Wolf Tamer by Avery Song
True Forms And Our Little Secret
"Iwish I could meet your friends, Ian."
My voice was but a whisper as I finished putting on the pretty princess dress O'Neil got me. It was pink, fluffy, and had purple and gold unicorns all over it. My hair was down, but I still wore the special 'BIRTHDAY GIRL' party hat on my head. With my new unicorn slippers, I felt extra pretty and ready to go to the treehouse - though Dolly said I had to take the unicorn slippers off outside the house.
Ian turned around, after giving me privacy to change, to look at me. He wore black pants and a green shirt that reminded me of his new favorite pajamas. The combination was nice and made me extra happy.
"You mean my human friends?" Ian clarified.
I felt nervous asking him, but I slowly nodded as I walked over to the bed and climbed onto it. Hopping on it slightly helped me feel less nervous as I thought about it.
"Ya. The ones who named the wolves," I whispered, though deep within, I knew better - or maybe I wanted to believe they were like us.
This whole month, I'd noticed how smart the pack was, especially Carter. There was something about him specifically that pulled at my chest. It was a weird feeling, and I didn't understand it, but I wished I did.
He's extra special...but is it because he's a leader?
Ian stared at me for a long moment, but I kept on jumping up and down, looking anywhere but at him. "You don't have to...it's just...it would be nice, that's all."
With a shrug, I stopped jumping. "I should pee before we go to the treehouse. Oh. I should get Muffin, too. I'll be back, Ian."
Hopping off the bed, I hummed the birthday song as I skipped to the door and headed to the bathroom up the hall. The treehouse didn't have a washroom, and it took forever to come down the ladder and to the house and back.
Washing my hands, I shook them a few times to dry them before entering the hall to look for Muffin.
"Muffin?"
"Meow." Turning my head to the stairs, I noticed Muffin and the familiar boy with blond hair sitting on the top shelf.
"Huh?" I rubbed my eyes on purpose, thinking it was an illusion, but even as I rubbed them again and again, the boy still remained with Muffin sitting on his head.
"Carter?" My voice was but a whisper as I slowly approached the boy. I was two steps away before he turned around, and I recognized those mismatched eyes from that stormy night.
The same eyes that matched Carter, the wolf.
He lifted his finger to his lips, signalling me to be quiet. I slowly nodded and caught onto the conversation happening downstairs.
"Can't we just tell her?" Ian whispered. I wondered who he was talking to, but he continued. "Please, O'Neil?"
"It may upset Dolly, Sam, and especially Rogan, Ian."
"Who cares about Rogan?" Ian huffed. "He's an asshole!"
O'Neil chuckled, before Ian continued, "Please, O'Neil? Harper is stronger than they think."
O'Neil was quiet for a moment before he sighed.
"I understand, Ian, but it's dangerous. Harper may be strong, yes, but she went through a lot," he reasoned. "We don't know why they were after Harper, Ian, and they're not stopping until they can find her."
"Ya...but they haven't tried," Ian tried to reason.
"They have," O'Neil quietly muttered as if confessing that was forbidden. "A hunter was close to the lands. Carter took him out."
Ian was silent while my eyes slowly looked over to Carter. His gaze remained forward, even though I was sure he knew I was staring at him.
Carter...protected us from the hunter.
"I...I wasn't here," Ian reasoned. "Or I would have protected the property!"
"Ian." O'Neil really sounded as if he didn't know what to do. "My concern isn't about the idea of who protects Harper. My worry is that Harper entering our world so quickly could put her in more danger. You may be right about her being a wolf shifter like us, but if Reika is truly dormant, we're not sure when she'll be able to come out, which makes Harper a human like anyone else."
"But you and I know she's more than just a wolf," Ian huffed.
I wanted to know more, and maybe it was why I tried to take a step down the steps, but a hand stopped me - Carter's hand holding mine.
The moment our eyes locked, it felt like I knew him from long ago, but again, I couldn't figure it out - almost as if there were some sort of block in my mind.
He lightly tugged at my hand, and slowly, I sat down next to him on the step.
His hand still wrapped around mine.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Ian."
"She has energy like mine, O'Neil," Ian whispered, and it was hard to grasp if Reika wasn't helping me. "Don't you see it? The pretty light around her all the time?"
O'Neil was quiet as Ian continued, "It's strong, O'Neil. Stronger than mine. It reminds me of Carter's. She has magic, O'Neil."
"Even if she does, Ian, we can't openly train her."
"What about if we learn about it first?" Ian offered. "Harper and I are going to study all about wolves. We'll do it at the treehouse, so Dolly and Sam and even asshole Rogan can't see. We'll work hard, and then maybe we can go to your place and train? I don't know..." Ian trailed off and huffed. "O'Neil."
"What is it, kiddo?"
"I don't want to lie to Harper," he confessed, and it felt like my heart was sinking because his voice was so sad. "I like her a lot, O'Neil...and...well...I think I owe it to Carter, too."
