Chapter 29
Author's note: My Feral Lady is now available on amazon! I did the same as I did with Fur and Fangs! Just a change in character names. It has 39 chapters. You can go pick it up to read those chapters early, but in the meantime, I will be posting one or two chapters a week. The book is really just for those who have enjoyed and want to support what I have been doing here. I have put a lot of energy and love into this story, and getting a couple of extra bucks through publishing the book means a lot, and helps ensure that I can continue writing like this! Link is on my tumblr : hopefulbadgerjunara of course.
Sounds like quite the plan
It took a good bit of finagling and attempting to walk through what felt like a sick series of screenshots from her life, but she arrived nonetheless. Her mother's study. Freya looked around with her mouth slightly agape. She did her best to take the room back in, it had been years since she had seen it. In some sad semblance of irony or just this world taunting her, it seemed to be raining ash; the remnants of burned books dancing down around her like sad slow snow. Everything about being back in that room was beyond peculiar. She hadn't gone in it much when her mother was alive, and never for personal reasons. It was only ever because her mother demanded she learn, study and practice so that she would be ready for anything at all times. Wow, that paid off didn't it? Freya rolled her eyes to herself, frustrated with all of everything that had seemingly gone to waste. She stepped forward, attempting to leave the past back at the entrance of the soot coated room. It was a task easier said than done, however; with each subsequent step bringing back a different memory, each soured somewhat with age and that which had been learned since.
Scared fingers graced the spine of soot-covered books, wiping the evidence of the catastrophe away and allowing the golden embossed title to shine even in the dim lighting. Freya's breath sunk in her chest and slipped out without her control as she read the title to some book she had always eyed. It wasn't the one she needed, nothing about werewolves, omegas, ferility or anything of the sort, just an old copy of Dante's Inferno. As a kid, she didn't know enough to know it wouldn't be a very entertaining read for someone so young. All she had known back then was that it was about the afterlife, and that was more than enough to peak the five-year-old Freya's interest. For years and years, she had always begged her mother to let her read it when she passed by the library, still not allowed to enter. But by the time she was being invited in, the library wasn't about reading for enjoyment, it was for training and practice; thoughts of picking the book up out of innocent curiosity died out quick, making way for her newfound duties and the tasks thrust upon her.
If only there were time? Freya wished momentarily. Time to sit, to breathe and take the moment for herself and enjoy something she would never get the chance to enjoy quite the same way a more innocent version of her had wished to. But there was no time, no there were just people waiting on her anxiously for solutions and answers.
Freya pulled the book out from its place, momentarily admiring its pristine cover, protected when wedged in between the other books. After her singular moment of admiration, she replaced it on the bookshelf backward, hiding its spine inwards, defending herself from the temptation. After that, she was quick to work at cleaning off the rest of the book's spines. Before finishing the first shelf, she realized her soot-covered hand wouldn't last much longer as an effective cleaning utensil. She ripped up her shirt, hoping that its real-life counterpart wouldn't suffer as well as she used a good portion of it to clean off the rest of the books along with her hands.
Even just a cursory look easily guided Freya to the correct shelf and section. Whispering a silent thanks that her mother kept her things nice and organized, she began to thumb through the titles, pulling out those that looked like they might actually be of some or any use. "A shifter's guide, probably too general. Lycanthropy a full history of the curse, probably not. Wolves of weakness? That sounds promising." She pulled the book off of the shelf, holding it to her side as she continued to thumb through the shelf. " Nope, nope, nope, an alpha at the head? Hmm." Freya squinted. "Maybe? They tend to make decisions and to execute feral wolves right? So maybe?" She took it off the shelf with little more than a faint hint of hope. "Ok, anything else? Come on, please, anything." She neared the end of the werewolf centric shelf. "All about omegas? Perfect! This is at least a start on the hint of an answer Alex got. Welp, I guess Three is a good start." Freya sighed. It only took a short second for the desk her mother once worked at to catch her eye. It seemed like it would be a comfy place to sit, a good spot to hunker down and do the research. Rolling her eyes, Freya decided to take the seat at the desk and cracked open her books.
