"No, no!" he quickly shushed her in what was supposed to be a reassuring way. "I am doing no such thing, Jocelyn!"
Jocelyn’s sobbing ceased a bit at her father’s words- he wasn’t sending her away!
"But, then, what are we doing here?"
"Showing you what you are."
Victor turned his head a bit to eye the mansion behind him, as if he had seen something she had not, then turned full-round and walked to the doors, motioning for her, and Luciel, to follow. One of the large doors opened rather suddenly as soon as they came close enough. A rather tall, muscular man was standing in the doorway, a very friendly smile on his kind face.
"Victor! We all assembled as soon as you sent the message! But of course we all knew it was going to happen!" the man said with a small chuckle.
"Hello, Alderic," Victor greeted him kindly.
"Ah! This must be Jocelyn!" the man called Alderic suddenly turned to her, his teeth gleaming against his tanned skin. "It’s such joyous news that you've finally done it! Everyone is very happy for you of course!"
"W-what are you talking about? How do you know…," Jocelyn’s weak voice trailed off.
This strange man knew so much. But how? And how friendly he was with her father! As much as she wanted to be wary of this man, she just couldn’t fight the urge inside of her that was telling her he was ok.
"What?! You mean to tell me you have not told her yet, Victor?!" utter shock was written on his face.
"No… I was trying too, but I just can't put it into words. You know how I am with these things…" Victor sighed sadly.
"I’m quite shocked, Victor. I expected better. It is your own daughter never the less!" Alderic clicked his tongue against his teeth as if he were scolding a bad child.
"What’s going on? Please, I want to know!" Jocelyn begged. "Of course you want to know!" Alderic smiled. "And you will surely get answers, pretty one! But sometimes seeing is better than hearing," he winked at her and then motioned for them all to come in.
"I’m sure you’re wondering who I am, and of course I will tell you that as well! I am Alderic, as your father already said. I am like his right-hand man here. I am sure you remember all those times your father went on business, right?" He waited for a nod from Jocelyn. "Well, in fact, only half of those trips really were for business. The others he came here for our meetings. He is our leader after all."
"Leader? Leader of what?"
Alderic just smiled and kept quiet until they reached another set of doors leading to a large staircase up to the second floor. Jocelyn hadn’t even realized they were still walking. All her curiosity, and still a bit of fear, was blocking her vision it seemed. Once they reached the top of the stairs, a door blocking their path once more, Alderic turned to Jocelyn with the same smile as before.
"Seeing is better than hearing. And what I am about to show you will answer most, maybe even all, of your questions. What waits behind this door is who you are. Who all of us here are."
With the last words spoken he opened the door, stepped to the side and waited for Jocelyn to enter. She took a hesitant step forward, and then another until the large, banquet-sized room before her was in full view, lit up brightly so nothing could escape notice. She took in a quick breath of air as she looked around the people in the room.
Some were talking and others were now looking. But what shocked her more than anything else was the five or so large Werewolves, just having entered from what seemed to be a back door to this room.
"I... they..." was all she could mumble.
"Yes," Alderic said with a small laugh. "Now, how about I introduce you to the pack? Or would you rather explore alone?" He asked.
"The… the pack?"
"Why yes, of course! What else would you call a group of Werewolves?"
"Father, why didn’t you tell me before!" she turned to Victor with apparent rage on her face.
"Now, Jocelyn, I couldn’t have told you until the time was right. Until you changed-" Victor started off slowly only to be cut off by Jocelyn.
"I was so scared last night! I thought you would send me away!" her voice came close to shrieking.
"Oh stop being so dramatic!" Luciel sneered as she pushed past Jocelyn and made her way over to a rather old woman with a doglike face.
Victor ignored his wife's comment and turned to Jocelyn once more. "I really am sorry, Jocelyn, but this is how it had to be done, and has always been done."
"Yes, do not stay mad at your father," Alderic jumped in to save his friend from more heart ache. "We have all gone through what you have during the change and the truth. We are all to blame, not just Victor."
