Chapter 27: Grace
The Alpha King had mentioned that I should go to dinner, but after the whole showdown with his brother on the third floor, I found myself not hungry in the slightest. I had walked in on them fighting and the fear I had felt in that moment had been too much. I was used to physical violence being used on me, but to see it and not be a part of it was just as scary. I had found myself so terrified that the Alpha King would turn on me, but also that he would get hurt.
I was so lost in my head; I paid no attention to where I was going. My newfound freedom seemed to be getting the best of me, and I had found myself near the medical bay that was on the first floor even though I had never been to this one before.
I immediately noticed Dr. Sawyer organizing supplies. Whatever he was doing seemed to be repetitive, and probably a little soothing but the sadness on his face was undeniable, and it looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I slowly approached him from the side, so I wouldn’t startle him, but it didn’t seem to quite work the way I had hoped it would.
“Hey Grace, I didn’t see you come in.” He said tiredly.
I gave him a small smile and wrote on my chalkboard. “You ok?”
“No really,” He answered sadly.
I nodded in understanding. I gestured to the outside, hoping he would get what I meant.
“Why didn’t I go say goodbye?” He asked, clarifying what I was asking.
I nodded, yes.
“My brother, Caleb, has made choices for a long time that I haven’t agreed with. He was his own downfall. It didn’t matter how many chances he got, no matter how many times we tried to save him from himself, he was always going to self-destruct. It just makes me sad. I was closer with him than he was with Sawyer. But my wolf and I mindlinked him our goodbyes. I just didn’t want to see him. It would make me sadder.”
I frowned. I understood why it would make him sadder, but it was weird to think about both Dr. Sonnett and his wolf both occupying his brain and body. I had never had a wolf to connect with and I wondered how it worked. I also had never heard the word mindlinked. I know Sawyer had mentioned it before and so had the Alpha King, but what they meant, I had no idea what they meant.
“Wolf talks?” I finally asked with my chalkboard.
Sawyer looked at me in surprise.
“Yea, my wolf talks all the time. He rarely shuts up in my head.” Sawyer answered, but there was confusion in his voice.
“To you?” I wrote out again.
“Yes, but not only me, he can also mindlink others.” Sawyer answered, stopping what he was doing to now give me his full attention.
“Oh.” I didn’t know how to ask any more questions. I couldn’t spell anything I wanted to say. It didn’t feel worthy of being speech worthy. And I didn’t know how to gesture it to make any sense.
“I know you don’t have a connection to a wolf,” Sawyer seemed to be picking his word choice cautiously. “But didn’t your old pack ever talk about their own wolves around you?”
I shook my head. “No.” I wrote on my board before adding. “But no talk.”
“What?” Sawyer frowned and reread my board several times before he seemed to get what I was saying.
“I mean, yea, even if they didn’t really talk to you, I would have expected you to know how wolves communicate, both with their human’s and through mindlink. It’s like a vital part of werewolf culture. I have never even been to a pack where they didn’t mindlink or where wolves talking to their human wasn’t like common knowledge.”
“They hated me.” I responded on my chalkboard uneasily.
“Still. When you were working there was never like talk about the things people’s wolves were saying? Or their wolves complaining about not wanting to work?”
I frowned and thought about it for a minute before shaking my head, no. I had never heard anybody talk about their wolves the way Sawyer was. Was that wrong?
“When they needed someone in the packhouse, did they send you or did they use silent communication? Because silent communication is sort of what mindlinking is. We don’t have to speak but we still can talk to each other through our wolf’s ability.”
The way he described the mindlink made sense, but I didn’t think my old pack had used it. I thought back to the day the monster thing had terrorized the pack, and how just before it Alpha King Rhys’ eyes had sort of glazed over sort of becoming unfocused. My old pack had never done anything like that. I couldn’t even remember ever seeing anyone so much as shift. I had never really thought about it before, but now it had me questioning everything.
“Me.” I wrote. “Sent me. Or other serv-” I had no idea how to spell servant.
“But you don’t talk?” Sawyer questioned. “How did you tell them?”
“Got trouble.” I wrote.
Sawyer nodded in understanding. “Well sending other servants I guess makes sense if they didn’t mindlink.” He said tiredly. “You should go tell Rhys everything you just told me though. It might help with our investigation.”
“I trouble?” I wrote out, not sure if I was even spelling trouble correctly.
“No Grace,” Sawyer said gently. “This is just a very odd thing that doesn’t make any sense. Rhys just needs to know. Would you like me to come with you?”
I hesitated for a moment and then nodded. My nerves were on fire, and I could feel the butterflies in my tummy. The Alpha King had just banished his own brother, it would take way less for him to banish me. So despite Sawyer’s words, I was scared to death to tell the Alpha King what we had just learned, and maybe, just maybe, Sawyer would be able to help me explain what we had just uncovered about my old pack...