Chapter 21

Chapter 21

-Pax-

Farley was right when he said a family meeting would be called. I expected to be sat in the living room with the rest of the pack, but I was surprised when Brin and Lana's voices echoed through the house.

I took a deep breath; the smell of coffee and mint filled my nose and helped me to relax. I was borrowing some of Farley's clothes. We weren't too different in size, but they hung off me a little. Still, I was grateful for whatever help I received.

"Farley," Lana exclaimed as her voice became clear. "I've missed you."

Farley stood up from beside me, the settee moving with his action. "I missed you too." The muffled nature of his voice told me that he was hugging her. "You too, dad."

"Now, now. It's only been a few months, no need for a hug." Farley must've been hugging Brin by that point, as his voice was also muffled.

"You can let go now dad," Farley said awkwardly. A leg touched mine, Farley had stepped backwards. "This is Pax."

"It is," Lana said, and I was suddenly hit with the smell of perfume and citrus. Lana's arms squeezed so tight; I felt my breath being knocked out of me. She rocked us left to right a few times before letting go and holding my arms. "You look so much like your parents."

That was one of the strangest things I had experienced. It was unexpected but it made me feel warm on the inside, as well as the outside.

"Nice to meet you," I stuttered out. I had the strangest sense of déjà vu, hadn't we introduced ourselves already? Is it normal for people to do this several times until they learned somebody's name? Maybe I'd done something wrong the first time.

My hand was then gently grabbed by someone with a firm grip. The hand was covered in calluses and scars. "Good to meet you, son." I'm guessing that Brin was shaking my hand.

"And you," I replied, holding back a big sigh.

"Alright, let's not make this extremely awkward." Farley pulled me back down beside him when Brin let go of my hand. "We've got to try and figure out what to do, and what we know."

"I'm assuming you mean what your parents know?" Clementine asked from her spot across the room. She was in the direction of a fluffy chair, so I'm assuming that's where she was sitting. Iris and Rowan were sat on the floor on top of some very comfortable meditation cushions. "Because we know bugger all."

Lana chuckled. "I'm afraid we're not fountains of knowledge on the subject, but we'll try."

I was waiting for the moment when my condition was brought up, but it hadn't been so far. Maybe my awkwardness on the video call was enough to make my blindness clear, or maybe it was just too obvious for anyone at this point. They also could've been told before hand. There were many possibilities.

"You are in comparison to us," Caspian informed. "Can I get you anything?" The question sounded strange, I recognised the manners, but the wording was still odd to me.

"We're fine, thank you," Lana replied. "I think we would all rather get this over with. At least the tense parts. We can have a nice cuppa later."

If I had the willpower to nod, I would've been doing it vigorously.

"I would like that very much," Rowan announced. "The rain cloud has been here for far too long."

I was that rain cloud, at least it felt like it. I couldn't blame them for wanting the rain cloud to be out of the way and for the sun to shine.

"Now, you can't have a rainbow without a bit of rain, dear." I couldn't deny Lana's logic. "What would you like to discuss?"

Caspian cleared his throat. "We'd like to know a little more about the Crnmikoh's. What happened to them?"

I held my breath. The questions weren't something I had thought about in a long while. My foot was tapping on the floor and my palms were beginning to get clammy.

"Well, there's a lot of speculation," Brin said. "We know that they were being hunted down because they were black wolves. The entire werewolf community knew that. Before any of that happened, the rarity of the black wolves being revealed, they were highly respected individuals who just so happened to have black fur."

"So, the rarity of the black wolves wasn't known?" Iris asked. "That sounds strange, surely it was pointed out that there weren't many."

"We thought it was strange too," Lana answered. "But we put that down to assuming other black wolves were just in different countries. Nobody really knows the origin of the different coloured wolves."

"That was until, you know, the grand reveal." Brin's voice was exaggerated. "They found something, a relic of sorts, which stated that the black wolves were the descendants of the first werewolves."

"A relic?" Clementine asked. "That sounds like something off a fantasy TV drama which is used to continue a plot onto another series."

I didn't know what she was talking about, but breathing was becoming a chore. I was conscious of each heartbeat and inhalation.

