"Were...were you calling me earlier?"

What a dumb question, I thought to myself. There's no way that voice was his.

Not that I could distinguish much from a whisper on the wind, but I could at least note the difference between Graham's rough, rattling timbre and the wispy, feminine voice that beckoned me — beckoned me to the bone chapel. I shuddered at the memory, forgetting that my every move was being scrutinized by a person that was arguably the town's most influential elder.

"I was," he answered, cocking his head to the side so the loose, sagging skin around his neck pinched and folded beneath his jawline, "but you seemed to be distracted by something. What might that have been?"

"I was lost."

He hummed to himself, taking a slight step forward, the twigs bending gently beneath his light weight.

"Whether full wolf or not, you should have heightened senses, including a nose capable of finding your way back home."

"Perhaps," I retorted with a bit more bite than I meant to. "However, it's useless if I don't have a home."

"Is Moonshade not your home?" He took another step forward without so much as a snap of a branch under his feet.

"No, it is not," I answered with conviction. I may not have known where I belonged, but I knew it wasn't there.

"And you think your home is out here? In the woods?" His careful trek forward stopped at a distance that wasn't close enough to be uncomfortable, but also too close to feel at ease. The proximity gave me a new perspective of the elusive elder. He stood at about my own height, though in decades past he likely stood a lot taller. Though age etched his ashen skin, laugh lines were few and far between. Frankly, he looked more like Hen's grandfather than father. He appeared to be in his eighties while she had to be in her mid to late thirties.

"I...I just went for a walk to clear my head." I couldn't understand the way my words stumbled, but something behind his smoky grey eyes had my body taut with tension.

"It is unbecoming of an Alpha's mate to lie to a clan elder." He straightened himself out, raising his height by only an inch, but still it felt like he towered over me. "You must learn diplomacy now. Honesty and respect will get you farther in this world." He offered a fatherly smile, but still his eyes bore into me.

"I am being honest. I needed to clear my head. Things have been a bit difficult for me lately, if you haven't heard."

"Oh, yes, I know." He chuckled, the sound a dry rasp. "Just as I know that the few occasions you have left your self-imprisonment have included walks by the tree line. Always edging yourself closer and closer."

"Yes," I responded with a shake of my head, "because there's no one to stare at me on the outskirts of town. I also haven't had great experiences within the woods, so I've been building up courage and..."

"Then why enter at all?" He shrugged his shoulders as if there wasn't a piercing accusation in his tone. "The woods are dangerous. It is our buffer from the outside world. Our protection only stretches so far. If you crossed the line, you would endanger yourself. You are an oddity ripe for investigation. Yet you think you can assimilate back into the human world, don't you?" He cocked his brow, and paused so I could appreciate his words. "You are not human. You are not welcome there."

"I'm not welcome here." I took a breath as my fists clenched. Something beneath my skin rippled and sizzled, sending waves of agitation up my spine. "And what do you know about me being human or not? Everett said that you don't know how to remove the mark."

"I don't," he replied, raising a hand to brush his chin. "But that doesn't mean I don't have some understanding of the situation. You have been bitten and you are exhibiting wolf tendencies. So you are not human."

"Which is why I should be able to roam these woods as I please. Your laws restricting me as a Body, no longer apply. Now if I can be on my way..."

"My dear, you don't seem to understand. You are part of something larger than you now. You will never get to do as you please. Not if it means sacrificing the whole."

"I'm just taking a walk in the woods!" Fire burned my pores and my muscles swelled. For a moment the man before me hesitated, his footing falling off balance, snapping a twig in his recoil.

"Breathe, Delilah. Back down." The voice, low, soft, and soothing, tickled the back of my skull. Calm trickled down my spine and spread out to my limbs. My joints eased and my stance slackened. "Come on, let's go back to Moonshade."

I turned at the words, wondering if Graham could hear them too or if Everett's mind speak only reached wolf ears.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would show," said the old man as a large furred body stepped through the trees and made his way to where the two of us stood.

Everett could only bark in response, though his body conveyed the message louder and clearer. His auburn body stalked forward, his muscular shoulders rolling with each step. His head stretched out before him with ears folded back. His eyes sharp like obsidian, kept a tight focus upon the old man as he made his way towards me.

"Hop on my back. We'll talk on the way."

