Chapter 138: Wolves vs Walls

The first problem, for the wolves, was the variety of the beasts in the Dow clan.

Calis’s pack was full of only wolves. Every face, every scent, every set of ears in his territory belonged to the same species. It was the way things were supposed to be.

The Dow clan was filled with too many distracting faces.

And none of them seemed to find this strange.

The four wolves flanking Calis had gone rigid the moment they entered the settlement. Their eyes darted from beast to beast as if they expected to be ambushed at any moment by the sheer confusion of what they were seeing.

"Alpha," one whispered, his voice tight. "There are... many different types."

"I can see that."

"All in one place."

"I said I can see that."

"Together."

"Do you need me to confirm every observation you make?"

The wolf shut his mouth, but his ears continued to swivel like they were trying to independently process the situation his brain had given up on.

A badger male walked past them carrying a cub on each shoulder. One cub had spotted ears. The other had tiny antlers. Neither child appeared to belong to the same species as the male carrying them, and he didn’t seem to care.

One of Calis’s wolves made a small, strangled sound.

Calis ignored him.

Faelynn had shifted into her normal form and had taken Luth to her chest when the Dow clan females noticed her pregnant belly.

What happened next was less an introduction and more an abduction.

Three beast-women descended on Faelynn with the organised precision of a rescue operation. They didn’t ask Calis for permission. They didn’t even look at him. One simply placed a hand on Faelynn’s side and said, "Oh, you poor thing. Come with us."

Faelynn looked at her brother with wide, startled eyes as she was firmly guided toward the communal shelter.

Calis took a step forward. "Wait—"

"She needs food!" one of the females called back without turning around.

"And water!"

"Look how thin she is! Bring her some of the meat. We don’t have much again, but you will manage!"

"And the tubers! The mashed ones! We still have some left!"

"Yes. Yes. They are easier on the stomach when you are with cub!"

"I did not give permiss—" Calis started, but Faelynn had already disappeared through the shelter entrance with Luth still on her chest, and the females had closed ranks behind them like a wall.

He stood there with his hand half-raised, his mouth still open, and the dawning realisation that his authority meant absolutely nothing here.

One of his wolves leaned toward him. "Did they just... take her?"

"Without asking you, Alpha?"

Calis’s jaw worked.

"Should we—"

A young beast male bounded toward them with the enthusiasm of a cub who had been given a task and intended to perform it with maximum effort.

It was the same male who had welcomed them initially with Xavi and Ermin, but now that everyone’s focus had shifted from Tera, it was now directed to the wolves.

The other clan members were staring in surprise at the wolves.

"Come! Let me show you around the clan!"

The wolves stared at him.

Bessier didn’t notice, or didn’t care. He was already walking, gesturing broadly at the settlement with the pride of a tour guide presenting the wonder of the age.

"This is the main clearing! Over there is the nursery, and over there are the other shelters. The farm is up on the plateau, and the water channels run from the stream to the basins over here!"

He pointed at the stone-lined channels with such vigour that one of the wolves flinched.

"Come! I will show you the shelters first!"

Calis exchanged a glance with his wolves. None of them had understood what the male had said, and Calis could guess a lot of those strange words had come from Tera.

None of his wolves looked eager to explore, and they were even hesitating until Calis followed Bessier. The wolves decided to go along too.

Two of the older cubs ran past Calis on the way, skidding to a stop and staring up at the wolf male with wide eyes.

"Are you going to eat us?" they chorused.

Calis’s brow twitched, taken aback by their question. "No."

The bear cub considered this. "I had a teensy dream, and I saw wolves eating everything!"

The wolves were beyond confused. What did this have to do with them?

"Shoo! Go away!" Bessier waved the cubs away.

They ran off laughing while Bessier chuckled nervously.

"Don’t mind the cubs. Those two in particular love to cause trouble."

Calis did not respond. One thing he had noticed here was how unnecessarily noisy it was, and it didn’t make him comfortable.

If anything, it was very dangerous.

Or did they not face any threat of corrupted beasts here?

Even so, why were the cubs making so much noise? A lot of them seemed to be in one of those strange enclosures, and they were so loud.

Calis paid a closer look towards the strange shelters as Bessier had called them.

"It is beautiful," one of the wolves admitted, his tone betraying surprise.

"Wait until you see inside!" Bessier grinned and ducked through the entrance.

Calis stepped in after him.

And stopped.

The interior was not dark, but for a creature whose territory was open sky and sparse trees, whose entire life had been spent sleeping under stars or in shallow dens with clear sightlines in every direction, the enclosed space was immediately suffocating.

The thin walls pressed in, and the filtered light that seeped through the silk leaves created shifting shadows that made every corner feel occupied.

His instincts, honed by years of scanning open terrain for threats, screamed at him that he could not see what was outside these walls.

The wolves who had walked in right behind him immediately backed out in horror.

"Something is wrong with this thing," the wolf hissed from outside. "It swallowed us."

"It is a shelter." Bessier was confused as he looked at Calis.

They had just entered the first room of the communal shelter where Faelynn had been pulled in earlier.

A wolf had braced himself to head back in, but he only made it three steps inside before freezing, his tail pressed so flat against his body it had practically merged with his legs. His ears were rotating independently, trying to identify every sound in the enclosed space.

A cub sneezed in the next room, and the wolf nearly hit the ceiling.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"A cub," Bessier answered, his confusion growing as he eyed the fidgeting wolves.

The other wolf did not look reassured.

Calis, to his own frustration, was not handling it much better. His body was tense, and the instinct to crouch and scan for exits was so strong that his claws had partially extended without his permission.

It was strangely beautiful in here, and the air was cooler than outside, and the flooring beneath his feet was softer than anything he had ever stood on.

But everything was so covered.

It did not make any sense.

A few clan members in the next room had been peeking at the wolves with pure amusement.

Bessier, apparently oblivious to the wolves’ distress, had moved deeper into the shelter. "And there are many other rooms here. They are mostly resting areas while the deeper ones are for storage—"

He turned around to find that Calis and the other wolf had left.