Chapter 9

• Lupa had the sense of being followed, she looked around her to see who or what it was but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Not even her heightened senses picked up on any danger, so she brushed it off as her nerves playing tricks on her. She was about to make what could be a mistake, or maybe the best decision of her life, so she thought that it was setting her off.
• Suddenly, a large branch snapped and fell from a tree. Lupa jumped to the side and span around in time to avoid the attack of a woman, but she wasn’t fast enough for the other female who knocked her to the ground.
• Lupa jumped to her feet and went into a crouching stance with the claws elongated and teeth bare.
• “Who are you? Why did you attack me?’’
• But no one was there, it seemed as if the attack from the women never happened. But with the foul stench they left behind, Lupa knew it did happen and knew they were still close by.
• Using her air element, she caused a strong wind to blow in the tree tops and someone fell to the ground with a thudding and crunching sound.
• “What do you want from me?’’ Lupa asked.
• “You were the one to kill my son, now I will take your life. I want your parents to weep like I did.’’
• Lupa shook her head. “I am nothing but a lone wolf, moving from place to place. No one will mourn my death.’’
• The woman opened her mouth and let out a screeching sound, a thick white substance dripped from her mouth. “I will still enjoy ripping you limb from limb, after that I will wear your face because I know you lie about having no family. I watched you all those years ago, running away and even called to you but that man came, and you eluded my clutches.’’
• Lupa stopped to think back to the distress voice of someone calling for help. “So, you couldn’t get me and sent your son?’’
• “No, you was being impulsive and let without my knowledge.”
• Lupa knew that the woman was only trying to distract her, and she played along with her game. Pretending to not notice the other woman sneaking up behind her.
• “He was the only family I had, and you took him away from me.”
• Just as the other woman was about to attack, Lupa span around and using the water droplets in the air, turning then into daggers and throwing them at the woman.
• Seeing that her ally was as good as dead, the mother of the fallen child abandoned the mission and fled.
• “Come back and fight me, you coward!’’ Lupa yelled.
• But the woman was long gone, and so was the stench she had. So Lupa couldn’t trail after her.
• Lupa took a deep breath as she came up to the large oak tree that signify the beginning of the Night Walker pack. Her hands began to tingle from the anticipation of her return, wondering if she would be welcomed or executed.
• As she tried to move pass the oak tree, Lupa hit an invisible wall and began to wonder when since they had a barrier up and who they were keeping out, or keeping in. She tried to enter again, but this time the invisible force fought back and almost throw her off her feet.
• “Who goes there?’’ a bulking man asked, stepping out for where he was hiding.
• “Just a traveler, looking for a place of refuge.” Lupa lied, but something was telling her not to give her real identity to the man.
• The man came into full view, and Lupa recognized him. He was one of the many from back then who used to make fun of her.
• “We don’t give refuge, go elsewhere!’’
• “Are you really going to let a defenseless female suffer at the hands of rouges or skin walkers?’’
• “I don’t give a shit about you and whatever dilemma you face. Now leave from here before I have to use force, and from what I can sense, you have no abilities so it will be easy to get rid of you.’’
• Lupa clicked her tongue, seeing that Jaha hadn’t changed one bit, which meant the pack still looked down on those who haven’t come into their beast as yet.
• ‘If only you know that I am stronger than you and was simply surpassing my abilities like Roman thought me.’
• It was a technique Lupa had trouble learning, but now she had mastered it so well. Roman had told her that some wolves had the ability to see exactly what another wolf could do, and surpassing her abilities would give her the advantage of coming of weak so she would have the upper hand and striking when they least expect it.
• “Jaha, you are going to let me in.’’
• Jaha frowned. “How do you know my name?’’
• Lupa, unaware that she also had the ability to hypnotism or persuasion, so as she spoke, her words easily convinced Jaha to let her in.
• Jaha got a blank look on his face as he nodded. “Yes, sorry to keep you out there for so long. Let me take you to our Alpha, he will – “
• “No, that won’t be necessary. I already know my way around.’’
• Jaha nodded, then went back into hiding for the next intruder.
• Being it so late at night, no one was out to see Lupa just casually walking about. Her eyes was everywhere as she took in the major changes of the pack. It seem as if they have become more self-efficient, with acres of fruit and vegetables, stretching back to as far as Lupa could see.
• The high school had gotten bigger, and now had a swimming pool and race track.
