I couldn't really run away from Aster, that was the worst of it. For starters, Wolf needed someone to follow, they needed to be told what to do and wanted a strong presence in their life. Kind of sounds stupid, doesn't it? But I was getting better at understanding what Wolf wanted me to do, which made it hard to not do those things.
Secondly, I felt like I needed Aster. With all this talk about how horrific being a werewolf was, I'd decided that I truly didn't want to do it on my own. Plus, if I left that basically meant I was going to be kicked out of the forest because Wolf wouldn't let me walk onto their territory, and neither would the pack. The pack. Everyone had heard about how I beat Umbridge, and when I walked out of the alpha's quarters this morning I was congratulated from every direction. The pack practically swarmed me with cheers and praise for coming out on top. That made it all the worse, since I was supposed to let Umbridge beat me up.
It had to be eight or nine in the morning now, and I was still wandering blindly in the woods. I wasn't lost, that was nearly impossible with my new nose, but I'd been walking for hours and didn't feel an ounce of exhaustion. Maybe Elaine was right- I was stronger than I looked now. That had to be a side effect of the werewolf bite, because I used to pass out running the mile in PE.
I wanted to go down to see the pups, but that'd be the first place Aster would look for me when he woke up and realized I wasn't there. Truth be told, I kind of wanted him to panic and to think that I had chosen to leave the pack. I could tell by the way he said it last night that he didn't truly mean he would kick me out. Aster was strong, but not that strong. Otherwise he would've kicked out whoever's been hitting Elaine.
"Hey, newbie!"
I recognized the voice instantly, and the lemon-y scent had been following me almost the whole time. "Hey," I said, without turning around. "Abby, right?"
The blonde wolf from the kitchen poked her head out from the bushes, twigs and leaves stuck in her long locks. She grinned at me. "Yup!" She stood up and tried to step around the bushes but got her foot stuck and nearly toppled over. She huffed and flipped off the bush, then bounded over to me. Real Adam behavior if I'd ever seen it. "Hey, I saw you leave. Jesus you're fast. I had to shift just to catch up after a little while. Took you a long time to stop though. Whatcha thinking about?"
You didn't tell someone that their idol, the person they looked to for advice and reassurance, was a douchebag, so I held my tongue about that. "I miss my friends," I blurted that out before I could stop myself. "I just- it feels weird, not being able to tell them everything anymore. I'm kind of preoccupied with the whole werewolf thing, but I know they wouldn't understand."
Abby nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, leaving friends and family is the worst. Almost the entire pack is from Kunim, in Mississipi. Pretty weird, huh? The same town where that birthday party happened. We were all in danger of being hunted with guns, and I can't blame them. Those werewolves mauled a bunch of little kids. You know Suki remembers the entire thing? Her face was half-ripped off and everything. I remember Aster running her to the ambulance, even though he knew she was going to heal he was still so scared for her."
I gaped. Elaine told me that only Loki remembered. "Seriously?"
Abby nodded. "Yeah. That's why she's so... meh, all the time. She hates werewolves, she hates herself for being one. It's a lot of hate. But anyways, we're all from Kunim and we had to pack our things and leave our families and friends and junk. We asked all of our families if anyone wanted to join us, same thing with the kids' parents. We wouldn't let the siblings come if they were still alive or un-bit. One or two relatives tagged along, but no parents. I brought my sister, but very few of the werewolves could convince anyone to come with them. Or that they were even telling the truth, for that matter."
I couldn't believe I had just complained to Abby that I missed my friends, who were very much alive and who were very near me and who I could see everyday at school or outside of it. I felt so horrible. I never should've said anything.
"I'm really sorry," I said.
"I didn't go through anything," laughed Abby.
"You did," I insisted. "You had to see the aftermath, and now you have to hear kids crying and running around and laughing as a constant reminder of what your pack members did. Even if you didn't cause it, its still traumatic to see. There's time to be emotional in a werewolf pack, there has to be, or you'll only become more like your Wolf."
Abby smiled. "You sound pretty smart, newbie, for someone that hasn't shifted yet." She paused. Her eyes sparkled. "Hey, you want me to show you how to shift?"