"Why do you say that, Ian?"
"Well, he was on duty the night I found Harper. He was supposed to find her...and well, I took it from him. I think he's mad."
"You think so?" O'Neil offered, and I could only imagine Ian bobbing his head.
"It's my fault he has to hide. I don't really know why...but there's something about Carter that I can't remember. Like...we should know each other, but whenever I think about it, my head hurts. Carter's kinda hard to talk to as well. He's always angry...but I guess it makes sense. All the adults always make him do all the scary stuff and well, he doesn't even get to see Harper. I think...well, Wolfie thinks Carter really likes Harper but doesn't want to be nice to her so she doesn't get close to him."
"Hmm," O'Neil hummed. "You may be right there."
I was following along, while my eyes lowered to our joined hands. I wondered if that was true, and Reika was just as curious as I.
"Protect us?"
Could be. He doesn't want us to get hurt.
"I don't want Carter to hate me, O'Neil." Ian sounded like he was gonna cry. "He's like a big brother to all of us. I didn't mean to be there, but I also really like Harper. I don't want to keep lying to her. She wants to meet my friends, and they want to meet her in human form too. Can't we do something? Pretty please?"
The room was silent before O'Neil let out a long sigh.
"This is going to be a big secret to keep, Ian," O'Neil emphasized. "I do understand where you're coming from. Personally, if I were raising Harper, I would be honest with her. Sadly, Sam and Dolly don't agree with my mundane way of thinking. They wish to shelter Harper for her own sake, but I'd personally want her to be able to protect herself."
There was another long silence before he continued.
"Harper has gone through a lot of trauma. She's young now, like you, but as you grow older, that trauma can come back and haunt you. More importantly, if I'm going to allow Harper to know the truth of the sacred pack, it's a secret that has to be maintained until she reaches eighteen. Sam and Dolly won't be able to stop any of you from approaching Harper in human form once you've reached eighteen, but even then, she'll have to pretend she doesn't know the association."
"So if we go with the idea that my friends named the wolves, would that work?"
"If we're consistent with it, yes," he replied. "It's been done before, and we could make things work in our favor," he reasoned. "But if we do this, there's no turning back, Ian. Do you think Harper will be up for it?"
"Yes!" Ian cheered. "We can do it, O'Neil. I know we can."
"And you promise Sam and Dolly won't know."
"Promise."
"Even when you get older?" O'Neil stressed. "You're going to have to follow what Sam and Dolly tell you to do, even if it means sometimes you have to be away from Harper to help them with errands or trips outside the Sacred Moon property."
"I'll do anything I need to, O'Neil!" Ian promised.
"Then, go let Carter know and you can introduce Harper to the gang tonight. Since it's her birthday/adoption celebration, it would be nice for her to mingle with them. Sam and Dolly are out for a few hours, so I'm babysitting."
"We're not babies," Ian grumbled.
"Sure, sure, kiddo," O'Neil brushed off. "You're spending too much time here when you should be heading to the treehouse. I'm sure Harper's there already."
"Oh! Right. But maybe she's in the bathroom. Hmm. I need to pee too. O'Neil, I'm gonna use the bottom bathroom."
"Alright," O'Neil replied. "Make sure you aim properly. I'm not cleaning up your mess."
"Aim, aim, fire!" Ian cheered.
"Fire in the toilet!" he called out.
Carter squeezed my hand and rose up, prompting me to follow his lead. We were going to move, but the sound of footsteps left us frozen in place before O'Neil was at the bottom of the steps with a sly grin on his face.
I didn't know what to do, so I very slowly moved until I was hiding behind Carter.
"Um...I'm not here," I whispered.
O'Neil chuckled and quietly walked up the stairs until he was two steps from where we stood. "Does that mean I can introduce her to the others?" Carter was asking for confirmation.
I peeked out to the side as O'Neil crossed his arms over his large chest.
"Yes, but like I said downstairs, no one can know that Harper knows. Not Dolly, Sam, Rogan, or any of the Elders. When you're all older, it'll get easier, but for now, if you want to be able to stay around Harper, you have to keep this a secret, understand?"
"I understand," Carter boldly declared. "I'll make sure no one else knows."
O'Neil stared at him for a long minute, the tension growing higher with every passing second. I didn't interrupt because Reika urged me to keep quiet. It felt like O'Neil was challenging Carter in some way, and deep down I think Carter was winning.
"You're sure?" O'Neil spoke out loud, and Carter nodded slightly.
"I can do it, O'Neil," he vowed.
There was no way of figuring out what conversation they were having, and I wondered if it was happening in their heads or something.
"Then you’d better hurry up to the treehouse before Ian's there by himself."
Carter nodded and O'Neil looked at me with a genuine smile. "I know you'll keep things hush-hush, Harper, right?"
"Yes, O'Neil," I whispered lowly while trying not to show just how happy I was at the idea that I'd get to meet the others.
