Page 43 of Dual Nature

We sat there for a while as I let my emotions run wild for the first time in a long time, and it felt amazing if I was being honest with myself. Elias shifted me so he could see my face, wiping my tears from my cheeks and giving me a sad smile.

"You, my heart, are one of the most complex creatures I have ever encountered," Elias said, placing a soft kiss on my forehead. "What if you and I do some training on how to fight as a wolf? We’ll work on honing your senses and becoming one with your wolf nature. If I feel like you can manage fine with me, we'll broach the subject with the others."

My spirits soared at this. "I can work with that as long as there's hope I don't have to learn to knit or something else equally ridiculous."

Elias laughed, surprising the shit out of me. I’d gotten the impression he wasn't one to laugh at anything. "No, my heart, we won't make you learn how to knit... needlepoint maybe, but no knitting." Standing up, he reached out a hand and pulled me to my feet. "Come on, I think working in the gardens might be the thing for you today. Fresh air and sunshine always helps when I've had a rough night."

As much as I wanted to ask him what he meant by rough nights, I didn't feel that he would tell me until he was ready. Comfortable silence hung between us as we reached the main pack area and headed further north past most of the houses to an open plot of land with one of the largest gardens I'd ever seen. There were already people hard at work, preparing the land for spring, as well as others in the green house which Elias led me to. At first glance, the structure didn't look all that impressive, but once I entered, it was clear that the outside was deceiving.

"Peggy," Elias called out.

The woman in question looked up from where she was transferring a plant from a pot to the raised bed. Seeing Elias waving at her, she dusted off her hands with a slight frown and made her way over.

"What can I do for you, Beta Elias?" Peggy asked, her tone respectful but cold.

"Finley is here to work," Elias stated.

"I see. Do you have much experience working in a garden?" Peggy inquired as she looked me up and down.

My wolf whimpered, feeling as if she'd already failed our pack since I knew absolutely nothing about that. "No, I never had the chance to learn, but I catch on quickly."

"Hmph," Peggy grunted as she turned on her heel. "Come on, let's see if we can find you something simple enough to do."

I glanced over at Elias, who looked like he was about to bite her head off, and gripped his arm. He looked at me, and I gave a slight shake no as I headed off to follow Peggy. There was no way the pack would accept me or get to know me if I always had one of the leaders glued to my side, scaring everyone off. When I'd touched Peggy the other night, I could feel worry rooted in her concern that I would somehow harm the pack, so I had to trust that she might warm up after she saw I wasn't looking for trouble.

"We have a new addition to the greenhouse, but we haven't had the extra help to finish off these new raised beds since people have had to get jobs further away from pack lands," Peggy informed me as she stopped in front of ten twelve-by-twelve wooden squares made out of what looked like old railroad ties. "There’s planting soil and other additives that need to be mixed together before we can fill the boxes. The supply room is over there." She pointed to a set of rolling barn doors. "Near the bag of soil is a list of all that needs to go in the mix, along with wheelbarrows and anything else you might need. Any questions?"

I shook my head no because I knew better than to think she really meant it.

"Don't pick anything unless expressly asked by myself or Daniel. This food is for the pack. We had a rough winter and lost a bunch of the winter crops, so what we have is precious. The pack is growing faster than we can support, which is why so many have left to work. I'm glad to see the alphas aren't playing favorites and having you pull your weight. I know omegas like to be spoiled, but you came to the wrong pack for that." Peggy sniffed as she turned on her heel and went back to what she was doing.

Oh boy, today was going to be delightful…

Three hours later, I was covered in dirt from head to toe and smelled like shit—literally. I'd gotten more than half the raised beds done when Katie appeared with a huge grin on her face. "I heard you got dropped off here this morning. God, you poor thing, Peggy's working you to the bone. I don't know why she has you doing this; we don't need to plant them for another few weeks, and it's not even April yet."

I had to bite my tongue not to say something rude about her sister. Luckily, I knew my face wouldn't show my irritation thanks to my years of training not to show my emotions.

"Come on, it's lunch time. We all gather at the pavilion to eat," Katie announced, grabbing my arm, dragging me away.

"Is there somewhere I can clean up?" I asked as I followed along.

Katie paused and looked at me again before blushing a little. "Right, of course you would want to scrape some of that mud off of you. Milly is always telling me to use my brain, but I just get so excited about meeting new people and all that. There’s a washing station outside the greenhouse."

Sure enough, there was a row of sinks with bars of soap ready to use. Quickly as I could, using the frigid water, I scoured the dirt from my hands and arms, feeling better about joining the others for a meal. The sun was shining high in the sky, warming us as we stood in line to get our meal from the head table. I assumed this was run by the people who worked in the kitchens. Seeing the massive amounts of food they provided made me glad I wasn't placed there.

Our assassin training only included basic cooking skills so we didn't starve, so I was definitely not a chef. Grabbing a tray, I was given a bowl of hardy beef stew, fresh bread, and a cookie. This made me feel like I was once again back in basic training, life was much simpler back then and in some small ways I missed that.

"Oh look, there's Milly and a few of the other single ladies. You’ll like them, I promise. Don't worry, Peggy takes her lunch back to the greenhouse. She isn't much for interacting with others," Katie rambled as she led the way.

I could tell that Katie meant well; she just had a larger than life personality that you either loved or hated. Being that I was far from impulsive, it was interesting to watch her interact with life around her, never knowing what she'd do next. It made me relax a little, knowing that Katie would be able to carry the conversation with the others, making it far less awkward than the silence I would provide.

"Oh, Finley, it's so nice to see you joining us," Milly greeted with a bright smile. "Grace, Sarah, and Barb, you remember meeting Finley last night?"

"Yes, it's nice to see you out and about with the pack," Barb said, nodding her head as I sat beside her.

Smiling at the new faces, I gave a little wave. "It's nice to meet all of you as well. I didn't know what to expect from pack life, but I'm impressed with what I've seen so far."

"Milly, we can't let her go back to the greenhouse. Peggy has her doing all the awful jobs for some reason," Katie muttered.