Chapter 14 - Astrid

Running. Panting. Fear.

I watch as a horde of fanged beings run across a black void, growing rapidly in numbers.

I feel cold.

I watch a single snowflake falling from the sky, melting into the ground as I walk forward, following footprints in the snow that are stained red.

In the distance, a clash of tigers surrounded by creatures that are too fast for my hazy vision to catch. One by one, the tigers fall. The snow stains deeper.

Then, a howl that pierces the cold air. A large white wolf atop a hill, hurtling towards the fray, fast enough to catch the fanged enemies.

Running. Panting. Relief.

I look over to the white wolf. It opens its great jaws and blasts me with cold air.

I wake up shivering in confusion to a sudden cold draught. I reach up top to the overhead air vent that's blasting air onto my face.

"You were sweating in your sleep so I turned that on," Alex says from the little bar in the back, stirring up a hot cup of something.

He walks over to me and hands me coffee in a paper cup. I reflexively take it and breathe for a while to get my bearings, blinking my sleepy eyes awake. The seat across the aisle where Rio was last night is empty.

"Rio's with the pilot," Alex calls back from the bar where he's squeezing a lemon in another cup. "Did you sleep well?"

I did except for the weird dream at the end. The white wolf looked like Bianca but bigger. It worries me a little.

"It was fine. You?"

"I think I'm still suffering from the after effects of the witch twins." He comes over and takes Rio's seat. "I've been guzzling lemonade since yesterday morning, one of my father's many warlock remedies passed on for generations, though I'm pretty sure half the stuff he tells me comes from Good Housekeeping."

"Your dad's a warlock?" I remember how Rio told me last night that the Lycans hardly care about the species of their destined mates. Except for his mother's particular prejudice against humans.

"Yes, I am the best combination of species. Lycan and warlock." Alex chugs his entire cup in one go and breathes out in satisfaction. "But you and Rio may be giving me a run for my money." He raises his eyebrows suggestively.

I laugh nervously and sip my coffee, covering a warm flush that's spreading across my cheeks.

Ding-dong!

The airplane speakers ring melodiously as static begins to play from the other end.

"Good evening," Rio's voice comes through. "Alex, please stop making Astrid uncomfortable."

Alex guffaws sarcastically.

"In a few moments, we will be exiting the stratosphere and coming into view of our island territory just off the coast of Crete. The time is currently 6 pm."

I gasp. Were we travelling for almost a whole day?

"Do not be alarmed, Astrid," Rio laughs a little. "It's the time conversion. The time in Silver Bow is currently 8 am."

"Right," I breathe a sigh of relief. "I've never flown before so I kinda forgot about the whole time zones thing."

"You'll get used to it," Alex shrugs.

I lean over to the window on my left to see the plane descending out of the stratosphere. And out of the clouds, we emerge on top of a mass of white and deep blue edges, pinks, purples and oranges coloring the horizon. The view from up here is a lot more stunning than the dark landscape during our midnight take-off. We head towards the mass of water with no land in sight, which worries me a little.

"We're landing on land right?" I ask Alex.

"Just wait," he replies with a knowing grin.

So, I sit back and wait, watching the tiny little yachts and boats sail by on the water below. The descent gets closer and closer, making me anxiously jitter in my seat. Then, abruptly, the scenery warps and changes in a wave of holographic colors. Land appears below us in the form of white buildings and a vast expanse of green plainlands and sandy white coastlines.

"Our territory is cloaked with magic to prevent outside invasion, scragglers and unwanted tourists," Alex comments.

"What happens if a boat enters the magical force field?" I ask.

"The magic redirects them until they get all the way around to the other side."

"What about airplanes and satellites?"

"We are under a protective dome."

"So, it doesn't rain here?"

"It does. The mages allow certain things to get through, like rain to water our crops."

There is a shift in the motion of the plane slightly to the right. When I look outside, I notice we're going in a circle, then I see the landing strip some distance near the coast.

The landing is smooth, but the popping in my ears from the change in atmospheric pressure is uncomfortable.

Rio emerges from the navigation room.

"Welcome to Mesaniskia," he says with a smile. "Midnight Shadow."

I can hardly hide my awe at the knowledge that the Lycans have a whole island territory to themselves, whereas Silver Bow was just in the woods with neighboring human towns and cities. Having a bird's eye view to see the physical culmination of the territory is an experience in and of itself, compared to just living in a space for 21 years and never really knowing how large it is.

The airplane comes to a complete stop. Rio opens the door and the immediate aroma of fresh, salty air that rushes in is a new experience for me. For some reason, I always thought the fishy smell of seafood would be a distinct top note of coastal areas. However, the island breeze proves otherwise, refreshing my lungs.

Rio descends the stairs first and I follow closely behind. A woman, a man and a boy stand waiting for us dressed casually in shirts, shorts and sandals. Rio hugs the woman with shaggy dirty blond locks first, then the man with lustrous brunet hair, and finally the teenage boy, who looks like the spitting image of Rio with curly black hair and steel blue eyes.

"Astrid, I'd like you to meet my Delta, Demi," Rio gestures to the woman, "and my brothers Kobe and Leon."

I smile and wave a little awkwardly. Demi and Kobe reciprocate politely while the youngest, Leon, barely smiles back.

"You smell different," Kobe remarks.

"Kobe," Rio sharply reprimands his brother.

"Not in a bad way, big brother. I mean it in a unique way. I'm very fascinated to meet a tiger." Kobe looks at me curiously. "Can you land on all four paws at any given height?"

"You don't have to answer that, Astrid," Rio quips.

