Persephone's Wolves, page 40
But, looking over at this city, I’m not so sure anymore. Everything that has happened to me—being rejected by the alpha of Ravensword and thrown to sea, surviving that to find my alphas, then learning that we knew each other all along and they had been looking for me—all of it has led me to this point, to this city, to my people. My wolves. My alphas.
The grass crunches under our feet as we walk down the hill, surrounded by enormous black wolves. My eyes watch the red cloaks of the alphas of Fall Mountain Pack, the red fabric stroking the grass as they walk in front of us. Valentine and Silas are close, on either side of me, their arms brushing me every so often, comforting me.
“You were bound not to tell me anything about this pack,” I say. My statement doesn’t need an answer. I know I’m right.
“Yes—”
“I bound them with blood, forbidding any conversation about this pack. It is the same blood-bound promise any wolf makes who leaves. Our city is our secret for a good reason,” Alpha Reine interrupts, looking back at me, and then pauses. “And any conversations like this should be done in private. We have a reputation to uphold, Mai.”
The sternness of her voice, the power behind it, makes me want to bow my head. I feel the pressure of her gaze as we stare each other down, and my body starts to shake, a feral growl slipping from my lips. She growls right back, her eyes bleeding to a blood shade of red.
“Mai—” Valentine steps in front of me, placing his hands on my shoulders. I immediately snap out of it, the trance I was just in, and shake my head.
“I don’t know what just happened,” I whisper.
“Young wolf,” Reine huffs. “But such power. The rite is going to be very interesting.”
Valentine and Silas both tense, and it only makes me more nervous of what I’ve just signed myself up for.
“Wait for me!” Trey shouts, and I look up to see Trey running down the hill.
“Who is the boy?” Reine asks, walking to Valentine’s side. I keep my eyes from hers, not wanting a repeat of what just happened. Trey crashes into our group, brushing back his blond hair, his cornflower blue eyes looking between us all.
Phim places her hands on his shoulders, but Silas speaks. “Trey is our ward, who we have raised.”
Soren walks to Reine’s side, glancing at Trey. “How old is the boy?”
“Ten,” Trey answers. “But I look older.”
“That you do. You are tall for your age,” Reine comments, smiling his way and looking up at her mate. Something silent passes between them, and he walks away before she looks to us. “Some wolf children grow faster than humans, after all. Some do not.”
“Trey certainly has done,” Valentine agrees.
“As our ward, he will be staying with us,” Silas states, his tone offering no room for argument.
“I look forward to learning all about you, Trey Fall,” Reine softly tells him before turning away and continuing her descent down the hill, walking easily between the many ragged, moss-covered rocks.
It takes a while for all of us to get down the mountain, and the whole time, I’m aware of Silas’s and Valentine’s gazes on me, watching my reactions to this city, to their pack and the secret they were forced to keep from me. The reason why they always hold back, never tell me how they feel, makes so much more sense now. They have a duty to this pack, to be alphas, and this rite means they can’t choose their own mate.
But I know, deep down, how I feel. I think I might know how they feel, and finally I have some answers. We eventually come off the hill and onto brick-laid streets and pathways, lined with small houses. It’s staggeringly beautiful. The crater walls that make the hills cast deep shadows down on the city, and where the sun does touch, it highlights how lovely it is. Every house on the row in front of us is made of golden brown bricks with white roofs and sweet little white windows with different coloured flowers hanging out of them. The wooden doors have the mark on my hand drawn into the wood, each one painted in a different way, but it’s all the same symbol. It’s their symbol for Fall Mountain Pack, I realise. I turn my hand around, looking at the mark there. I have so many marks now, starting with the moon marks on my back, the pomegranate and vipers on my arm and now this on my hand. My marks are my story painted on my body, and I never want it to end.
Marks have meaning, marks have power.
I lower my hand and look once more at the city I now call home, a place I am meant to feel safe.
