Chapter 5

“So, what is the name of this place, actually?” I inquired of Damon, now that everyone was seated for the Feast of the Wolf Moon.

“The estate is called Chateau de Lasalle. The main building is called Moon Hall. There is also Sun Garden, which is the solarium over there. Then there is the Great Nursery, which is the wing to the left and that includes our little school. Then there is Star Hall, the library, study, and other offices for various administrative services. That’s to the right. Moon Hall is for living, not studying, working, caregiving, etc. Moon Hall is ... well, where you start the process of putting some cubs in said Great Nursery,” Damon beamed as he thought of mating.

“And he didn’t even mention the Dungeon, but that’s a touchy subject, of course. It’s used for, well, some ... different stuff,” Danielle blushed a little, much to my shock since she was an almost four hundred year old she-wolf.

“Even after all this time ... after all that we’ve endured, she’s still a little awkward about our occasional need for some extra-judicial killing, torture, and mayhem. She’ll rip an intruder’s throat out, but she still gets embarrassed at some of the torments that we inflict. Not all of them and not for all of the victims. But some of them ... with some of the victims ... it unnerves her in those cases. I’m still not sure why, after all this time. Yet at least she brought herself to mention it. She’s a paradox, this lovely sister of mine,” Damon needled Danielle a little, even as I grew pale at the mention of torture.

“See, he takes after me,” Danielle pointed out as she winked at me, “though I can be an ice-cold bitch from Hell when the moment comes. Those witch-hunters, for instance, back in Strasbourg in 1658. Or the New Netherland colonists, the patroon and his lackeys, that gelded those Senecas and forced them to watch them rape their wives as they died slowly, bleeding out. That was three years later, in 1661. Or those Virginians who had the misfortune of bragging to me in bed about sending smallpox blankets to the Delaware Nation in 1749. Or the foolish slave-catchers back in South Carolina in 1844. They all met their deserved ends.”

“Don’t worry ... we really don’t just torture any person, trust me. You’ll understand better in time as you grow accustomed to the ways of our pack. By the way, we really should introduce your brethren ... and sisters in our pack. This is Onatah ... she was one of the Seneca widows that our Danielle freed. She was the first to join our new pack when we formed it originally in what is now the state of Vermont ... back in 1662, the very next year. We didn’t move out here until much later. She has no surname, has never been baptized, but hasn’t returned to her people. She then ... also ... well,” Damon stammered a bit before giving the floor to the Seneca woman.

“I don’t have a Social Security number. I don’t have a driver’s license. I don’t have a regular job. I do the gardening in Sun Garden. That is my duty, my job here, my vocation. I’m not registered with any tribe. I don’t pay any taxes, other than sales tax, and that only in cash. And I was their first ... permanent companion other than each other. The first that they took to bed. I didn’t go back to the Senecas because I knew that my presence would disrupt things ... as a she-wolf, I mean.

“And because I fell ... hard for Danielle ... and later Damon, too. They were already moon-mates and I knew that I must accept that fact. I have. And yet I still sleep with both of them. Often, in fact. Frequently ... for over three hundred years. Another reason not to go back, after I was bitten and they explained that I couldn’t age. That would have been very difficult to explain back at the longhouse,” Onatah laughed a bit now, caressing my hand now and leering at me.

“Well, you definitely passed the Onatah test. Proof positive that you’re a good wolf, not a bad wolf,” another member taunted me a bit.

“The ... Onatah test?” I was a bit confused now.

“If Onatah likes you, that means a lot to Damon and Danielle, trust me,” Frankie spoke up again, breaking the silence caused by her constantly feeding and kissing me.

“And it helps you with me, too. I’m Claude ... Onatah’s moon-mate. I was a fur trapper from Quebec City until I damn near got killed near Albany by some crazed militia back in 1757. Those mad buggers were gonna flay me alive, their captain even said so. She’s a good century or so older than me, but she looks a bit younger, wouldn’t you say?

“Onatah found me and bit me ... thus saved my life. Well, she was in wolf form at that, so that was the quickest, easiest answer, you know. She dragged me back to Damon and Danielle by her jaws and her teeth. For a good while, that was our pack. Just me, Damon, Danielle, and Onatah,” a man with a distinctly foreign accent explained now.

“He was a rather obvious moon-mate, of course. No one else was available, plus he needed me and I him. I was tired of no moon-mate of my own, as much as I loved ... and still love, these two. And he definitely grew on me, this here Frenchie!” Onatah winked at each of us now while pulling off her top.