Wolves of weakness came first. It was the most promising after all, and Freya had no intention of staying any longer than she absolutely had to. Thankfully, it was rather conveniently set up by topic on the third page's table of contents. It listed off a variety of things that could potentially be damaging to a wolf and what does and doesn't leave them weak. The two promising chapters she found were wolfsbane and feral wolves. The first of the two chapters yielded very little that she didn't already know. Enlightening content for sure, but still things that she either knew or had already figured. Just an extended series of chapters on the cultivation of the crop, it's various consumption methods and lastly its effects and how they take place. That last bit was the only thing she didn't know the majority of already. According to the book, the flower did its work of inducing a high by either shutting down the more human half of a wolf or by igniting the corner of a wolf that was animal, bringing it closer to the surface with a stronger intensity. Not entirely, not with a strength or a level damaging enough that it should result in any lasting effects; at least not normally. The book detailed both how allowing the wolf side more control allowed relaxation and a subtle high in most wolves and the off scent of a mate for an alpha or omega. Aside from that, the first chapter didn't yield much.
The chapter focused on feral wolves was worryingly short, only three pages long, two of which seeming to be two thirds or more illustration. Brief or not, it seemed to have the most meaningful information. Seemed. In reality, it contained barely anything, but the first paragraph stuck out to Freya; it's lengthy description of just how the wolf went feral. The book described it as the result of increasing stress, building, and building without any soothing to ease the burn until it broke whatever was once human and the wolf takes over.
The second book on alphas was too well outlined in its table of contents but didn't seem to have much of anything at all on the topic of wolves going feral, so in an effort of time-saving and prioritizing progress, Freya decided to move on to the final book entitled all about omegas. In all her horrible luck, as she opened the book right up to the table of contents and smeared soot all over one of the chapter titles, obscuring it just enough that she couldn't make it out. She strived to wipe it off, wet her thumb with saliva and tried to wipe it off, but that only served to make it all so much worse. With a series of frustrated and exhausted expletives on her lips, Freya checked the page number next to the obscured chapter title and flipped to it quickly. "Omegas and their effects on pack members." Freya read aloud. Figuring it a chapter worth reading, she delved in.
"Where'd you go? There's another message! This one is way longer!" Kriss called once more but louder.
"Yeah? What's up?" Alex stepped out of the bathroom with a freshly falsified facade so she would seem completely ok.
"She replied again."
"Oh? What'd she say this time?"
"You, spelled with just a u, tried just putting a feral wolf with an omega and see what happens?"
"Course not. I'm not letting her anywhere near one of them! And I cam damn well guarantee Kara wouldn't either." Sam denied as she emerged from the bathroom just a moment or two behind her mate.
"I don't like the tone, or the order implicit in it, but she isn't wrong. Our alphas would almost never let us, and I won't lie, I've had a feral wolf in my basement for two or three days now, and it's never dawned on me to go cuddle it. Especially cause the reason I have him down there is because he was attempting to kill his mate." Alex glared back at Sam for her tone before turning back to Kriss.
"So I should just say no?"
"Yeah, I can pretty confidently say that has probably never really happened. I care about the pack and all, but I can't see any omega I've met trying to stick around a wolf who has gone feral when they don't have to. It is just dangerous. Even if they are chained up, from what I've heard it can spread from overly prolonged contact."
"Ok." Kriss inhaled and nodded with far more confidence than she seemed to have earlier as she picked up the knife to reply.
"How you holding up? Is her husband ok?" Alex moved closer, now able to see the writing on Freya's leg. The necromancer's latest response had been much clearer, infinitely less sloppy. Freya must have calmed significantly, maybe she had found the answer?
"Yeah. He is scared, but he is letting his daughter play dress-up; on him. Nothing quite lifts my spirits like a two hundred centimeter man with a full beard wearing clown levels of lipstick and drag levels of eyeshadow when he has absolutely no interest in wearing it." Kriss snickered even as she finished her reply, clearly with more hope than she had earlier.