Each house has its own little picket-fenced garden in front of the door, filled with beds of plants and fruits, some with people in their gardens, enjoying the beaming sun shining down on us. Two little girls in soft cherry dresses run through the gap between the houses, their laugh making my lips tilt up. The roads, the streets even, have beautiful crystal street lamps lining the edges, and I can scent nothing but wolves, the distant forest, and fresh, clean air. It’s effortlessly peaceful here, untouched by the brutal world outside. A place the Levi hasn’t destroyed, humans never found, and the angels haven’t ruined.
I know why my four alphas call this home, why they never spoke a word of it, blood-bound or not. This place is worth protecting with my life. So are the people. They are happy, content, and most importantly, innocent.
For a while, I just take it all in, the beauty of the city, of everything stretched in front of me down this one road and strip of homes. This is only an inch of the city, but it’s so different, so unusual compared to everything I’ve seen in my life. The pack in Ireland was close to this, but on a smaller scale and not as hidden. Ravensword was never this quiet, never this calm.
The city is calm.
“What do you think?” Valentine questions. Reine looks my way, as does her mate, waiting for my answer.
“I have a lot of questions...but this pack is incredible from where I’m standing. I see why this is home,” I say.
“We will answer anything you wish now,” Silas tells me. “Anything, Mai. We told you, once we got to the city, there would be no secrets. That is true.”
I look into his winter grey eyes that seem lighter now. His moon mark on his neck looks darker in comparison, and I can’t handle the pressure of his gaze for long before I need to turn away. “Why do I have this mark on my hand?”
“Every wolf who enters our pack lands is marked. Even the angel was presented with a mark,” Alpha Soren answers. “It’s a safeguard. You won’t be able to speak of the city when you leave unless I allow it.”
“The rest of your questions will have to wait until we are inside our castle,” Alpha Reine interrupts, “as I have many questions myself, for all of you.”
She gives Valentine and Silas a pointed look.
I’m almost thankful for the interruption, as everything feels a little overwhelming, too much to take in at once. My questions can wait; I trust my alphas.
I trust myself, and this pack feels like nowhere I’ve been before. The land is seeping with shifter energy, and it’s enough to make me feel dizzy.
Valentine, picking up on my nervous energy, ever so softly links his fingers through mine as he holds my hand. His warm hand gives me a little more strength, and I make sure to hold my head high. I look up to see Alpha Reine staring at us, or more at our hands joined, before turning away to no doubt hide her reaction. I did notice the look she gave me, the one that suggested she isn’t overly impressed.
I hear the sound of the horses before I see them in the distance, gigantic black-haired horses running towards us down the path, while people move out of the way. The horses are twice the size of me, galloping so fast I wonder if they can stop in time. The four horses are pulling along a mammoth-sized carriage behind them. The carriage is lit up inside but appears older, making me frown as I wonder who made it.
“We mix some of the human technology with our own. Our engineers are quite extraordinary,” Alpha Soren states. “Are you interested in the making of cars and carriages, among other things?”
“Of course she isn’t, dear,” Alpha Reine hushes him.
“I have watched Ragnar in his garage many times, and he showed me how some of it works. It’s very interesting, but I prefer to have my head in books or training with Silas,” I say.
Silas chuckles. “Sure you do. The many curse words you throw my way during training suggest you love it dearly.”
My cheeks redden as he winks at me, and Valentine chuckles. Even Alpha Reine and Alpha Soren look amused for a moment before they both turn away. I glance back at Trey, Phim and Adira, who are staring at the city in awe. Adira looks away from the city, probably sensing my gaze, and her robin egg blue eyes fall on me. She smiles at me, a smile full of malicious intent.
I smile back, baring my teeth a little, before looking away. She is a snake, and we just let her into a wolf den. I’m determined the only one who is going to get hurt is her.
