Chapter 28: Grace
I walked with Sawyer in silence back to the main area of the house, and up the million stairs toward the Alpha King’s office. My mind was racing. How was I going to explain what Sawyer and I had been talking about? I was only able to talk with him because he asked questions and could follow my line of thinking. How was I to explain what we just talked about from the beginning without the leading questions? How was I to know what was important? I had spent most of my life alone. I had never had a friend before. I had never been someone they even held simple conversations near as if I would poison their thoughts or something. I had no idea what mattered or even what was different from this pack because I had barely even been in this pack. My anxiety was borderline out of control, and I tried to take a steadying breath. I didn’t even have a wolf, how was I supposed to know how any of this worked???
My steps faltered as I felt a faint and subtle reaction within me when I had thought about not having a wolf. What the hell was that? I didn’t even have words for how that felt or how unsettling it was. It wasn’t my reaction. How could it not be my reaction? I was losing it.
We reached the Alpha King’s door and I reached out and knocked gently before I could back out.
“Enter.” The Alpha King called out.
Sawyer opened the door and ushered me through it and further into the office till I was standing at the Alpha King’s desk.
“What brings you two here?” The Alpha King’s gaze was tired and cold, which in turn made me even more nervous. “Come to tell me you want Grace for yourself, Sawyer? That you plan to sleep with her too?”
I felt my cheeks flush, and I watched Sawyer’s face morph into rage.
“That was uncalled for, and you know it. Apologize. Because we aren’t the ones you are mad at.”
The Alpha King looked surprised for a moment before his face softened to grief. “You're right. I’m sorry. Now, why are you here?”
I looked to Sawyer, not knowing where to begin. I had no idea what I was supposed to say.
“My pack,” I wrote slowly on my chalkboard when Sawyer was no help. “did not -” I froze and realized I had no idea how to spell mindlink, it hadn’t been in any of the books Alana and I had gone over.
This time, I fully turned to Sawyer and signed the word help then wrote an M on the board so he could see what I was talking about.
“Oh!” He said in surprise when he realized what I was talking about. “Mindlink. M-I-N-D-L-I- N-K"
“What’s this about mindlinking?” Alpha King Rhys demanded angrily as I scribbled the letters that Sawyer had just told me.
Fear surged through me as I flashed him the board. He was going to banish me, just like he did his brother. Or worse... Maybe he’d torture me so I’d remember my place. My old place was really where I seemed to belong.
“Your old pack doesn’t mindlink?” He asked, his voice cold and not inquistive at all, and all hope I had that he would understand faded.
I shook my head, fearing his wrath that I had seen in full force earlier this afternoon.
“What kind of sick game are you playing, Grace?” He shouted, making me cower back slightly behind Sawyer as the Alpha King grabbed my chalkboard out of my hands. “What is it that you are hiding? You’re just like the fucking rest of them.”
I looked around trying to figure out how to convey what I needed to. I saw a water bottle on his desk and before I could back out. I quickly cleared all important looking documents off his desk as another “what the hell” escaped his lips.
I quickly started trying to draw with the water. I drew the Alpha King and a wolf = 1 and then I drew the Alpha King and a wolf = 2 before stepping back and looking at him expectantly. I knew it wasn’t super clear, but I was hoping it was enough to at least start him asking questions.
“What does this mean?” The Alpha King grumbled.
Sawyer moved to see it better and it took him a minute before he said, “Ahhh. Okay I get it. She’s saying she thought that the wolf part of us was just our consciousness in different forms. She didn’t know until we were talking that the wolf part of us is independent in a sense. She didn’t realize we talked to our wolves or that they had their own thoughts that are separate from ours. Right, Grace?”
I nodded confirming exactly that.
Alpha King Rhys looked up at him in surprise and frustration. “How did you get that?”
Sawyer shrugged. “She drew the same image with a one and a two. And she was surprised downstairs when I said our wolves talk to us. It made sense.”
I nodded and began to gesture again. I pointed to myself, then gestured all around me, signed no, before pointing to my eye and finger spelled wolf.
“Your pack didn’t show their wolf side?” Sawyer asked.
I shook my head no.
The Alpha King ran his hand through his hair exhaustedly, and surprise was etched on his face.
“Rhys, you okay?” Sawyer asked when he didn’t say anything.
“This is bizarre.” Alpha King Rhys said after a long moment. “It doesn’t make any sense. There has to be something we are missing.”
“I asked Grace to tell you because I thought it might help the investigation.” Sawyer said hesitantly, and I realized then that he was closer to my age than Alpha King Rhys was.
“Well, it leads me to far more questions, that’s for sure. It’s gotta be a part of a larger conspiracy. Thank you for sharing, Grace. I’m sorry I snatched this in anger, that was not right of me. You were just trying to help.” He handed me back my chalkboard. “Tomorrow we will return to the Red Blood pack to uncover the truth. A surprise raid seems necessary. We will leave first thing in the morning to hopefully arrive by nightfall.”
Sawyer nodded, but I felt fear. If this backfired, it would backfire specifically on me, and I had no idea what to expect.
But there was something in the Alpha King’s voice when he said, “Tonight we plan, tomorrow we get the answers we’ve been waiting for!” And I realized if he asked, I would probably follow him anywhere.
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