"I’m sorry for yelling, father," Jocelyn said in a rather brusque way. She would be mad at him for a few days, even if she had to pretend she wasn’t. Victor nodded and gave her a smile before looking at Alderic and back to Jocelyn as if getting another silent message.
"Go and meet everyone now, Jocelyn, Alderic will go with you and explain anything you need to have answers to."
Jocelyn nodded her head and turned to Alderic who was already taking slow steps as if waiting for her to catch up. "Where are we exactly, Alderic?"
"Why, in Rouen of course!"
"Rouen? ...But, that’s where my father said he goes on business..."
"Ah, yes, well he wasn’t fully lying. About half the time he really does go on business in other parts of Rouen, where as the other half he comes here for our meetings," Alderic said this all in such a matter of fact way that Jocelyn just stared at him as if he were crazy.
She shook her head a bit, of course everyone here will find my questions silly, she thought, they already know all this. She was so deep in her own thoughts that she nearly ran into the old woman with the dog-like face that Luciel had been speaking with earlier. Luckily, Alderic put an arm in front of her before she knocked the old woman down.
"Watch where yer going, will ye?!" the old woman literally growled at Jocelyn.
"Now, now, Morgane, all is fine," Alderic tried to calm the old woman but instead caused her to start whapping him in what she thought was a hard hit on his arm with her hand. Alderic was either ignoring the old woman’s assault, or he just couldn’t feel it, as he just kept talking to her calmly.
"I’m so sorry about Morgane," a woman’s voice spoke up beside Jocelyn, causing her to turn half way to spot a slim, rather pretty woman who was smiling at her kindly. "Hello, dear, I’m Penelope."
"Hello, I'm-" Jocelyn began to reply but Penelope just held a hand up.
"I know who you are, dear," she said just as nicely as before, "and I must say, you are just as beautiful as your mother was."
"Y-you knew my mother?" Jocelyn asked, surprise written on her face.
"Yes, all of us here knew Irene, she was very kind. It was a sad day when we found out she had died."
Jocelyn saw a few tears form in Penelope’s eyes as she said this. She must have been friends with my mother, she thought. She was about to ask her some questions about her mother when something distracted her. Three more werewolves had now entered the room, but that wasn’t what caused her eyes to grow wide in shock. Her jaw fell slightly open as she watched two of the wolves change into their human forms once more to leave on old man, and Olivier standing in their place.
"Could you excuse me for a moment, Penelope?"
"Of course, dear. I'll tell Alderic you went off on your own-"
Jocelyn didn’t catch the rest of what she said as she was already heading off towards Olivier. I should have known, she thought to herself furiously. I should have known he was one too! Even Olivier kept the truth from me! As she made it over to Olivier and the old man she realized that he appeared to be scolding the older man in front of him. His words being cut off by another's from beside him. She stood where she was, a few steps away, listening to them speak.
"How many times must we tell you not to go off as a werewolf, father?!" Olivier's voice was stern but kept as low as possible so he couldn’t b
e heard easily.
"Do you enjoy embarrassing us in front of the others?!" this new voice came from who was standing beside Olivier.
Jocelyn was unsure if it was from a woman or man until Olivier stepped closer to their father. Oh my God, Jocelyn thought, she looks just like Olivier! Jocelyn stared at the woman in utter shock, if she could even be called a woman as she did look just like Olivier only with much longer hair that was un-slicked.
Olivier had finished speaking with their father and had spotted her. "Jocelyn!" he said in what was supposed to be a happy tone but was masked over with slight grief that she had possibly over-heard them, "I was just about to go looking for you!"
"How could you have kept this from me too?! We use to be such close friends!" Jocelyn wanted to hit him so badly, but all she could do was try to stop herself from crying with pure rage.
"You should know very well by now that I couldn’t do that." Olivier tried to put his hands on her shoulders as if to calm her down but she shook him away angrily. She was unsure of what to say to himbut what could she say? It would only fall on deaf ears.
