Page 44 of Noah

Noah understood the male was trying to get him involved in city life. He wasn’t convinced. “What did you do when you were free?”

Thoughts whirring, the other male tilted his head and smiled. “I protected my people.” Drey’s eyes danced with furious joy. “And watched the place where we were kept burn to the ground until it was ashes.”

“You burned it?”

When Drey sighed and pointed to the porch seat, silently asking if it was okay to sit. Noah nodded.

“The site where we were…” Drey stopped and groaned, his body rigid. “An intense training session,” he explained.

Drey sat, then continued, “After the first two sites had been raided, my site was found. As we left, we set it on fire. We didn’t think about it. I didn’t think about it,” he said wryly. “When we left that place, all I wanted was to leave ashes in our wake.”

He nodded in approval, as did his beast.

“In retrospect, I was wrong. I didn’t consider the consequences.”

It was Noah’s turn to glance at him. The guilt in Drey’s eyes was palpable. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened as such. Burning the building was satisfying,” Drey said with a smile. “However, I was unaware that there could be things inside the building that could help discover other sites or have medical information about us that we might need.” Drey grimaced.

“You wanted to protect first.” Noah would have done the same if he had several strong people around him who could aid in tearing down the warehouse that caged him.

When he left his cage, he had a precious human female who got sick easily and needed medical care. He had no time to burn down a building in a rage.

“I forced my people to stay. The licks of flames engulfed the building, and nothing could stop them. I made them watch until the last orange flame flickered in the air before it crumbled into ash and dust.”

“Who found you?” he asked as dappled shadows grew longer as a cloud moved over the sun.

“Nick’s team was already dealing with freeing Cain’s people and was on their way to our site. They were checking out tunnels and other possible locations. They knew we were nearby.” Drey grinned, sharp teeth flashing. “There was no rational thought when we were freed from the cage. Despite humans’ attempts to convince me not to, my beast urged me to destroy it all.”

“You needed to protect your people,” Noah agreed. The wispy cloud broke, revealing the sun’s warm rays.

“Hmm, yes,” Drey said as he tilted his head upward. “Together, Cain and I, and eventually Mallen, formed a triad of Alphas who worked in synch yet were solely responsible for the people under them.

“Names were thrown around for us, and our human friends helped. Things like Pack, Were, Loup, Lycanthrope, and Werewolves, you name it we tried it.” Drey laughed. “We didn’t want to add any more labels to our people. They were still shocked. We settled on Numbers because, for a long time that’s all we were. It was meant as a barb to the people who kept us and a reminder to our people that we are more than just that.

“We embraced those numbers and let them become a part of us and our history; let the world know that if a Number was still caged, we would be there to find them.” Drey gave him a pointed look.

“Not pack.” Noah quite liked the sound of being in a pack. He enjoyed the title of people too especially when he had never been anything other than an animal…lesser.

“We needed to be seen as people and have some normality while we attempted to build a city.”

Noah watched a squirrel leap for a hazelnut, scrambling to grip the branch as it flung its sleek red body into another tree.

“That’s my point,” Noah sighed. “You had a purpose.” Even the squirrel had a purpose.

“Don’t you think you have one?” Drey asked, rubbing his chin.

It was difficult for the squirrel to reach out and grab the hazelnut. The tiny finger touched the edge, pushing it further away.

“My people, finding a job…It’s not the freedom I expected. It feels like I have been thrown into someone else’s life.”

“What were you expecting?” Drey asked. “Wild, naked Numbers flying through trees and prowling among the brush.”

Noah’s mouth twitched. “Maybe not.”

Noah saw that the squirrel had a vaguely what he thought was a determined squirrely look on its face as it reached out again to grasp the hazelnut.

“It’s okay to take a little time to get used to your new surroundings. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You don’t need to know what you’re doing. You don’t need to push yourself.” Drey glanced at Noah with a concerned look. “You know we don’t expect it, right?” Noah jerked his chin up. “Good. Stop pushing. Let things happen naturally.”

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