Chapter 6
"Well, here's the den." Cole waves her arms in the air, gesturing vaguely to the shabby building we've just entered. The walls are cracked and dirty, while wires hang down from the ceiling like grasping cobwebs. The carpet was once a brown color, but has faded to an indescribable dull gray. A pile of blankets lay in a corner, shaped like a nest. There are few pieces of furniture---- after all, what wolf needs a chair? --- But there is a bed in the far right corner of the room. My body aches at the sight. Anything would be better than sleeping on the ground. A door to the left of the bed is slightly ajar, and I can faintly see the outline of what looks like a bathtub.
Cole hands me a bundle of clothing. "I see you're already eyeing the bathroom," She says. "Go get cleaned up. You smell awful, even for a human."
She grins as she says it, otherwise I would have said something smart-alecky. Plus, the promise of a nice, hot bath calls to me and my skin is crawling with the desperate need to get clean.
I practically run to the bathroom and begin to run the hot water before I even close the door. I strip my disgusting and gory clothes off quickly and put them into the chipped sink. It surprises me when I find a bottle of old shampoo and soap on the counter, as if it was waiting for me. Once the water is hot enough to boil something, I lower myself into it. A delicious burn engulfs me as I submerge and begin to scrub the grime off myself. Almost instantly, the water turns a muddy brown and rust red from the combined stains of dirt and blood. The heat feels amazingly cleansing on my skin, and I turn the heat up as if to scour away all the events of the past couple of weeks.
I stay in the tub for over an hour before I finally manage to drag myself out. I let the sauna-like temperature of the tiny bathroom dry my skin. Once dry, I change into the clothes that Cole had provided me; a pair of jeans, a bright red long sleeve shirt and a pair of winter boots. The jeans are a bit loose, but the shirt hugs my body like a second skin and is wonderfully warm; the inside is lined with another layer of fabric that acts as insulation. The boots are also warm, lined with some type of fur. Briefly, I wonder how Cole got such nice clothes, and then I decide it's sometimes better not to know. My damp hair curls in ringlets down my back, but I can't do anything about it, so I run my fingers through them in an attempt to keep them from tangling. I leave my old clothes in the bathroom sink so I can wash them later. Right now, I just want rest and food.
Quietly, I open the bathroom door. Voices greet me, echoing from the outside of the front doorway.
"…There's something strange about it," I recognize Cole's voice. "It smells like one of us, if extremely faint."
"I've noticed it, too," Toboe's speaking in a low, thoughtful tone.
What are they talking about? I wonder to myself. I stand quietly, trying to hear their conversation.
"Especially when she said she understood---"
"LEARA!"
Chanson's voice breaks the adults' conversation as she rushes to my side. Her eyes are bright and innocent.
"What are you doing standing there for?" She asks, overly curious. She cocks her head to the side and looks at me quizzically. "You know, you smell a lot better now. Do you know what you smell like?" She doesn't wait for me to answer before she plows forward. "You smell like the snow and meat and raspberries. Not in a bad way, though. And you smell a lot like Toboe, I guess because you've been traveling with him and all, but you smell too much like Toboe. Hey, is Toboe your mate? Mommy smells a lot like daddy, and she said it was because they were mates. Cause Mommy told me once that when a daddy wolf and a mommy wolf like each other a whole, whole lot, they---"
"Chanson!" Cole's standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, Toboe behind her. "What are you rambling on about?"
"Well, Mommy, I was telling Leara that she smells a lot like Toboe and I was asking her if it was because Toboe was her mate, 'cause remember how you told me that when a mommy and a daddy love each other—"
Cole holds up a hand and Chanson quiets instantly. Much to my relief. However, I can't contain the furious blush creeping up on my cheeks, nor can I stop myself from looking in Toboe's direction. It's a strange sort of reprieve to see that I'm not the only one blushing.
"Chanson, go play with your brother outside." Cole instructs. "Let me talk to Toboe and Leara for a while, and then we'll go hunting."
The little she-pup smiles and skips outside as a response. Note to self: Don't tell a kid about the birds and the bees until they can actually comprehend what it means.
As soon as the pup is out of earshot, Cole and Toboe enter the tiny room. Cole sighs.
"While you were getting cleaned up, Toboe informed me of what's happened," She says. "And I've got to say, there's a lot that you need to be aware of, if you're going to continue on this journey."
I sit down on the bed, sensing this conversation was going to take a while. A dim memory pops into my head.
