Chapter 12 #2
I swallowed hard. Fuck, I did tell her who I am. But how was I supposed to know that she would actually understand and turn into a human?! I mean, I obviously knew what werewolf means, but I didn’t believe it. Not until I saw it with my own eyes.
Fuck, Nilah…
“Right, I um…I…” I didn’t know what the hell to even say now, and my cheeks were so hot I was afraid to even touch them.
But the woman said, “Your secret is safe with me, Nilah. I won’t tell a soul.”
I met her eyes again, gave my instincts a moment to pick up any hint of a lie. There was none.
“My name is Maera Thornevale, and I’m the last alpha in my lineage,” she continued.
“My parents were hunted and killed for bearing a gene that makes our wolves…smaller than the average werewolf. I was raised away from my roots at their request, and I stayed away until I was of age and went back home to claim my pack.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered, and the words slipped from me by accident again, but she didn’t mind.
“Things didn’t go well for me, however. I was betrayed, knocked out, sold to the highest bidder in Mysthaven two full moons ago, where I thought I would meet my death.
” She tilted her head to the side, and I could have sworn that I saw her when she was a wolf doing the same thing.
The same movement with the same speed—and the same look in her eyes, too.
“Until you came along and fed me. Set me free.”
The words weighed heavy on my shoulders. “I thought…I thought you were an animal. A dog. I thought you were being used by the sorcerers.”
“I was. I was being used for a very long time,” she said. “And I was an animal, too. Not a dog, but a wolf, albeit one smaller in size.”
I laughed when she smiled—that might be an understatement, judging by the wolves those men had shifted into. Easily three times the size she had been.
“I know—it shocks a lot of people to hear it. It made my own pack not trust me when I went to them and told them who I was—which is the legitimate alpha of the Thornevale pack.”
My smile turned sad. “I know a thing or two about people not believing you when you tell the truth.” I’d suffered my whole life because of it—and not just me, but my family as well.
“I wasn’t raised as an alpha should be, and so when my pack did the Ritual of Thorns, it didn’t choose me because I wasn’t ready.
You see, a true alpha is a vessel of the moon’s will, and she needs a catalyst to come into full power, to command a pack.
I wasn’t there yet. I couldn’t make my claim, and the people threw me out—as was their right. ”
I flinched. “Yeah, I’m sorry if I don’t really believe that.
Don’t get me wrong—I have no clue what a Ritual of Thorns is or about moons or vessels, but your people should stand by you no matter what, and especially when you’re not ready.
Especially when you need time and when you’re falling, and.
..” My eyes closed for a second. “I just mean they were dicks for throwing you out.”
For a moment there, Maera just looked at me, eyes unblinking, lips frozen into not fully a smile, and not fully a frown, either.
Then, she said, “I like that. They were dicks for throwing me out.”
They really were.
“So, what changed? I saw you just now—you said bow and the wolves just…bowed. I had no idea wolves could bow, mind you, and I’m struggling to believe my own eyes. It was real, wasn’t it?” I said, so fast I barely breathed.
“Yes, of course it was. And wolves do bow when their alpha commands it.”
I raised my brows. “Meaning…”
“Meaning me. I’m their alpha, the rightful pack leader. My power was dormant until today because I wasn’t raised as I should have been, and I…”
She suddenly looked to the side for a moment, as if she didn’t want to utter the next words. She did, anyway.
“I didn’t really believe myself fit for the role, to be honest. I didn’t know this was my destiny until three years ago, and I didn’t believe I was worthy. Until you stepped in front of them for me. Protected me as if I was your own.”
“Well, I mean I wasn’t going to just let those guys kill you,” I muttered, my cheeks heating up again .
“I know. I saw. I felt you, and that became my catalyst. It’s why my wolf finally allowed me to come forth.”
There went my mind, all nice and black again. “Yeah, you lost me again. I have no clue what that means.”
Her smile was bigger this time, and the more she looked at me, the more I thought she might be… in awe. Like I surprised her as much as she surprised me.
“A werewolf is born Verenthian and shifts with the first full moon after the age of sixteen,” she told me, her voice low and quiet, so damn soothing to my ears. I could listen to her speak for hours. “Once the wolf takes over, he becomes our protector, our better half, our guardian.”
I shook my head. “You’re talking about the wolf as if she were a separate being from you.” At least that’s what it sounded like to me.
