Chapter 3 It isn't like our territory

Valarie POV..

The following day, I slammed open the door of my family's house and stalked out across the fallow field that surrounded the small home. I could still hear my mother and father arguing inside; my mother, shouting and close to desperate.

"What is wrong with you Peter!? haven't you heard what kind of person the King is? Do you want our daughter joining a pack of women that he'll have at his beck and call?!"

I couldn't hear dad's voice. He was always quiet and steady, a tall and broad-shouldered man.

I passed Jason, my younger brother, as I headed away toward the house.

"Where are you going?" he called after me, stopping whatever it was he was doing – possibly taking apart and putting back together some machinery he had found lying around.

Jason was good with his hands, like our father, and had shown a sort of genius when it came to intricate machinery at a young age. I doted on him as much as our parents did, but right now I am furious.

I began to run, letting my body lengthen and focusing on the stretch of my muscles.

I have been a runner for as long as I can remember. The lowest members of the pack – omegas – ran. Their ancestors had all run, and all been involved in hunting, but as the packs settled into their territories and became more civilized, the running was left to lower levels of the hierarchy.

I knew it embarrassed my mother when I ran, but I just couldn't help it. It had to do with stress. And right now, I have never felt more stressed, more pressured to make the right decision for my family.

If I went with Sophia to the Kingdom, I would have the opportunity to raise my family's status in the pack. But my mother was terrified that I would get taken advantage of. And I could understand that.

Not only was King Gabriel well known for seducing every woman he came across (and he would inevitably come across me as I tended to Sophia), but I didn't have any experience with the city. It was almost overwhelming to even think about.

"It isn't like our territory," my mother had scoffed. "You won't be out snaring rabbits or helping with the wash. Cities as big as the Kingdom are full of cutthroats and men waiting to take advantage of women."

I had been confused by the bitterness in mom's voice and could tell by the way my father wouldn't look at me that there was some deeper story there. But with my mother raging, there was no way to approach the subject delicately. And I had only days to prepare.

Truthfully, my mother's reaction scared me – the thought of going to the Kingdom scared me almost as much as it excited me. But the stubbornness rose in me, as always. I was 21! I could handle myself and can prove that countless times!

But I couldn't let my father, or Jason, see that small bit of doubt and fear that lived inside of me. They had both been so full of hope when I'd told the family at dinner what Sophia had offered.

I was still loping through the woods, skimming the edge of a stream that ran through our territory and connected to the next pack. I could feel my muscles beginning to burn as I pushed myself. It was a delicious feeling that caused a low growl to form in my throat. The wolf wanted to come out, being so close to the full moon, but I fought it down.

I kept running until I reached the edge of our land, and then followed it, curving back toward the town and my family's home on the outskirts.

Nearby there was a small rise covered in wild apple trees that overlooked the town center. Sometimes I'd go there at night and look at all of the streetlights still on, the lights in windows, like constellations spread over winding back roads.

As I neared our small property, I slowed to a jog, muscles burning deliciously. I breathed deeply and closed my eyes when I smelled the pine trees. I could hear Jason tinkering with some machinery in the shed.

It was quiet otherwise, my parents' argument having ceased.

I could see in an upstairs window the outline of my mother's silhouette as she sorted through the seven dresses Sophia had given her for mending. It was a large project, to be done quickly, but the family would be well paid for it and I knew my mother would be up late into the night sewing.

"Valarie."

I stumbled to a halt, shoulders jerking up with a gasp.

My father sat on a log at the edge of the woods where I had emerged from the path. I had a hand over my heart and exhaled loudly.

"Dad. You scared me!"

He chuckled as I moved toward him to sit down on the layers and layers of pine needles.

I breathed in deeply and caught the scent of his pipe, which he must've just put out. My mother didn't like him smoking it in the house, but he savored the taste of the sweet tobacco.

"If you keep frowning so hard, your face will get stuck that way," my father murmured with a smile.2

I couldn't help smiling back and rocking on my haunches.

"Sorry. I just can't stop thinking about the hunt. And the Kingdom."

My father - Morton Pratt - sighed.

He looked grizzled, older than his years, and lean from his work. I frowned, remembering the last few full transformations and how much more gray had been in his coat.

"I have something for you," he said, leaning back and reaching into his shirt pocket. He pulled out a delicate locket made from polished wood, hanging from a length of twine.

I held up a hand and he placed it carefully in my palm. I looked at it closely, trying to figure out the trick of it.

Even though dad was a handyman, willing to fix anything and everything, he loved carpentry and woodworking more than anything.

But in a pack as small as ours, there was no need for the kind of high-end products he was capable of producing. Beautiful tables, cabinets, small boxes that were impossible to open unless you knew their secrets, and even jewelry like the locket I was holding now.

"Thank you," I breathed, still looking for the secret of this piece. My dad was smiling down at me.

"I've been waiting for a good time to give it to you, and this seems to be it. Valarie, I want you to know – your mother, she's just scared."

"I know," I muttered, turning the small polished necklace over and over in my fingers.

"You have to understand. She was sent to the Kingdom as a girl –"

My head snapped up. "She was?"

My father's face was serious, more serious than I'd ever seen it whenever he began to tell a story. I waited with bated breath to see where this conversation would go.

"She was sent there by her family to find work. And although she got out safe, several people tried to...take advantage of her."

Part of me wanted to know what exactly that meant. The other part shied away from it. I didn't want to know if her mother had been subjected to anything horrible, but it made sense now that she wouldn't want me to go.

"She knows that you'll be part of Sophia's near revenue –"

"Exactly!"

Dad held up a hand. "And that you're smart, capable, and careful. But you need to understand that she can't help how she feels. It's her instinct as your mother."