A Wolf Like That

“I don’t even know how to reply to that,” Emily rose from the floor, the wolf pendant in her hand now making much more sense than it had before. Alison was a werewolf, or shape-shifter as her tribe called it. Oh my god, Alison was a part of a tribe, like old timey native Indian kind of tribe.

“Em, I won’t hate you if you leave,” the blonde clutched her hands together, looking down at the floor as the brunette kept pacing back and forth, “If all of this is too much for you.”

Emily stopped and looked back to the girl, even though this was a lot nothing would make her turn her back on Alison not after all the shenanigans that happened with ‘A’. No, Emily had walked away from Ali too many times in the past, she wasn’t going to do it again. So what, her best friend and love of her life – Emily winced, no she wasn’t going to explore those feelings right now – was a werewolf who saved her. Wait.

“You killed that wolf.”

“I protected you, saved you.”

“Yeah but you killed him, does that mean yo- you killed a person?”

The blonde fumbled over a few words, playing with the hem of her shirt while looking everywhere else but Emily. That was all the confirmation that the brunette needed, that thing – person, Emily corrected herself – was dead. Someone’s life gone just like that.

“Hey, I know that look,” Alison closed the distance between them, gathering the trembling hands of the swimmer. Emily realised how warm the blonde’s hands were, the heat seared into her almost like it burned and would leave lifelong impressions. “It was you or him Emily. I couldn’t just stand by and see you ripped to shreds.”

“No I know, but you didn’t have to kill him.”

“Yes I did, he wouldn’t have stopped otherwise.”

“What do you mean?”

Alison brought Emily over to her bed, and gathered the wooden box from the floor, placing it just off to the side from them. She smiled softly, almost like she was trying to break the tightening air that swirled around them. “There is a feud going on between our tribe and another dying tribe, they are trying to get rid of us so that their lines will be the last ones.”

“But what does that have to do with me? Did he come after me because I know you?”

“For me to tell you that, you’ll need some more of my history lesson first,” Alison smiled as she crossed her legs, the brunette followed suit and laid back against the headboard of the bed. “In our tribe, or pack as we like to call it, there is always one shaman.”

“Which is you,” Emily cut the blonde off, she was mentally writing most of this down hoping to remember everything that Alison was going to tell her.

“Yes. As our tribe evolved and newer generations replaced the older ones, our powers changed, a lot of them getting lost in teachings that never got taught to us. Nowadays the pack can only shape-shift into wolves, and then while in our wolf form we can also communicate telepathically. Except for the shaman, we can still communicate with animals which is a small benefit and definitely not as cool as leaving our bodies to wander as spirits.”

“Well I certainly don’t mind, I like your spirit right where it is,” Emily leaned over to prod Alison’s chest, “right there where it’s safe.”

The blonde couldn’t stop the smile that broke out on her face, “In each pack there is only ever one shaman at any given time, and we automatically become the Alpha of the pack when and if the current Alpha dies.”

“Who is the current Alpha?”

“Noel.”

“Noel, as in Noel Kahn?”

“Yes, he’s been Alpha for as long as I can remember, no one has dared to challenge him for the ranking,” Alison grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it tightly, she doesn’t like Noel being in charge and she never has. He is prone to anger and thus made the rest of the pack just like him, so much blood has been spilled by their teeth and Alison shudders at the thought of it all.

“I’m guessing the pack doesn’t like him in that position?”

“They wouldn’t dare say anything to him about it for fear of invoking the fight for Alpha that they surely know they would lose, but yes a small amount of the pack have said that they don’t like what he has turned them into.”

“Why not challenge him? If there are enough of them, couldn’t they overthrow him?”

“No, the fight must be between the challenger and the Alpha and it’s always a fight to the death.”

“Wow, I never knew being a part of a tribe would be so deadly,” Emily cracks a small smile, and nudges the blonde softly with her elbow, the tension in the air had enveloped them and the brunette wanted nothing more than the hug Alison until all this would fade away.

“It didn’t used to be like this,” and Emily saw the blonde’s face fall, almost like she was lost in some sort of distant memory. Alison remembered the time in which her mother was the Alpha, and how the pack had been one of peace and love. The feud was still brewing – nothing would have stopped it from erupting – but her mother was dealing with it the best she could, and in the end that was how it stole away her life. The blonde had been informed by Noel that a wolf from the Fury tribe had been sent to kill her, and hopefully ripple a break between the pack that would make them go into hiding. Alison never knew that Noel wouldn’t let that happen, seizing the opportunity to take the role himself.

Now all the blonde wanted to do is rest, she was tired of tending to wounds and healing wolves that came back from fights or recon mission’s that went bad. She was tired of doing nightly checks on each of her friends as they slept silently, not knowing that there were constantly shape-shifters trying to get to them.

“Ali?”

Brought out of her thoughts by the soft voice Emily spoke with, she hummed in response, and waited for Emily to continue.

“I’m sorry you’re dealing with all this,” she clasped her hand around the blonde’s, “But you know you can talk to me anytime, about anything.”

“Thanks Em,” Alison contemplated saying it, saying the three words she had wanted to say since Emily had gotten back to Rosewood, since the feelings from all those years ago came back to the surface. She had just told her some supernatural shit was going on, so why the hell not, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Emily said it immediately, almost like there had been no pause between the two confessions. It was a confession, right? Or maybe the brunette was looking into this situation with too much hope, and all Alison needed right now was a friend someone she could truly trust and confess things to.

Never the less, as Emily left the girl’s house (they hadn’t spoken anymore about the tribe, and Emily desperately tried to think why the angry wolf had been after her that night, she’d ask Ali again later) the three words that had been spoken between them were the only thing that rattled around in her head.