by Jessica Cage
Ardyn crossed the invisible line that marked the territory of his people. The strong odor of the Alpha’s pheromones told that they had just reinforced their boundaries. It wouldn’t be long until they would come. Standing in the empty field, his chest burned with emotion. The memory of his last time there returned to him, in the spot that was once his sanctuary, when his world felt full of promise. Recalling the pride he felt to be named the new Alpha in line, he relished in the reminiscence of the feel of the wind that rushed over him as he ran toward his new life. He remembered her, waiting for him to return to him so that they could celebrate together. It was all stolen from him, the life that he worked for, the mate that loved him, the future that belonged to him.
The thunderous sound of massive paws slamming against the ground forced Ardyn to let go of the past. He had only moments to clear his mind and prepare to come face-to-face with his future. Returning to shifter territory meant that he had to get the clearance from his own people—if not, he wouldn’t be welcome in any other area. He would be an outcast to all species on the continent. He took deep breaths to calm the anxious wolf that tried to push to the surface. He had to present himself in his human form as not to be seen as a threat. Focusing on his heartbeat, he kept the rhythm steady. His eyes slid shut to allow his other senses to heighten. Five approached with another ten in the trees. They were being especially cautious.
The five growled as they neared him. He knew it was because of his scent, familiar and yet not. The foremost wolf left the others who flanked him a few steps behind as he got in Ardyn’s face. He slammed his front paw against the ground, a signal to Ardyn to remain calm. They were skeptical of him but of course would give him a chance to state his case. Ardyn nodded, communicating that he understood what the wolf meant. The dark mass of fur retreated into a man equal to Ardyn’s height but much greater in mass.
“Who are you and why are you here?” The man spoke with a timbre that vibrated through the air. He was the head of the guard and Ardyn could sense that there was much more to his story. The fair-skinned man kept his dark eyes trained on the newcomer.
“My name is Ardyn. I am the son of Kamshi. I have returned home to ask for favor of safe passage through the shifter territories.”
“You dare come here and pretend to be the son of our Alpha?” the man snapped. “Do you know the punishment for such a claim?”
“What I say is the truth.” Ardyn kept his posture relaxed, careful not to spread himself too widely. The Alpha in his blood wanted to boast his heritage, but now was not the time for that. He had to show the wolf that he meant no harm in coming there.
“Then why is your scent so muddled? You do not smell of this pack.” The man started to circle Ardyn and scent him. “You do not smell of anything I’ve ever encountered before. How can you claim to be one of us?”
“I’ve been changed,” Ardyn explained. “It is why I have been away for so long.”
“Changed in what way? Show your wolf!” The order was issued and Ardyn had no choice but to comply. He’d hoped to avoid revealing his wolf to them but he knew the odds of that were unlikely.
Ardyn did as he was asked and allowed the wolf that had been scratching at the surface to break free. His body expanded and shifted, to reveal a wolf like nothing his pack had ever seen before. He towered over the others with his frame that was coated in black fur and singed at the tips in green magic. As he moved the fur glowed in the same hue from beneath each strand.
The moment his front paws hit the ground, twice the size as any others on the field, the wolves began to growl. The leader who circled him jumped backward, and his own wolf reemerged in an explosion. The other wolves joined him as they howled a warning cry to the pack. This was not one of them, this was no wolf, this was a monster. Teeth were bared as ten other wolves stepped forward from the tree line, all ready and willing to pounce at their leader's command. Ardyn, though massive, tried to lower himself as much as he could. He bowed, putting his nose to the ground in submission, but it wasn’t enough. He could tell the man who lead them wanted to take him out, so it didn’t matter what he did. He was a member of the pack and he could still hear the echoes of their connection in his mind. Marcus was his name and his thoughts were clear—he wanted Ardyn gone, it didn’t matter what he had to do to make it happen. He tried to plea with them, but his thoughts were not heard by the others. The connection was no longer two-way. Instead, he prepared himself internally for a fight that he didn’t want to have, but one that he knew he would win.
There were just moments left before they would attack. Ardyn centered himself, but his focus was interrupted by a familiar voice screaming out in the mixture of confused thoughts he received.
“Don't touch him!” she called out, and he could feel her nearing, off in the distance the vibration of her quickening pace as she ran to the clearing.
Seconds later, a body of white fur appeared in the distance but skid to a halt. She paced in a small circle as she considered her next move. He was different; she—like everyone else—could see that. When he thought she might turn and run, she didn’t. Unsure steps carried her forward toward the wolf who remained in his lowered stance but watched her with his eyes.
She scented the air and her thoughts like the others was that of confusion and fear. Something was different about this newcomer and she didn’t understand it.
“What are you doing? Stay back!” the leader warned.
“No, this is him! I can feel it,” she said, but her voice trembled with uncertainty.
“You can’t be sure. Ryesen, I’m telling you to stay back. That’s an order.”
“Since when do I take orders from you, Marcus? You aren’t the Alpha yet.”
Ardyn forced himself not to react to the last statement. Marcus had been named to be the next Alpha. This was not the time to lose himself to emotion. They didn’t know that he could hear their internal conversation and wouldn’t understand if he acted on them. Anything he did would seem an act of disrespect and would mean a fight to the death.