Not in wolf form, but in their true forms.
"Then get going," he encouraged with a wink.
I tried not to squeal as we quickly moved down the stairs and headed to the back. Carter led the way until we were on the back porch. He tugged me to stop when I tried to move forward, and I turned my attention to him.
"Har-"
I hugged him before he could finish saying my name, jumping up and down until he stopped me by hugging me back.
"Carter! I get to meet the others!" I squealed as quietly as I could before pulling back to look into his eyes, as shocked as they were wide.
"They're..." He trailed off as I gave him a wide grin and then he sighed.
"I knew you were smarter than Ian led on," he muttered like he was disappointed. I just giggled but hugged him again.
"Why are you hugging me now? I don't like hugs."
"Lie."
"Reika says you're lying," I pointed out first. "I want to hug you for protecting me."
Moving back once more, I gave him my best smile before I leaned in close enough that Carter's face began to turn red.
"Don't be mad at Wolfie and Ian, okay?"
He blinked a few times and looked away as he answered, "Hmph. I'll think about it."
"Okay," I replied with a bigger smile, knowing he'd totally forgive Ian for finding me first. I hoped it meant we'd all be good friends. "Let's go!"
I turned around and took a few steps, but Carter hugged me from behind.
"Huh?"
"Harper." Carter's voice tickled my ear. "You promise you can keep this a secret?"
I smiled and turned in his hold, which made our noses press together. Now his face was as red as ever, but he tried to remain still as I stared into his mismatched eyes.
"Keeping it a secret means I get to protect you all too," I voiced, which surprised Carter as his mouth opened slightly and his eyes remained wide. "Dolly said she's gonna teach me how to protect you all. I'm gonna be the Wolf Tamer of the pack! So keeping the secret that I know who you all are means you'll be safe, right?"
He slowly nodded, and I copied his nod with my own. "Then, your secret is safe with me. Then we can be friends forever!"
"Friends," he replied and pouted his lips.
"What?" I asked in confusion, but he suddenly smiled and surprisingly pressed his lips to mine. I didn't know what to say as I stared at him in confusion.
"Friends for now," he concluded. "But only I get to do that to you, got it?"
"Okay?" I replied. "Hey. You did that in my dream!"
"Uh..." Carter was so red, it was like he was one of my birthday balloons. "You talk too much!" he huffed and pushed me.
"Hey! You can't push me. I'm the birthday adopted girl!" I huffed and pushed him back. He growled like he was scary, but I growled back and tackled him.
"Oomph!" We fell to the wood and giggled.
"I told you, Carter said we can be here."
I lifted my head up and turned in the direction of the sound. Four boys similar to Carter's height stood in a line at the top steps.
Right away, I knew who each of them was, and I was up and pointing at them.
"Damien!" I began at the boy at the far right with sapphire eyes and short black hair. My finger moved down to the second boy, who surprisingly had striking green hair. It was a unique shade of green, which I think was emerald, but I caught onto the gold and orange strands in it that were just like the very bright golden eyes that stared calmly back at me.
"Levi!"
"Wow. She knows who you are, Levi!" My eyes moved right to the duo that had platinum blond hair and blue eyes. It was easy to know they were Hayden and Heston, but I needed an added minute until I realized one of them had eyes with hints of black while the other had hints of white.
"Hayden." I pointed to the twin on the right that was next to Levi before pointing to the second twin at the end of the line. "Heston!"
"She's cool!" they said in unison. "She spots the difference!"
I giggled and ran over to them. In seconds, they were giving me a group hug and I heard Ian from behind.
"Hey! How did you guys all get here?"
"Carter told us to come," Levi replied like it was no big deal. "You're late."
"Am not! I got O'Neil's permission before any of you."
"Sure," Hayden and Heston replied. "Can we go to the treehouse? We want food!"
"There's food?" I gasped. I didn't know why, but I was hungry again. "I want some!"
"To the fort!" the twins declared and ran ahead.
"They have too much energy," Damien noted.
"Hmm," Levi replied, as the two of them headed down the stairs to follow.
I grinned and noticed Carter and Ian were staring at one another. I wasn't sure if they were glaring or talking in each other's heads, but I skipped over to them, moved right in between them, spun around, and grabbed their hands.
Holding Carter's left hand with my right, and Ian's right hand with my left, I squeezed them and looked between them.
"Fight later! Let's go celebrate!"
The two of them stared at me for five seconds, and I giggled and tugged them forward to follow me. Ian loosened up, and he began to swing our joined hands. Carter ended up doing the same as the three of us walked quickly to the treehouse.
Holding their hands felt like something I'd experienced before, and I couldn't help but grin further as I looked up to the sky to see the full moon.
Something felt good about this - felt right - about this secret, even if it may be bad, but if it meant I'd get to learn more about wolves, train, and be friends with my Sacred Moon pack, I'd do it.
It'll be our little secret.