CH 7

Nora She’d sat and looked about her surroundings. There were no other wolves here that she could sense out or smell, and she sighed softly as she’d picked herself up off the ground; she was alive, and thankfully no other rogues had been in the area and found her. Rosa had woken up inside her mind and looked out from behind Nora’s eyes ‘I feel weird.’ Rosa had told her, ‘Mm, me too.’ Nora had admitted; it was kind of like her entire body was vibrating and the ground beneath her feet felt not only warm, but as though she had an attachment to it. ‘What is that?’ Rosa had asked her as Nora had plucked the single flower from the bush before them. It was the only one on the bush that she could see, and she was going to take it with her. This bush had hidden them and the flower itself was very pretty, a black rose with blue tinges on some of the outer edges of the petals. “A Black Rose,” she stated, as she turned it about in her hand, and then it had slipped through her fingers as with those three words, she’d felt it; every inch of the pack territory that surrounded her was suddenly felt below her bare feet. Her head had tilted up to the morning sun and a massive howl had ripped through the abandoned pack territory from her and Rosa together. It was so very loud and sounded unlike any howl they’d ever made before. She’d known a moment later exactly where all the borders of the pack’s territory were, and she could feel a connection so strong to the land, that she understood the connection was more than just being a regular pack member born inside a pack or initiated into it. She’d done both of those and this was a very different feeling to her; she felt almost a hundred times the connection to this land than she had to any pack she’d ever belonged to before. Every fiber of her and Rosa had felt distinctly different as well, and they’d suddenly felt stronger and more aware of everything surrounding them. It had been Rosa who first understood what had happened to them and voiced the words ‘It’s our pack now.’ Rosa had informed her, as heat and power had surged through their body. Rosa had then just ripped right out of her, and she’d been larger and more impressive than she had been the day before, she’d stood taller than normal; granted a new size to go with her new status. Then Rosa had just run through the forest that was now hers. ‘I am Alpha Wolf now,’ Rosa roared, and the power of those words were undeniable even to Nora. They’d somehow become an Alpha during the night. She’d not understood it at all but knew it to be true, her wolf wasn’t wrong. She felt way more powerful than before, and she was moving much faster through the lands that were now theirs as Rosa raced round the entire border of their pack, this land that now belonged to them. They’d explored the place and found out that, yes, it was abandoned, but there were still many buildings here on the land; she didn’t think it had been abandoned all that long ago. They weren’t in too bad a condition, mostly just overgrown gardens and weeds sprouting from the guttering. The buildings were mostly empty, the former pack members had taken all their belongings with them, she could only suppose. So, not slaughtered, but it appeared they'd left, she figured it had been abandoned, not destroyed by another. As she explored the buildings one by one, she found there were not only many homes but a grand manor, which she knew had to have once been the packhouse. Though it was small compared to the Silken Moon, and tiny compared to the Triple Moon packhouse. Kind of like a large human estate home was all. It only housed 12 bedrooms and was only two storeys high. It was also right at the front of the pack, with a driveway that led to a road. Likely she thought it had been bought from the humans, and some wolves had tried to establish a pack but failed to do so. There were only 40 other small cottages on the land dotted about the place that ranged from two to three-bedroom cottages. A very small pack she and Rosa had thought to themselves. That was likely why it didn’t survive, probably didn’t make enough money and the pack members had been taken in by some other Alpha. There hadn’t been any signs of war either. It was odd she could only think it must have dwindled to nothing over time. They’d left after exploring the pack, and gone back to where they’d left their car, something they’d had to track, their own old scent back to it, from the point of where she’d woken up. Which had been easier to do for them, now that they had an Alpha Wolf’s sense of smell. They’d found their car pulled clothes from the backseat where she always kept a spare set, for occasions just like this. Though never before had she had to do that, it was just standard wolfen protocol, to keep spare clothes lying around. She’d grabbed her phone from the glovebox and sat down in the passenger seat to do research on the wolfen intranet. Needing to know just what had happened to them overnight and how they’d gotten attached to that abandoned pack, why they were