“Ardyn?” The woman shifted back to her human form. A stocky woman with honey-colored skin that stretched across her toned body, almond eyes, and thick, dark hair that flowed down to her waist. “Is that really you? Show yourself to me.” When he hesitated, she reassured him, “They won’t do anything to you, not while I’m here.”
Marcus grunted as if he would test her theory, but Ardyn could hear his thoughts—as long as she told him not to, he wouldn’t make a move.
Ardyn ignored the shocked sounds as he drew his wolf back into himself in a show of green smoke and lights. “Ryesen,” he said, speaking her name for the first time in decades.
Tears held at the brim of her eyes as she approached him. The sound of her heart pounding in her chest drowned out every other noise in the clearing as her face flushed with color. The space between them vanished as she lifted her hand to him. He hoped for a warm embrace, a gentle touch of a lover who missed him, but instead he got a firm slap against the sharp line of his jaw. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I deserved that.” He wanted to rub his face to relieve the stinging sensation her palm left behind, but he knew if he did that, she would lay a fresh one on him.
“I thought you were dead!” she screamed and her voice echoed around them before she lowered her tone to a more intimate setting. “How could you do that to me?”
“Ryesen, I—” He wanted to explain to her but she cut him off.
“Just save it. Whatever your explanation is, I don't want to hear it.” She took a step back from him and wiped the tear from her face that fell. Her voice cracked as she continued. “Does your father know you’re here?”
“No, no one does.” He remained still but his heart broke to watch her retreat from him in pain. “I’m here to ask his forgiveness and to request the right to return.”
“Ryesen,” Marcus was now man again and stepped between them, “are you saying his claim is true?”
&n
bsp; “Yes, he is who he says he is.” She turned her back to him but paused before walking away. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he is the son of our Alpha.”
As Ryesen shifted back to her wolf and ran, Marcus growled. “I don’t care who you are, you’re not welcomed back here in my books.”
“It's a good thing I’m not looking for your blessing then, isn’t it?” Ardyn had what he wanted. Marcus wouldn't touch him unless the Alpha said so. Ryesen had ensured his safety. Ardyn allowed himself to expand in his right, and as his shoulders broadened, Marcus stepped back, lips lifted in a sneer. “I await my escort.”
Ardyn was made the spectacle as he was escorted from the field to the main town. The five wolves remained on all fours as they strutted him through the streets. Most of the faces in the crowd that gawked at him were strangers, but every now and then he would spot someone familiar and from them he received a mixture of expressions—from shock, to disbelief, to anger. It was exactly what he had expected in coming there. He wanted them to welcome him home with open arms, but that wasn’t the reality of what ever happened in the pack.
They made it to the Alpha’s house. A mansion-sized cabin that—like in most of the territories—sat in the center of the pack’s community. He looked up the massive porch to find his father sitting on a large chair at the top of the steps. He was dressed in black head to toe and holding a large staff that he only used when on official business. This informed Ardyn that he was there to place judgement. He wasn’t there as a father welcoming home a lost son, but as a leader to his people assessing a possible threat.
“Father.” Ardyn bowed before the pack leader who shared his dark eyes and thick brow.
“Ardyn?” The Alpha stood from his seat, the expression on his face making it clear that he hadn’t been informed that the intruder was in fact his son. “Is that you?”
“Yes, it is me.” He stood and shot Marcus a sideways glance. He’d omitted that information on purpose. It was to inspire the idea of doubt in the people. Would the Alpha cast fair judgement on the stranger that called him father?
Kamshi, the leader of the pack and father to the man who was on display for the world to see, left the confines of his porch to allow himself a better view of the one who claimed to be his son. As he descended the steps on sure legs he scented the air and frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”
Ardyn flinched with the question that felt like a blow to the gut. “I am changed.”
“In what way? Show me your wolf!” His father demanded, but Marcus stepped forward.
“I do not think that is wise right now. We’ve seen the beast that was once wolf, this is not safe.”
“Will you hurt anyone here?” Kamshi asked Ardyn directly.
Ardyn bowed his head again. “No, I will not.”
“Your wolf,” The alpha made the request again this time without debate from Marcus.
Ardyn nodded slowly and called his wolf to the surface. He allowed the shift to happen slowly as to limit the alarm around him, but when his oversized beast emerged fully, the crowd struggled to keep its horror at bay.
“What’s wrong with him?” someone whispered.
Ardyn remained in wolf form as his father circled him. He lowered his nose to the ground again, showing that he was submitting to the Alpha’s will. Kamshi reached out and touched the fir that glowed around his fingertips and quickly retreated his hand. He made one full lap around the wolf in front of him before stopping at his head.
“What happened to you?” Kamshi questioned Ardyn. “Why has your wolf changed this way?”
Ardyn shifted back so he could speak, and kept his eyes trained on his father and not the faces around him that brought back his fear of not being accepted. “I was changed by a warlock. The night that I was named to be the next Alpha of this pack. There was an old man at the border. I offered him help, but it was a trap. He poisoned me, and when I awoke, I was like this.”
“What did this warlock turn you into?”