Sam covered her mouth but still couldn't help but chuckle as well. She had endured many a dress-up day with Ruby, but at least when she did it it wasn't an entirely foreign concept, also she never had to clean it out of a beard. "Well, that is still good that it helped lighten the mood."
"Yeah, it-"
"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Freya snapped up, now sitting on the bar where she had been laying. "Seriously? That's it? You just have to go cuddle the fuckin wolf or something?"
"Frey!" Kriss grabbed her sister in a relieved hug.
"Hey Kriss." Freya shrugged off, still overly focused on her outrage. "Really? That was it? That was the answer she sent us in there to get?! And y'all couldn't have thought that up?" She rolled her eyes and huffed, quickly turning her attention down to her leg and healing it as best she could. "Y'all are stupid, and now most of this is gonna scar."
"Have you cuddled a grizzly bear lately, cause I can damn near guarantee the survival rate for that is higher than that of cuddling a feral wolf." Sam snapped back.
"Still! You guys have someone get all aggro and your answer is just to put it down?"
"Yeah… kinda." Sam admitted with a heavier heart than she liked to admit.
"All I get is a hello?" Kriss chastised her sister.
"Hey Kriss, how are you, I saw you Wednesday. Has a lot happened with you, cause I'm gonna go off on a limb and assume you got filled in on my day by everyone else."
"Yeah, more or less." Kriss shrugged.
"Great sis. Can I yell at them now?"
"Oh yeah, go for it." Kriss nodded her head with enough vigor to make both Alex and Sam feel a little betrayed.
"Awesome, thanks, love ya. You idiots!" Freya's sweet tone turned on a dime.
"We get it, we get it. Sorry, we didn't test spending more time with a murderous creature sooner?" Sam huffed overly short after having been pushed away by her mate.
"Sorry, just… being there is not fun. It is fucking scary."
"I know." Alex empathized.
Freya nodded softly, knowing that her cousin was the only one who understood what it was like to be trapped there.
"How did you find it?" Alex squeaked out awkwardly.
"The library. Lil sis saved my ass once again!" Freya grabbed her sister and hugged her again. "It had a couple books. The two that helped were one on wolves and their weaknesses, and one on omegas. The first had a passage about wolfsbane either shutting down the human half or supercharging the wolf half. It also had a separate section talking about how feral wolves were just regular wolves who have been overridden with human anxiety and fear to the point that the wolf strikes back and takes over to the point that it just consumes them."
"Ok, I'm still not getting it just yet." Sam eyed.
"Well, the other book, the one on omegas had a passage talking about their abilities to soothe their pack members. To calm even the most raging of wolves and I quote, 'bring them back to logical consciousness.' When I read that, I sent my last message. You three said no, I said something around the idea that all a feral wolf needs is a cuddle or a hug from an omega and they will be ok again? Next thing I know, I am back in the real world with all of you."
"That's great!" Alex broke down into tears with a conflicted wide smile despite her heaving sobs.
"Love." Sam moved in to soothe her omega. She was frightened of startling Alex, she only gave a gentle pat on the back. When Alex didn't shy away, pat turned to a gentle rub but did not proceed any further.
"It's just great. Everyone is gonna be ok." Alex cried harder and turned into Sam who quickly embraced her mate in a hug.
"Everyone is going to be just fine. No more worrying anymore baby. It is all going to be ok." Sam kissed at her omega's forehead.
"Glad we could help." Freya cheered.
"I am just relieved that I don't have to tell your husband that you are dead." Kriss swatted her sister's arm.
"This is great news love. You wanna call and tell Lena?" Sam soothed and suggested.
"No. We can head home and I help out Adam and Maxwell myself. But, Lena and Kara will be cuddling the whole ride home and all evening. I don't want to distract them from that. Lena can take care of Kara. I can get Adam and Maxwell."
"Ok then love. That sounds like quite the plan."
End of Chapter 29
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