“She is,” Maera said. “She is very much her own being. We exist in the same body simultaneously. Right now, she’s much more powerful than me, and that is why she didn’t allow me to take over until now.
Until she felt I would be safe. Until she felt she could trust me to handle myself.
” Her hand reached up and I was too stunned to move away, but all she did was press the tips of her fingers to the middle of my forehead ever so gently. “Because of you.”
I shook my head, suddenly so fucking aware of myself, my own boringness . I was so very ordinary in this world it wasn’t even funny.
“I didn’t even do anything,” I muttered.
She took my hand between hers and squeezed tightly. “You stood for me. Accepted death for me. That is everything.”
Goose bumps all over my arms. “I didn’t really plan to do any of it, though.”
“And that is why your faith was so powerful. It was pure,” she said and let go. Leaned back and closed her eyes. “All is well now.”
Just as she said that, we heard movement.
The wolves were already back.
Those gigantic wolves that seemed to just pop out of thin air between the trees, watching us, massive and alert and ready to tear me apart limb by limb…
I was on my feet before I knew it—which made Maera laugh. Even her laughter was quiet somehow. So calm.
“Don’t fear, Nilah. They will not hurt you. They will protect you with their lives.”
“Right, right—but if they could just stay far away , that would be great. Just don’t come close to me—at all—and we’re all good.”
More laughter. “As you wish,” she told me, and she didn’t even have to look back at the wolves—they began to walk backward to where they came from all on their own.
Fucking hell, what kind of a dream is this?
“So, what now?” I asked. “What happens to you now?”
“Now, I go back to The Vale, to my pack. I take back my leadership from those who’ve forced their way onto my father’s throne.”
“Yes, but how ? Aren’t they going to just sell you to the sorcerers again? Don’t you think it’s best if you just stayed away from The Vale altogether?” Because that’s exactly what I would have done. It was common sense.
But Maera shook her head, and the wind picked up her blonde hair and pushed it to the side like it was caressing her.
“The Vale is where my people are. That’s where I belong.
That’s where the trouble, the lies, everything that is wrong is.
That is where I need to be,” she said. My stomach fell.
“But I will be all right. I can command what is mine now. Thanks to your bond, I can command my birthright. I can make things right again.”
I nodded, and I was happy for her, I really was.
But her words…there was something about them. Something I heard. Something that was just between the lines that my instincts responded to.
Where everything is wrong. Where I need to be.
“I’m glad you believe it, Maera. And if you do, you’ll get there. I have no doubt,” I said, half my attention on the wolves that I could barely see now between the trees. “It was very nice to meet you.”
“It was nice to meet you, too,” she said with a deep nod. “The stars sent you for me, I know it. I am forever grateful.”
And I was, too. I was glad for her, except now it was time to go, and to be on my own, and I was not glad for that part at all. But even so, I smiled. Held my chin up. Breathed in deeply.
“Right, then. I’ll be on my way,” I said, and I was going to ask her if she maybe knew which way Blackwater was, when…
“We will,” Maera said. “You’re going to Blackwater, are you not? It’s only a day away, they say.” And she nodded her head to the side to indicate the wolves.
“I-I…yes. Yes, I am. And which way is Blackwater, if you can tell me?”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with that. They know the way. They’ll guide us.” Again, that nod of her head.
“Oh.” My mouth opened and closed a couple of times. “No, no, I…you’re not going to Blackwater. You’re going to The Vale.” That’s what she said just now.
“I am—after I take you to Blackwater safely,” she said, and fuck if my heart didn’t burst in relief and happiness and in so much released pressure.
“You don’t have to do that, Maera. I’ll be fine,” I told her.
“I know because I will be there to make sure of it.” And she stepped back, waved her hand forward. “Come. Let me introduce you to my pack mates.”
She started walking toward the wolves, and I remained there for a good moment, stunned, muscles locked, mind wiped clean.
I knew my options here—I knew them well.
I knew I wasn’t going to survive a trip to Blackwater on my own.
It was a damn miracle I’d made it this far, but I had no clue what more awaited me ahead.
If Maera and those wolves were with me, my chances of survival grew tenfold.
If Maera was with me, I wouldn’t have to be alone.
“Coming?” she called when she was halfway to the wolves who were standing tall, their ears perked up, their yellow eyes on her every movement.
Fuck me, I am really doing this.
I followed.