“It is good to have you home,” Alpha Reine says, looking at Valentine and Silas and then finally on the rest of us. We don’t get the same warm greeting, but I do understand. She doesn’t know who we are anymore, as we have changed from children. And she doesn’t know much about Phim and Trey at all. I imagine, as alpha female of this huge pack, she has had to make herself strong and become careful of who she trusts.
The carriage stops in front of us, and I stare up at the magnificent horses, admiring their soft coats and long manes. Within the braids of each horse’s mane are silver upside-down mountain clips that catch the sunlight.
“It is good to be home,” Silas replies, walking up to the horses. He pats the side of one of them. “How is my horse?”
“Gwendial is fine,” Alpha Soren tells him. “We will ride out together tomorrow.”
Silas nods at him, a softness in his eyes for Alpha Soren. I remember being told Alpha Reine challenged his biological father for Silas, won, and brought him up. I get the impression, or feeling, something similar happened with Valentine. I want to ask about Valentine’s history, but I will wait until he comes to me. No one should be pushed into revealing their past.
“Should we not wait for Ragnar and Henderson to come back down with the children?” I question.
“They will catch up,” Valentine tells me.
“There was an outbreak of a nasty sickness five years ago that took a lot of our young,” Alpha Reine tells us, a note of sadness in her words. “Wolf children are very welcome to many parents here, and they will be honoured and celebrated. My people are working hard to find them homes, and you need not worry.”
“I will try not to,” I reply, looking at Alpha Reine. “And I’m so sorry for your losses.”
“We endure the fall,” she tells me, each word filled with power, “and rise in the ashes.”
She turns away from us, and I look up at the gigantic oak carriage that towers up into the sky, the oak shaped into leaves and petals that join together to hold a red stained glass sphere. The door of the carriage has the Fall Mountain Pack symbol carved in the middle, and it opens outward before a man jumps out. Wearing all black, with a red cloak falling from his shoulders and a red symbol on his chest, he bows his head of black hair. Two swords are strapped to his back, and four daggers are strapped to his arms.
“Any royal guard wears this uniform,” Valentine tells me, loud enough for Phim, Adira and Trey to hear. “There is a ranking for guards, starting with grunts, and the top level is one of the Selected Royal Guards. To become one takes intense training.”
The guard keeps his head bowed as he pulls down a little tiny row of steps that lead into the carriage before stepping to the side.
Alpha Reine walks on first. “Thank you, Krause. Take us back to the castle.”
“Yes, alpha,” Krause responds. Alpha Soren climbs on next, and Silas gestures for me to follow. He holds onto my hand as he guides me up the steps, and I sit on the empty side. The walls are dark, with an electric light above us on the ceiling, and the seats are made of dark red fabric. There is space for at least ten people to sit in here, maybe fewer if they are the size of my alphas.
Silas comes and sits right next to me, opposite Alpha Soren and Reine. Valentine gets on next and sits beside Silas, followed by Adira and Phim and finally Trey. Trey takes the seat next to Alpha Reine and Soren, immediately chatting away as the door closes and the carriage takes off.
I peel the red curtains back to look out the window, watching the houses go past until we come to a clearing of grass, and beyond is one of the two rivers that flow through the city. We cross over a large white stone bridge, and I look down to see three swans in the river, gracefully swimming along.
I look back to see Silas and Valentine deep in conversation, both of them tenser than before.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
The carriage goes quiet, everyone listening in as Silas answers me. “Our bond with the pack has gone silent.”
“What does that mean?” Phim questions. “I can feel the bond, but I can’t tap into it.”
“It’s like it’s gone silent, disappeared,” Trey agrees.
“It’s the magic of the city,” Soren claims, interrupting. “It can do that, on occasion. I heard of issues with the pack bond when my father’s rite was started. The land doesn’t know who the alphas are going to be, and it makes the rules.”
“The land is alive with god magic,” Alpha Reine agrees. “We should all be cautious of its strength while The Rite of Wolves is commencing.”
“There’s only one pack after all. Making another one and then coming here must have messed with the magic,” Silas agrees.
