Ansgar

The vampire kicked the cave wall before following me inside.

His red eyes glowed with anger. I avoided his gaze.

What had happened?

Surely he wasn't so angry because he had to accompany me into the bushes?

Spiders and I really weren't friends. These critters looked like miniature monsters, and some were HUGE! Once there was one sitting on my bed who was as big as my hand! A mega-miniature monster!

No.

The kiss. Was he angry about it? Or because he had to come outside with me? Or...

Everwinus lay down as far away from me as possible. I, on the other hand, wasn’t tired. Restlessly, I stepped back and forth on the spot and wandered through the little cave, deep in my thoughts. I had probably slept enough. My body wanted to move.

Run.

Hunt.

Play.

Friendly fights with other wolves.

I looked at Everwinus.

Somehow, this vampire was always irritable. Clearly an aggression problem, as I also suspected with Wilderich. This was more common in wolves. Especially if there were several alpha and/or beta wolves in a pack. Conflicts and aggression occurred more frequently with them than with other pack members. In the past, a very long time ago, the most aggressive Alphas led packs, as it was seen as a strength.

My sister rarely got angry and was difficult to provoke.

Wolves could deal with anger.

And our pack did not tolerate aggressive behavior towards pack members, unless it was justified.

Of course, friction still occurred. Especially with young, half-strong wolves. If a wolf was out of line, he was either restrained by the alpha or by several wolves. The 'rage wolf' was then held until he calmed down.

Wilderich and his mother followed the old wolf law. And so they both saw HIM as a rightful alpha, a strong alpha, while the two only behaved halfway submissive for the sake of appearance.

Wilderich's anger showed in his provocations.

If there was a scuffle in the pack, he was there.

I had smelled his anger when he and his mother came into the pack. But at the time, no one believed me. Wilderich had shown himself to be very friendly. Everyone, except me. He ignored my sister at first. In his former pack, female wolves were not allowed to be alpha of the pack, and so he saw only me as a rival.

Strictly speaking, the old wolf law no longer applied since all the packs were defeated by a witch queen. We no longer had any rights. Only bans. The elves neighboring us were no better.

For centuries, we have been oppressed because the witch queen still ruled. Witches and wizards were almost immortal.

I didn't know much about elves. Since we were only allowed to leave our small town to a limited extent and we were forbidden to travel, I had never seen elves before. The fact that Wilderich and his mother had made it to our city without being captured or killed by soldiers was probably pure luck. For them. Not for my pack.

Would Wilderich take away my sister's position as alpha?

Why did Mom hesitate?

Why didn't she throw them out of the pack?

Because they had not been guilty of any crime so far. Because they had lost their pack. And challenging an alpha to take their place was not a crime. It was normal behavior among alpha wolves.

And me?

I was quickly provoked back then when Wilderich was new to the pack.

I was usually blamed, after all, poor Wilderich had lost his pack.

He didn't show his true self until two years later, when he started to provoke Juta. Openly. At first, his mother stopped him. Today, I knew that she was only doing this for the sake of appearance, as Wilderich had been too young to be the alpha of a pack.

Today, she saw him as old enough.

I was worried.

Did they plan to murder Mom? So that Wilderich could defeat Juta in a 'fair fight'? Otherwise, our wolves would never accept him as an alpha. Because of such behavior, we were probably considered barbaric among humans. 

Wilderich no longer saw me as a rival. He just didn't like me and would probably want to drive me out of the pack or kill me if he reached the alpha position.

I sighed.

In the meantime, it was raining lightly outside. The damp air smelled sweet.

"Sleep already!" Everwinus stared at me from the other side of the cave. "Stop running back and forth! Lie down. You make me nervous."

"Am I?" My ears perked up. "I'm awake."

"Me too. Thanks to you!" he grumbled and sat down again. "Why are you so... fidgety? Sleep! We have to leave soon. And I certainly won't carry you again just because you're tired THEN."

I rolled my eyes, leaned against the rock face, and crossed my arms. "Why are you so angry?"

Everwinus grimaced. "YOU kissed me!"

"YOU hit me. I wanted you to stop." I shrugged my shoulders.

"That's not a reason to kiss anyone!"

"Normally...", I admitted. “I won't apologize for the kiss. I couldn't think of anything better. So? Your anger? Need help? You're nice one moment and the next you're trying to beat up a friendly, innocent, handsome wolf!"

"Friendly?" Everwinus raised his eyebrows.

I nodded. "Innocent and handsome." And clean! Finally clean. Never again did I want to be as helpless and humiliated as I had been under these drugs.

"If you say so." Everwinus rolled his eyes.

Cool night air blew into the cave. I heard an owl calling. Raindrops pattered gently on the leaves of the trees. The air smelled of thunderstorms. "A storm is coming."

"Good. It will stop my friends for the time being."

"Do you need help?"

"No... What? Why?" Everwinus lay down again and turned his back on me. "Sleep!"

"Hm..." A thought came to me. I ran to him, knelt on the floor, and shook him gently. "Are you thirsty?"

