Threaded Whispers

Thea’s POV

I walked past the threshold into the house, following Cind. She hasn’t said a word since she kidnapped me in the middle of the night. The whole way here, I kept looking over my shadow thinking my parents or the patrollers would come racing after us and stop us, but they never did. When I got out of the car, someone ran out of the house and took my bag from the back seat before I could get a word out.

I shrugged my shoulders and continued. Suddenly, Cind stopped walking, faced me, and stared at me. I felt my wolf stir, and a shiver went down my spine. I tried to back up and tell her to stop, but I was paralyzed. All I could do was move my eyes around. My vision began to blur, and my heartbeat sounded slow and far off.

Right before I passed out, I heard my wolf, Nilah, say, “Don’t worry.” And then everything went black.

*Four hours later*

“What happened?” I asked my wolf Nilah.

She didn’t respond. I waited, then tried again, but still no response. I finally opened my eyes, sat up, and saw that I was lying on a couch. I looked around and noticed there was a desk, some chairs, a cabinet, and other furniture. I swung my legs around, and right as I was getting up, a knock on the door sounded.

Zylah’s POV

I caught Cynthia before she hit the ground and then carried her to my office. I laid her on the couch, moved the hair from her face, and walked out while closing the door behind me. I went to the kitchen and helped with fixing dinner. I saw Misty run in with two werewolves chasing after her. I cleared my throat as I set the pitcher of lemonade on the table, and all three looked up at me, then turned and ran up the stairs. I finished helping at the table before walking upstairs myself.

Before I reached the last step, Misty and the two kids popped up. I mind-linked all three and said, “Cynthia should be up in a bit. Keep an ear out and introduce yourselves before heading to dinner.”

They all bowed their heads and walked past me. I turned left and walked to the third door on the right. I twisted the handle, walked in, and then let out a breath. I gave myself a second to relax, walked into the conjoined bathroom, and closed the door. I took two ibuprofens, turned on the shower, and got in.

Thea’s POV

I looked at the door as it was opening. Ready to stand my ground and attack if needed. I balled my fist up and got down low. Before I could see who it was, I let out a growl. The door continued to open, before I could let out another, the door slammed all the way open, and there in the door was a woman and two kids behind her.

I tilted my head in confusion and let my guard down a little. The woman started to approach, and I tensed back up. She stopped and put her hands up in the surrender position.

“I was told to come introduce myself and take you to dinner,” she said. I relaxed again, and she continued. “My name is Misty Williams. Welcome to The Black Ridge Pack.”

Before I could respond, the two kids pushed by her. She chuckled, while pointing to the girl, saying, “This is Yuri,” and then the boy, “This is Xavier”. They smiled and waved, and I waved back.

Misty began again, “We’re here to escort you to dinner.” Before I could get one word out, the two kids each grabbed a hand and pulled me forward, directing me to where we would be eating dinner. When we got there, it was a line of people entering through the door and making their way around the buffet-style makeshift line. We joined in and waited patiently. After we got our food, they led us to the head of the table that was in the center of the room. Each kid sat on either side of the table. Misty sat beside Yuri, and I sat on the other side of Misty. Once we sat down, they all started to eat, and so did I.

Zylah’s POV

After my shower, I got dressed and headed back downstairs. I waited for the pack house door to close before I got in line. Some turned towards me and bowed their heads while offering up their spots to me. I shook my head no and waited patiently. When I got my food, I walked to the center table and sat at the head. Cynthia noticed me, and her eyes bulged out in shock.

She looked around to see if anybody noticed my position as well. She looked back at me, and I stood up.

I mind linked everyone and said, “Good evening, everyone. We have a guest with us today.” Misty nudged Cynthia to stand up, and she did, then I continued. “This is my little cousin Cynthia, and I have high hopes she will be joining our pack.”

Cynthia looked at me in shock with her mouth hanging open. Misty whispered something to her, and she straightened up. “Hello, as Cindy said, I am her cousin. However, I go by Thea, not Cynthia.” She gave a small wave, and everybody clapped and went back to eating.

After the announcement, I sat back down and ate my food. Dessert was brought out after everyone finished dinner. Some members came over and congratulated Thea. After everyone was done, some omegas came and began clearing the tables.

I got up and had Misty, the kids, and Thea follow me. We made it to the office, I sat behind the desk, and everyone else found a place to sit. Before I could mind-link them, Thea started to speak.

“What the hell is going on here, Cynthia? Why am I here? Where have you been the last four years?”

Thea was firing questions off rapidly. I held up my hand to stop her and looked towards Misty. Misty nodded her head and started speaking.

“Please calm down, Thea. You have been brought here so that you could have a better life. And” she freezes for a second, then continues, “your cousin goes by Zylah now, and she is the Alpha Female. Everyone calls her Felpha Zylah for short, though.”

Thea tilted her head in confusion, “Felpha?” she asked. Misty let out a small laugh and said, “Yes. It is alpha and female combined. But we put the female before the alpha part because it sounded better.”

Thea snorted and said, “That sounds incredibly stupid, should’ve just stuck to Luna Zylah.”

Misty shrank back at that and returned to her seat. Thea laughed and started speaking again,

“And since when do you go by Zylah? What now that you’re all high and mighty, you want a unique name or something? And why haven’t you said one word to me since I have been here? Am I beneath you, not that you’re ‘Felpha Zylah’?”

Misty was about to say something until I held up my hand. I opened my bottom left drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. I handed it to Thea as she read it. Then I mind-linked her.

“My first name is Zylah, my parents preferred to call me Cindy though.”

She threw the paper onto my desk. “So what. Still doesn’t explain why you made your title something stupid like ‘Felpha’ instead of sticking with Luna. And why in the hell do you keep mind-linking me, instead of talking directly to me?”

I looked at Misty and mind-linked her. She got up and left with the kids. She came back a few minutes later and sat down. I nodded to her, and she spoke.

“Felpha Zylah doesn’t talk because her vocal cords were ripped out.”

I lowered the turtleneck I had on and showed her the scar on my neck. Thea went rigid and lost some of the color in her face.

Misty continued, “Felpha Zylah has brought you here because she hopes you’ll join her pack. And it is offensive to make fun of our leader’s title because it is foreign to you. And I take that personally since I am the one who gave her that title.”

Thea looked ashamed, and a light blush rose on her cheeks. “Sorry,” she said quietly.

Thea looked at me and said, “I didn’t know. What happened, though?”

I shook my head no, and she let out a huff. Misty went through our pack’s brief history and answered any questions Thea had, unless I stopped her. Afterwards, we all got up and began to leave. Before Thea walked off with Misty, I turned to her and said,

“The two kids you saw earlier are twins. And…your second cousins.”

"Wait, what?!" Thea yelled.

I then walked off and went to the living room. When the twins saw me, they both smiled and ran towards me. I grabbed both their hands, and we walked out of the pack house. I mind linked Misty as we were walking and said,

“Keep an eye out. She’s going to try to escape.”