Chapter 5 Meeting the wolves

Zoey

When we walked outside I couldn't believe my eyes. The wolves had come out everywhere and anywhere you looked there was someone doing something. They looked happy. "Why does it look like you all just woke up?" Aphrodite asked a little sarcastically. "Because they just woke up." Rysen simply said. We all gave her an incredulous look and she smiled and pointed up the sky. The full moon was casting a beautiful light on the camp. Then it dawned on me. "Full moons still bother us. The day before we're extremely tired and then we sleep until the moon reaches its peak then we are all ADHD patients. The stronger you are the sooner you'll feel the full moon that's why I was sparring when you arrived. I cannot sit still at the moment and barely have any focus at all." I was surprised by her words because I hadn't noticed any change with Rysen but now that I thought about it again she had been moving her hands and changing positions in the meeting. She hid it well.

"Why would you meet with us on the night of a full moon if you're so bothered by it?" Stark asked Rysen nicely. "Because this time of the month shows best what the wolves are about. We are primal, feral, overprotective, a pain in the ass and most of all, incredibly loyal to one another. This is all visible during a full moon where normally it's a little less visible to outsiders." Rysen explained things quite nicely. I understood what she was saying and I could see how much she cared for her wolves.

Suddenly three gargantuan wolves came running out of the woods. I wasn't expecting that to happen and Stark was close in a split second feeling my dread through the bond. "Shift back, you guys. You're scaring our guests." Thalia said to the three wolves. One of them was as black as the night, one was rust colored and one was a simple brown. The black one was the biggest and he had an aura like Rysen's around himself, a leader's aura. They shifted back and three warriors appeared. There is no other way to explain what they looked like, they were warriors in every way. The color of their fur was also the color of their hair in their human forms. The black haired male walked to Rysen and kissed her right on the mouth while wrapping his arms around her. Thalia explained why he did that. "They're mates, a deep connection that goes deeper than mere love, and when there are unknown males around Shay loves to show that Rysen is his. Rysen also loves to make sure no female gets any ideas. That's the primal thing that Ry was talking about. The full moon doesn't help with that."

"Everyone meet Shay. Shay be nice." Rysen said with a stern look at him. "Shay is also bound by blood oath and yeah from one came the other and ba-da-bim-ba-da-boom, we found out that we're mates." Rysen pecked Shay on his cheek and then walked out of his embrace. "This is Axillius, Axel for short." She said when pointing to the brown haired male. "And this is Mike, which is short for Michael. Both are bound by oath to me. Which makes a total of seven warriors bound to me. Three females and four males to be precise. Before I forget… Shay is an excellent swordsman but has no power, Axel can manipulate weapons, so he can have a sword in his hand and then suddenly it changes into a dagger. Mike is someone you simply shouldn't mess with because he's one hell of a brute, and my other brother." She hit him playfully on the arm with the mention of him being her brother. "I have two other older brothers and two younger ones and a younger sister but they live in my estate outside of Tulsa." She said my estate as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Then I remembered that Rysen had been around for a very long time or at least I had the feeling she was.

"How old are you actually?" It came out of my mouth before I could think about it but Rysen didn't seem to mind me asking. "I'm really old and so is the rest." She said with a smirk. "Seriously?! You're not going to tell us the one thing we're very interested in knowing." Rysen smiled and she answered in a teasing way. "Age is merely a number." We all scoffed at that. The wolves started laughing at that.

"This could be the start of a strong alliance." Thalia noted. Rysen nodded at her second and looked at me with a smile. Her smile faltered as we heard some low growl. That growl sent a shiver down my spine and seeing Rysen's face turn into the face of an alpha going to put some wolves back on their place. It wasn't terrifying but that was probably because her anger wasn't directed towards me.

Rysen and her wolves moved as one to where to growl had come from. Thalia motioned for us to follow them. We followed suit. Two wolves were entangled in a fight and were baring their teeth. If those teeth were ever bared at me I would run as fast as I could in the other direction. These two wolves weren't as big as Shay, Axel and Mike had been which was at least a bit of a relief. It was a mess of dark and blond fur and teeth. Rysen then moved so fast my vampyre eyes could barely follow. She shifted in mid-air and landed between the two wolves. With one spine shivering growl the two wolves were separated and shifting back into their human forms. Rysen shifted back as well but I barely noticed how she asked for an explanation because I was mesmerized by Rysen's beauty. She wasn't a white wolf no, she was carved out of the stars itself. Her fur was the color of pure starlight. I had never seen something more beautiful than Rysen in wolf form.

"Sorry for that. It won't happen again." She said with a final glance towards the two wolves and snapping me out of thought.

"You are one hell of a beautiful wolf." I said to her. "Holy smokes, our High Priestess just used a cursing word." Aphrodite exclaimed and put her hand to her head like she was fainting. "I do think we all agree on this, I have never seen something that beautiful and I have seen Nyx appear before me and Kalona's wings turn from raven's black into white like the moon." Shaunee said. Rysen smiled. It was a different kind of smile. This was a smile meant for friends. "You know…" I said "…I don't think it's the start of a great alliance. I think it's the start of an amazing friendship." Rysen nodded with a smile still on her face and said: "I absolutely agree."

Nyx

"I don't think it's the start of a great alliance. I think it's the start of an amazing friendship." My beloved high priestess said without my help.

"I absolutely agree." The high alpha of the wolves said to her.

It was time for their promised explanation…