"Actually, before we go into all that," I say, "Can someone please explain who these Hunters are?"
Cole stiffens at the name. She says slowly, "The Hunters are a group of humans who hate wolves. They've only risen to power recently, over the past three years or so. The members claim that their leader studied under Lord Darcia."
At the name of the Noble, Toboe lets out a vicious snarl. His eyes betray the fear.
"Darcia?" he hisses. Cole nods.
"There's more, too," She continues. "It is rumored that the goal of the group is to eliminate all of our kind, and then take over Paradise."
"How?" Toboe laughs scornfully. "They can't open the gates. They don't have the Flower Maiden."
"They intend to find her at all costs."
Toboe's eyes narrow in astonishment. "They know that she's returned?"
"Yes. They also know about the return of the rest of your pack, and already they are searching for them. Especially the one called Kiba." Cole looks down. "The Hunters have found out that it is Kiba that the Book of the Moon refers to."
I feel the anger rising in my throat. Over the course of our wilderness journey, Toboe had filled me in on the events that happened to his pack when they first set out those years ago. From his storytelling, I felt that Kiba, Tsume, Blue and Hige and Cheza were my family that they were my friends too.
Toboe turns to me, anxiety plain on his face, seeking some type of comfort, however brief or trivial.
"We'll set out tomorrow to find them," I reassure him. His face relaxes, but only a little.
"Your ultimate goal is to find Kiba and Cheza above everything else," Cole cuts in, "But I think I know someone who can help you find Tsume."
Toboe looks at Cole with hopeful eagerness in his eyes. "Who?"
"His name's Broma." Cole replies, a smile playing about her face. "To me, he's a young wolf, but he's Toboe's age, I think. He has a nose for information. He may be a fast talker, but he will help you, I'm sure."
A howl erupts from the outside of the house, causing Toboe and Cole to cock their heads to one side. They listen intently, before Cole says.
"Speak of the devil."
The two pups tumble into the small building, not bothering with their human disguises, yipping playfully and wagging their tails. "Broma! Broma!" They call.
A scrawny wolf appears in the doorway, his golden eyes sparkling with amusement. I blink in surprise at the color of his coat; it's a dark red, the color of a sunset on an ocean. A splash of black fur licks his front right paw, and his tail is full and bushy. He's around Toboe's age---so, consequently, about mine----but he seems much older. I can't put my finger on it, exactly, but the way he carries himself conveys a sense of importance, like a king among his adoring subjects. It's not cockiness, nor arrogance, but a type of self-assurance that is rare to come by. My gaze blurs, and before me stands a teenage boy like none I've ever seen, yet is strangely familiar, like a long forgotten dream. He is slender in the hips but broader in the shoulders, giving a strangely masculine form. His arms, plainly visible due to his sleeveless shirt, are toned and muscle rolls gently underneath his skin when he moves. He stands in the doorway and looks at me curiously, while I stare back at his handsome face. His cheekbones are sharp and high, giving him a permanent five o'clock shadow, while his nose is slightly crooked and almost beaky. On any other face, his nose would have dominated his looks or overshadowed them, but on this boy, it leant a sort of disheveled good-look to his features. He flickers dark red hair—which is almost black--- out of his line of sight, and then turns his gaze to me.
His eyes, when they meet mine, are astounding. A shade of pale blue that borders on white meets my own dark-eyed gaze, and I feel like he's staring straight through me.
"Hey," The he-wolf says. His voice is raspy, but pleasantly so. The mere sound of his voice makes me quiver in a eccentrically erotic anticipation. I can't help but wonder, if he had fingers instead of paws, would they feel as delectably rough as his voice sounds, as they touch my skin?
"Broma, these are the two I was telling you about," Cole says, breaking my train of inappropriate thoughts. "Toboe and Leara."
Broma acknowledges Toboe with a curt nod, his eyes never leaving mine. "So you're the famous Wolf-Speaker that I've heard so much about." He says in a quiet voice.
I start, surprise racing in my veins. "You've heard about me?"
Broma inclines his head. "All of the underground has heard of you; the human authorities have as well."
I stiffen instantly, and besides me, I feel Toboe tense. "The human authorities?"
"Word is, you murdered three people back in Freeze City." Broma says the horrible accusation with only a glint of curiosity in his tone, and no pity. "A girl, her boyfriend… and your father."
Shock races through my system, and I sway slightly before I regain my composure. "What? I never touched any of them!"
