After my body finished healing, the first thing I asked was to go see the kids in the nursery. The small doctor who overlooked my care approved my release from the hospital, after which I was quickly assigned a guard to watch over me.
"So I'm a prisoner then?"
I confronted the stony faced guard who had been assigned to me. He was a beefy, hulking man with a receding head of hair and a tired disposition. He answered me indifferently but with a knowingness that only irritated me further.
"Val thinks you would run away at the first opportunity. I've been assigned to you to make sure that doesn't happen."
I frowned at the mention of her. If I decided to run away, this large meathead of a man would be sorely unlikely to catch me. Unless every single wolf in the Valeriano clan was faster than every single wolf in my own, and I highly doubted that to be possible. My arm got chills when I remembered my own surprise and shock at having been caught by her. Nobody had ever caught up to me so quickly.
"Does this mean I can't go to the nursery?"
The man shook his head.
"We can go wherever you want, lady. Just can't leave the territory."
Everyone in the Valeriano clan had an accent. Not unlike most other southern pack people I had heard before. They said certain words differently, but the language across the continent was always the same. I asked the man to guide me and he did so. His bulking form lumbered down this hall and down a flight of steps and through a third hallway by the time the thought finally struck me that this was the largest building I had ever been inside.
I was kind of surprised the woman didn't decide to watch me herself. It was very uncommon for newly found mates to stay away from one another for long stretches of time. Some said such separation could be unbearable in the beginning. My eyes examined the halls as we seemed to get closer and closer to the ground floor. Finally, we entered a large set of double doors and the sound of a hundred children babbling and talking filled my ears.
Inside of the room there were many many unfamiliar faces, it seemed the main room to the nursery was a lunchroom and all of the kids were eating. The guard pushed around the crowds towards a small table towards the back where my eyes caught sight of the measly twenty five kids our packhouse held. The oldest boy recognised me quickly and jumped up from the table.
He crashed into me, wrapping his skinny arms around my malnourished waist and burying his head into my hair. I hugged him back tightly, ever grateful to see all of them. Some of the youngest pups eyed their unfamiliar food with untrusting eyes. Others had sat nearby to Valeriano pack kids and were chatting away mindlessly. For the strangest moment, it seemed like truly nothing was wrong with any of them. A few of their eyes welled with tears when they saw me and my heart ached for them. It was most likely all of their parents were dead or rogues by now.
By the time Donte let go of me, we had been standing together for two full minutes. I clasped his face in my hands and looked him over worriedly. There wasn't a scratch anywhere on him.
"Did they hurt you? Any of you?"
Donte shook his head somewhat bitterly.
"They took us all but nobody got hurt. I'm sorry, we tried to outrun them but they got us."
I shook my head quickly and kissed his fluffy hair. Donte was the eldest son of our pack's Beta. He was only fourteen but he already stood almost as tall as I was. In our pack, the pups didn't age out of the nursery until they were sixteen. Donte marked the oldest kid we had.
"It's okay, it's all going to be okay."
I assured him despite my raspy breath and sunken eyes. My face had almost returned to its more normal-looking slenderness now but I still looked pretty rough.
"Liana-"
Donte's voice got quieter like he was nervous to ask me. I raised an eyebrow.
"If they don't usually take prisoners, why didn't they kill you?"
I swallowed and looked at the faces of all the other children. Many of them were peering at me curiously as though they all had similar questions. I frowned deeply.
"I'm the Alpha's mate. She can't kill me."
Donte's eyes widened and he shook his head like it couldn't be true. The seriousness of my face must have confirmed it for him and his face tightened.
"So that's why they didn't hurt us."
My throat felt dry and I didn't know how to comfort him. Nothing I could think of was enough so instead I hugged him again. Then, when I let go I held his shoulders and made him face me seriously.
"We're probably all these kids have left now, okay? I know it's an impossible situation and it's an unfair thing to ask you, but you have to help me keep them safe. Can you do that, Donte?"
He shook his head quickly and steeled himself, meeting my eyes with determination and resolve.
"I won't let anything happen to them, I promise."
He looked so much like his father. Sounded like him too. I ruffled his hair and thanked him.
"I'm going to do everything I can to keep us all safe too."
"I know you will, Liana. I'm sorry I couldn't save everyone."
"I'm sorry too."
With that, he went back to the side of the table where the other older kids were sitting. I walked around the table looking at all the little faces individually, making sure not a single hair on any of them had been harmed. They each looked happy to see me in their own ways. Rosie, one of the triplets, cried as soon as I got to her and I hugged her tightly. By the time I finished, I remembered my father's final look at me, his nod of relief. When every single kid came back unharmed I finally allowed myself to be separated from them so my guard and escort could show me to my new room.
The room was down a heavily secured corridor towards the center of the mansion. The guard, who had informed me that his name was Frankford, led me into a large and extravagant bedroom adjacent to another one, each of which had another guard outside of them.
"Val will be back in an hour. She'll come to see you."
With that, Frankford exited the room to let me get changed. I could hear him move just outside the door, leaving me alone in the silence of this strange new place. The wooden floors were cold against my bare feet and I moved first towards a closet along the back wall. I selected a basic t-shirt and pair of pants along with some woolen socks and stepped into the bathroom. The bathroom had another door directly across from the one I entered from.
After I changed, I glanced at myself in the mirror. My skin had started to look healthier again, back to its flush pale pinkish color, abandoning the ghostly and dying pale I had adopted for my time in the hospital. I looked almost like I had become a person again, rather than the surviving member of a terrible event. Guilt ate at my stomach lining and I turned away from the mirror, unable to look at myself any longer.
In the quiet of the bathroom, I studied the door across from the one to my room. Despite my better judgement, I pushed towards it. The smell of the woods was strong there and I knew somehow that her room was on the other side of it. Being in a new place where my own woods were lacking, the smell made me feel homesick. I touched the doorknob, and then let it go.
Realising the implication of my desire, I turned on my heel and left the bathroom, pushing back into my own room and away from the smell of pinecones.
The room was organised and minimalistic. There was a large French window overlooking a garden at the pack of the mansion property. To the right of it there was a door leading to a small balcony. I stepped outside into the fresh air and let myself sit down there, back against the glass door.
It was less cold here and the air smelled sweet like maple. I missed being able to see my breath in the air. I missed things I didn't realise I'd miss about home either. The constant threat of ticks and my feet being cold every other step most days with all the snow. Things I used to hate, I ached for them now in a way I never would have imagined before.
I sat there for a long time. Until Frankford tapped on the glass, startling me.
Val was back.