The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

*Vera?!* I hear in my head.

This is a voice I know very well, even in my own head.

*Sof?!*

*Oh, Goddess, it is you!"

I start running again, leaving everyone else behind without a second thought.

*Vera, wait!* I hear Thomas in my head, but I'm already too far ahead.

Both lycans and wolves have to settle for jogging to the pack house while I run full force in the direction of Sofia's voice.

In my head, I also see her in her office, dropping a bunch of documents that she had been clutching as Alex watches her curiously. She mouths 'Vera is back, and Alex's eyes go wide. She hurriedly steps out of the office, removing her shoes and turning into her wolf as soon as she's outside the pack house.

She's running to meet me.

After hours of running full speed, we both meet in the middle, right above Jade Waterfall where she had stopped to wait for me, tail wagging.

*I can't believe it! Look at you!" She exclaims, jumping up and down as we play, tackling each other to the ground and greeting each other. Our wolves finally getting to know each other.

It's odd, but in wolf form, Sofia feels even more familiar to me than she did before, like our wolves are in fact blood family.

Both of our tales are wagging as we finish playing, both of us tired of the run and excitement. She places her forehead to mine. *Welcome home, V.*

I soak it all in.

The forest, being at Jade Waterfall, a place I had become so familiar with throughout the years, being back with people I have considered my family since they adopted me all those years ago. The only thing dampening my moods is what I am actually here for.

My tail stops wagging and Sofia notices the change in my mood.

*Come, I'll have the cooks prepare your favorite dinner and we can chat over a glass of wine,* she says.

We walk towards the pack house, still in our wolf form.

Once we get there, she leads me to her room to change and shower. Luckily, I didn't lose my bag through all the running we did because until I turned, I had completely forgotten it was even on my back. I take a long shower, washing my hair thoroughly with Sofia's shampoo and conditioner.

Once I'm done, I get dressed in a simple sun dress, fresh enough to bare the warm summer night.

By the time I'm done showering and getting dressed, I suddenly remember something.

"Oh, crap," I say, rushing out of the bathroom and out of Sofia's room, having completely forgotten about Ezra and the guys.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Just as I make my way to the entrance of the pack house, Ezra and the rest of the guys are walking out of the forest and making their way to the pack house, walking instead of jogging.

Fortunately, they are accompanied by Thomas and the rest of the scouts, making everyone else aware that they are indeed welcomed here.

"Thomas, can you please take them to the guest house. They can change and shower there, then they can join us for lunch." Sofia says, coming up behind me.

Many wolves have stopped what they're doing to stare at the lycans. It is quite a stark contrast, a lycan to a wolf. Sure, wolves are large, but since lycans walk on their hind legs, they appear much, much larger.

As they pass in front of us, I mouth to Ezra, 'sorry,' feeling genuinely bad that I left them behind and hadn't even remembered about them until now. He notices but simply rolls his eyes, annoyed. I'll have to make it up to them somehow.

"Oh, I missed you,* Sofia comes beside me and hugs my shoulders, "come with me, we have a lot to catch up on."

I follow her to her office, where we find Alex still inside sorting through some documents.

"As I live and breathe," he says when he notices us, "it really is you!" he says, coming to hug me.

I hug him back, genuinely happy to see him.

"It's good to see you, Alex," I say as we separate.

"You too, V," he says, giving my shoulders a squeeze and then heading for the door.

"Wait, I can come back when you guys are done with work," I say, but he waves his hand in the

air.

"Forget it, knowing this one she wants to catch up with you now," he says, pointing at Sofia," and quite frankly, I don't want the details."

I frown at him, but turn to Sofia who's giving me *the* look and wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Oh no..."

"Oh, yes," Alex says, closing the door behind him, laughing.

"Give me *all* the details and I mean *all* of them!" she says, opening up a bottle of wine while eyeing my mark.

Subconsciously, my hand goes to my neck, attempting to cover my mark, suddenly embarrasses.