Broma shakes his head. "I overheard some of the Noble's men talking. They said that they found a wet wipe caked with the boy's blood on it at your house, next to your father's corpse, and that your blood was also on it."
I feel faint as I remember the wet wipe that I had used to clean Toboe's face with. It had been in my pocket when we went to my house.
I see the recognition flicker on Toboe's face, as well as a guilty expression. I knew him enough by now to assume that he was blaming himself for false accusation against me, because it had been Toboe who killed Dyue and Katsuye. Toboe was the one with the blood on his muzzle, not I.
"I didn't kill them," I say quietly.
Toboe nods in agreement. "I tore their throats out. They were going to harm Leara."
Broma shrugs. "Doesn't matter who actually did the killing, it's all pinned on her now. And I'm sure the Noble's men won't have time to listen to her side of the story." He says it as a fact, not as a taunt, but even so, I feel Toboe's body shake before the thunderous growl rips from his throat.
"Why do you think the Nobility would care about Leara's supposed crime so much?" Toboe asks. "There is plenty of crime in the cities. Why focus on Leara?"
The red-wolf ignores the challenging growl in Toboe's words, and instead Broma's eyes spark in interest. He mutters to himself more than anyone else, "Why indeed?"
He shakes his head so slightly, I wonder if I was seeing things, before Broma clears his throat and continues along a different path.
"Unfortunately, I haven't just dropped by for all these pleasantries." He says. He turns to Cole with a grim expression on his face. "You have to hide the cubs. Shaz has gathered a rogue pack together, and he's coming tonight to get them."
Cole's face becomes a mask of maternal fear and fierce anger. "When?" Is all she asks, but I can already see the calculating mind of the she-wolf plotting her pups' escape route.
"An hour, at dusk," Broma runs a hand through his hair. "And it's not just the pups they want. It's the Wolf-Speaker as well."
Cole and Toboe trade glances, and Toboe's eyes flash angrily. "Just let them try," He growls. "Cole and I can protect Leara and the cubs. If we just keep them in the bathroom and guard the door---"
Broma interrupts with a snort. "Have you been around humans too long?" He laughs humorlessly. "Shaz may act like a dog, but he has a wolf's pride. He's going to do whatever it takes to get your little human in his jaws."
"Excuse me, but this 'little human' isn't anyone's property," I interject. "And secondly, I can fight---" Toboe and Broma both look skeptical, and Broma voices his doubt.
"Not against a pack of wolves. You'll be torn to shreds."
I ignore the obvious truth and continue. "But I'm more concerned about the cubs' safety. There's got to be a place we can hide them."
Chanson looks up fearfully at her mother, while Zari eyes Broma hopefully. The male pup's gaze is one I recognize with a pang; he sees Broma as the leader, the alpha, and his father.
Cole's forehead creases in intense thought. "They can track us anywhere in the city because of our scent trail. There is nowhere that the pack hasn't found and savaged off of…"
An idea strikes me. Without considering my words, I blurt out, "What if we take the pups to the tunnel pathway? Didn't you say that a lot of the pack died in the tunnel because of gas? Surely the pack wouldn't follow us there out of fear…"
Broma eyes me in cool scrutiny. "Not a bad idea, girl."
I take it as a compliment.
"It's true, the pack hasn't been around the tunnels in years," Cole concedes. "Not since Zali died. The superstitious fools."
Chanson goes to her mother's side and takes her hand. "You're going to come too, right, Mommy?"
Cole's expression is pained. "No, sweetheart. I'm going to make sure that you and Zari aren't followed."
She turns her gaze from her beloved pups to the three adults in the room. "I'm going to lead the pack on a false trail, while Toboe and Leara take you away from here." She pauses and then takes a breath, "To Paradise."
"Of course," I agree without hesitation. I blame it partly on my awakening motherly instincts, and the rest of it on my newfound respect for Cole. To give up your only children, to send them off to a better life while you stayed behind, was something that only true love could produce.
"Mommy…" Chanson whines quietly. "Is Paradise very far? Will we get lost?"
Cole strokes her daughter's illusionary hair, while her true form gently gives the pup a lick on the muzzle. "No, darling. Toboe knows the way."
Zari stands by his sister. "I'll take care of Chanson, Mother." He says, speaking for the first time that night. "I won't leave her side."
I'm struck by the mature promise in his words, surprised that it issues from such a young one's lips. Maybe it's a wolf thing, but I realize just how mature the alpha's heir is.
