The Redbone Healer

*6/9/22 Update: Hey readers! After some confusion due to my poor memory, I wanted to share important-to-know years and ages.

Chapter 1 takes place 12 years prior to the main storyline. Sona is 13, Arden is 14, and Conri is 15. Chapter 2 onward Sona is 25, Arden is 26, and Conri is 27. The “raid” happened 19 years ago from the current time when Sona was 5, Arden was 7, and Conri was 8.*

NOTE: Future chapters with the lemon emoji 🍋 indicates sexual content

The healer has the bloodiest hands.

That was Sona’s grandfather’s steadfast proverb. When he first said it to her, she was experiencing death up close for the first time. His were dark red, and it was spattered on his chest and face, and it was because he was trying to save the life of one of their packmates—because he’d been gutted by a Redbone.

And he was dying.

Sona had never seen so much blood.

And then he died.

She wondered why she decided to follow in her family’s footsteps as a healer.

Auryn sighed heavily, turning away from the body on the table to usher Sona out of the room. She was so stunned that she didn’t resist like usual. “Death is just a shadow that takes us, pup. The sun sets on us all so we have no choice but to look back and say hello to it.”

“All of us?” she wondered in a whisper as Auryn led her straight past the waiting room where the mate of the dead werewolf was weeping and to the front door of his store.

“Yes, all of us,” concluded Auryn gruffly. He made sure she hopped down the steps safely. “So go straight home for my sake and stay there.”

Sona was already pushing the horrific sight deep in her memory store. It would haunt her for a long time, yes, but her grandfather also taught her that if she was going to save lives, she couldn’t dwell on death. Constant horror of the body’s inner and outer workings would do her no good in this profession.

“You did well, Pa,” she told him as she waved goodbye and started down the cobblestone street. “Tomorrow?”

He grumbled; he wasn’t a fan of being complimented when he’d failed—or whatever he considered a failure, since his standards were fairly high for himself—but he was a softy around his little granddaughter. “Day after,” he called. “Wear black.”

Black was to hide the blood when dealing with too much of it, but it was also for sorrow, and also for stealth and secrecy. Sad, dangerous things.

Death was a fairly common occurrence—werewolves hurting themselves or others every day, the savage things—and no one could get caught up in it. Healers couldn’t get caught up. And if she was going to make a reputation as renowned as Auryn’s, she needed to see death only as an obstacle she needed to help someone overcome.

The Goldwater pack favored light things—like gold and light refracting off the surface of water. They made a living off both. In Goldwater town, gold was mined and forged and integrated into all sorts of goods, and as they settled near the River Reed, fish kept all packs well-fed.

Sona was shameless in what she loved: her grandfather, the beauty and peace of her pack, even her status as the working class—the Omega branch of werewolf hierarchies—and, as of late, her feelings of love.

In that she found Conri and Arden waiting for her at the square in the center of the town. She squealed and ran across the cobblestone, ducking under and around adults who shouted for her to watch where she was going. They didn’t matter when she flung herself between the two males, both catching her in an embrace that had them almost falling into the square’s fountain.

They detangled and the smiles they shared could only be understood by them together. Sona, Arden, and Conri—inseparable, devious little misfits, they were known by the whole of the Moonvalley pack.

“You came to visit!” Sona beamed at them.

Sona didn’t really know what love felt like—she was only thirteen, after all—but she knew the swelling in her chest that made her want to laugh and smile and forget everything but her time with these two brothers.

But her chest felt even lighter when she looked at Conri Grayhide. He didn’t match white hair or green eyes like Arden Roshan of Moonvalley. Though he was teased and bullied for it, she didn’t mind that he was from the Leto pack. His gray eyes reminded her of storm clouds, and she really liked rainstorms. She liked pretty things, and he was very pretty.

“Of course we did, Sona,” he said, and his voice was pretty, too, even if it always sounded a bit gravelly, as if he was always crying himself hoarse. “I brought you this.”

He offered her a single purple primrose. Its petals were bent or flattened. “I…might’ve dropped and stepped on it,” he added in a mumble.

Sona took it and sniffed its scent. It did smell a little like the underside of his boot, but she kissed his cheek anyway. “It’s perfect.”

Conri’s ears went red and he shoved Arden as if that would help his embarrassment. Sona turned her smile on the other male, who only seemed to look like he was struck across the face when he looked at her. His wide eyes were as green as the valley where his home was nestled and his mouth gaped a little.

“If you don’t close your mouth,” she giggled, “you’ll drool. What did you bring me, prince?”

Arden shook his head like a wet wolf and held up an envelope so fast she nearly lost an eye. “Sorry! I’m not really a prince, so I just—this is really from my father, but I thought you—Oh.”

Sona kissed his cheek, too. She enjoyed making them so flustered. It was getting easier and easier, lately, as they grew older. “What is it?” she wondered as she broke the Roshan family’s wax seal of a mountain. Unfolding a letter within, she scrunched her nose. “I can’t read the Alpha’s writing. Arden, can you read it?”

“It’s an invitation,” Conri interrupted. His eyes were bright and his honey-colored skin was dewy with sweat; it was a balmy summer day, but Sona had a feeling it was more than just the temperature. He plucked the letter out of her hands to toss at Arden so he could take them in his, surprising all three of them by kissing her knuckles. “Uh, to move to Moonvalley—your grandfather, I mean. But you…you can come too. To be our healer—”

Arden was scowling at his brother, and it was so rare and sudden that Conri dropped Sona’s hands. “I was going to tell her!”

