Differences Aside, ?

Chapter Twelve

I opened the door myself, Maddox seemed to get the hint and walked around to the other side. The moment that we were both inside the vehicle, the car began to move. We slowly made our way down the mountain, driving through the busy streets. When the wolves saw the car, they bowed, some even cheering. My brows furrowed, the last time we had driven through here, all I could see was werewolves - in their wolf form - but I couldn't see any now.

As if sensing my confusion, Maddox spoke up, "I took the liberty in sending out an announcement that no wolf was to be in wolf form, at least not when we were driving."

"Oh... thank you," I replied, embarrassed, squirming in my seat.

"You're welcome dove."

We went silent after that. After about twenty minutes of driving through the city, I could slowly see the gate starting to come into view. The gate itself had already been fixed, and so had the surrounding wolf businesses. But I could see that the affected buildings on the human side were still nothing more than rubble.

We approached the gate, the light sending kaleidoscopes of rainbows in every direction. And even though the gate was completely transparent, I could see the shimmer of the electrical field when it moved in a certain direction.

We stopped in front of it, the driver wound down a window and held his hand out. One of the guards standing by the gate nodded and with a small pop and crackle, the transparent gate disappeared, letting us enter the Human side, the one I hadn't seen since the accident which was... I didn't even know.

"Where are we going?" I inquired, was he taking me to see my brothers?

"Our date. There is a certain place in the woods that I want to take you too, you can only get to it if you passed through the Human's side." He replied coolly.

My heart sank, I guess I wouldn't be seeing my family today. My eyes were stuck to the window, watching the car drive past what I thought would be my home for the rest of my life. I could tell that people were in mourning, their sad faces looked even more distraught than usual.

"What's wrong with them?" I wondered, "Why are they so upset?"

"One of the packaging factories was affected by the bombing. It's being repaired, but the decision was made to close it down until further notice. Everyone who worked there has lost their jobs until the factory is deemed safe enough to begin work again." Maddox imparted, not meeting my eye.

"Are they being compensated?" I demanded, turning my gaze from the window to the wolf sitting next to me.

"No, but only because the factory is expected to be fixed by next week at the most." He faltered.

My gaze narrowed, "Change that. Maddox, if that happened to my family, we wouldn't survive. We wouldn't last a week."

He sighed, "Of course, I'll mind link Elliot and see what he can do right now. If not, I'll have it sorted by this afternoon."

I turned back to the window, watching the people slowly move out of the way for the car to keep driving through. I could begin to see the soft green tips of trees after another couple of minutes of driving. I sometimes forgot just how large Gyabo was, sometimes it seemed that the city never actually stopped, that all the houses and businesses and people just went on forever.

"Have you ever been outside of Gyabo before? To one of the rural packs or perhaps one of the islands that are just off the coast?" Maddox asked, breaking the slightly awkward silence.

I shook my head, "Until you, I hadn't even left my little square. I would only ever walk from my house to the grocery store and the factory. I've never been anywhere else, even on the human side."