Chapter 23: The Grassland

“The grasslands Pack is much different from what you have already seen, Little Red,” Zachariah said as I curled into his lap in the carriage. He had claimed me, saying it was his turn now.

I didn’t mind. I felt like I needed to get to know the mysterious alpha in the cloak more to understand who he was, or even what my life was to be like with him.

What I had seen so far was as promising as the other two, though, and that was making the decision that much harder.

“Bunch of nutters,” Atticus muttered, folding his arms over his chest on the other side of the carriage.

Zachariah glared at Atticus. “We are not as intense. Doesn’t make us ‘nutters.’” Zachariah seemed offended. That was interesting since he did seem intense. Maybe that was how he was outside his territory.

“They believe in the wolf gods and practice psychedelics in the name of that belief,” Dorian explained, looking at me.

My brows raised. The vampires had given me a psychedelic herb once, trying to get me to let go of my inhibitions and sing. It hadn’t made me sing, but it had taken me on one hell of a ride.

I smiled up at Zachariah, but he said nothing, just kept stroking my hair.

“We’re almost there, take a look,” he urged.

I pulled back the curtain and looked out at the rolling green grasslands. There were patches of wildflowers, paddocks, barns, and crops.

People farmed and moved around caring for livestock and growth. They all smiled easily, all seemingly at peace with the dirt that, on some, came up to their elbows.

“Your pack is farmers?” I asked.

He nodded. “Farmers. Cultivators. Creators. We offer our seed, grain, livestock, milk, wool, and much more.”

I looked back out, smiling as children played with dogs, brushed horses, and helped pick from planted fields.

There were huts, half wood, half tapestry, all placed in random places over the rolling grassland. Women moved between them, smiling and hanging laundry on lines between the huts. The men were in the muck of the pens, shoveling. Some were on the huts building.

And there was a haze of smoke from the many, many pipes I could see hanging out of their mouths.

Zachariah was right; this was different. But I liked it.

The carriage came to a stop and we climbed out. There was no respectful greeting or a brush-off; instead, the pack moved around us with casual greetings and smiled like we belonged there.

Zachariah led us through the huts towards a much larger one. It was huge, with painted tapestries, flaps open in the wind. The back of it was made of wood, and inside was a huge floor bed of furs.

The middle had a fire pit surrounded in stone in the ground. They had symbols painted on them.

Trees. Waves. Grass. The territories.

I smiled as we moved further in and Zachariah removed his cloak.

“Welcome to my home. I’m happy to share my hut, or if you’d prefer, I can have you put in another?” he offered the alphas.

Atticus scoffed. “So you get our Fox all to yourself? I don’t think so.”

“I’m not afraid of your practices, Zachariah. I just don’t partake in them myself,” Dorian said sternly.

I turned to Zach with a sly smile. “What practices?”

Zachariah went over to a small wooden box and pulled out what looked like an herb stick. He took it over to the fire.

“We use these to calm our wolves enough to connect to the Moon Goddess and wolf gods. It helps us understand what they want from us and be at peace.”

I needed that. Peace sounded like a dream with all the turmoil going on in my brain and heart.

“Can I try it?” I asked.

Zach smiled and nodded. He knelt down and looked up at the alphas. “It’s going to get hot in here. Once it starts, you can’t leave, so decide now if you’re staying or not,” he said.

Atticus grumbled and sat down near the fire pit. Dorian hesitated.

“This doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

“It’s up to you. It has to be your choice. If there is resistance in it, it will affect you more.”

“Affect me how?”

Zach shrugged. “You could shift. You could pass out. You could dream. It is different for everyone.”

“Is it safe?” I asked, excited for it. It was a new experience, and I wanted to wear a true smile like his pack did.

It also helped that I was still riding the high of opening up and using my voice in a strong hum to music.

But mainly, I figured if this was what his pack did on a regular basis, then I needed to be involved with that. Just like the vine swinging with the forest pack and the markets with the water pack.

This was a little different, but it was the differences that I hoped would help me understand them all as they were.

Zachariah looked at Dorian. “Are you staying or going?”

Dorian huffed and sat down. “Fine, but only this time. It interferes with my training and lucidness.”

Zach smiled. “That’s the point. It’s meant to relax you.”

“Relaxed alphas are dead alphas,” Dorian muttered.

Zach just shrugged and put the herb stick on the grate of the fire. “I’m not dead yet, and my pack has been doing this for years.”

Zachariah sat next to me, his legs folded as our knees touched.

I smiled over at him as the hut slowly began to fill with swirling smoke.

It smelled a little funny, a little unusual, but then it started hitting me. It looked like the smoke was dancing.

I grinned and reached out to touch it.

The dancing smoke moved around my arm, up it and along my skin. Wherever it touched made me shiver, a light ember burning in my core.

Zachariah was watching me, his eyes only on me. Dorian had his eyes closed, like he was resisting, despite Zachariah’s warning. Atticus had laid back on the fur behind him and was chuckling to himself.

I smiled and leaned over to touch Zachariah’s skin. It just looked so soft. I ran my fingers over his face, over his neck.

He licked his lips, his eyes keeping mine on him.

He slowly pulled me into his lap, and I sighed. I felt weightless, like I was floating—my mind and my body. It was perfect.

And made the embers in my core burn brighter. Flames danced inside me, like they were the reason for the smoke that filled the tent.

I could hear my heartbeat in my chest, feel the rhythm against my ribcage as I leaned closer into Zachariah.

He had such a handsome face. I touched it again.

He grabbed my hand and kissed the palm before running our joined hands down his body. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. I couldn’t remember him taking it off, but clearly, he had.

The urge to feel more of his soft skin came over me, and without really considering what I was doing, I pulled my dress down to my waist too.

I pulled Zachariah into me, needing to see if his lips were as soft as his skin.

He sighed into the kiss as I stole it. When I let him pull back, he smiled at me.

“Sometimes, the drug can bring out desires too,” he whispered before kissing me again.

I guessed that was what it was doing to me because everything in my body was on fire. I wanted to keep touching, to keep burning.

But I wanted him to burn with me.

I wanted all three of them to.

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