Chapter Four

When I got back to the village, I found Trist still in the centre of the square. Most of the pack were still lingering around him, introducing themselves and congratulating him on the win. They had been giving him gifts too, it seemed, because he was wearing a new set of clothes, much less worn than what I had given him the previous night.

As I pushed my way through the crowd, Trist turned to watch me. His gaze made me feel uncomfortable, but I was undeterred. Nobody else seemed to notice me as I made my way to the centre.

“The priest wants to speak to you,” I said as soon as I was close enough to be heard, “come with me.”

And suddenly the whole pack turned to stare at me. I tried not to shrink under the weight of their eyes and the heavy silence that had descended. I just kept my eyes on Trist, whose face had become surprisingly red.

“Please forgive him Alpha,” said Mr. Thyme, the innkeeper and my boss. He put his hand on my shoulder, probably intending to be protective but it felt stiflingly oppressive to me.

“The poor boy isn’t used to all this,” Mr. Thyme continued. “His mother has always been our alpha so he has never really had a chance to learn his place.”

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked Mr. Thyme, clearly confused.

“Of course you did!” somebody in the crowd shouted.

“You can’t tell the alpha what to do!” cried out somebody else.

The crowd all began to murmur and I couldn’t stop my shoulders from hunching. Mr. Thyme made things worse by trying to give me a comforting squeeze.

“It’s fine! I don’t mind!” Trist protested, still clearly flustered. He turned to me with something like a grimace on his face. “I’ll talk to the priest. Show me the way.”

My only answer was to nod my head and pull away from Mr. Thyme. Talking to Trist in front of everyone else just felt awkward now. The crowd parted for us as we walked out of the square. It wasn’t until we were deep into the forest that Trist finally spoke.

“Listen, I’m sorry about what happened to you mother. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

I was silent for a moment as I absorbed his words. He could probably feel that I was angry, but it wasn’t directed towards him. It was general anger, directed towards everything and nothing in particular.

“It’s fine,” I finally replied. “I know that it’s not your fault.”

“And I’m sorry that you got in trouble for speaking down to me. You can speak to me however you want, because… you know?”

“Because I’m technically supposed to be your equal?”

Trist suddenly stopped walking. I did not turn around to look at him, but I did stop too.

“So, you do know? About… the soulmate thing?” he asked.

“That’s why I was talking to the priest,” I replied.

“And? Are you ok with it?”

I let out a small sigh and finally turned around to look at him.

“Not really, but it’s not like I have a choice.”

Trist watched me for a moment with his brow furrowed.

“Is there somebody else?” he finally asked.

“No.”

“Then, why are you not interested in me? Is it because you’re not attracted to men?”

“No, I am attracted to men as well as women. That’s not the reason. I mean, I am sure that you’re probably great and all, but I’m just not interested in being in a relationship with a complete stranger. Are you?”

“…No…” he replied hesitatingly.

“Well, we don’t have to be. The werewolf magic just makes the connection between us, but we can do whatever we want with it. The priest told me that we can just be friends, or whatever. Is that good with you?”

“Yes! That’s great!” Trist replied enthusiastically.

Too enthusiastically. I felt a spike of annoyance. He could have at least pretended that he wasn’t sure. I realistically knew that he would never be interested in someone like me, but if he pretended to think it over for just a moment, then I could have retained some of my pride.

“Good,” I said, not bothering to hide the bitterness in my voice. He could probably feel it echoing through our bond anyway.

I turned my back to him, intending to ignore him the rest of the way to the temple, but Trist did not seem to catch on to my bad mood.  

“Honestly, that’s a huge relief,” he said from behind me. “I actually don’t really do relationships.”

“Uh-huh,” I replied non-committedly.

“Actually, now that I think about, I’ve probably never really done friendships either. It’s a bit hard for things like that, when living as a rogue. But I’m sure that we’ll figure it out!”

I just grunted and continued walking. Trist finally stopped talking and we walked in silence. I could feel that he was nervous and uncomfortable, which just made me feel more irritated.

Finally, the trees thinned out and we walked into the clearing of the temple. The priest, who had been bent over picking-up fallen leaves, turned to smile at us.

“Have you finished your talk?” he asked instead of greeting us.

“Yes, we have reached an agreement,” I replied flatly.

“Fantastic! Then, with your permission Alpha, I would like to incorporate an announcement of your bonding during tonight’s leadership ceremony.”

My blood ran cold. Trist opened his mouth to respond but I raised my hand to silence him.

“No,” I said. “We are not telling anyone.”

They both turned to stare at me with wide eyes.

“You told me that our relationship was up to us to define,” I explained. “I do not want anyone else to interfere.”

“I can understand that Pip, but your soulmate is the alpha. It would be wrong for him to hide something so important from the pack,” admonished the priest.

“I’m not saying that we have to keep it secret forever!” I protested. “Just for a little while! Just so that we can have the time to work everything out.”

“What else do we have to figure out?” Trist asked, bemused.

I forced myself to answer him, trying to keep a glare off my face.

“You have only just become the alpha. Your connections to the rest of the pack are unstable. I think that it would be best if you got to know everybody before revealing our bond. That way my reputation won’t cloud their perception of you.”

“That’s not something that I’m worried about…” said Trist.

“Well, it should be. I am sure that you’ve already realised that I am the weakest wolf in the pack. If the others learn that you’re bonded to me, then they might think that you are weak too. That means that you’ll have to deal with more challenges.”

Trist shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll deal with it.”

“Well, maybe I can’t!” I snapped. “I can feel what you feel, you know? I don’t want to have to constantly experience pain over and over again!”

Trist covered his face with his hands and groaned.

“If it’s just for a little while, it should be fine,” suggested the priest. “You could tell the pack that you weren’t sure that the bond was real and you were just taking the time to figure it out. There aren’t any other soulmates in this pack, so they’ll probably believe you.”

“Fine,” Trist sighed as he uncovered his face. “But I kind of already told my mum.”

“That’s ok. Just make sure she doesn’t tell anyone else,” I said. “I should probably tell my family too.”

The priest smiled and clapped his hands together.

“Great! I’m glad that’s been sorted! Now, let’s plan the leadership ceremony. Pip! You go and get some firewood!”

Feeling grateful to the priest, I set-off without complaint. With his help, I had gotten everything that I wanted. Yet I couldn’t deny that I still felt a bit uneasy.