"Is that your father?" she finally asked, trying to hide the grin on her face as she seen the question made him uneasy.
"Uh, yes, this is our father Henri," he looked sideways at his father who was trying to sneak away but was held fast by who was apparently his daughter, "And this is my sister Cecile." He quickly changed the subject from his father. Cecile gave her a very dirty look causing Jocelyn to flinch a bit.
"So this is the famous Jocelyn Roux. I must say you’re a bit of a letdown in person," Cecile said coldly, releasing Henri as she took a step forward whom then disappeared outside in a burst of fur.
"Be nice, Cecile!" Olivier hissed at her.
"Oh please, you fancying her doesn’t mean I have to, too! Just because we look the same doesn’t mean we think the same." She gave Jocelyn one last glare before also disappearing outside.
"Uh, how about I introduce you to some of the pack then?"
Jocelyn just nodded. What was Cecile's problem with her, she wondered. And why did she never know that he had a sister all of these years? So many things she didn’t know. It was scaring her more than she wanted it to.
Olivier took her to the pack members that clearly preferred their wolf forms to their human forms and pointed out each one as he named them off to her. She wasn’t paying much attention to him, so she was only able to catch one or two names.
"And this is Theo and Julien. Julien is my very good friend," Olivier continued on as they came up to two new members, but thankfully they were as humans. The one called Theo was very huge, both in height, and the muscle that seemed to cover every inch of his body. I'd hate to see what he looks like in wolf form, Jocelyn thought to herself, he looks frightening as just a human! Julien's appearance baffled her. He had a very handsome face, but it looked odd upon his skinny frame. It's like putting Gaspard's head on Olivier body! She tried to stifle her welling laughter at the thought.
She quickly bid the three fare wells with an excuse that she had to find her father which they seemed to accept. She was happy to be away from them. Whatever made me think Olivier was snobby? She thought. Compared to Julien he's as kind as lamb!
As she pretended to search for her father, when in truth she was hoping to find Alderic again- she rather liked his company to everyone else- she walked past two very large men, making Theo look like a mere child compared to them.
"What if something happens to her like before and we have to clean it up again?" the slightly shorter one asked in a hushed tone.
"I wouldn’t mind taking another one of them out," the taller one answered back, causing the two of them to laugh darkly to one another.
What where they talking about? Jocelyn wondered as she quickly snuck away from them, she dreaded to think what would happen if they knew she overheard them. As soon as she spotted Alderic's tall form from across the room she hurried towards him.
"I've been looking all over for you, Jocelyn! I was afraid I'd have to tell your father I lost you," he joked, causing her to smile a bit. Yes, she did like to be around Alderic above all the others here; he wasn’t in the least bit snobby.
"Do you know who those two large men are over there?" she asked him, trying her best to sound casual about it.
"Of course I do, they are Antoine and Marco. You could say their like bodyguards for the pack."
"Bodyguards? For what?"
"Oh, this and that. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about." He smiled and ushered her over to two pretty girls a few years older than her.
"This is Claire," he motioned to the taller one, "and this is Carina," he then motioned to the shorter one. "They are Penelope's daughters, you met her earlier hadn’t you?" he asked.
"Yes, I did, she is very kind."
"Indeed she is," Alderic nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go talk with your father for a moment and I'll be back to show you around."
Alderic smiled to the girls and nodded his head at Jocelyn before making his way across the room to where her father stood talking to Luciel. As soon as Alderic came up Luciel walked away as if she had been told to do so. I wonder what the sudden urge to talk to him is about? She wondered.
"It's so wonderful to finally meet you, Jocelyn!" The one called Claire shook her hand firmly pulling her out of her thoughts.
"We've heard so much about you!" Carina jumped in, taking Jocelyn’s hand.
"Uh, thank you," was all Jocelyn could say as not only did she know what else to reply, but the girls were very talkative.
"It's wonderful that you've finally changed! And it may be a bit late, but wonderful all the same," Claire spoke again, oblivious to Jocelyn’s slight smirk at her over use of the word wonderful.
