avoiding other pack territory.
But we still had to cross the borders into the Consecutive United States. When I asked my dad why we didn't just take a plane, he said that it was worth the journey. And I could tell you, it was not worth it.
My paws were sore, and I was tired. Dad and Louis said that to cross the border into America, we had to sneak through. And we had to stay in wolf form, so that we just look like animals. And we had to do it at night, because them it would be too dark to see the suitcase and clothes that we carried.
The borders are fenced in, and guards are at least posted one hundred feet apart. There's a forest right outside the fence, and that's where we're hiding right now.
So when night comes, we can run between the guard posts, and jump over the fence. Then we'll be in Washington state. From then on, we can run all the way to Southern California.
But since we've only stopped once at a hotel, once we get across the border, we'll stop at a hotel halfway through Washington, then halfway through California.
We were currently resting behind the cover of trees. We had shifted back, and now we were drinking, eating, and resting. Riley had explained the entire layout of the forest and fence, even though my grid vision allowed me to already see it. But I didn't want to ruin his fun.
I was laying against a tree, and eating a turkey sandwich. Not my favorite, but that's what Dad packed for all of us.
We had to wait until nine o'clock to start crossing. The moon wasn't full, so there would be less light for the humans to see by. But that wouldn't be a problem for us. We had better night vision, so we could see at night as easily as we could see in the daylight.
"Hey, Dad?" Louis asks, and Dad looks up.
"When we get there, to the pack, I mean, how long will be staying there?"
Dad stays silent for a moment, and says, "We will be staying long enough to observe at least one of all of her classes, so about two days. The first day we will be getting all the work done, then we stay the night. Then we'll be observing the classes, say goodbye, and leave before nightfall."
We talked after that, about what the Ari pack territory might look like. None of us had ever been there before. Usually when packs meet, they all go to a neutral territory, where no pack has land.
It was about a half hour from nine, so we packed up our stuff, and they helped me tie the suitcase back on my back.
For thirty minutes, we watched the guards. They weren't interesting. There was only one every hundred feet, so they didn't speak. And I could tell that they were tired. Easy crossing, then.
And when it reached nine, or before or after, we started. Dad went first, sprinting quickly across the small dark field, jumping on the side of the fence, and climbing over it. It was easy to blend in. Since we were all children of the Alpha, we all had pure black fur, so it blended in with the black grass and sky.
I was last to run. It would be a bit of a jump, since I was smaller than my brothers, but if I got it just right...
I run all the way to the gate, five feet from it I jump forward, pushing off the ground. I hit the fence with impact, and I use my paws to climb all the way over, and drop down to the ground. I waste no time, and start running again, all the way to the small patch of trees that Dad and the others were waiting in.
I found them, standing in the middle of the trees. When they saw me, they kept running, and I followed quickly.
We ran for hours, adding to our exhaustion. It was no doubt that we were pushing our endurance limits. Even running back home wasn't for this long, at this speed.
When we reached mid Washington, we stopped in a town called Killeen. We stayed in a small hotel. It wasn't that good. One bedroom, bathroom, two beds, and no room service or breakfast.
I was almost relieved when we left, and started running again. We were not allowed to run outside of the woods, plains, or private place. If it was a road, or public place, the Arch won't allow it. It would be a danger to our kind.
The Arch is like...the government of the supernatural world. We're not the only supernatural species out there, but there are very few others. There are vampire clans, elven cities, wolf packs, magic users, etc. And if they don't choose to live in the human world, they can live is Dusk.
Dusk is the country of all supernatural. The Arch controls it, and the elven people manage it. The elves are not tiny, or have high voices, rosy cheeks. They do not work for Santa Claus, who is a myth. They are shape shifters, but their original form is very beautiful. There is a variation of the appearance of elves, but beautiful and enchanting all the same.
But anyway, Dusk is a country, which cannot be reached by humans. Only supernaturals can reach it, see it, and get into it. It lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and to supernaturals it is as large as a continent. But to humans, it is just normal water, and they will only pass through it if they try to get close.
In the middle of it, keeping order, is the Arch. It is not completely one race. There are five elves, five werewolves, five vampires, and five magic users, also knows as warlocks. And the most important group is the people who make the decisions. The five of each race will take votes for their species, and the leader of the five will take the vote from the others, and the leaders will decide. This way, there is no fight for power. Everyone is equal.
The leader of the werewolf representatives is Drake Keen.
He's pretty brutal, and he's a pack leader here in America. His pack is the Grimm pack, and they live in Michigan, I think. The one that's the enemy of the Ari pack.
There are rumors that he was appointed leader of the werewolves because everybody was afraid to run against him. He runs one of the bloodiest and brutal packs in the world. He raids other packs for power, and has succeeded in killing off even the oldest packs in the world.