"Oh, stop it! You can't be shy around me, not anymore! Tell me *every* juicy detail," she says, handing me a glass of wine.

-

"Sofia, this isn't really why I came back here, I - uh," I pause, not really knowing how to begin. Sofia doesn't know *anything* of what's happened these last few months and I'm struggling to find the words. She frowns.

"You seem very stressed," she says, using her index finger to guide my wine gla*s to my lips and tilting it for me to drink.

I actually do it, downing half of the glass in one gulp. Liquid courage.

"Well, Noah is King of the lycans, that's first," I say.

Her eyes widen.

"Did you say, *King*?"

I nod.

"I also may have killed the previous King, King Alistair,"

Her eyes widen even more.

"Yeah..." I say.

I pause and she stands up to retrieve the wine bottle, understanding we'll need quite a bit of that.

She sits beside me again, serving me a healthy glass of wine.

"Also, I may or may not be a witch," I say, taking a sip of my wine.

Her mouth hangs open and I sigh, getting ready to tell her absolutely everything.

"And one more thing, just to establish base line for what I'm about to tell you, Noah is half wolf."

She gapes, and she continues to gape as I tell her everything, and I mean "everything* because she wasn't going to let me get away with not giving her details about my sex life; her mouth hangs open in some parts and her eyes widen at other parts, particularly when I'm explaining the whole Witch Mother thing and Zombie army.

After about an hour, when I'm done, she's staring at me with a neutral expression; she's just blinking at me. It hasn't gone unnoticed that she hasn't even sipped form her wine this entire time; she's in complete shock.

After a few moments, she finally speaks, clearing her throat first.

"So, to... summarize... Noah is King, you are half witch, there is a bitch called the Witch Mother who everyone thought was dead but she's probably not and she may or may not come after you, you *killed* the previous lycan King *and* his witch, and now you are here because Noah is... half wolf... and you need to find his original birth certificate which proves his father was the previous lycan King and this birth certificate happens to be at the Goldmoons... is that it?" "Pretty much," I say, shrugging.

"Oh, and you can talk to your dead aunt and grandmother," she says.

I simply nod.

It still takes a few moments for her to register all of this, but when she does, she calmly set down her wine glass on the table and instead picks up the wine bottle, taking it to her lips and drinking directly from it.

She gulps three or four mouthfuls of wine before setting it down.

"That's a lot," she says, finally.

"It is," I agree.

"You know, maybe you should write a book about it."

She's completely serious, but we can't help but start laughing at the absurdity of it all.

I missed this. I missed simply being able to chat with my friend and have a fit of giggles every now and then.

Once we are done laughing and we compose ourselves, she speaks again.

"I'll arrange for a visit to the Goldmoons. We have some business to settle anyway, so it won't

be suspicious. Your friends will have to stay here, though."

"They're aware. They'll just hang out here until we return."

"Very well," she says, "we really don't have time to lose."

She gets up from the couch and sits down at her desk, taking out pen and paper.

Normally a phone call would suffice, but since she actually has official matters to attend to at the Goldmoons's, it requires an official letter.

I see her scribble away on the paper for a few minutes, signing it and sealing it before calling one of the scouts.

After only a few moments, the scout knocks on the door.

"Charlie, please take this to Thomas. He'll know what to do,"

"Yes, Alpha," Charlie says, bowing his head and leaving.

Then, I hear Sofia call for Thomas in my mind.

*Thomas, please ensure that letter gets to the Goldmoons safely, it is a time sensitive matter so please send a party now," she says.

"I mean, we could wait until tomorrow morning, we made good time getting here so we have some time to spare," I say, raising the glass of wine to my lips. Sofia frowns.

"You heard that?" she says.

"Of course, isn't that how this whole mind-linking think works?"

She raises an eyebrow.

"No, it isn't."

Before she can explain further, someone knocks at the door.