Whatever my qualms with Everett may be, they were more palatable than remaining in the woods with Graham. Neither option, however, would have been my choice.

"Excuse me, Mr. Winchester. We'll have to finish our conversation another day." That was the only salutation I could muster as my mind shuffled through the tension, shock, and confusion over the sudden entrance of both the Archmage and the Alpha. However, Graham seemed more than pleased with my parting words.

"Of course, Ms. Cross, no problem at all. We will certainly return to our discussion another day. For now, I trust your mate will explain to you why you need to be mindful of where you step."

Oh, I'll be mindful, I thought to myself. I'll be mindful of how one step on your foot would break every bone it has you withered, old...

"The wolf within is taking control of your emotions. Take a deep breath..."

"Get out of my head." Once I had steadied myself between Everett's shoulder blades and had a good grip on the nape of his neck, he made quick work of creating distance between us and the Archmage.

"I can't help it when you project like that. Your emotions give volume to your thoughts and as your mate..."

"I didn't agree to that," I responded with a snarl. "I never agreed to any of this."

"You had a choice."

"To live by your laws or die by your hands. That's not a choice."

"It is, it's just an unfair one."

"Fine, can we just get back now. I believe I have to move my stuff out of Damien's room and into the den and the sooner I can get settled the better."

"You either stay in the room I gave you or you move into mine. Those are the options."

"Another one of those unfair choices?"

"Unfortunately."

I wanted to bite back at him, but I heard the whimper in his throat and I saw how his large ears drooped. So instead I trapped the words behind pinched lips and turned my attention to the scenery around us.

Despite his insistence on returning to Moonshade, Everett took the scenic route, heading the opposite direction out of the woods, choosing to loop around the town by hugging the tree line.

"What were you doing out there?"

"Out where?"

Again he whimpered and his pace slowed to a pitiful trudge. Something inside me pulled beneath my rib cage. I took a deep breath to push it down, but it clung to my heart with razor sharp claws.

"Like I told Graham, I was out for a walk."

"I felt you. You were euphoric. For a moment, I was excited. For a moment, I believed you were happy again. I'm sorry to see I misread the situation. Your excitement was soon replaced with fear and then just as quickly replaced with anger. That's when I decided to come find you."

"There's no escape from you, is there?" There was a growl in my words, but that pestering emotion that weighed upon my gut continued to tug at me. Instead of anger or resentment, it was relief that filled my heart. However, that sensation was just as quickly replaced with frustration when I realized Everett probably noticed my betraying response.

"I will not hold you here, Delilah." He continued, willfully ignoring the tempestuous emotions that I likely exuded. "I want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted. However, I do want to make sure you understand everything before you make decisions you might regret."

"Like deciding to get in a car, drive until my gas runs out, and disappear into the woods?"

Another whimper. I sighed and turned my attention to the cattle cuddled beneath the shade of a sycamore.

"Hey, don't feel too bad for me, that's essentially what I just tried to do. I can't seem to learn from my mistakes."

I leaned down and rested my cheek upon the top of his head. His thick mane of fur pillowed me as his bristled hairs tickled my arms. His rich, earthy scent mixed with the humid warmth of the summer afternoon and lulled me into a restful ease. Part of me fought the contented calm that settled over me, but it fell silent before the ease in which my body surrendered.

"It's your choice to leave — to run into the woods until your legs give out — but I need you to understand the consequences."

"So I'm still zombie chow if I cross the town limits? I'm wolf enough to be forced into the pack, but not wolf enough to be given clearance to leave."

"You can leave as you please, no matter how some might feel about the situation." The growl in his throat reverberated against my cheek. Once it settled, he continued. "However, there are new dangers now that you are marked. If you leave my territory, you are at risk of being snatched by a rival pack or hunted by a slayer. The town's boundaries may no longer hold you, but the pack lines do."

***

Del has her first real conversation with Graham and it could have gone better. Everett returns and Del is left with the same undesirable options that she's always had. Will these new threats hold her in Whisper Valley? Will she find a place she can truly call home?

Better late than never, amiright? Today was a rough day irl. I think some of my own frustration and temperamental emotions have bled into Del. I may not have a cozy wolf to calm my nerves, but my bed will do nicely. What calms you when you are feeling agitated?