She felt the wet warmth from the wolf tongue on the back of her hand as she fixed the bandage. She pet the creature and spoke, "I think we may need some help with your wound," she sat down beside it.
The wolf put his large head in her lap and lay there. She found it amusing. "The name's Sylvie by the way." She introduced herself to the canine who rested on her as if he had done it a million times before. "And what shall I call you?" She inquired, gently petting it. "Are you a boy or girl?"
She further questioned it. Then she glanced at the animal's nether regions, getting her answer.
"You are a boy." She concluded, blushing at her conclusion.
He looked up at her. His yellow eyes no longer menacing but alert and filled with a certain freedom only a wolf had.
"Well, boy tomorrow I must go into town for help."
She heard the rain picking up outside. It's too wet to go now. They were safe for now...
*************
Madame Bouvier got off of the Island ferry to the mainland. Already, loud sirens of war filled the air. The stench of despair was great. She hated the mainland. Even before the Great War, humans had become even more ignorant and regressive as their technology grew.
Madam Bouvier had clawed her way out of the gutter, having worked in a brothel since the age of 16. She had hated every second and when she saw her chance at freedom from the evil pimp of hers, she seized it, stealing back the money he had taken from her and the other women that worked for him, making sure to divide it fairly.
That had been her first taste as a madam.
She hadn't meant to become one. The profession fell in her lap. On the mainland, she had run four individual brothels within the span of 3 years
Each one destroyed by the ravages of men, for one reason or another. She and her girls were desperate at the time, and that was when she had unwittingly met Randolf's father, leader & sovereign of the Loup Garoux.
At the time, he had been disguised as a normal tavern goer. He had kept paying her to sit and talk with him. She had been terrified at the time because the owner didn't like whores to frequent his establishment-no matter how beautiful they were. She also felt humiliated for having to entertain a gentleman when she had ladies. They needed the money though. Rooms were expensive to rent.
He had been kind and opened his home to them. Madam Bouvier felt silly for not recognizing his wealth and who he really was. After their relationship solidified he relocated her to the island, and every year he would spend three months with her. After the battle with the Lycan and his defeat she saw him less and less, and was not permitted to see him. Her correspondences with him had all been returned.
Was it the Lycans doing? Amaruq had shown disgust for her love of the Loup Garoux. He hated them. Before she had left the island she had heard talk of the Lycans with the help of the humans would overtake the island. They felt unstoppable.
Going around the island, bragging about killing both leaders of the Loup Garoux. Bouvier knew she had to warn them. The Lycans power and numbers grew daily. Madam Bouvier got into the carriage and looked out the window at the bleak sky and destroyed landscape. Patches of green grass and mud littered the once meticulously curated landscape.
Barbed wire now nwrapped around the thick tree logs lined the trail. The carriage was moving quickly. 45 minutes later, she was back at the place where her life had changed forever. The valet opened the door for her. She lifted her skirts as she descended the tiny steps of the carriage.
The bleach white pebbles of the walkway crunched underneath her feet as she strode to the door. The large plantation style home had not changed much, she thought. There was more security, but the shrubs, the trees and the home itself, looked exactly the same to her. The door opened and she was greeted by a butler. He wore the usual black uniform and nodded to her.
"Good afternoon. Welcome to Sacred Manor. We were not expecting visitors." He supplied.
She could tell he was "I did not come to visit. I came to sound an alarm." She spoke plainly.
The Butler's facial expression let her know he was confused. What was she talking about? "I beg your pardon, madam."
"The General is dead. He was ambushed by the Lycans. The butler appeared to be frozen by her news. Had she said too much too soon? She didn't care.
"Is there anyone here who can help?"
"I beg your pardon ma'am?"
"You know, backup. Calvary?"
"Ma'am I am afraid all troops are out."
"Whitley!"
She heard a booming familiar voice. No, it couldn't be, she thought. Everyone said he was dead, but he wasn't. He was standing there with a white porcelain mask covering half of his face. He was leaning forward on the staircase banister.
His voice forced both of them to look upwards. Madam Bouvier fainted from the shock of it. Madam Bouvier awoke with a start. Her vision adjusted to the low lighting of the room, and she realized she had been in this room before. It was his study.
"Sonia?" She heard him call her by her God-given name.
At first she thought she was dreaming, but something in her told her that she wasn't. She was awake and the only man she had ever loved was alive and well. "You seem surprised to see me," he said, a chuckle in his voice. She didn't find any of this funny. She stood up from the sofa. Instantly feeling queasy.
She had been out of control for the last few days and it did not sit well with her. She needed stability. She needed order. "Why? Have you come to report back to the Lycans?"
He sat at his desk in the black, leather winged- back chair with its back facing her.
"Why would I do that? I have always been loyal to you."
"Have you! Why have you accepted patronage from the head of the Lycans? who is to say that what you speak of is true? It could be a trap." His tone was emotionless. He was so cold towards her.
Every tender moment they had shared in the past didn't seem to matter. Now. The life of a whore she thought. She tried to convince him once more. "Adolph-"
"Do not call me that! Do not play on my tender sensibilities to get favor from me." He snapped.
"I'm sorry... I-I... Everything I say is true. The Lycans are even more dangerous now
with your son gone. Why would the Lycans want me to come here? What purpose would it serve? Especially considering the way I have shown up? No honey pots, no luggage? Just me."
There was silence.
She continued, "When word got around that you were..." she trailed off, hating to think about him dead. "I was heartbroken. I tried everything to get to you. I tried to leave the island too, but the borders were closed. I was turned away. No one wanted to help your whore!"
Silence.
It seemed like forever before he slowly swiveled around in the large, leather, wingback chair. He looked so different to her, yet the same. She made sure to hide her surprise. He wore an impeccably tailored black suit. On the lapels hung various Royal Military metals.
White gloves were on his hands. The left half of his face covered in a matte porcelain mask. One eye was gray, the other was yellow and resembled that of a wolf. She had recalled how some of the girls had teased her for loving a big, hairy wolf man. She had brushed the rumors off, but looking at him now she wasn't quite sure.
Thinking she was disgusted by his now deformed face he spoke. "Still miss me?" He asked his tone cold and sarcastic.
She said nothing, still letting everything she had seen and heard sink in.
He spoke again. "I have sent a letter of urgency to my men at the southern border instructing them to assess the situation until they can confirm your story. It will take a day and a half at most. Until then, you will be confined to one of the guest rooms and treated as a hostile prisoner."
"Thank you." She said, finally feeling like she could relax.
He stood up and walked over to her. He still towered over her after all of these years. "Don't thank me yet. If I find out you are lying to me, or in any way have had something to do with the ambush of my son, my only son! I will not hesitate to rip you apart limb from limb. My Butler will show you to your chamber." He walked past her and exited the study.
She saw the Butler she had met earlier standing by the open door. She followed him to the guest room where she was locked inside. Her heart was too busy breaking for the man who no longer loved her. He wasn't the same. This war had changed him and she didn't know who this Adolph was...