“Djinn.” His confession provoked a round of gasps and fearful exchanges.
“He is not one of us!” a woman yelled. “He should not be here!”
“Did I ask you for your opinion?” Kamshi turned on her with a growl and she whimpered and shrunk away between the bodies of two nearby men. “I am the Alpha here! I am the only one fit to cast judgement! Is anyone else having a problem remembering that?” Kamshi’s heavy gaze swept across the crowd and no one spoke. Satisfied by the response, or lack thereof, he returned to Ardyn. “You are djinn, and yet you are still able to turn into your wolf. How’s that possible?”
“The man who turned me did so in the hopes to use me as a tool to do unspeakable acts of evil. My wolf was the only thing that kept me safe from him. Because of my wolf, he was not able to contain me. The others he made, he bound them magically to a vessel, something that he kept in his possession which forced them to obey him. There was no vessel he could spell that could keep both of us captive.”
“What of this warlock now? Will he try this failed experiment again? How do we know that you have not led him back here to collect more souls?” The question stung but Ardyn knew his father had to ask it. This had to be done the right way if he wanted to avoid being questioned by the pack members.
“The warlock who did this to me is dead, and the ones who are responsible for ending his life are here now to ask you for help. They are my friends and I owe all of them a debt, and it is by coming here and facing you and those who were once my people that I intend to repay that debt.”
“Why should we help you?” The question came from a female, one who had been missing until that point. Ryesen stepped forward from the crowd. “Why should we let you back into our home after you abandoned us? You have been free of this man for so long and yet you did not come back here. Only now you return to ask a favor.”
“I know that you are angry with me, I know that you all are,” he swallowed his fear and turned to the pack, allowing their pain to wash over him before facing Ryesen head-on, “and I get that you above everyone else has every reason to hate me until the end of time. However, I cannot change what happened here. I cannot change how it happened. All I can do is present myself to you now as I am. I didn’t come back here because I didn’t think that any of you would accept me the way that I am now. Judging by the growls, hisses, and whispers of disgust from the crowd, I have to think that I was right. All I wanted to do was come home. For years I dreamed of coming back here. I hoped that I could return and the bond between me and my people would repair me. That it would make me whole again. I hoped that these people who were once a part of me, would accept me in the same way that they always had. Deep down I knew that would not be the case. I’m sorry that these are the circumstances, but I’m only here now because someone I care about is at risk. I can accept the fact that this is no longer my pack and that you do not accept me as one of your own.” Once again, he looked around him and took in the faces of the people around him, the ones who would help determine his fate. “I ask that you consider my request as a pack, because as a pack and as a people, you understand what that bond is. I am no longer bonded to you all, and it has been burning in my chest from the moment I stepped foot here and I didn’t hear the howl on the wind. My greatest fear was realized, you are my pack no longer. But I have a new pack now, they are my friends. We stick together, and we will fight through whatever comes. I ask that you allow us to do that. We do not come here for war, or to cause any disturbance to your lives. We are simply here to find our friend and then we will leave and you and everyone else here will never have to worry about seeing my face again.”
“Is it so simple for you to come here, lay down your demands, and promise to never return?” Ryesen tightened her jaw. “You claim to have cared so much about this pack and yet the only thing that brought you back here was the hope of finding someone who is not one of us. Nothing about what you said convinces me that you ever gave one damn about us!”
“You know that it is not easy for me. None of this is. And of all people in this world, you know exactly how I feel about this place, about these people and about you.” Ardyn put it out there. It was the anger he saw in her eyes, the fight that she swallowed. He’d broken her heart, intentionally or not. Having him back brought it all to the surface again.
“Well lucky for you it’s not up to me if you get to stay or not, but I'll have you know that if it were, you and your friends would be kicked out and banned from showing your face around here again so this way you don’t have to make another empty promise.”
“She is right, it is not her decision it is mine,” Kamshi spoke. He allowed the exchange between the two of them because he needed to know for sure that Ardyn was still his son. “I have to admit that I am torn now. As your father, I am happy to see my child return home and yet disappointed at the manner of which it is done. I am hurt by the story of your cowardice, that you should not return because you think that we would not accept you. These people are not turning from you because of what you are now. Yes, perhaps it is a bit concerning, but the reason you get the welcome that you have is because you abandoned us. I can accept that you were captured, but once you were free you should have returned home.
“As the Alpha, I cannot let someone innocent suffer because of my own hurt feelings. There is a life at stake, one of your own, and if you’re concerned enough to swallow your irrational fear and spinelessness to come home and face us, then I will allow you what you request.” Growls and the sounds of discontent rumbled around them, causing Kamshi to raise his voice again. “Who here dares to question my judgment?”
“I do,” Marcus spoke above the silence of the others. “He doesn’t belong here.”
“Fine, if you so choose, you may challenge him. Defeat him and his pass will be revoked.” Kamshi cocked his head to the side.
“I happily take on the challenge. But we will combat hand-to-hand. I’m not a fool. His wolf is not normal, and that wouldn’t be a fair fight. No magic, no wolves. Just men,” Marcus barked, and the pack cheered him on. “You want to come back here, you have to earn it!”