Without a Wolf

8

To my surprise, the door wasn't locked. I pushed the door gently, allowing it to open fully. I looked around the new area the open door had shown me. It seemed to be a long hallway, with green wallpaper and large, decorative paintings hung every few feet on the walls.

I stepped tentatively into the hallway, my arms crossing across my chest as I did. I looked both ways, wondering which way to go. I was torn, but then I heard faint voices coming from the right. So I turned right, and followed the long, green hallway. I could hear the sound of my own footsteps pattering against the dark brown hardwood flooring. I noticed that while the decor of my bedroom seemed luxurious and modern, this hallway seemed to be the opposite. It looked like the bones of a very old house.

When the poorly lit hallway finally ended, light poured into the large room in which I entered. I only had time for a cursory glance around the room, enough to know that it was a large one. It was a kitchen and a dining room, but the decor in this room was the least of my concerns.

Instead, I was greeted by the sight of two large wolves.

My feet stopped their movements entirely, my body coming to a screeching halt. I looked ahead, peering at the wolves that were in front of me. They were both seated at the large breakfast bar in the middle of the room, clearly halfway through breakfast. They, just like me, had stopped their movements to look at me, too. Though they had vastly differing appearances, they were both large in stature. There was a power exuding from them, but a power much less than that of Emeric's. I knew pretty quickly that they must be his Betas, the wolves next in rank.

"Um," I broke the awkward silence that had filled the room. "Hi," I said awkwardly, raising my hand in a short wave. I felt nervous, knowing that this was my first real interaction with Emeric's pack.

"Well, well, well." The wolf closest to me spoke. He cracked a smile, allowing his features to lighten considerably. He had dark brown hair, almost black, that was cut short to his scalp. He had a playful demeanor, and I quickly realized he was the class clown, so to speak.

"If it isn't Sleeping Beauty," he tilted his head, his eyes crinkled as he looked at me. "We thought you'd be rushing out the door, trying to escape, seeing as from what Emeric said, you didn't want to be here in the first place."

"Sleeping Beauty?" I replied, questioning his use of words. Though my anxiety began to fade away, just slightly, with the air of ease that was floating through him. I didn't touch the rest of what he said. I didn't blame him for assuming that I would try to escape as soon as I could.

"We've never seen a wolf take so long to heal," the other wolf said. This one had red hair, a soft red that could be considered closer to orange. It was pleated in a long braid, swept onto his right shoulder. "We were beginning to think that asshole had knocked you into the next realm."

It seemed that the fact of my missing wolf wasn't quite yet public knowledge. Which made sense, because I knew as much as Emeric likely knew, his pack would not accept the mate of their Alpha if she wasn't really a wolf anymore.

"Oh," I said awkwardly. "And it's not that I didn't want to be here... exactly," I hesitated, grappling for words that wouldn't offend them. "It was just..."

"No," he shook his head, letting a deep laugh leave from his chest. "I mean, we get it. Emeric can be intimidating. I wouldn't want him as my mate, either. Have you seen those serious eyes of his... no fun at all," he said. I knew he was joking, though, from the deep look of respect in his eyes when he said Emeric's name.

"Emeric never did tell us your name," the dark haired one said, smirking at me like he thought this meeting was exceptionally funny. "I'm Thorne."

"He didn't tell you my name?" I asked, confirming his statement.