Willow

by Amy Richie

  Chapter Five

  Leaving Home

  My head jerked back in surprise. The numbness that had started in my lips moved to include the rest of my face. He had to be joking, but who was he? Why would he come here and say these things to me?

  "Are you a loner?" I asked with ice in my voice.

  His eyes narrowed slightly. "No," he half shrugged, "but I have no female."

  "And you're from this other pack? How did you know I was here?"

  "I am not from this other pack," he said slowly, as if I were two and couldn't understand things easily. "I'm from the council. I knew you were here because we sent you here."

  I was too confused to fit into my human body. Almost against my will I morphed back to my wolf-self. Blake glared at me, but I didn't care. He wasn't making any sense and I wasn't going to listen anymore. I knew he'd have to morph if he hoped to keep up with me. Either way, I wouldn't have to hear him anymore.

  I found the pack exactly where I had left them. Most of them were napping and only barely looked up when I joined them again. I dropped to my belly next to Ralph. He rolled his head to look at me and thumped his tail against the ground. I laid my head on his soft side and tried not to think of Blake from the council.

  It frustrated me that I wasn't able to relax, even in my wolf form. Ralph sensed my mood and he whined low in his throat. "I'm ok," I assured him. He nudged my head with his muzzle.

  Concentrating on my toes first, I was eventually able to relax. I sighed deep in my throat and prepared to sleep away the rest of the afternoon. Maybe I'd just stay a wolf for a few days. It was so much easier. The wolf in me didn't worry about jocks and making the cheerleading squad. In fact, the wolf in me might have been ok with a pack to lead. As a female the need to have a pack was as strong as the need to breath. But I was also human and I'd always been able to suppress the wolf.

  My eyes drifted closed as I snuggled deeper into Ralph's thick fur. Why was he so hairy? It has to be hot, I thought lazily. I wondered when the last time Ralph had been human was.

  The air around us changed suddenly and drastically when Bella bounded into the clearing. "What are you doing?" she demanded in her most haughty voice, her wolf voice.

  Ralph whimpered and bolted up. All six of the boys had their bellies on the ground. "We hunted," I replied.

  "Morph back."

  With only a slight hesitation, I complied. A large, dark wolf came up behind Bella but he shifted to Blake before taking another step. "What is going on?"

  Bella stood up on two legs and shook her long blonde hair down her back. "You've met Blake?"

  So Blake was a tattletale. I did my best to sneer in his direction. "I have had that pleasure."

  "And you ran from him?" Bella raised one thin eyebrow.

  I shrugged and shook off the accusation. "He could have come with me." I couldn't figure out who Blake was. Was he a friend of Bella's? She must have known him; she was sort of being nice to him.

  "We'll go back to the house," Bella announced with a grin. "We'll have a nice little chat." She reached out to pat my hand but fell short and let her arm fall away. She smiled but it was dead and it put a coldness in my chest.

  Ivy was waiting for us at the house but I was glad to see that Carlie had left. "Nice outfit," Ivy chuckled.

  I glared her way, feeling a childish urge to stick my tongue out. I hurried past her and sprinted up the stairs with her catcall whistles following me. It didn't take me long to throw on a new shirt and pair of jeans. I didn't even glance at the design, I was just glad that it was whole.

  I couldn't really explain why I was so angry. Obviously there had been some sort of mistake. No way could I be a leader of anything, let alone a whole pack. Besides that, there were no other packs around. We would know if there were.

  "Maybe Bella knew."

  I shot that annoying inner voice down. Bella didn't know, she would have told me.

  "He said they sent you here."

  There is no way. Blake is a loner wolf.

  "He knows Bella."

  Bella knows a lot of wolves.

  I pulled my brush brutally through my tangled curls but gave up quickly. I didn't care what I looked like. I took a deep breath and sank to the edge of my bed. I had to get control of myself before going down there. I needed a clear head.

  Maybe this is just a joke, I thought suddenly. My eyes darted back and forth as I worked out the scenario in my head. Blake was an old boyfriend of Bella. She thought it would be funny to freak me out with this leader crap. The council. I snorted loudly. There was no such thing as a council.

  The only thing close to someone in charge of the wolves were the vampires in the ancient city. The vampires would never care about a pack without a leader unless they needed to be put down, and a wolf would never work with the vamps. That would just never happen, even if he were a loner.

  I bit the inside of my lip. If this was a joke and I went down there acting all mad, it would just make Bella's day. I had to stay calm and hear what they had to say. I'd been around Bella long enough to know when she was just joking. I was pretty sure of at least that much.

  "Willow!" Bella screamed from downstairs. That must have been my cue that they were done waiting.

  I shoved my hair behind my ears and slowly made my way to the hall. I slipped into the small bathroom and splashed water on my too red face. I took a deep, calming breath and glared at my reflection. "No tears, no matter what," I whispered. I grimaced at the sight of my unruly hair. It was somehow worse than usual. In my defense, I had changed to a wolf and run through the forest this afternoon.

  With my breathing slightly more even and a heavy heart, I went downstairs to hear Blake out.