"Cole, this is madness," Broma interrupts. "You can't just send Zali's heir off with some stray and a human girl, to a place that doesn't exist! We can just hide the children in the tunnels until the pack gets tired of searching for them."
Cole's gaze meets Broma's, and a silent communication passes between them. "That is why they are leaving this wretched place," The she-wolf says softly. "They will never stop hunting Zali's pups, never cease in their power struggle. It won't be long before I'm caught off guard, and my pups are taken away to a place that is more inaccessible to me than Paradise. Then what will I do? Pine for them all my days? No, Broma, this city is not the place to raise cubs. It will only sow hate and fear in them. My heart tells me to put them on the path to Paradise, no matter how painful it will be for me to see them go. But if they stay here, they will never get a chance to truly live. At least in Paradise, they will always stay safe."
Cole's speech touches my heart, and I feel tears coming to my eyes. Would my mother have done the same thing for me? I can't help but wonder. Or is it because a wolf's instinct is to survive?
"We will take the pups, Cole," Toboe says quietly. "I swear that I will protect them."
"We swear it," I add.
Cole nods. "It is all I can ask of you. Now, go. Dusk is coming, and so is Shaz."
;;;;
The pups' goodbye to their mother is a brief but touching affair, and Broma, Toboe and I leave the small, broken family to their privacy and stand at the mouth of the great tunnel. The graves of those long passed on strangely comforts me. Their journey may have ended, but mine was just beginning.
"She must really believe in you," Broma says suddenly. "To let you take her pups. But I wonder if you're leading them to folly or fortune?"
I open my mouth to respond, but Toboe cuts me off. "The pups will make it to Paradise, just as I did six years ago."
Broma studies Toboe's face, but says nothing, his expression a cool mask of blandness.
Quiet paw-steps reach my ears, and I turn to see a teary-eyed Chanson and stone-faced Zari. "Mommy said to tell you that the pack is coming," Chanson says. "And to say may the moon bless you both."
Without thinking, I slip Chanson's hand through mine, only to have my fingers brush soft fur of her back. Human comfort can't help a wolf, I think.
A howl pierces the oncoming night, and I stiffen instinctively. The melody is not one of the serene wolf, but one of pain, more of a yelp than a howl. The voice is soft and feminine, and sounds frighteningly familiar. Its meaning becomes clear as it begins to fade.
It is a howl of loss, of sorrow, of a final goodbye. It is a mother's farewell and warning to her children. And as the last note is stolen away by the frozen wind, I understand what it is really saying.
We will meet again, in paradise…
Chanson begins to cry, and Zari's mask of indifference melts away as their mother's final cry echoes in the night sky.
"C'mon, we have to go!" Broma suddenly growls. His eyes are on the edge of the city, where the path begins to the cemetery. I can faintly see the outline of a large pack of wolves, coming towards us quickly.
I pick up Chanson, who's stricken by grief, and Toboe grabs Zari by the scruff of his neck, his wolf form visible. We race into the tunnel, and don't stop until I'm gasping for breathe.
Toboe drops Zari carefully on the sewer floor, and turns to me, his great muzzle sorrowful. He pads to my side and nuzzles my hand, and I carefully set Chanson down. She quickly scampers off to her brother's side.
"Are you okay?" He asks me quietly.
I nod as my breathing stabilizes. "I'm fine. We need to look to the pups."
"I can do that," Broma comes up silently behind me. I'm envious as I see he's not even winded. "We've lost the pack for now… and I've known them since they were born. I can comfort them and prepare them for our journey."
I raise my eyebrows. "Our journey?"
Broma shrugs. "I'm not sold on this whole paradise scheme, but the pups need some type of familiarity. Besides, I think that you, Wolf-Speaker, might be interesting to be around."
Without another word, Broma walks to the pups and attends them.
"Did we just gain another pack mate?" Toboe asks.
I sigh. I suppose we had.
A/N Hey yall, sorry it took me forever to post this chapter! Usually I update faster than this, but I've been sick and I've had to go to SO many school related activities.. Anyway, I hope this doesn't feel too rushed---but then again, I feel like it's progressing almost too slow. AH, the conflict!
Anyhow, I will try to update again as soon as possible, but I'm going out of town without access to a computer for the weekend, and then I have 6-weeks testing, but I will try my hardest!
As always, any comments are appreciated!
-Madison