It's said that he also takes slaves for servants. If he wants something, he gets it, because everyone's afraid to oppose or deny him. Personally, I think that the Ari pack should just give up and settle for second place. It would spare lives, and there might not be a feud anymore.
But I needed to focus right now. We were a quarter of a way through California. It was Tuesday night right now, so we had to make it the other three quarters by tomorrow night.
But if we got too tired tonight, which is completely stupid because we rested yesterday, we would only have to make it to mid California to get a hotel.
It was a little colder than I thought Northern and mid California would be at night, but it was still hot. Since I was an Alaskan wolf, my coat was black and thick, to trap heat and keep it there. But here, it was trapping too much heat, even though it was farther north than the Ari pack.
When we stopped for night in mid California, we stopped in a small town called Meeker. It was a nice town. The hotel we stayed at had a nice desk lady, and she served breakfast to us the next morning. We didn't even have to come down, she came to our room with a cart, like room service.
And, unlike our other hotel, I was slightly sad when we had to leave after breakfast. That old lady made really good biscuits, or at least I think she was old. I couldn't see, but she smelled and sounded really old.
On Wednesday morning we left, and started running again. I could tell it was getting hotter, because I was tiring out faster, and my fur was getting wet.
We ran nearly all day. It sounded easy, but a werewolf running through half of California, relying only one sound and the people around them is hard. Just because I have grid vision doesn't mean that the image comes in clear, but it's good enough.
But when we got to Southern California, in a large town called Farthen, I could sense the other werewolves.
Farthen was a large town, surrounded by forests. It had a lot of humans, but the Ari pack was definitely here.
It had a large mall, called Pinnacle Mall. That was basically the main shopping area, and it was in the middle of town. It had a movie theatre, Sears, JCPenny, and other smaller stores. It also had a daycare, and an elementary school just down the road from one of the supermarkets.
On the opposite side of town, there was an extremely large high school. It had a football field, science lab, garden, track, and other outside stuff.
The pack house was in the surrounding woods. I could sense that there were people doing rounds, maybe to send a message when we come.
Dad ran ahead of us when we came into pack territory. If we encountered another wolf, he needed to be at the head of the group. We all ran behind him, and into a clearing.
There were wolves everywhere! Well, they were in their human form, but there were still so many. There were groups of guys and girls, hanging out at the tree line or on the huge porch.
The Ari pack house felt huge! When the sound waves bounced off of the walls, I couldn't even see the top of the walls. But it had to be at least a couple stories high, and the floors had to be at least nine hundred square feet.
People gathered around as we came into the camp, and I guess Michael got nervous, and bit the ropes holding the suitcase on my back. He was always specific with the way we looked around people, and I guess that he didn't like the fact that I had a suitcase tied to my back.
I was glad it was off, because it was heavy, and when it fell off I was able to move around a bit more.
Soon we were completely surrounded by people, but I think the Alpha was still in the house, with the Beta and Third.
I realized that the boys had all shifted back, because Louis set a hand on my shoulder. I closed my blue eyes, and I could feel myself shifting back. The fur was retracting, my bones reforming, and the ground coming closer.
And I was standing on the ground. Louis and Dad came to stand by me, and Louis slung an arm over my shoulders.
I heard wolf whistles, and I remembered that I was still wearing the denim shorts and tank top. I washed it both times we stayed at hotels, but I still felt weird in it.
My brothers, being as overprotective as they are, came to stand by me. I shrunk back a little. I could feel amusement, anger, tension, and confusion in the air. It all came off in waves.
And they the white silhouettes parted, and three people came through to us. Dad, really, but we were standing pretty close. I already knew who it was. The Alpha, Beta, and Third.
When we would stop for rests, Dad would inform us about the Ari pack.
The Alpha, Alpha Cain Keen, had no parents, deceased wife and teenage son, and no living family besides his son and enemy brother. Beta Zachariah and Gamma Will were his best friends, along with some other important pack members.
Dad also described Alpha Cain. He had brown hair, green eyes, tan skin, and was tall. Not a very detailed description, but oh well.
They came over to us, and stopped in front of Louis, me, and Dad. Alpha Cain holds out his hand, and Dad takes it.
"Ah, Alpha Sean. I am pleased to see that you and your family are doing well. Did you have any trouble getting here?"
My Dad laughs. "Well, we had to cross the American border at night, but the town here seems pretty nice. Thank you for your concern." Ah, Dad, the polite one out of all of us.
Dad and Alpha Cain exchanged a few more pleasantries, and I rolled my eyes. I heard a few snickers.
"Well," Dad says, "I was wondering if my sons and I could observe some of Venice's classes tomorrow before we depart?"
Alpha Cain and his pack were silent for a minute, and I started getting worried.
