Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
A shley
“Is that what you want for him?”
Emery’s charged words roll around in my mind as I trek out into unknown territory. I couldn’t stay in that house any longer. My sister means well, I know she does, but she’s wrong.
At least, I think she’s wrong.
My mind is so jumbled up that I can’t think straight.
Which is the reason I ran out of the house she shares with her mate. I’ve been walking for about thirty minutes, deeper into the mountainous area that surrounds the Nightwolf pack’s territory.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be out here alone, but it’s the middle of the day, and my sister and her mate assured me this is safe territory last night when we arrived. I just need some space to think.
Christophe is here, somewhere among the Nightwolf pack. Emery all but admitted it. And, aside from that, I can feel him. He’s close by.
But I can’t go to him.
“ He can’t even look at you without being in immense pain.”
I cover my eyes with my hands to stop the tears that threaten to spill out as I replay Emery’s words in my head. She hadn’t said them harshly or with repute in her voice. Quite the opposite.
Her tone indicated that she felt sorry for me.
What hurts the most is that she’s right. I can’t go to Christophe because the sight of me hurts him. He’s already gone through so much because of me, because he fought to protect me.
In my selfishness to get to him, to be with him, upon our release, I never paused to think about what he went through. The ways in which he was hurt. How can I go see him now, knowing what I’ll subject him to just by looking at me?
I shake my head and wipe away the unshed tears.
Taking a deep inhalation, I continue walking, but as I do, I trip over a few large rocks along the path.
“Oh,” I call out, thinking I’m about to fall.
“Are you alright, dear?” a soft, sweet voice sounds off behind me at the same time someone grabs my arm.
Their grip prevents me from taking a spill on some pretty rugged rocks.
I spin and come face to face with a much older, petite but plump Black woman wearing the warmest, most charming smile. Despite my mood, I return her expression.
“Thank you.” For some reason I bow at her in gratitude.
A small chuckle pushes through her lips. To my surprise, she intertwines her arm in mine and pats me on the hand.
“You’re one of us now. No need to thank me at all.”
“One of you?”
Her smile widens. “Nightwolf pack.” She slaps her forehead. “Where has my head gone? I haven’t even introduced myself.” She shakes her head, making a clicking sound with her tongue. “I’m Elizabeth Lupine Nightwolf. But everyone in the pack calls me Ms. Elsie.”
“Ms. Elsie,” I murmur her name.
Emery mentioned her while telling me about some of the members of the pack. Whenever my sister mentioned her name, her voice always became a little wistful and soft.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Elsie. I'm Ashley.”
“I know.” She pats my hand again, reassuringly.
I haven’t even noticed that we’ve continued walking along the path until we come to a crop of trees surrounding a small clearing.
“We’re all so immensely happy to have you back,” she tells me while slowing down our pace.
“Back?” I shake my head, confused.
She nods, as if understanding my confusion. “For you, this is your first time with us, of course. But many of us feel as if we know you.”
I go to ask her what that means, when she steps aside and I get to see what’s behind her. Underneath one of the trees sits a large stone. A tombstone.
With my name on it.
My mouth parts but no words come out.
Before I can gather my thoughts, Ms. Elsie pulls me closer to the tombstone.
“Emery was devastated when she thought you … you know …” Her words trail off.
Ms. Elsie doesn’t need to finish for me to understand.
“We built this for her.” She looks at me. “For the both of you, because from the moment she became a part of our pack, so did you,” she tells me.
My heart warms.
I turn to the tombstone.
“Ashley Nightwolf,” I read the engraving.
“That was made at my suggestion,” Ms. Elsie informs me. “I hope I didn’t overstep by making you a Nightwolf?” she asks, as if worried.
I squeeze her hand. Why does this woman I just met feel like … family?
Way more than the adopted parents who raised me for nearly twenty years since I was four years old. Truth be told, since the age of four when Em and I went to live with Angela and David Clarke, they never felt like parents to me.
In fact, I always suspected Angela Clarke resented me. Not just me, but Emery as well, despite my sister’s attempts to always behave like the perfect daughter.
But I tried to convince myself it was just me being rebellious as Emery would tell me over the years.
“Once you grow up, you’ll understand why she behaves the way she does,” Emery told me, repeatedly, often mimicking the words Angela used. I tried to believe them. To convince myself that one day I would magically understand the woman who was supposed to be our new mother.
“No,” I tell Ms. Elsie while shaking my head. “You didn’t overstep at all. It’s my honor to be considered a Nightwolf,” I tell her, despite not knowing a whole lot about the pack.
I’ve only just arrived, but I imagine any pack who does something like this for a stranger can’t be too bad.
“Thank you.” I squeeze Ms. Elsie’s hands. “There is something I need to ask you, though.”
I might be the one overstepping now but I need answers.
“Please, feel free to ask away.”
My lips spread into a smile at the grandmotherly affection in her voice. Once again, I’m reminded of how nonexistent any form of affection or warmth was ever in my adopted parents’ voices whenever they spoke to me.
Thinking about that reminds me of a much different voice. Much deeper than Ms. Elsie’s, sometimes gruff and harsh, but always comforting.
“Uh, I don’t know how to ask this, so I’ll just come out with it,” I tell her. “Christophe. Christophe Nightwolf. I think he’s here. Have you seen him?”
For the first time, Ms. Elsie’s smile falters. I search her gaze for any malice, ready to pull my hands back at any moment.
But there’s none there.
No hatred or ill will even. I push out the breath I’d unconsciously been holding.
“I wouldn’t know his whereabouts,” she explains, a bit cryptically, in my opinion. “Not exactly.”
“Then you do know that he’s here. He’s nearby?”
When she shakes her head, my shoulders slump.
“I will tell you this.” She leans in, somewhat conspiratorially. Her face hardens, which actually makes her appear a lot younger. “If there was something I wanted like the desire I see in your eyes, there isn’t anything I would let stop me.”
As soon as the words are out of her mouth, her face softens, taking on that grandmotherly look again. The change happens so quickly I wonder if I’d imagined it.
For a second, I thought I got a glimpse into Ms. Elsie a few decades ago, much younger and stronger. More resolute.
Not that she isn’t any of those things now, but in the blink of any eye she’s … different.
“I don’t …” I trail off. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.”
She lets out a chuckle. “I think you do. We may have just met, but you have very smart eyes, Ashley. You’ll figure it out.”
Ms. Elsie takes a step back.
“Let me help you,” I say, moving beside her to take her by the arm.
“I’ll be fine.” She lightly brushes my hands away. Then she nods at the tombstone. “Take as much time out here as you need.” Then she taps the center of my chest with her finger. “Remember what I said. The pack is going to need you … soon.”
I jut my head back, surprised by her words. I look back at the tombstone and then turn back to ask Ms. Elsie for an explanation. Yet, she’s at least five meters away in the span of a few seconds.
For an old lady she moves quickly. I suppose it’s the wolf speed. And what did she mean that the pack would need me? I just got here. I’m new to this entire world. I don’t see how I could be much help to anyone.
When I glance back at the tombstone, the seed of anger I’ve felt ever since I discovered the way in which my adopted parents discarded me, begins to spread throughout my chest.
They tried to steal my life from me.
“If there was something I wanted, I wouldn’t let anything stop me.”
Ms. Elsie’s words ring in my head.
She’s right.
I’ve been given my life back—the life they tried to take from me. But I survived. I’m still here and I’m not about to let anyone get in between me and what I know is my destiny.