Chapter VI

A week had passed since the death of my sister, and I had barely said a word to anyone since. My full attention was given to caring for her cubs, which had grown very attached to me. I had been skipping meals in order to look after them, and Rowan was getting worried. We would swap duties when he could, so he could spend some time with them and I could eat and sleep; but as pack alpha, he was so busy that we couldn’t make it a regular thing.

The cubs were adapting to other people quite well. The little runt of the litter seemed to like people quite a lot, and enjoyed their company.

I was starting to name the cubs. The little runt was called Marble, and his brothers - the charcoal grey and the russet - were called Flint and Jasper. I wanted to wait until the girls opened their eyes before naming them. Since the litter were being named after semi-precious stones, their eye colour would play a huge role in naming them.

As I sat on the carpet, watching the cubs roll around, Rowan sat next to me. He grabbed my wrist and wrapped his fingers around it. “You’ve lost weight again.” He noted.

I shrugged and gently pulled my hand away. I was too tired and too weak to really fight back.

“When was the last time you ate - or even slept?” He asked, and ,again, I shrugged. Rowan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Take a nap on the couch. I’ll watch over the cubs for a few hours.”

I looked back at the cubs. They seemed content with their wriggling and sleeping, so I did as Rowan ordered.

I had stopped enjoying sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I closed my eyes, I could see the image of Raven, her blood, and the light vanishing from her eyes. It wasn’t the same vision each time I slept, though. Sometimes I saw her wolf form, and sometimes she was human. There were occasional times where I would just see memories of her helping me after Cole had attacked me, or taking cookies to give to me when we were little. This time, I dreamt the latter.

I jolted awake, causing Rowan to flinch in surprise. Nostalgic tears had escaped my eyes while I was asleep, and I quickly wiped them away.

Rowan stood from his place on the floor and sat on the couch next to me. “Bad dream?” he asked, and I nodded. He slowly wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me against his side.

I froze. His musky scent invaded my mind as I resisted every urge to hug him back.

“Don’t think I’m weird or anything.” Rowan said, sounding almost nervous. “This is just until you fall back asleep.”

I nodded, smiling to myself as I leaned against his side. I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes, letting my mind drift back into sleep. This time, nothing in my dreams reminded me of Raven at all.

~~~*~~~

My sleep wasn’t invaded by nightmares for thirty six hours - the longest I had slept since my sister passed away. When I awoke, Rowan was shaking my shoulder.

“Wake up, Runt,” he said softly. “They’re opening their eyes.”

I rubbed my eyes, letting the news register.

When it did, I jumped up from my place on the couch and rushed to the group of cubs. Jasper’s eyes had opened to show steely grey eyes. I picked the two girls up and watched their faces. The black one’s nose twitched and she squinted, half opening her eyes and blinking. She had the same eyes as Rowan; golden brown.

I grinned and gave her ears a small tousle, then put her down.

The grey girl quickly followed suit; wriggling, twitching and squinting at the sudden light. She blinked and looked up at me, showing her brilliant turquoise-green eyes.

I hadn’t noticed Rowan beside me until he picked Marble up. It was normal for the runt of the litter to develop slower than the others.

But Marble yipped and his face scrunched up. He slowly opened his eyes, taking in the sight of Rowan and me through half lidded red eyes.

I frowned. Why would he have red eyes like mine?As far as I was concerned, my colouring was a genetic mutation. Rowan also seemed baffled by the colouration.

“Does it run in the family?” He asked.

I shrugged. “Not as far as I know. Maybe I can ask...” I trailed off. Who could I ask? It was hard enough getting Perry alone to talk to, but would he know enough about the pack history? I was never allowed to know anything, and I don’t remember my parents very much. I had to at least assume that Perry either knew something or knew how to find it.

I gave Marble one last pat before standing up. “I’m going to see my brothers.” I declared, then quickly pointed at the two girls. “Amber,” I gestured to the black cub. “Jade,” I pointed at the grey one.

Rowan grinned and nodded. “You’ll be okay?” He asked, expression falling as he grew worried.

“I’ll be fine.” I said, flashing him a small smile. I exited the house and pulled off my clothes, jumping off the front porch and shifting into my wolf form and sprinting off into the forest. Something didn’t seem right about the similarity between Marble and myself. It had to have something to do with the fact that I couldn’t remember any family members other than my siblings.

But the Red Wing’s alpha would know the answers.