“I hope it was worth leaving your people for so long,” Alpha Soren comments, his eyes looking my way. They left to find me, and it has no doubt cost them something they aren’t saying. The city seems at peace, the people safe, and that can’t be said for anyone outside these walls.
I get the impression he is talking about me, about whether I’m worth the years they spent looking for me.
Silas and Valentine turn my way. Their combined gaze makes my heart beat fast. “Some people are worth all the stars in the sky, all the packs in the world, and every beat of our hearts.”
I suck in a breath, holding back the emotions pouring throughout my body. These alphas so effortlessly take my heart and soul with a couple of words. With a look.
I love them passionately and whole-heartedly, and whatever the future is going to throw at us, we can handle it.
The silence becomes uncomfortable after a while, and I choose to look out of the window, watching the city pass by, enjoying the normality of this place. Wolves fill the streets, both shifted and not, pausing to enjoy the leaves falling from the trees or a quiet talk with a friend. Some are eating on benches, others are running or doing stretches. The shifted wolves are walking between them or lying on the grass in the shade, young wolves playing at their feet. The young wolves are tiny, and they must shift for the first time so young here. I can’t wait to run through this city in my wolf form. The scents and sights will be unforgettable.
The wolves here wear a mixture of human-like clothing—dresses and jeans, leggings and T-shirts—surprising me. In the Fenrir Court, the angels dress like humans in the eighteen hundreds, and we were the odd ones out. We drive around a corner, and I look up at a large, broken pillar that towers into the sky. The pillar is made of white stone, beautifully carved, and I imagine it was one of the original parts of the mountain that fell.
“Is that part of the original mountain?” I question, pointing at it.
“Yes, and there are parts like that all over the city. The city, by the way, is called the Ruina City, and it is divided into eight plazas. Each plaza has a name, and it is defined by the pillars which mark the borders of areas. We just left the Infernum Plaza, and we are now in the Calah Plaza,” Alpha Reine explains to me.
“I look forward to learning more about Ruina City,” I answer.
Alpha Reine nods, looking out. “I felt your presence, all six of you, when you stepped in here. The land shook with power, unlike anything I’ve seen. You were all born to walk this city, to be in this pack.”
“I know I was,” Adira comments with a proud smile.
Alpha Reine watches her for a moment, and I can’t read her expression before she turns back to looking out the window. “This land is steeped with magic from Hades and from other gods who walked on this place right before our time, and after a while, the land speaks to you. It helps you.”
“Do you think the land is happy to have us here?” Silas questions. I’m a little surprised he doesn’t call her his mother, but I don’t comment on it.
She frowns, turning to Alpha Soren. “Yes and no. The rite...well, it has made the land alive once more with thick, dangerous and wild magic. We should all be very careful until you take our place as alphas.”
“Our connection to Hades has grown,” Silas warns.
Something like fear flashes in Alpha Reine’s eyes before she rests back. “I look forward to our long conversations on what has happened this last year that I haven’t heard from you.”
“How did you contact each other before?” Trey asks.
“Fox and his oddly silent brothers regularly brought people here from my sons, along with letters. We have received over two hundred wolves, all young or female,” Alpha Soren answers him. I wonder if they have a problem with the birth rate of female wolves compared to males here.
Trey starts asking a million more questions, mostly about food, and I softly smile at Silas, who smirks at me as I turn away to look out of the window, watching the city once again as we pass by it. The small houses slowly turn into bigger ones with large grasslands between them. We pass another pillar, marking a new district that is full of newer townhouses, rows of them with what I think are shops on the lower levels. Several of the townhouses have glass windows with dresses on display, or jewellery and many other things we pass by too quickly for me to really see. The streets are filled with so many people, some pausing to look at the carriage and whisper to their friends. I catch several eyes in the crowds, and I smile at them, wishing I was out of the carriage so I could talk to them, find out the secrets of my new home.
