The Taint of Wolves

The first bones.

Chapter 27: The first bones.

Under the new conditions brought in with my relative 'freedom', I could only leave Lunar accompanied by my handler and the Alpha. I had an meeting scheduled at a facility set miles out from Lunar, hidden by the relatively docile farmland and the untamed forest that rose out of nowhere from the flat land, with dark, imposing pines that darkened the horizon.

As the trees closed around us, my breathing for a second.

A warm hand clasped mine. Easton sat in the back and continued staring forward, a calloused thumb tracing over my knuckles. I relaxed into the touch, trying not to show how touch starved I was. The Alpha didn't need the encouragement, but since I returned from the hospital, he had been finding reasons to just touch me. An errant hair. A piece of lint on my arm. Lingering two long when I handed him his morning coffee and the briefest touches were like shocks off a livewire.

Shocking. Addicting.

I didn't know if I liked the hold it had over me, so I was trying to acclimate myself to it. Get comfortable so it didn't weaken me.

In the front seat, Lux continued to speak and Blav murmured a few comments, his eyes on the dark road. We drove through a great seat of dark metal gates, into another compound. There were soldiers there, stoic and grim as they watched the jeep roll in.

"They're waiting to meet the terrifying Omega." I grumbled.

Lux glanced back at me. "Can we tell them it's me?"

The thought brought a smile to my face. Tiny Lux, a terrifying monster. Easton raised my hand, his lips a whisper against my knuckles. "We will be fine."

"Of course we will. They are just sacks of flesh and blood."

Blav looked at me in the rear-view mirror. "Perhaps, refrain from calling them that. We want to appear human."

"You're using a lot of we here. They aren't here to see you Blav, or even you Easton." I steadied myself, staring at the great room filled with jeeps and cars and all sorts of dangerous things that cost too much and caused a lot of damage. Before they could say anything else, I popped open the door and stepped outside.

The waiting soldiers seemed to grow more still, eyes riveted on me. Assessing. Taking in what the Ravi had created. I knew, by the hitch of their hearts and the soft intakes of breath, they did not find me lacking. I smiled at them – that too cold, too brutal smile.

A soldier, an older man who stood with power, stepped forward. His hair was silver-blond, his gaze bright and sharp. Lines of age drew down his mouth and his hooked nose had been broken one too many times. "It's nice to meet you, Omega."

"Not a lie." I murmured. "Curious."

"Who wouldn't want to meet creation of the Ravi under peaceful circumstances?" He questioned. "You are an anomaly. A human born with the moon's blessing. A weapon created against us, now being wielded by us."

I took the hand he held out and he squeezed, hard. I returned it with a harsher grip, watching his face as I felt the bones grate, right on the precipice of snapping. "I was never the Ravi's to wield. Nor yours. There is no one here that hates the Ravi more than me."

Easton stepped around the side of the jeep, his mouth a stern line of disapproval. "Alpha Elan."

Briefly, Easton touched my lower back. "Nova, this is Alpha Carada Elan. Carada, this is Nova Linden."

"You're moon-bound." Carada looked over me. "Power begets power, doesn't it, Supreme Alpha? The Lycan who dismantled the monarchy, and the human reformed by the Ravi. Paired by the moon."