"I can't disagree," Lana replied. "We don't know where it came from, or at least, the public doesn't."

A moment of silence consumed the room.

"We think that Pax's parents knew about it the whole time," Brin spoke softly. "After all, they were both black wolves. It would've made sense for it to be a coincidence if one of them was, but they both were."

"Were they cousins or something?" Rowan asked in a tone that I wasn't fond of. A banging sound came from his direction. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Being inconsiderate," Iris replied. "You don't know how many original werewolves there were in the pack, they could've come from completely different bloodlines."

"And we think the colour of fur is a dominant trait. It's seemingly random, you could inherit either parent's fur," Brin continued. "It just so happened that the black wolves stopped having as many children, they're extremely rare in this country."

I stood up. "Excuse me," I said before bowing my head and leaving the room. I put my shoes on and opened the front door. I surprised myself as I walked down the path and exited the gate.

I was being stupid. I should've just stayed in their front garden, by the door. I shouldn't have just left. I wasn't sure where I was going, or if there was anything in front of me. Footsteps were all around me now, varying in size. I was able to avoid bumping into people that way, staging clear of the noises. It meant that I bumped into a few gates, but that wasn't so bad.

I stayed on the path, that was the easiest thing to do. That was one of the lessons that I gained from living in the forest. If you go along one path, never turning, then it's easy to find your way back.

I trampled grass and returned to pavement without stopping. I tripped a few times, but that didn't bother me. I took deep breaths in and released them slowly. At least I wasn't running, that could've been disastrous. I still had one piece of rational thought left.

I found a bench, I don't know how I found it, but I did. My leg had bumped something and with a few cautious touches, it was easy to tell what it was. I sat down and stayed there.

I didn't know how far I had gone, but the sun was hitting me in the back of the head. Children's laughter was loud, I could be in a park, something that Alder told me about in great detail,

"Pax!" Farley's voice echoed from down the road. I was grateful to hear it, but it also made a shiver run through me. He'd probably take me back and I'd have to listen to more talk about my parents. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

I frowned. "I'm not too far from the house, am I?" I asked.

"Not really, I just went the wrong way," Farley said through deep breaths. He ended with a chuckle.

"Couldn't you tell where I was, by smell or something?" I inquired, hoping to prolong the conversation.

"Probably, but I don't tend to do that kind of thing." The bench squeaked as he sat down beside me. "Are you okay?"

I sighed. "I guess I am." I fiddled with my fingers. "I'm just not used to hearing things like that."

"About wolves?" Farley asked, before his tone became softer. "Or your parents?"

I leant back in the chair and tilted my head back, letting the sun wash over my face for a moment. "Both, either." My foot started to tap against the floor again. "I'm used to hearing about it, not so used to being in meetings about it."

"You know, you don't have to say anything." Ne nudged me. "Clementine was there, she'd do all that for you."

I snorted. "I gathered that over the past twenty-four hours," I mumbled. "What happened after I left?"

"Nothing much, mam just got nostalgic. I think Caspian was a bit annoyed at the personal touch, but he'll get over it."

Something touched the back of my neck, it was soft, like Farley's hoodie. He had his arm on the back of the bench.

"Should we go back?" I asked. "I know that everyone wanted to get the information out of the way."

"I don't think they know anything else," Farley replied. "We just need to plan what to do next."

An extremely loud noise filled my ears, making me clutch my ears. "Let's go," I struggled to speak as I grabbed Farley's hand which was on the bench and ran.

It could've been a simple dog whistle, but it was enough to make me bolt.

"Why are we running?" Farley asked. He stumbled as I continued to drag him. "You're faster than me, I can run by myself."

I didn't want him to. I may have gone my own way when leaving the house, but now I didn't want him to let go. He was keeping me grounded, the warmth of his hand was one of my main focus', along with getting away from that whistle.

"We have to hurry."

THANK YOU FOR READING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I hope that 2023 is kind to each and every one of you :D <3

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER!

Have you made any new years resolutions this year?

I've got a few!

-Maintain the weight that I'm at

-Get out of my comfort zone/try new things at least once a month

-go on holiday!

-Advance in my career