"WHAT?" Stunned, he looked at me over his shoulder.

"Is that why you're so irritated?"

"I'm always irritable. Let go!"

I pulled away the hand that was still resting on his upper arm. "Oops. Are you thirsty?" He blinked briefly, sighed, and sat up. "Man! You don't rest, do you?"

"Well... I'm awake." I won't sleep soon. I had spent the last few days unconscious too often. Now I was more awake than ever.

"Yes, I'm thirsty." Everwinus leaned against the stone wall. He clenched his hands into fists. Were his hands shaking? Why? "But I stole enough blood from you."

"Your friends stole it. At least you apologized. And THEY stole a lot, you almost nothing. I'm fine now, so..."

"Will you offer me your blood?" He grinned tiredly. The trembling stopped.

CRAP. He looked good when he smiled. Very good. I really didn't regret kissing him. He looked very 'kissable'. When he hit me, I stared at his reddish, full lips, and so I stopped him with a kiss. I counted on the element of surprise, I told myself. But actually, I had only seen his full lips. That was enough. My brain was probably broken. "Yes?"

"You're strange." He shook his head. "Sorry. Home... Well, I was in treatment for my anger. It only helped partially. Otherwise, you'd have a black eye again!" he laughed bitterly. His hands were still clenched into fists. "And thank you, but I don't want your blood. Not now. It's not for me to drink."

"Are you going to go home?"

"Maybe?" He yawned. "Actually, I don't think I can go back."

"Why?"

Everwinus yawned again. "My friends... I do have a problem with my anger, but there's no blood on my hands. I would probably still be convicted of murder. I was... There. That's why I can't go back."

Murder... A shiver ran down my spine. "Where are you going then?"

"I don't know. First of all, I'll bring you home."

"You could stay in my pack!" I suggested.

"What?"

"What?" My mouth worked faster than my brain. "Well... So... Um... The country is at war. Wandering around is dangerous."

"That's right." He snorted. His hands trembled again. Suppressed anger. But he wasn't angry with me. "Do you miss your pack? Your family?"

"Yes, of course. My family is big. I have several uncles and aunts. We lost a handful of family members to the Witch Queen. Slave traders took them with them."

"That must be bad."

"Yes." Every time a wolf had to leave the pack to serve as a slave, the days that followed felt like the wolf had died. We would never see the stolen wolves again. "My mother is alpha of the pack, my father was beta until he went blind. My sister will be the next alpha. Fortunately, she was not taken as a slave. Now, she is probably too old for the traders. So far, they have always ignored me. I’m too figety, I guess."

Everwinus grinned. "I can imagine."

"Thank you." I stuck my tongue out at him. Very grown-up, I know. "Maybe we'll all be free soon. If the rebels win the war." I chewed my lower lip briefly. "Your friends are murderers?"

He nodded. "But I'm not. Never!"

"Your friends suck."

He nodded. "And they are dangerous."

Now I was the one who nodded. Would they catch up with us? And then? I didn't want to think about that. "And your home?"

"My fathers, I'm adopted, are probably disappointed in me. My older brother is a soldier in the war. Our queen has just ascended the throne, and already she has joined this rebellion."

"Queen Agatha of Sonnenhof also wanted to destroy your homeland, didn't she?" As far as I knew, she married the young vampire king. But his sister conquered the throne and now went to war against our queen.

"She would probably have made us slaves, too. My brother did not hesitate when it came to defending our freedom." Everwinus shrugged his shoulders. "The army didn't want me. I think my fathers were relieved. Maybe my brother won't return... I will probably never see them all again. It’s better that way. I didn't murder anyone, but I was there. These people might as well have died at my hand. If my brother returns, he will not return as a murderer. No matter how many he killed. He will be a hero."

"It's not better, it's sad. Come with me to my pack." I felt sorry for him. This vampire was not malicious. He deserved better. "Then we'll see what we’ll do next." Would my pack accept him? As a refugee?

He laughed bitterly. "We'll see... You're pretty naïve, aren't you?" He lay down again and turned his back on me. "Please let me sleep now."

"I can try. But I won't promise anything!" I lay down next to him. He did not protest.

A little later, when a cruel storm raged in front of the cave, I also fell asleep.

The next day, it was still raining.

The wind threatened to blow us away with every step. Nevertheless, we braved the weather to gain distance from the other vampires. We made very slow progress. Twice we thought about finding shelter, but we didn't see any suitable protection in the storm. The trees swayed.

We didn't meet the vampires. Instead, we ran straight into my sister and one of my uncles. Everwinus froze as my sister threatened to crush me in her arms. My uncle grabbed the unfortunate vampire, pressed him against a tree trunk, and demanded an explanation...

"Uncle, no!" I shouted, alarmed. Somehow, I had to help Everwinus... I noticed his lips, now a little reddened after my butt naked (Nudity is normal for wolves. It's because of the transformation thing.) uncle had beaten him... Red, full lips...  "He's KISSABLE!"

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… SILENCE ...