They finally got to the store house where the warehouse keeper, Mr Wheeler quickly stood up from the seat by the door of the warehouse. He was the appointed guard for the warehouse. There weren’t two simply because they didn’t need so much as everyone depended on the warehouse storage.
Everyone got fair shares in the pack and if anyone needed more, any extra food was bought off with their earning money. Otherwise the food was mostly free.
“Good morning Alpha, Beta.” Mr Wheeler smiled as he glanced at the two approaching him. Though his cheerful smile dropped slightly as he noticed the discomfort between the two. “Is anything wrong?”
“Oh no.” Hope chuckled out as she waved her hand around a bit and smiled at him. “We’re just tired from the celebration yesterday. So, how are things going in the warehouse?” She asked, hoping he would drop the issue and gladly he did.
Since it wasn’t his problem.
Mr Wheeler walked over to the door as he rampaged through his pockets, fishing out a keychain with countless keys inside. He quickly found the key since he memorized it and unlocked the door. He pushed the doors forward and managed to open the heavy doors and expose them to a very cold room.
“This way.” Mr Wheeler smiled as he stepped aside and let them through first. In an instant, Hope already began to shiver, having a sever hate for the coldness because unlike the other werewolves, she wasn’t able to get warm enough to keep the cold away. In the meantime, Harley just really never felt the coldness. Unless it was severe coldness to the point lakes turn frozen, he was always warm.
Hope wasn’t he only one with a heating problem. There were others like her but very few. Penelope her sister also had that problem but was far better off than Hope.
Harley’s eyes wondered around the room as they got deeper into the large freezing warehouse when his eyes dropped onto Hope who was overly shaking from the coldness. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and constantly stroked her arms to make some warmth but was getting colder than she could make herself warmer.
She constantly cursed at herself for not taking a Jersey though it wasn’t her fault. She merely forgot because of what was happening around her.
Harley sighed out shakily, not from the coldness but from the thought of simply getting close enough to her to keep her warm. But it wasn’t as easy as it was before he confessed to her.
Even he suddenly felt uncomfortable getting close enough.
It was as though confessing to her was a way of assuring his feelings were real and not just something he thought about.
He bit onto his lower lip as he glanced back down at her and noticed her was shivering worse than before.
It was either she dies or they persevere the awkwardness.
The latter seemed better.
“This is the first container for this floor.” The man said as he stopped at the very end of the warehouse, even though there were stasis leading down into a basement where more containers were. “This floor has eighty containers in total, animal products on the right and plants on the left. Now down into the basement.” He said as he began to descend the stairs.
Hope sighed out as she mentally prepared herself for the icicles waiting for her under there. The first floor wasn’t as cold as the basement. Because the sources were in the basement.
“I hope you don’t die before we can actually get some details.” Harley chuckled as he stood closely beside her, getting his skin around his arm to stroke her. She instantly gasped at how warm his arm was and glanced down at his hand. She reached out and grabbed his upper arm only to feel the warmth radiate into her fingers.
“Wow… You’re so warm..” She whispered out as she circled her arm around his and leaned onto his arm, smiling at the warmth now. “You’re lucky to be able to warm yourself up…” She sighed out as she could now only feel the coldness at her feet and back.
“Just become a better werewolf.” He teased before pulling his arm from her and circling it around her shoulders. “Isn’t that better?” He asked as she was startled from the action for a moment before easing her shoulders and circling his arms around his waist instead, not feeling the warmth from all around since his hand was now covering her back slightly.
“Much better.” She chuckled before pointing towards the stairs. “Mr Wheeler will notice he’s talking to himself if we don’t go.”
“He does it all the time.” He chuckled back as they carefully walked down the stairs, since holding each other in such a way without letting go was a bit difficult.
They made it to the floor and walked properly towards Mr Wheeler who was waiting for them at the end of the room. He noticed the two walking so glued to each other but didn’t intend to ask. From the moment he saw them, he knew they were just acting weird.
“These are the first containers. As arranged before, animal products that side and plants that side.” He pointed to the directions and Hope simply nodded as she remained where she was. Harley on the other hand was finding it hard to use his tablet and shield Hope from the coldness at the same time.
“Hope could you move for a sec?” He asked with a sheepish smile. “I can’t tap properly.”
“Okay.” She let go and in an instant, the coldness creped all over her exposed skin. She wrapped her arms around herself as Harley tapped against the document.
“How many animal products in total?” Harley asked and Wheeler stood for a moment, trying to remember.
“Thirty whole cows, three hundred and forty six chickens, eighty nine goats, fifty pigs, two hundred rabbits, half a million fish and eighty eight ducks.” He nodded to himself as he looked around, getting Harley to frown at the lower numbers than ever before.
“That’s a few.” Harley sighed out as he glanced towards Hope who stared at him with a small nod. Though he doubted she was paying attention to them. “Okay, the plant products?”
“All greens add up to six thousand, five hundred and seventy six. Beans we saved up to fifty bags only, carrots around four thousand, onions only a thousand, anyway, if I could total all vegetables… I would say around nine thousand four hundred and fifty two at most.” He nodded and Harley sighed out even more as he typed in the numbers and nodded before shoving the tablet under his arm. And in a second before he could get to call her himself, Hope already rushed under his arms and sighed out in relief.
“So in short we’re running extremely low for the prolonged winter. Isn’t it?” Hope asked and the man nodded in disappointment.
“To feed the entire pack of a hundred and forty plus your new additions, we won’t be able to make it for five months.” Wheeler said with a frown.
“They recorded six months.” Harley corrected and Wheeler only frowned even more. “It’s the year of the blue moon. The moon goddess’s moon, so the seasons have extended. That’s why we’re hardly had much of summer and more of spring.”
“I’m going to die…” Hope sighed out miserably, getting Harley to chuckle out.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm.”