"My apologies, Alpha Sean, but my pack and I have been under some stress, and we do not currently feel comfortable with visitors. We have been experiencing some...problems. I am sorry, but we cannot house you for tonight," Alpha Cain says, and my mouth drops open.
"Well, would you mind if we stayed in town for tonight?" Louis suggests, and Cain sighs.
"There are no hotels in Farthen. When my pack's problems are resolved, we will be able to have you stay in the pack house. But you are allowed to visit as much as you would like," Cain says, and Dad sighs.
"It is very far from Alaska to Southern California. You have to cross through Alaska, Canada, the American border, Washington, and nearly all of California. But as long as we are able to visit, and Venice is well taken care of, we will agree to this."
What? I look at my Dad in surprise, even though I could only see the white silhouette of him and my brothers. They were all looking at him in surprise.
Alpha Cain sighs in relief. "Thank you, Alpha Sean. We will make sure that all of your wishes are carried out."
I hear Dad mutter something incoherent, and he hugs me from the side, and kisses my forehead.
And it was a group hug. My brothers all joined in, and I savored being with them this one last time. My brothers all said goodbye, Riley joking about not falling in love or getting killed.
Dad came over to me, and just looked at me. "I'm proud of you, Venn," he says, using my nickname that I've had since forever.
I nod quickly, tears in my never seeing eyes. We hug one last time, wishing each other good luck, Dad promising me that he'll try to visit every once in awhile, and a big party when I get back. I didn't know if I was allowed to leave the Ari pack for trips back home, but Dad would surely find out.
Louis was last to come give me a hug. "You know," he starts off, and steps back. "Just before Mom died, she told me to give you something. She said that when you were ready, I was supposed to make sure you got it, and I think that time is now."
He took my hand, and closed his around it. I felt something cold press into my palm, and he let go, giving one last hug, and going over to Dad.
They shifted into their wolf forms, carrying their sacks of clothing in their mouths, and ran off without another look.
I stared after them for a moment, the sound waves unable to reach them anymore.
I open my palm, and touch the cold thing that Louis pressed into my palm. I tried feeling it, to see if I could at least try to figure out the shape. I couldn't do it, and the sound waves weren't helping much either.
I realized that Alpha Cain and his pack were still surrounding me, and heat flooded my cheeks. I closed my fist around the object, intent on figuring out what it was later.
We all stood there for a moment. I couldn't see anything but their body shapes, but I could feel their eyes on me. After awhile, some guy called out, "So you're from Alaska?"
I nodded, though I couldn't see him. Some other guy said, "But you're not pale. None of you were."
I never thought about it, but I guess my brothers and I were quite tan for Alaskan wolves. I didn't even know what to say. But luckily I didn't have to say anything.
"Guys, guys! Go back to...whatever you were doing before their arrival! I'm sure that all of you have homework to do!" Alpha Cain says, and I sigh with relief when the crowd starts to disperse.
Alpha Cain sets a hand on my shoulder, and leads me into the pack house. It felt relatively large.
Alpha Cain led me into his office, and had me sit down. It was warm in here, and I could tell there was a lot of furniture. The smell of leather, old books, and wood dominated the room, but it had a homey feel to it.
Alpha Cain sat down in his chair, and it made a squeaking sound. I looked at him, expecting him to speak. I always wondered if it was off for people to know I'm blind, and stare at them even though I couldn't actually see them.
Alpha Cain clears his throat, and begins speaking. "So, Venice, uh, we have already prepared you for the next year. You have training classes in fighting blind with both your wolf and human form. When you have learned how to do that, you will move on to training with the average teenagers. We have already arranged a room for you on the second floor, and you have been enrolled at the local high school in town. I have already asked somebody, one of the teenagers, to guide you-"
"I don't need a guide," I interrupt.
Alpha Cain laughs shortly. "What do you mean? You can't navigate new places if you can't see them," he said.
Maybe I can have a little fun with this. "I can see where I'm going. I'm not completely blind."
Silence. "What do you mean 'I can see?' This is the reason you're here."
Oh well, I guess it's not as fun as I expected it to be, and if he denies me training because of complications Dad and the others are close enough to come back and get me.
"I don't see like the blind or the normal people. I see a grid like vision. When sound waves bounce off something, it appears white in my vision. Think of it as heat vision, but only black and white."
I didn't see the expression on Alpha Cain's face, but he said, "Continue."
"Well," I began, "I can only see the shapes of people and objects. I can see that you're leaning on your arm. But I can't see color, or facial expressions. But since I'm technically blind, my other senses are enhanced. I can hear, smell, feel, and taste better than any other wolf can."
I couldn't tell if he believed me or not, but if he didn't then he surely didn't show it.
"Well, this changes thing," he say quietly, and my heart starts beating faster.