suddenly no longer of warrior blood, were now deemed Alpha blooded by their Goddess. She’d read on the wolfen intranet that abandoned pack lands, that hadn’t been returned properly, longed for a wolf to claim it, longed to be part of the wolfen world that it was created for. That anyone bleeding themselves to the abandoned land and having the land flow through into one’s veins was how the land was claimed by one, and a new or existing pack was created. She’d thought about that and realized she’d have bled into the land in her unconscious state, and that the land must now flowed in her veins for it to work. When she’d read that part, she’d had Rosa turn their senses to that very thing, and yes, they could actually feel the earth within their own veins. That abandoned pack land had claimed her as its owner, in her unconscious state, and she’d been ranked up automatically to that of Alpha status by the land that craved to belong to an otherworldly Alpha. No more was she of warrior status, was now of Alpha blood. As she read on more, it was also known as the ancient way of their species. From when they’d first been created by the Moon Goddess, it was how the very first wolf of their time became an Alpha Wolf. The land would accept only those that were strong of mind, resilient and deemed worthy of ruling the land. A pack territory would be created to match the Alpha’s strength; its borders would form and were seen to be a representation of the strength of the Alpha themselves it was bound to. She had no idea if that abandoned pack had gotten larger or smaller as it claimed her for itself, deemed her worthy to be its Alpha. Because she didn’t know the size of the original pack territory. She’d kind of just sat there for a long time before realizing that her pack’s Alpha, Garrett, at the time, would have likely felt herself sever from him and would be concerned something might have happened to her. But she had to have proper answers to give to him before going back to speak with him. She had fired off a text message to him though. “Garrett, I’m all good, something odd happened to me. I want to see the Wolfen Council about it, before trying to explain to you. Nora.” He’d sent back “? ... Okay.” She’d then taken herself to the nearest Alpha Council, not that far from Triple Moon in New Mexico, and requested a meeting, due to the odd circumstances she found herself in. Alpha Gretta had sat and listened to her tale and then just smiled at her and stated, “Welcome to Alpha Status, Alpha Nora Rosa. “I will see to the protection of your newly created pack, and we here at the Alpha Council will help you get it established. Who were you affiliated with prior to this, so we can contact them and let them know you are perfectly fine. You would have been severed from your Alpha when you accepted being claimed by the land, as you have your own pack now.” She’d stated, “I am currently a member of Alpha Garrett’s pack, the Triple Moon. I texted him that I’m okay and coming here because something odd happened to me.” Gretta had nodded. “Good, that’s very Alphaly of you; to think of your former Alpha and that he would be concerned about you, that you took the time to relay to him that you’re fine before doing anything else. Now to the other important thing: what is your pack's name?” Gretta had asked. Nora had no idea what it was, she’d shaken her head and shrugged. “I kind of came here to ask you that, I don’t know.” Nora had stated. To which Gretta had explained to her how things worked in these particular and peculiar set of circumstances, “Abandoned packs hold no pack name, the former reigning Alpha rescinds it. The first words you spoke aloud upon waking up would be the pack's name.” “Oh, then… the Black Rose pack, I guess.” “Then you are now, Alpha Nora Rosa of the Black Rose Pack in Colorado,” Alpha Gretta had smiled at her, and set about doing the paperwork for the creation of a new pack. “You’ll be granted council protection for 15 years, as is standard wolfen protocol. But seeing as you were not expecting to reign over a pack, we’ll not expect you at Alpha Meetings or Annual kingdom meetings either. I’ll excuse you from those for 10 years, which will give you a chance to learn how to be an Alpha and run a pack.” “Okay.” Nora had nodded, “That would be nice considering…” she’d sighed. She knew it meant seeing Jace at those meetings here or in the kingdom at some point in time, there would be no avoiding him now. Her trailed off words had seen Gretta look at her. “Considering?” Gretta asked, “I’d best have all the information.” Nora had nodded and explained her life briefly to Gretta, who she’d once been mated to. The removal of his venom and her marking scar was also gone now, thanks to Triple Moons plastic surgeons. Gretta had kind of stared at her for a long time, and then she’d just shaken her head, before stating, “Not many go to those lengths.” but that was all she’d said about it. Though she’d also documented it fully for Nora's new Wolfen Council file. something all Alphas to packs had.