"Yes," I answer the question anyway. "But there's a limit, as with all creatures and people, where my joints would shatter into pieces."

"I see," Kobe strokes his chin. "And does your pee smell like popcorn?"

I raise my eyes in astonishment as Rio smacks his brother upside his head.

"That's enough of that, Kobe," he says. "Sometimes I can't believe you're an actual adult."

Demi clears her throat to interrupt this brotherly moment.

"Your mother is preparing dinner at the moment. She's understandably quite anxious about your arrival," Demi gives me a quick glance then returns her gaze to her Alpha.

"Dinner?" I tug at the collar of my hoodie, feeling warm in the humid Grecian weather and also nervous at the prospects of spending my first hour in Midnight Shadow with Rio's mother.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Rio assures me.

"Wait, Rio," I grab his arm and he looks down at my hand clenching onto him. "I had a dream last night." I nervously look at our company and realize how crazy I'm about to sound. "I saw a white wolf that looked like Bianca, only much larger. And I was in a cold, snowy place."

"To humans, dreams are but chemical reactions of the mind, but to us, they hold deeper meaning," Rio conjects. "So, you think this dream may be a lead?"

I nod.

"Okay. Alex, Demi," he addresses his Beta and Delta. "While we have dinner with my mother, please begin your search for Bianca Greywood by looking into flights from Silver Bow to regions that are currently snowing."

"On it." Alex winks at me.

Demi curtly bows her head and immediately takes off without waiting for Alex.

"Does she not like me?" I whisper to Rio.

"No," he chuckles. "It's not that. Demi's just a serious person. She's very diligent in her duties as Delta."

I nod in understanding and think about the other Delta I know, my father. From what I know of wolves, Deltas bear the brunt of much of the dirty work of the pack while the Alphas and Betas tend to their own business. When I was younger, I told him he deserved to be Beta from my observations of his hard work. But you grow older and you realize the world doesn't work as simply as you'd thought it to.

We walk down the runway towards a big black jeep. Rio and Kobe chatter away and catch up, while Leon remains silent. He looks to be around 15.

"H-How do you like it here?" he asks in a timid voice, overpowered by the noise of his older brothers walking ahead of us.

"It's beautiful," I tell Leon. "It was quite lovely to see the whole island from up in the sky."

"I-I'm g-glad you th-think so." His reply is short and sweet as he purses his lips to a formal grin.

I smile at Leon's innocent face, the baby fat still apparent around his cheeks.

"I-I hope you'll enjoy y-your stay, A-Astrid."

"Thank you, Leon."

Just as we reach the jeep, Kobe runs to the driver's seat shouting 'dibs' all the way there as Rio sighs and shakes his head. The crazy middle child energy of Kobe makes me shake my head too and it makes me appreciate Leon's polite mannerisms. Rio climbs into the passenger seat, and Leon and I are left to the backseat.

The drive out of the landing strip is scenic with green plains surrounding us. We pass a group of men and women jogging with stoic expressions of determination, headed in the same direction we are.

"Ela! Ela! Ela!" Rio shouts enthusiastically in Greek, beating the side of his door as we pass them. The group cheers in response at the return of their Alpha.

Kobe speeds us through the plains on a steady climb until the city comes into view. It looks how you'd expect Greece to stereotypically appear, its white buildings erratically built on slopes and inclines. With a whole island to themselves, the Lycans have no need for a packhouse building. There are three black domes sticking out at the highest point in the city, which I presume is the location of the Alpha's residence and where we are currently headed.

Maybe it's the brightness of the place, but I feel an excitement rising in my bones as we drive through the dizzying streets of Midnight Shadow.

"Have you ever been outside of here?" I ask my backseat partner, Leon.

"N-not yet," he responds. "I-I'm not allowed to leave until I-I turn 18."

I think of the only other place I know to describe.

"Well, in Silver Bow, we have a lot of cherry blossom trees right now. It's like a fantasy landscape of bright pink, and the sky is always blue."

"W-wow, I..." his voice trails off.

"Leon," Rio calls from the front. "Head up, chest up, speak up."

In response, Leon does the first two and just sighs at the third, looking at me with a sheepish half-grin. I kick the back of the passenger seat and shoot daggers at Rio from the rear-view mirror where our eyes meet. As the youngest in my own family, I always hated being fussed over.

"Our little brother was not born loud and obnoxious like Rio and I," Kobe jokes, swerving us around the streets.

"And that's okay," I tell Leon with a wink.

"I always say the Alpha gene must have skipped him," Kobe chuckles.

I look over at Leon whose expression is unreadable, and I think, it must be tough to grow up in a house with two stupidly arrogant boys as role models.

We reach a large gate, intricately designed with two wolves on either side, poised as if guardians of the compound we are about to enter. The gate opens to an open cobblestoned space.

"Welcome to my home, Astrid" Rio announces as he gets out and opens my door.

The manor before me is large and white, with the three black domes I saw in the distance marking three separate towers. The tall wooden entrance is wide open to reveal a grand staircase in the middle. Echoes of voices can be heard from somewhere on the first floor. An elder Omegas awaits our arrival by the foot of the stairs.

"Please, take Astrid to her room so that she may freshen up before dinner," Rio requests the Omega, who nods and prompts me to follow her.

We ascend the stairs then turn towards the left corridor as the echoes of a booming female voice can be heard from the right corridor. I don't have to ask who that could possibly be to know it to be the matriarch of this family, Corinthia Xenakis. Rio looks up at me from below with a reassuring smile till he cuts away from view.

I start to realize that the only person I can truly trust in this place is Rio.