  They were both sitting on the same couch when I got to the living room but Bella's frown was so pronounced it made my steps falter. Blake just looked strangely amused. "Nice shirt," he commented.

  Confused, I looked down to see which shirt I had pulled on. It was black with a full moon and the words "Let the beast out". I crossed my arms over my chest. "Thanks," I mumbled. I slid into the chair across from them. Is this what it felt like to have parents? Even though Blake looked to be my age, I felt his superiority.

  "Blake is from the council," Bella began without preamble.

  "What's a council?"

  "The council is three wolves who live inside the ancient city," Blake explained calmly.

  "With the vampires?"

  He hesitated at my tone. "Yes."

  I closed my eyes. "You … you what? You're the vamp's lapdog?"

  Bella growled but Blake seemed unaffected by my accusation. "Andros lets us live there to make decisions for the wolves."

  "He lets you live there? Wow, you must be so proud."

  "If it wasn't for us, the wolves might very well be extinct by now. We sacrifice a lot for our kind."

  "Three males?" A female would never be so submissive to a bunch of thieving vamps. The ancient city was ours. Andros had no right to take it.

  "Yes." The single syllable brought my eyes up to meet Blake's.

  "What do you want from me?"

  "As I tried to tell you before, there is a pack here that needs you to lead them."

  "No."

  Bella growled again. "Andros wants them all killed. They have raised a few eyebrows with their careless ways."

  "I'm not doing it."

  "They're young boys. Both in human terms and wolf terms. There was a female called Noreen."

  I shifted slightly in my seat. Of course I had heard of Noreen. She was trying to raise an army to take out Andros and recapture the ancient city. It was bad news if Andros' lapdog knew of Noreen. "Was?"

  "Noreen hand-picked this pack to be her own. She planned to train them and make them her own."

  "But?"

  "But Noreen had made a dangerous enemy. Mikhaul."

  The name sent shivers up my spine. Mikhaul, who had become an enemy to his kind, was a name to be hated. Most of us didn't even say
his name. "He killed her?"

  "And left her pack without a leader. They were barely months old to this life."

  My eyes narrowed. I didn't care about this pack, Blake just needed to leave. "That's a very sad story. Really, I am crying on the inside."

  His lips upturned slightly, but not out of humor. "It's been two years since they were created. They have cut a path of destruction in their wake. Six towns. It seems they have chosen Grover to be next."

  "We could stop them."

  "So could the vampires."

  "They would just kill them."

  "They are young, but they are strong and they are still wolves. They wouldn't belly down to just any authority."

  I heard the wisdom of his words but why did it have to be me? "There are other females to lead them."

  "When Noreen was at her height, she created many females to lead packs that she intended to create. Most of those females have been … taken care of." My lips tightened. "Your group of females is unique in our world. There are no others."

  "You could make one."

  "Andros is loathe to make another wolf when we have a perfect candidate already."

  "I'm … I'm not a leader. Maybe Ivy … " My voice had lost some of its bite.

  "Ivy is months away from maturity. They need someone now."

  My eyes darted to Bella but she wasn't saying anything to help me. "I'm not a leader," I repeated lamely.

  "Yes, you are, Willow. It is in your blood. You just need a pack."

  "What did you think would happen, Willow?" Bella asked in a flat voice. The kind of tone that sent shivers down my spine. "That we would all live happily ever after? I should have thrown you out a year ago."

  I couldn't say anything to that. I had always pictured myself being a lone wolf. It had always been my only option. Until now. "I could, you know, teach them and … until another … or Ivy … in a few months. Only for a few months."

  Blake smiled. "Excellent."

  

  Blake waited downstairs while I packed my stuff. It didn't take long. I just shoved everything back in my trunks and snapped the lids shut. I sat down on the edge of my bed, my heart a heavy mass in my chest. We hadn't even been here for a full week. That had to be some kind of record.

  "Hey," Ivy called from the doorway. Her bright blue eyes were lit with excitement. "I just got back from hunting and Bella says to pack up cause we are leaving. What did you do?"

  "You're leaving?"

  "We are leaving." She made a point to look at my packed trunks.

  Of course they were leaving. Two packs in one town? That would never work. Bella had only brought us here so that I could be turned over to Blake. The mass in my chest clenched painfully. I should have been ecstatic to get Ivy out of my life, but instead I felt a strange hollowness. "I'm not going with you."

  "What do you mean?" She hadn't moved from the doorway.

  "What did you think would happen?" I asked, using Bella's words to me. "That we could all just live happily ever after?" I couldn't sound as flat as her, my breath was coming out too thin.

  "Are you staying here?" It surprised me that Ivy didn't sound happy either.

  "For a little while."

  "I could stay with you," she said softly. Before I realized she had moved, she was sitting beside me on the bed.

  "You have to stay with Bella," I murmured. I looked at my little sister, my eyes bright with tears.

  Her own tears spilled over, leaving a trail down her still dirty face. I would miss Ivy. She was such a pain, but I would miss her. I always knew this day would come. I guess I just didn't realize how much my sister meant to me. I pressed my forehead to hers.

  "Girls!" Bella screamed up the stairs.