Chapter Text
Fenrir settled down by the roaring fire that was situated in the center of the cave. It was getting late, the chores for the day were done, almost everyone had finished eating. His stomach rumbled at the thought but he was always adamant to never eat until all the wolves under his command had been fed.
“Alpha,” A gentle voice met his ears and he turned to look at who it had come from. Sophie stood there with the lot of pups surrounding her. “The pups wanted to say good night.”
Ah, who was he to deny them that?
Fenrir shifted slightly on the log he was sitting on and lifted Jane to sit in his lap. She had immediately come toward him when Sophie had appeared. He let loose a low purr and ran his claws through her hair, gently unknotting it in a few spots. The other young pups moved toward him as well, a few of them climbing to sit up on the log beside him.
“Young ones, it is far past your bedtime.” The werewolf Alpha chided gently.
“But… But we wanted to check on you.” One of the older pups said.
“Check on me? Surely you don’t think your Alpha is unable to take care of himself.” Fenrir feigned insult, his amber eye taking in their slightly panicked expressions.
“No! No, I didn’t mean-“
“No, Alpha! Never!”
“Oh,” Fenrir purred, petting Jane’s hair as she pressed close to his chest to hear the rumbling louder. “Then why did you want to check in on me?”
The pups fell silent then, exchanging glances with one another and looking over at Sophie who had taken a seat beside Fenrir.
But Jane spoke up first, “T’hear a story, Alpha.”
“A story. And one of Sophie’s stories wouldn’t suffice?”
“We wanted to hear one of your stories, Alpha.” Justin said softly.
“One of my stories.” Fenrir gave a nod and idly began to rub Jane’s back as she cuddled against his chest, her little fists balled in the fabric of his shirt.
“They have time for a quick one, Alpha.” Sophie said, a small smile crossing her features.
“Well, how about a story from when I was younger.” He suggested, watching as the group of youngsters began to settle into seats. Some sat on the log but other pups just took up real estate on the stone floor in front of him.
“Once upon a time, your Alpha was on his own. This was much before the pack had come together. We weren’t always a big family like this. It all started a long time ago.”
“Giving away your age, Alpha?” Sophie quipped, a smirk on her face.
He chuckled softly. Jane squirmed against his chest as the chuckle interrupted the comforting purring. But he just rubbed her back again to calm her. “A long time ago when I met Sophie.”
That seemed to surprise her a little. She shook her head. “Alpha-“
“Now, now, Sophie. They wanted a story.” He watched the pups nod excitedly. “Well, back when I was alone, I had been traveling quite a bit. I was raised in Ireland but I was visiting Wales after some things happened. I had come across a very pretty lady.”
Sophie blushed and looked away from him, glancing at the fire instead.
“The pretty lady came up to me when I was walking down the street. She asked me for money. I had none, of course. I was traveling alone myself. But she looked scared, and I was curious about why.
“‘It’s a full moon tonight, Sir.’ She said to me.
“‘So what?’ I said back.
“‘You won’t believe me, Sir.’ She sounded scared.
“‘I bet you I will.’ I smiled at her, and I moved closer to her.
“‘Werewolf.’ She whispered, her voice was quiet now. Almost too quiet to hear.”
The pups gasped softly and chattered quietly to themselves.
“Of course I believed her. I told her so. I told her that I knew all about it, more so than she could think I would.” Fenrir said, “And she didn’t believe me. But I invited her to come with me. To come to where I was staying, and on the full moon she would see the truth.”
“Did she go?!” One of the young ones cried out with a gasp.
“If she didn’t come with me, young one, Sophie would not be here, taking care of you. She came with me, she saw we were the same, we were safe together. And we stuck together from then on.”