"How so?" I ask.
"Well, when we train blind wolves, we train them to use their other senses, like hearing, to predict where their opponent is. But it seems that you have already learned that, and you can see an image of where your opponent already is.
"You will start school tomorrow, and afterwards you will start training with the normal wolves. If that proves to be too much for you, then we will pull you down to the disabled class, and you will work your way up. Can you drive?"
I give him a look, and he laughs. "Of course not. Then tomorrow you will be riding to and from school with my son, Conner."
Oh God. There are some Alphas who have awful children. Popular, but rude. I have no intention of going there, but I guess I'll have to. I don't want to insult Alpha Cain.
"Um, okay, then. If there is nothing more to discuss, then I'll be going to bed. Which room do I sleep in?" I ask, and Alpha Cain makes a noise of remembrance.
"Oh, hold on. Conner!" Alpha Cain shouts, and waits. I hear a sound in the room above us. I heard footsteps, and after awhile the door to Alpha Cain's office opens.
"Yeah, Dad?" A tired voice asks. This must be Conner.
"Please escort Venice to the guest room, Conner. She will be in our training program tomorrow, and from then on. She will also be riding with you tomorrow to school, so do be nice to her."
I get up, and Alpha Cain adds on, "Oh, and Venice? I saw that you hadn't gotten properly dressed yet, so I had your suitcase moved to your room. You will find that your clothes and items have already been unpacked."
I remembered that I was only in shorts and a tank top for the second time today, and slap my forehead. "God, I forgot about that."
"Hey," Conner says, and I expect that he's smirking. "I'm fine with it. You should have heard the comments about you."
Alpha Cain makes a reprimanding sound. I walk out of the room, and Conner shuts the doors after me.
He quickly catches up, and walks in front of me. "So," he says, "I heard that you'll be riding with me tomorrow. Maybe you'll get to see the school."
I scowl. "There's no 'maybe' about it. It's definite. And I'm blind, idiot." I mutter the last word under my breath.
"What happened?" he asks, and I stop walking when we get to the living room. When he realizes that I'm not following, he stops too.
"You don't need to know what happened," I snap, and walk ahead. He gets in front of me again.
I feel something on my wrist, and I realize he grabbed it. I try to yank it away, but he won't budge.
"Hey! What're you doing?" I ask, and he turns my wrist around.
"You're bleeding," was all he said, and he uncurls my fingers. I realized that I still had Louis's object in my hand.
"A bracelet?" Conner asks, and takes it out of my hand. I snatch it back up before he could take it.
"So that's what it is? A bracelet?" I ask, touching the object with my bloody fingers. "Of what?"
I didn't really like asking for Conner's help, but I guess he could be worse. He was bold and cheesy and acted quickly, but I guess he was better than the wolves who are really awful to other people.
"It's a white chain, with a circle of black metal. Two blue wolves are standing together in it. It's two wolves standing in the center of a moon. But the tail of one of them sticks outside of the circle, and it cut your hand."
I felt the bracelet, and realized that he was right. It at least felt like his description, now that I think about it.
I slipped the white chain on my right wrist, and felt the moon and wolves dangle under it.
We arrived at my door. I said thanks to Conner, and he left to go back to his own room. So it was a bracelet. Now I wish I could see what it looked like.
I think I knew what it meant. When I was little, Mom used to joke to me about finding my mate. She described to me how it would feel. How I would know.
First of all: All that crap about how you act when you find your mate IS NOT TRUE. There is no possible way for you to reject your mate. And there is no inner wolf in your mind that screams at you. You are compelled to love your mate increasingly until you both...you get it.
When you find your mate, it's like...well you know that feeling you get when you look at a really beautiful picture or setting, or you're with someone you love? The feeling you get...it's indescribable.
I was still standing outside my room, so I opened the door, and stepped inside. It seemed like a medium sized room, with a dresser on the east wall, a queen size bed opposite of it. On the south wall there was a half pentagon seat window thing. It was one large window, with two smaller windows that curve outward so it make's a seat thing. There was a cushion, and two pillows on either side, so I think that it was a seat.
There was a door to the left of the dresser, and it opened into the bathroom. It had a bathtub/shower thing, a toilet, a sink, and a small closet. I didn't really need all that much space, so the size was okay.
I take a quick shower, and get one of the towels on the closet shelf to dry off with. My shampoo and other stuff was already in there, so that was great.
I go into my room, and feel around for my night clothes. I couldn't actually see what clothes were in there. But I was relying on my sense of touch to find me shorts and a tank top.
When I finally found some, I put that and my underclothes on, and shut the dresser.
I got into bed, which sort of felt like my bed back home. It didn't take very long to go to sleep, but I know that I did it while holding my mother's bracelet.