• Lupa began to wonder what happened over the two years for such drastic changes to happen.
• Finally, she made her way to the place she once called home. A single light was on the third floor, which was in her bedroom, and she wondered why Ulva left it on.
• Lupa climbed through the window and looked around, noting that the place was the same. Just like the day she left.
• There was a growl. “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?’’ Ulva asked, seeming to materialize out of the dark.
• Lupa held her hands up. “It’s Lupa.”
• “Lupa?’’ Ulva stepped closer and gave her a once over. “You changed your hair, and you look. Did you get your wolf?’’
• Lupa nodded then allowed Ulva to catch her scent.
• Ulva laughed.
• “I thought you were dead, Lupa. For years I searched for you, but it was as if you had vanished off the face of this planet. There was no trace of you what’s to ever.’’
• Ulva then hugged Lupa. ‘’My dare child, I am glad to have you back home. But why did you run away?’
• “I grew tired of it all, the constant mocking and then the rejection of the Alpha.’’
• “Rejection?’’
• Lupa nodded and recalled what had happened the night she ran away.
• ‘’No wonder the Alpha is like this. Anyway, are you hungry? You must me starving.’’
• Lupa shook her head.
• “At least join me for a cup of tea and tell me where you have been all these years.’’
• Lupa went downstairs with Ulva, following closely behind her.
• Lupa drummed her finger on the table while Ulva sat across from her, waiting.
• “Go on then, I want to know. You have been gone for years, but it seems as if you were all taken care of.’’
• “You keep saying years as if you haven’t seen me for so long.’’
• Ulva scoffed. “Five years is long, child.’’
• “What do you mean five years? I have only been gone for two years.’’
• Ulva shook her head then got up from the table and moved to take down the calendar.
• “I have been marking off the days since you left, waiting for you to return.’’
• “That’s impossible. I counted while at the village, it is only two years.’’
• Lupa began to recall her experience while living with Roman and the others.
• “If you did come across a spiritual, there are a few things you need to know. Time passes differently, and you weren’t in a village. Spiritual guides are nothing but that. Just spirits, they have no physical form, and neither do they have a place to dwell.’’
• “No, I was in a village. And there were people, we shared stories. There were skin walkers and farm animals.’’
• “Lupa, you were simply in the spiritual world. Something not many wolves is able to do. It was a way you coped with connecting with your wolf. There is a possibility that all those people you know are dead.’’
• Lupa shook her head. “There is no way, everything was real. My friend Seiko, the Greenfields, they are all real.’’
• ‘’Seiko?’’
• “Yes, he ran away from the Blood Moon pack.
• Ulva nodded. “You were indeed in the spiritual world. I knew Seiko and that man have been dead for years.’’ To prove it all to Lupa, Ulva got up and searched through for a few pictures.
• “I think it is time to tell you about – ‘’
• “I already know about where I came from, I was told all that by my spiritual guide. He told me that I am a direct descendant of Lycaon.’’
• Ulva took Lupa’s hand and smile. “The day you were born, your father. Aztec ordered for you to be killed because you were a female, but your mother begged me, with her dying breath to take you away and give you a chance to live.’’
• “Wait, what?’’
• “Aztec was a foolish man, not knowing that your mother was a daughter of Callisto. He had no idea how powerful your mother was, and that she was favored by the Moon goddess the most. He thought something was wrong why his mate could only bring forth only female children and so he killed her, which caused almost everyone in the pack to die.’’
• After hearing the story from Seiko, she had suspected that she might have been the child who was to be executed but she put it out of her mind each time the thought came up.
• ‘’Now I see why the Alpha is like this.” Ulva said. “Rejecting ones mate is bad enough, but you being favored by the Moon goddess is another thing.’’
• “What happened to the Alpha?’’ Lupa asked.
• “He has been driven almost to the brink of madness. Some days he is alright, other days he is a rumbling mess and then there are times why he wants to kill himself to get rid of the pain of the rejection.’’
• “Oh,’’ was all Lupa said.
• “For now, he is chained up because we can never tell when he will try to take his life.’’
• “Serve him right.”
• Ulva raised a brow at her remark.
• “He was just like Catori, who he was so in love with and wanted to be his mate. He never wanted, me the fat, ugly, and wolfless female to be his mate. He even mocked me for having blue eyes, saying I’m nothing but a lowly Omega This is his own doing.’’
• Lupa got up from her seat. “I’m going to bed.’’