Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Wolf's POV:
Questioned and Teased
I quickly leave the village boundaries and lope over to where I left Kai. He seems to have calmed down a bit now, thank the stars. I can't just keep slapping him every time he has a mental breakdown.
I bark around the thick material in my mouth to get his attention and drop the clothes unceremoniously at his feet.
He smiles shakily at me. "Thanks. Are they different sizes?"
I nod.
"And I suppose the smaller ones are for me, huh?"
I nod again.
Kai sighs and begins sifting through the clothes pile, pulling out the ones that seem smaller. I take the ones that are left and go off into the trees to change.
Transforming into my human form is strangely easy, given the fact that I hadn't done much transforming for nearly a decade. But what was even stranger was wearing wolf pelts again. I haven't worn clothes like these since I was twelve. They feel… weird. Much heavier than the cotton t-shirts and denim pants I've grown accustomed to, and much warmer. The lingering wolf-scent wafts up from the fur, filling my nose and muffling my senses. Somehow, I remembered them as being a lot more comfortable. And less smelly. Probably just nostalgia for a time when my life wasn't just a never-ending torture chamber. I'm sure I'll come across other aspects of my old life while I'm here and wonder why they are so much worse than I remember them. And that's saying something, because I don't have many fond memories of my old life.
I finish changing and go off to find Kai.
"Hey!" I call out, "Are you done? We should get moving."
Kai comes into view. The shirt and pants are too big for him, and hang off his form like a heavy, furry blanket.
"Do you think anyone'll get suspicious that my clothes don't fit?" He asks worriedly.
I shake my head. "They'd only be suspicious if they did. No offence, but you're a fair bit smaller than the average werewolf. People will assume you're the runt of the litter, and runts don't really get the good stuff. Again, no offence."
"None taken." Kai assures me, "Pretty sure even professional body-builders would be considered small be werewolf standards. It's not really that much of a blow to my pride that I'm a runt in their eyes."
"So is your name really Ze'ev?" Kai asks me as we walk through the village streets.
I nod. "My full name is Ze'ev Kesley."
"Huh. Sorry I didn't think to find out what your real name is sooner."
I wave my away his concern. "Don't worry about it. I prefer to be called Wolf anyway. People usually mispronounce Ze'ev. It gets annoying."
Kai frowns. "Still, I talked to you every day and I didn't even think to ask about your real name."
"To be fair, I wasn't the best conversation partner. And like I said, I don't mind."
"If you say so." Kai says hesitantly, "The Queen called you something else as well, I think it was "Alpha Assumed" or something?"
"Alpha Intended."
"Right, that. What does that mean?"
"It's a title given to the strongest of the Alpha's children. It basically means that, when the Alpha dies, that werewolf will succeed him."
"So… a prince."
"Basically, yes."
Kai grins. "Should I bow and call you, "Your Majesty" from here on out?"
I groan. "Please don't. I've probably lost all claim to that title by now anyway."
"Did you wear a crown?"
"No."
"Were you betrothed to a beautiful princess?"
"Shut up."
"Did you ride around in a carriage and wave to your adoring subjects?"
I stomp on Kai's toes. He yelps in pain, but never loses his smirk.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop." He says, "Seriously though, did you have any duties as prince?"
"Alpha Intended," I correct him firmly, "and yes, but nothing like what you're imagining. I helped my parents distribute the rations and had dinner sometimes with the vampire monarchy, but my only job there was to stay quiet and do what the vampires told me. It wasn't a glamorous life; I didn't live in a castle, I didn't have a banquet for every meal, I didn't have servants. Really my life wasn't that much better than the common werewolves except I had a bit more to eat and I lived in a house that had more than one room."
Kai raises his eyebrows. "Wow… that doesn't seem much like royalty."
I sigh. "I told you, the werewolf Alphas are nothing more than figureheads. The vampires are the real ones in control. We just give out the food."
"I'm surprised the vampires actually let you keep your Alphas." Kai says.
I shrug. "They didn't have much of a choice. Werewolves are just as much wolf as we are human, and wolves need their hierarchy of Alphas, Betas and Omegas. If the vampires didn't let us keep the Alphas, we'd just pick another."
"I see…" Kai says hesitantly, "but you don't actually seem that wolf-like. I find it hard to believe you have wolfish instincts driving you to accept a certain type of hierarchy."
"Trust me, I have plenty of wolf in me." I tell him bitterly, "My thoughts are wolf-like, I get wolf-like urges and have wolf instincts. Or did me killing that vampire woman not convince you?"
"That was a bit brutal." Kai admits, "But if you hadn't killed her, the rest of us might have died. Scarlet would have died for sure. That doesn't-"
"Is she alright?" I ask suddenly, "Scarlet, I mean. Is she going to be okay? I saw how Sybil made her cut of her own finger."
Kai blinks in surprise. "Yeah, yeah she's fine. We got her to the hospital."
I don't bother to hide the way my shoulders sag with relief, or the sigh that blows out from my lips.
"You… care about this more than I expected." Kai admits.
My cheeks grow uncomfortably warm and I look down at the ground, suddenly embarrassed. "Scarlet was... nice to me. I don't want her to get hurt."
Kai narrows his eyes and a slow, teasing grin spreads across his face. "Are you blushing?"
I offer no reply, though my face quickly grows even hotter.
"Wolf…" Kai's voice has taken on a definite mocking tone now. "you like Scarlet, don't you?
I look away from him. "Work will be finishing soon, and everyone will be lining up to get their rations. We'd better find someplace to hide so we don't look suspicious."
"I'll take that as a yes." Kai says smugly.
I groan. Why can't the ground just swallow me up?
Kai sniggers. "Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't tease, but I just never thought I'd see the day where you'd have a crush on a girl."
"Yeah, well, now you have." I mumble.
He glances around. "So what are we going to do when these streets fill up?"
"Line up to receive rations." I tell him, relieved at the change in subject, "It will look suspicious if we don't, and we might need the food later on."
I sudden loud beep sounds through the street and I wince. That sound isn't kind on the ears.
"What was that?" Kai asks worriedly, "Some kind of warning siren?"
"That," I tell him calmly, "is the signal that rations are available for pick-up. I hope you like stale bread."
A/N: Okay, I know this chapter was boring, but next chapter, we'll be introduced to a new character, and they will play a pretty big role in the story, so bear with me for when that happens.
Please review!
