Chapter Fifty-Seven
During my run I can hear the boy's screams so I run in another direction.
I can't bear to hear his pained cries. I know Axe is with him, so I'm just going to focus on my run.
Since I know Axe is close by I decide to go further out and explore more land.
The deeper I get into the forest, I see other wildlife, like little critters.
But when I run through, the bunnies streak away quickly, like bolts of lightning.
I decide to see if I can catch one. I'm not going to hurt it, but I want to see if I can get close enough.
The next hour I spend chasing the same bunny, but he keeps outrunning me.
Damn, I'm definitely not a hunter. I get frustrated and tired from his quick little legs so I stop chasing him.
When I look around I realise how far out I am.
I sense I'm still on the territory so I just walk around for a bit, working out the way back to the pack.
A stick snaps, making me stand up alert.
I look around but don't see anything. I hear a few more sticks snapping in the distance.
Is someone walking? I smell the area and get a scent.
It's a werewolf scent, but it has an unidentifiable streak to it.
I think of what to do. Following the scent is probably stupid.
Yet running back to the pack might be stupid too since I don't know who the wolf is and if they need help.
I linger around the area and smell them getting closer.
Soon enough, I see a wolf emerge from out of the trees.
The wolf is a white and grey one but its paws are covered with dirt.
It surprises me by shifting and a woman is standing there.
I don't recognise her so I stay in my wolf form.
“I'm sorry, Miss... Luna. I didn't mean to trespass,” she apologises, her voice kind. I decide to shift back.
“Umm, it's okay. Are you a rogue?” I ask.
“Yes, Luna.”
I'm shocked by her manners. I imagined rogues to be vicious. Also I'm surprised at her calling me Luna.
“Well, I'm supposed to bring rogues to the alpha. Umm...” I trail off not knowing the protocol to bring a rogue in.
“I'm not thrilled to meet alpha Manson,” she says.
“Wait, you know him?” I frown.
“No, I just...”
“Why did you come on the territory?” I question.
“Hope I guess,” she murmurs.
“What do you mean?” I frown.
Does she want to join the pack?
“You're the luna. Maybe you can help me. I'm looking for someone,” she says. “I knew someone in this pack eighteen years ago. He was a patroller back then so I thought I would run into him.”
All colour leaves my face from her words. She's looking for a patroller she knew eighteen years ago. I look at her features, studying them. Her eyes are amber, the same as mine.
“Lizzy?” the name escapes me.
When her eyes widen and fill with emotion, tears fall from mine.
“Elora,” she breathes out.
A deafening silence settles between us. Neither of us says anything.
I feel if I speak, I will cry. Eighteen years.
Eighteen years I wished to know her. Now, she's standing in front of me.
My mother. She is where I came from. She gave me life.
All the questions I had over the years are lost on my tongue right now.
I don't even know what to think. I feel like an emotional mess, yet I feel like I'm in a blank void all at once. How do I... what... I have no words.
“Elora,” she says again, taking a step toward me. “Are you okay?”
I realise I'm trembling. I take a shaky breath.
“I-I d-don't know what to say,” I stutter.
“Can I please have the chance to talk? I know you must think horrid things of me but I would like to tell my story,” she speaks calmly.
“You were looking for my dad,” I say.
“No, I was looking for you. But I thought he would be the best way to find you,” she says.
She's been looking for me? My mind is so haywire right now, I'm not even sure I can explain how I feel.
I zone out for the next hour as we run back to my house.
This is what I've waited for my whole life.
The chance to meet her. The chance to know her.
The chance to hear what happened. It doesn't feel real.
I don't even realise she's running beside me.
I'm really in my own world of unconsciousness.
My wolf is in a place just like me. She feels uncertain, like how she would feel if she were lost.
When we get to the house, reality dawns on me.
This isn't a dream. I wasn't dreaming that I was running in the forest and saw her.
This is real. She's right here beside me.
Time feels like it doesn't exist right now.
It's like it's just her and me. Nothing else matters.
Only we exist. I come back into terms of realism when we sit down on the couch, facing each other.