"And now we get to plan the wedding! How I love weddings!" Claire said happily, adding small claps to show her welling excitement. "I’m sorry, wedding?"
"Why yes! You’re getting married soon after all!"
"It'll be wonderful planning it all," Carina started to count off all the things that needed to be done on her fingers.
"What on earth are you two talking about?" Jocelyn said slightly exasperated. "I’m not getting married if that’s what you’re going on about!"
"Oh dear, he hasn’t told you… has he?" Claire asked, shock on her face.
"Well of course! She did just find out she's a wolf after all, how could she have known?"
"Maybe we weren’t to say anything?"
Jocelyn placed her hands on her head as if she wearing trying to keep it attached to her body. What where they talking about? What marriage? And most of all, to whom was she supposedly betrothed too?! The sisters were still chattering on about her not knowing when she finally looked back up at them, trying to keep her voice steady and calm as she willed herself to talk again.
"Who, exactly, am I being married off too?" She inquired, her eyes narrowed as she looked from one girl to the other.
"To Olivier, you know him don't you?" Claire asked.
"A bit snobby, but he is rich! But then, who here isn’t?" Carina laughed.
"O-Olivier?!" Jocelyn shrieked a bit.
"Indeed. I prefer the strong type," Carina said with a smile as she eyed Theo from across the room.
"Oh please, Theo? Olivier may be snobby but at least he's got a brain!" Claire laughed sarcastically.
"Are you inquiring that Theo is stupid?" Carina glared at her sister, her voice full of defensiveness.
Jocelyn quickly left the two bickering at each other in search of her father. How could he do this to her?! Of all the things he didn’t tell her, this, by far, was the worst. How could he betroth her? And to Olivier of all people! Her footsteps were quick with rage as they carried her across the room to where her father was talking with Alderic.
Good, she thought, maybe Alderic will be angry with my father now! Keeping the werewolf secret from me was one thing, but whom I marry should be my choice! Her thoughts went to Gaspard
as she thought this. Oh no, her footsteps stopped, how will I tell Gaspard? She put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from crying. She could cry later- after she yelled at her father.
"Father, I need to have a word with you!" She didn’t bother to keep the anger from her voice as she looked at Victor with utter rage written on her face.
"Oh dear, you look frightening! Whatever is the matter?" Alderic asked, his concern wasn’t pretend, she could tell from his eyes. But he wasn’t the one she needed to speak with, even if she did want his audience at the moment.
"Jocelyn, what has gotten into you?" Victor asked, his eyes looking around to see if anyone was listening or had even heard her.
"Marriage! Marriage has gotten into me! How could you do such a thing!" Her eyes welled with tears at all the anger inside her; she couldn’t fight them off anymore.
Alderic's eyes grew wide in shock as he looked from Jocelyn to Victor. Good, Jocelyn thought as she seen his expression.
"Now, Jocelyn, this isn’t as big as you think it is." Victor tried to calm her down, the others had heard- even old Henri had heard in his old age.
"Not as big?! I forgave you for not telling me about all this," she wove her arms around indicating the room and people, and a few wolves, "But I will never forgive you for what I have just found out!"
With that said, she stormed out of the room, ignoring everyone that was moving out her way in her steps of rage. As soon as she was outside, into the cold dark night, her tears fell down her face like rain. Some were still from her pent up rage for her father, but the new ones that continued to flow were for someone else. Her legs only made it to the first tree of the path leading down to the road before she fell onto her knees, her arms half wrapped around the young tree as she continued to cry until her eyes ran dry. But although the tears were now gone, her sorrow and pain remained as vivid as when she first heard the words from Claire. Olivier was not the man she wanted to marry, he would never come close. Gaspard was the one she wanted. How could she marry one when her heart was already set on the other? Fresh tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision of the forest floor. The new tears refused to fall, as if they would stay there forever as a reminder of what could now be lost to her forever.
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