Conri stuck out his tongue, but he was still smiling shyly. Sona loved when they teased each other because they never meant any ill will. “I know, I know, you practiced.”

“But it’s true, Sona,” Arden said breathlessly. “My father—I mean, the Alpha Artem Roshan of Moonvalley formally invites Auryn Mai of Goldwater to be employed into our pack and household as our head healer. And you’re invited, too!”

Sona blinked. She and her grandfather…move out of Goldwater—their home?

She looked between them. “Why?”

Their smiles faded when they realized hers did. “Why what?” they asked together.

“This is good news,” Conri told her, dark brows knit. Sona’s heart skipped a beat at his concern for her. “You can come live with us.”

Arden nodded. “And still learn to be a healer. We can play every day, and—”

“I’d love to,” Sona said slowly, but held up a hand to stop them from going on excitedly, “but…I’d have to leave Goldwater.”

A werewolf’s home and pack were a werewolf’s very heart and soul. Asking them to betray either, even asking to move away, was like asking a fish to stop swimming. They simply couldn’t.

“Not…not forever,” Conri said hopefully, tipping her chin up with a crooked finger. His touch sent a shiver through her. “You’ll be allowed to come and go.”

“Moonvalley can be your new home,” continued Arden, “because we think you’re…well, that you’re meant to be there. With us.”

Conri gasped. “Arden, look—”

Arden spun around. “What?”

And when he did, he looked at Sona, and Sona stared into his storm-cloud eyes, and murmured, “With me.”

She sucked in a breath and felt the world freeze around her.

“I didn’t see anything except that male throwing up ale—Sona, are you okay?”

Conri’s small smirk snapped her out of the ice, just like that. “I’m fine,” she smiled. “Let’s go take this to my Pa.”

Sona looped her arms in each of theirs holding her gifts. She didn’t know what love felt like, but maybe she did and didn’t realize it, but she really liked the idea of being with Conri and Arden more while still following her dream to become a healer. And Moonvalley was so big! She could help her grandfather heal so many wolves!

But leaving Goldwater… They already had plenty of healers, even though Auryn was the best. And all she had here was Auryn; he raised her parents abandoned her when she was only a year old. They only lived a few streets over, and sometimes she saw them around, but they acted like strangers. Sona knew it wasn’t right, but Auryn was all she needed and wanted. So…if they went together, what was she really leaving behind?

Loyalty. Pride. Familiarity.

It was all a lot for her developing brain to take in. Could she refuse? But where would good would that do? Auryn would do what he thought best for both of them, so what if she was refusing a better future?

Sooner than she realized they were back on Auryn’s shop’s doorstep, Arden rapping on the wood. Her grandfather answered, snatched the letter, read it, and looked at Sona with the water-blue eyes she’d inherited—only his could examine her soul. Was he seeing her indecision?

They flicked to Conri, who said, “We’ll take good care of her.”

Auryn’s lips thinned and he grunted. “I’m sure you will. Sona,” he barked, making her jump. “Go or stay?”

She felt like a cornered deer. Her males’ arms looped in hers were the only thing keeping her from running away. “I…I don’t know.”

Her grandfather inhaled deeply. “What if your mate is there?”

Then her arms were her own. “My mate?” she repeated in a confused whisper, looking between Conri and Arden but not really seeing them. “But… I’m only thirteen.”

Mates, for werewolves, were fated pairings blessed by their nameless moon goddess. Each wolf was born with a soul that had a little piece missing, and when the time was right, mates found each other, and that piece fell into place for both. The piece could be found at any age, but rare was it that it happened to wolves so young.

She always had a feeling her grandfather could tell the future, but…

“Sona.” Conri’s voice drew her back to her senses like a bee to a flower. “Don’t you feel it?”

“But…you’re only fifteen,” she breathed.

“So? Love doesn’t understand time.”

“Hold on,” Arden snapped, pushing Conri away from Sona at arm’s length. “Master Auryn, are you saying—”

“Not saying. Telling. An old wolf’s eyes are getting fuzzy, but that’s only the tangible.”

Arden dropped his arms and stepped away so Conri and Sona could see each other. Sona thought he looked so sad all of a sudden. As if he’d accepted it before her. “Well,” was all he could manage to say.

Conri picked Sona up off her feet and spun her around. When he set her down, he kissed the crown of her head. “Sona, we’re mates! Don’t you feel it?”

Sona looked inward, sending her mind’s eye into her heart, way into her soul’s core. Was that piece still missing? A blurry black spot amongst the white? Where was it?

Oh. Gone.

When was it filled?

Sona met Conri’s gaze and the world froze again. She realized with a jolt: it was when he said—

“With me.”

The world was frozen and it was just Sona Mai and Conri Grayhide. And maybe that was the way it was meant to be because the moon goddess willed it. And maybe it was okay because he was very pretty and he made her very happy.

Conri was her missing piece. When she accepted the flawless surface of her completed soul, she said, “We accept the invitation.”

A/N: A kind reminder to comment with constructive criticism, please and thank you.