Chapter 8 Frozen Descent

• It was cold as ice. I did not know why I was surprised or what I had expected but I did not expect the lowest point in a cave to be this cold. I thought they always had to be hot as hell because their depth did not accommodate fresh air. But it turned out that was only half true but completely false for this one. It was cold. Little wonder why guards down here wore coats when in human form or just stayed in wolf form, though that had its limit.
• I sat on the floor to rest my tired legs but stood up immediately. The ground too was unwelcoming. There was no way I was not going to freeze my rump; not now, not today, not ever. I had earlier snuck into the donjon in pursuit of Jason after Dominic had dismissed us all. Safe to say I did not obey that order but he did not seem to notice. If anyone had noticed, they did not care much about it because no guard came running after me, nor did I hear anyone say anything concerning my whereabouts. I had come back safely to the Abode after the failed coup in one piece with the Alpha. That was reassuring enough to anyone who might have questioned my safety.
• Speaking of the failed coup, I had never felt so broken in my life. It has been several hours since the coup was dealt with but I still felt the lingering feeling that the aftermath was going to be worse than the coup itself. I tried repeatedly to brush off that feeling but they stuck. What stuck even more was not the feeling, it was the memory and the sight. After Dominic had told Jason to leave and Jason had brought his army, I knew that Jason was not thinking straight anymore because he was ignoring too many variables that were typically involved in taking out an already established pack. Even I, who had never fought or been involved in a fight, could tell that Jason’s plans had more loopholes than soldiers to carry out the plan. Still, what happened out there was nothing I was proud of. Not in the slightest. I had watched my pack fight Jason, the supposed Beta of the pack. When the fight began, I had hidden myself in the bushes behind a tree and had watched for a few minutes. As the fight unfolded in front of me, I could see just how bad Jason was going to lose and it was at that moment that I had decided to go for something daring. I ran back as fast as I could back to the Abode and got my bamboo bow and the arrows that Aariv had gifted me some weeks back. I had tried my best to transmute ever since I was young and as impossible as that was, I had eventually found pain and sorrow in the fact that I will never be one of those big and strong wolves that prowled the woods, howling, and growling menacingly. But Aariv said that there was always more than one part to a desired outcome, hence, my bow and arrow would serve me as that alternative to teeth and claws that I needed to hunt. The funny thing was that he had only given me the bow and quiver. As for the arrow, I had to craft that myself. Finally, armed with my weapon, I headed back towards the location of the fight. The Three White Wolves intercepted my movement but once I lied that it was Dominic who insisted that I come, they let me go but coming to think of it, I wondered why they allowed me through with such a sloppy lie.