Visions of Wolves

Arts and crafts

The next morning Alex was gone by the time I woke up. I showered, got ready and met Ally in the kitchen for breakfast.

“Hey Teal. How did you sleep?” She asked while adding a generous helping of jam to a slice of toast.

“Good. Alex and I helped Jay with stock take. So between the infirmary and helping Aoife with the garden I was exhausted last night. What about you?” I grabbed some toast myself and added butter and peanut butter. Most of the food here was made on the local farms. Everything was always so fresh and delicious. 

“Yeah I also slept well. I hope you don’t mind, but Aoife sent a message this morning. She asked if I could maybe go back again and help them with a fence they’ve been meaning to put up. They’ve put it off for so long the poles are now sprouting moss.”

I smiled to myself. Aoife is sweet and homely but make no mistake, she’s smart. “Sure I don’t mind at all, I think we chatted so much yesterday she didn’t get half as much gardening done as she had hoped. I’d like to help her finish.” I added.

“Perfect!”

We finished breakfast and visited the guys in Alex’s study before heading to Aoife’s. They were hard at work again looking at maps of the perimeter and nearby farms trying to figure out what routes the rogues would use and where they would hide the numbers to actually risk an attack. Although it would only take another Alpha overpowering Alex to gain control, they would need to get to Alex first and that wasn’t a smart move. They needed Alex to be weakened or they needed leverage, which was why Alex had wasted no expense in terms of time or resources to make sure the village was secure.

Ally went in and gave Adam a hug and kiss. But I waited at the door giving them all a short wave. I didn’t want to disturb him but it was also more selfish than that. Seeing him there, all serious, authoritative and protective. Yes, I had fallen hard for him. I rubbed the scar on my side as I thought back to that night and the pain he must have been in thinking he had hurt me for good. 

Ally got stuck right into the fence as soon as we arrived. She loved organising people and DIY so this was her perfect day off really and a smart move by Aoife. When we left her she was bossing around all the men that had gathered to help and was teasing them because three of them had to carry a log she was able to carry on her own. This was definitely an all day activity. Good. Because I had work to do.

Aoife had a small arts and crafts table in her place. Well, it looked like arts and crafts but I now knew better. The table was stained with pencil smudges and blobs of paint. The box of dried wolfsbane from yesterday was on the table. She handed me gloves and then started laying out all the bits and pieces we would need.

“Before we get to the fun part, we need to grind the dried wolfsbane into powder.” She handed me a mortar and pestle and then positioned one in front of her too. She showed me how to grind all of it together with a pinch of ash from the bonfires outside to absorb any leftover moisture from the plants. It took ages to get it down to a fine powder. I could see why she replaced her stock as she used it. Once we had the plants down to a fine powder we added it to a small bucket in the centre of the table. It took us a couple hours.

We then made sandwiches and lemonade and headed over to the fence to have lunch with the others. Ally had been so involved with the task at hand she didn’t even realise she had been at it for hours.

When we went back after lunch we cleared up the table and Aoife brought out a small tub of clay and some moulds. Tear drops, ovals, squares, round, there were so many to choose from. She pointed out the ones that would be the easiest to fit the most wolfsbane inside. The small bauble shape would be best to add to hair ties or a necklace. They could hold the most.

She showed me how to work the clay and line the moulds just right. We decided I needed two bracelets with oval beads, a tear drop necklace and hair ties with baubles. We couldn’t be too careful. We lined each half of the moulds with thin layers of clay and poked small holes with tooth picks in places you wouldn’t notice when we sealed them later. Those would be the entry points for the wolfsbane powder.

We left them on the windowsill to dry over night and enjoyed a cup of tea before going out into the garden and finishing what we had started yesterday.

“So there’s a few ways you can use the beads.” Aoife said while wrestling some weeds that had sprung up among her vegetables. “You can crush them in your hands and blow them in a shifter’s face, you can crush it and put it in their food. If you’re feeling brave you could even try hide a whole one in their food!” She laughed at that thought. “I’ve also got a friend who once crushed it in her mouth and blew it in the face of the shifter. But I don’t recommend that. It might not be lethal for us but they can still make you sick.”

“Have you ever…umm, have you ever had to use wolfsbane against a shifter? Sorry if that’s something really personal to ask.” I asked sheepishly.

“I don’t mind and yes, actually.” She let go a long and deep sigh before she continued. “A rogue harassed my mom and I while we were living in the city once. I had used my power in some way I can’t even remember and he had seen. He lived in the same complex and would call us names and bang on our door late at night. One day he grabbed my mom by the wrist when she ignore him and walked past without acknowledging him. The look on her face made me panic so I crushed a bead and threw it in his face. That’s actually why we moved here. My mom had heard about this pack and didn’t want me growing up fearing shifters. She told me that there are good and bad people in all different forms so I shouldn’t let one rogue taint my perception of shifters.”

“She sounds like a very wise woman.” I added.

“She is. She travels a lot for work these days. She’s always had itchy feet and wanted to travel. I however am a home body. I like the little nest I built here for myself and I’m so grateful for the peace and tranquility Alex and the rest of the pack grant us. I’m very happy here.” She smiled at the thought.

“I think I could be very happy here one day too.” She nudged me with her shoulder and we both carried on weeding the garden.

Alex was not back by the time I had gone to bed. But I was exhausted anyway and had gone straight to sleep after I had showered. Ally and I had been at Aoife’s all day. I loved working with my hands but I had forgotten how tiring it could be. It was getting dark by the time Ally and I got back.

I snuggled into bed and didn’t even hear Alex come in. I slept the whole night through without any visions.