Isabel's Choice

Chapter 3 - Isabel

Place and time: Owen's pack (Souther River Border), next morning

As I touch with disbelief the bruises on my arm and the cuts on my hips, I am wondering how I got here. Not here, in the space of the large fancy bathroom. This I know. I waited until I was sure that Alpha Owen was asleep. I then sneaked out of our bedroom, to shower and start my day.

I am just wondering about the broader "here", the "here" of being Luna of the South River Border pack, which, translated properly, means glorified slave.

***

Until two years ago, I was so fiercely loved.

My name might be Isabel, daughter of the Forest, but I actually have two mothers and two fathers. My mother Selma and my father Mike are Beta ranked warriors in Finn's pack that controls the Northern River border. My mother Astrid is of Alpha descent and is Selma's mate. My father Scott is head of Finn's lambdas and of Mike's heart.

Early in their relationship, my parents dubbed themselves the Four Pack. When I was five I asked them which ones were my biological parents. They told me that my mother Astrid found me in the forest as a baby, in a time when they thought they would never get to be parents, and that they intended to cradle me in their arms as long as I needed. Potentially until I would shift and be ready to ride along the River border with them. 

 Or longer, if I will allow them to.

And I would have allowed them, because they raised me with kindness, taking turns naturally spoiling me and educating me. I sincerely pitied my friends that had conventional families.

Willow awoke in my mind on a warm June morning, one week earlier than I had expected her. The Four Pack watched me shift into a chocolate brown wolf with soft fuzzy fur and large curious golden irises. They spread the news happily to all the friends and family and we went for a celebratory dinner for what I knew then it was my true birthday.

The next evening I went to introduce my wolf to my friend Raya, who was the youngest of Alpha Finn's daughters.

"She is so beautiful," she screamed ecstatically, "I cannot wait to get mine and be able to shift together. Charlotte never wants to run with me." She pouted, clearly upset that for her now-of-age-sister we were not interesting anymore.

Willow wanted to comfort her in some way, so we bowed in front of the young female and allowed her to climb on our back. We ran with her as fast as we could through the forest, to give her a preview of what she was going to be able to do in a couple of months.

I vividly remember her thrilling laughter, because it was the last good thing that happened to me on that day.

***

When we got back to her parents' house she handed me back the white sundress that I had gotten as a present from her and which she had carried for me, I bid her good night and made my way towards the house where I lived with the Four Pack.

My parents liked their privacy and wanted to live separate from the Alpha family. They did compromise and had built their home at a reasonable distance from Finn's villa. A reasonable wolf running distance.

To get to our place, I had the choice of going through the Swan Park, which extended for half a mile around a natural pond, or walking on the well-lit street around it.

Normally I would have walked on the street, but I was wolved and cocky, and I decided to take the shortcut, across the moon-bathed grass lawns.

When I was almost at the southern exit, I heard some steps behind me. I prepared to shift, thinking to hell with Raya's thoughtful present of a beautiful summer dress.