The girl who cried wolf ( PG13 version)

The girl who cried wolf: Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-three

(Luca’s POV)

     I slowly opened my, giving up on getting any sleep. I had lost on how many days I had been down here, they all just merged together. I was trapped in my own personal, constant, never ending nightmare. If it wasn’t from the hunger or the depressive darkness that consumed me, it was the agonising pain that was keeping me awake. The Wolfsbane was doing its job and slowing my body down. I could feel my wounds healing but they all still looked pretty fresh. I could only imagine that this was what it feels like to be human. If it wasn’t for me be a Lycan I would be dead right now. I turned my gaze over to rogue. Since the reality of her situation had sunk in she had remained silent, drowning in the same emptiness that I felt. I knew this wasn’t the first time that she had experienced this. But I couldn’t help but think that she was better off away from them. Looking at her body, it was obvious that they hadn’t treated her properly. I couldn’t imagine what life must have been like for her.

     “I don’t need your pity!” she growled fiercely.

      “What?” I said, surprised by her outburst.

     “I said I don’t need your pity!!!” She growled again, more aggressively than before.

     “I didn’t say anything and I haven’t said anything for days.” I growled at her weakly.

I keep my attention on her as I watched her eyes widen suddenly, almost as though she had been caught out. Within an instant she was back to her cold self, letting out a small growl.

    “You didn’t need to Say anything, it was written all over your face.” She scowled.

     “How on earth could you tell that from my face when your head was down and your eyes were closed?” I said still completely confused by what was going on in front of me.

Once again she looked shocked and caught off guard but covered it up almost instantly. There was definitely some strange about this girl. She growled loudly again, which confused me further. There was something going on right now but I had no idea what it was.

     “What the fuck is your problem.” I shouted.

     “You know fuck all about me and you have no right to judge me!” she shouted back, fighting to get closer to me.

I could see the anger in her eyes and they tried to shift to amber and her body shook violently.

    “Fine then enlighten me.” I said glaring back at her, beginning to lose my temper.

    “What?” she asked, as stopped and stood still staring at me in shock.

    “You heard me, enlighten me because right now you are confusing the fuck out of me. Accusing me of stuff I haven’t even said. Tell me who you are!” I replied.

She stayed quiet for a moment it was as if she was having an internal battle with herself.

    “OK.” She answered barely louder than a whisper. “Where should I start?” She continued timidly.

I was completely taken aback, for the first time since meeting her she looked timid and vulnerable. She looked her age. She looked soft and young instead of hard and old. I could almost see a trace of fear in her eyes, now that the anger had disappeared. She didn’t fight or protest, she simply agreed. Seeing her like this stirred up feelings that I couldn’t explain, I felt the need to protect her. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell everything would be ok. As soon as the thought entered my head, I noticed her look over at me. Her eyes glistened and a small smile tugged at her lips. It was almost as though, she had read my mind but of course that impossible. She quickly looked away hiding her face from. Once again I just wanted to protect her; it felt almost like a kind of love. Not the kind love that I felt for Mia but more like parent would feel for their child, she felt like family. I shook my head quickly clearing my head of those thoughts.

     “How about we start with your name?” I said, suddenly realising that the whole time that we had been down here I didn’t know her name.

    “It’s Layla.” She said quietly, slowly lifting her to look me in the face.

     “That’s a beautiful name.” I replied, giving her a small smile.

    “Thank you.” I said quietly.

    “I hope you don’t mind me asking but how old are you?” I asked before I could stop myself.

    “I’m sixteen.” She replied suddenly looking a little uncomfortable.

I too was feeling a little uncomfortable. I knew she was young but now knowing how old she was I felt awkward being naked in front of her. Nudity wasn’t an issue amongst our kind but this was starting to feel strange. I surprised to see her blushing. Seeing her like this made it hard to believe that she was rogue.

    “So how on earth did you end up in a rogue pack? I just don’t get it; you’re too young to be by yourself like that. What happened to your family?” I asked.

     “Umm my mother died when I was young and I’ve been a rogue ever since.” She answered.

    “But what about her pack, why didn’t they take you in?” I asked still confused as to why she was living her life this way.

    “When my mother was 17 her pack was attacked by hunters. Few people survived but a stranger came to their rescue, he had run away from his pack. My mother instantly fell in love with him and she felt that he felt the same way. One thing lead to another and here I am.” She said in matter of fact sort of way.

    “So what happened to him, where’s your father?” I asked wanted to learn more.

    “He left her immediately after they were together and told to never say away about it. After that she never saw him again. When she realised she was expecting her parent disowned her and she went in search for my father. It didn’t take her too long to find him as he had returned home and become alpha of his pack. As soon as she found out she knew that he would deny her and me so she left and never looked back. We were ok for a while but when I was about six we were attacked and she died protecting me. I manage to survive by myself for about a year before the hunters caught up with me. They captured me a tortured me and they…” she trailed off as a single tear ran down her face.

She didn’t need to finish her sentence I knew what they did and it infuriated me. It made me feel sick to my stomach, I could feel my body being consume with rage.

    “Those bastards!” I shouted shocking myself.

     “They had captured dozens of Lycan’s and they would pit us against each other. They’d force us to fight each other like wild dogs. It made me strong and powerfully, as soon as I shifted I had a new battle to fight. I was pursued by every male Lycan in the camp. At first I wasn’t able to fight them off but I soon learned the limits of my strength and proved myself as a force to be reckoned with. Soon others in the camp began to look to me for protection. Eventually I was a sort of alpha of my own little pack.” She said.

Even though she had been through so much pain and been hurt so many times. I felt a sense of pride, that she had overcome it all and was now the strong woman who stood in front of me. Whoever her father was he was stupid for walking away from her mother. There was just something about her story that felt familiar but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I sat there for a moment just looking at her face, just trying to make sense of everything. Now as I looked at her face I had a sense of familiarity, she reminded me of someone but I just couldn’t figure out whom. As looked at her a little more closely something just seemed to click in my head. I knew who it was she reminded me of. I knew her father was. Her eyes went wide as she looked back at me. Her face went deadly pale almost as if she was getting ready to pass out. My feeling for her all started to make sense.

     “I know who your father is! It’s…” I started to say before she cut me off.

     “Your brother.” She said quietly, if it wasn’t for my heighten sense of hearing I would have heard her.

I too felt the blood drain from my face. This naked girl in front of me was my niece. The girl who had almost killed me in the woods was my niece. The girl that, up until today, I felt nothing more than pure hatred was my niece. I thought back to the way he treated her the other day. The image of him dragging from amongst the trees roughly suddenly flashed through my mind. How could he have not sensed that she was his daughter when he touched her? How could I have not realised see was part of me, my families blood flowed through her veins.