The Omen of the Crow

Chapter 14

    Before Rickon could answer, Erik walked through the door unannounced. We both turned to Erik, clearly annoyed with his presence. He laughed awkwardly, "Rickon, you really should be outside with the rest of the pack, they're asking a lot of questions. And of course they are asking to meet Tegan." He said the last sentence cautiously.

    "I am not interested, I agreed to the introduction which I have done. The rest wasn't part of it." I responded coldly. "I will be out shortly Erik. Tegan is overwhelmed with everything going on right now as anyone would be." Rickon quickly lied.

    Erik slowly walked away, I sensed he wanted to say more but he didn't. Once Erik left Rickon walked towards me. "I'll make an excuse for your absence but if you want to stay here and be protected you have to get to know our pack." He put his hands in his pockets and walked away with his head high.

    In a very sickening way I knew he was right, I had to win their trust. If things went according to plan I could hide out here and have my own team in a sense to maneuver for my own gain. I walked over to the desk and opened the drawers. I found a map and rolled it out on the desk, it had the pack territory marked on it. The territory was small, why hadn't they expanded?

    More land meant more reinforcement but it also would give an advantage. I tapped my finger on the map, analyzing it. We would have to expand the territory, this clearly was not big enough. I looked through the drawers again and found another map. I pulled it out and displayed it on the desk, it revealed other boundary lines around the pack territory.

    There were three other boundaries surrounding the packs, Two were reserved for a couple of vampiric covens and the third was for an order of warlocks. I slumped down on the chair thinking of different tactics to take the land. I could do it myself but if I attracted attention some unwanted foe may come for a visit. I should lay low and let this scenario play out a bit more.

    I walked out of the library and immediately ran into another pack member. It was man, he was on the shorter side, stocky with prominent features, long black beard and braids like Rickon's. "Welcome to the Luan pack Tegan, my name is Tavius!" He smiled broadly, his green eyes studying me intensely.

    I put my hand on his face and pushed him back, "Not now Tavius." The man stumbled backwards and fell. I walked away before he could curse me out, I wasn't interested in such commoners. I walked outside to Rickon's surprise. He shot a brutish smile my way, but I ignored him. More people had arrived, the house was full and buzzing with excitement. 

    A tall man the size of Rickon approached me. He had gorgeous black curly hair that swept over his grey eyes. He reached out and took my hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you Tegan Riverwind, I am Alpha Tannus of the Moonchild pack east of here. My pack has come to celebrate your arrival." He raised my hand and kissed it seductively, this was a man that was clearly comfortable with women. 

    A slender blonde women rushed over to us with a scowl on her face. She was small but she had fire in her blue eyes, "Tannus dear I know we haven't seen any newcomers in a while but drooling over them will only scare them away." She snarled at him. She turned to me with a fake smile, clearly bothered by her mate's flirtatious approach. I snatched my hand back breaking from his trance, disgusted that I had even allowed him to touch me.

    "Hello Tegan, my name is Marcella." She gave me another fake smile. I rolled my eyes at her disingenuous introduction. I walked past her bumping her shoulder making her gasp clearly shocked at my behavior. Tannus boisterously laughed as I walked away causing the small blonde woman to curse him out loud. I had no interest in any of these people but I knew at some point I had to fake it.

    I walked towards the garden where the sun shone bright. I could feel everyone's eyes on me and I tried my best to ignore them. I held my head up high as I walked to a tall pine tree that was as alive as it had probably been a century ago. I reached out to touch its bark, a flow of energy ran through my body almost taking my breathe away.

"We are one with earth and the earth is one with us. We can feel the spirit of every living organism." A husky voice interrupted my exploration and I turned around annoyed. "I apologize for interrupting." He said honestly. This man was tall and slender with mousy blonde hair and bright green eyes, which were examining me at that moment

    "It is fine." I said trying to sound normal, but in reality I wanted to throw him across the garden for his disrespectful entrance. He smiled genuinely satisfied with my answer. " I am the accountant for the pack, a tough job but someone has to do it." He laughed.

    "My name is Prev. I wanted to introduce myself because as the accountant I deal with the alpha very often. Our paths will cross often." He extended his hand to shake mine, I looked at it with disgust. I looked over to the tables where I saw Rickon staring at me, nodding his head. I reached out and shook his hand quickly. I walked away from him without another word, I was very much over meeting anyone else.

    I began to walk back towards the mansion when and a hand grabbed my shoulder. I instinctively grabbed the  hand and pulled it hard over my shoulder sending a burly man flying into the bushes.