My out-of-body experience has ended. Now that I'm looking into her eyes, my soul is ready to know the truth.
“Where should I start?” Lizzy breathes.
“Did he force you?” My voice breaks.
“Oh honey, if that's the way you think of your dad, I don't think this will be a happy conversation.” She looks sad.
“He didn't force me. I was running and he caught me.
I was too close to the pack's lands. He was shocked that I was a rogue and a she-wolf so I don't think he knew how to handle me. So we talked. The hours turned into night and we slept together. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing.”
“A one-night stand. At least that's better than saying I was a baby from force.” I look down.
“Ardryan decided to let me go so I went on running.
A few weeks later, I was sick, my period never came and my wolf was restless.
It was easy to put the pieces together. I was pregnant.
I came back to the spot we first met and stayed close by until he was on another patrol.
I told him and... it's like his whole world collapsed. He told me alpha Manson was a strict scary man and there was no way he would let me join the pack.”
“Did my dad even ask Manson?” I frown, remembering Manson's words from the first dinner I had with him.
“No. Ardryan and I talked about what would happen.
We ended up finding a cave that's situated more towards the mountains of the forest. I stayed there for my pregnancy.
He would bring me pillows, blankets, food.
He brought me as much as he could to make me comfortable.
When I got to the point I couldn't shift, I was practically bound to the cave.
He would try to come and see me every day.
He didn't visit for long because he always had to get back to the pack.”
“Why are you a rogue? How did you end up alone?” I ask, interrupting her story.
“I was a part of a pack once. It was a very small pack.
When I was a teenager there was an attack.
A lot of people died. All the high members died so us young ones didn't know how to keep the pack together. Our pack burnt to the ground. I can still smell the smoke that turned the sky black. Those of us that were left went rogue. We stayed together for a while but we eventually split up. Some sought refuge in other packs if they were allowed. Some went full rogue and became animalistic. The rest of us lonely ones just broke off, going our own ways.”
“I'm sorry.” I feel that's the right thing to say.
“When I went into labour... I was in the cave for hours before Ardryan came.
I gave birth and held you in my arms. I didn't let you go the whole night. I kept you with me in the cave for a couple days spending alone time with you, but then the moment came. I gave you up and your dad took you away.” She starts crying.
“Why'd you give me up?” My voice breaks.
“I was a rogue. Your dad wasn't. I thought he could give you a better life than I could. I know the dangers that come with being a rogue so that gave me the strength to let you go.”
“You should have kept me.”
“I'm getting a bad feeling asking this question but what happened to you growing up?”
“My dad never hurt me. But he never protected me either...” I dive into the whole story, both of us breaking down.
The story is a heart wrenching one to tell her.
It takes so long to explain everything with our heaving messes not being able to take the emotional trauma we've both suffered.
When I tell her about Axe, she smiles. She's still sad but I can see the relief she feels as I tell her about him.
“I want to thank Axe for saving you. And I want to kill your father because he didn't.”
“Yeah.” I look down, bringing my shirt to my nose to wipe my messy crying.
“I'm so sorry, Elora. You have to know, I really thought it was best for you to be with your father.” Lizzy takes my hands in hers, making me cry. My mother is here with me, holding my hands. In an unexplainable way, I feel comfortable with her.
“I believe you had the best intentions,” I whisper.
“The pack I was from was good. I didn't realise that a pack would abuse their own member.”
“They never saw me as a member. You said you've been looking for me. How long?”
“I think I've counted every day that has gone passed since you were born.
When I realised you would have turned eighteen, I travelled back.
I've been here for months trying to scope out the area.
I stayed in a shelter I built near the mountains to keep close.
I didn't want to be caught by the pack, so I just stayed on the outskirts, hoping I would run into your father,” she explains.
“Have you been alone all this time?” I ask.
“No, I found my mate a few years after I had you.”
“Tell me about him.”
“He is a rogue too. We found our own land and built a small place for just us.” She smiles.
“Do you... do you have kids?” I ask, my voice shaky.