The air stilled as the stranger took another step towards my father.
"You're alive," Dad breathed out as if he couldn't believe that the man standing in front of him was indeed standing right in front of him. "I don't believe it."
My brain itched to comprehend exactly what was going on. Dad knows him?
The stranger's eyes bore into Dad's after that obvious statement. "Where is she?"
Dad cocked his head to the side. "Where is who?"
"You know who."
It took a moment before Dad grinned devilishly as if he'd found the answer to a billion-dollar question. "Ah, that she?" His grin grew wider. "Why would I know where she is? I only just knew you were alive, so what makes you think I know her whereabouts? Even more so, that she's somehow alive."
"I know you do," the stranger answered defiantly. "Do not lie to me."
"Ah yes, you were never fond of lies, were you?" My father's tone dropped as he mocked. "Dad."
I stiffened. Dad? My eyes widened just as my breathing quickened. He can't be serious. That's my...grandfather?
The stranger - Albus - glowered and I could literally feel the tension and anger emanating from his giant figure as he commanded in his authoritative voice. "Tell me where she is."
Dad tsked. "I'm afraid I don't have to answer to you anymore." He moved away from Albus, whose eye colour had returned to its normal after turning deep silver, before slowly circling him. "You lost that position as Alpha years ago when I stripped that power from you. Yet somehow you survived from that brutal assault, and I wonder how." Dad paused dramatically and rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.
"But it doesn't really matter now," he continued. "Now all you have left is a runaway mate and a desperation to find something that you lost a long time ago."
Albus visibly tensed at that but kept a searing glare aimed at my father whilst he strode around him. "You have the crystal moonstone."
Though his statement wasn't exactly posed as a question, a wicked and mysterious smile was his only reply.
Albus gritted his teeth in annoyance. "That belongs to me, and I will have it back. But right now, I order you to tell me where she is."
"Or what?" Dad challenged. "Because from what I see, you're the one at a disadvantage. I've got wolves in the shadows all around you, just waiting for my signal before they strike. And believe me when I say that you'll be dead within the blink of an eye when that happens."
"All those years apart and you have forgotten just how ruthless I can be," Albus snarled, his jaw clenched. "You think a bunch of untrained dogs are going to stop me?"
Dad stopped moving as he stood in front of the two werewolves who were still witnessing the scene. "Oh, I bet you they can."
"I do not have time for this," Albus growled just before his grey eyes deepened into a deadly blood red and his fangs elongated. "Tell me where she is!"
"If you insist. She's right-" my father's head turned towards my direction and my heart literally stopped beating for a nanosecond as he raised a finger and pointed at my half-hidden frame, "-there."
I struggled to breathe.
Oh my God, she's behind me!
I swiftly turned around, surprised that I hadn't been aware before of that, and prepared myself to come face to face with a ruthless woman. But instead, I saw nothing.
Confused, I sniffed the air, but still didn't catch a scent that I didn't recognize and that was also all-new.
What the...?
There was absolutely no sign of a she-wolf in human form, or any wolf at all. The thought that Dad could be making things up or totally had the wrong direction in mind did truly cross my mind as there was no one there. And since I certainly wasn't the one, who the hell had he been referring to?
I turned back to follow once again the exact path where my father's finger had pointed towards, but instead of the clearing being in sight, a tall thick body rather invaded my range of vision.
I wasn't surprised that they knew I was there since I knew that my scent lingered in the atmosphere, but that didn't mean that the sudden blockade didn't send my heart right into my throat.
I didn't have to look up at the person's face to know who it was.
"You are her," he said in a low tone, stepping so close towards my stiffened figure that the distance left was only but a hair's breadth. I gulped, forcing down the lump in my throat, and stood unsure of what to say or do as I stared into his piercing red eyes. Dad had pointed at me, and I didn't freaking know why!
I wasn't his missing or runaway mate. I couldn't be. Mates should be able to connect through the mind once the female partner turned eighteen. And since that age, I'd never received even a single thought from my other half, so I was damn positive that my grandfather was not my mate and neither was I his runaway Alba.
"You've got it all wrong. Don't tell me you believe him." I attempted to reason, hoping that he didn't truly believe the absurdness of it all because it just made no sense.
"You wanted to know where your mate was," Dad spoke aloud from where he still stood. "Well I assure you, you're looking at her."
"But that's not true!" I tried to calm the tremble in my voice. "Listen, he's lying to you. He just wants you to kill me. I'm telling you that there's no way I'm her. It's not even possible."
"No."
No?
"You are her," he said again before his pupils blazed with burning fury. "And I'm going to kill you right now."
"No don't! Please, listen to me!" I refused to back away. "Look I know you think that I might be Alba because you claim that we look alike, but it doesn't make any sense. She can't be me. I'm your freaking granddaughter! A different person! We can't be in the same body. That's not possible!"
"How else do you think she has been surviving all this while?"
Frustration boiled so fiercely inside me that I felt the urge to smash his head against the hard tree trunk beside him. Was he thinking at all? How the hell was I supposed to know that it was possible to live inside another human body? "It's not a normal thing that happens and you know that. I didn't even know she was alive!"
"That does not change anything."
"It does!" I was about to say more to prevent his half-raised claw from slashing across my face when I caught a sudden visible motion just close beside Albus' right side.
Before I could even attempt to yell a "look out", Albus suddenly morphed into his wolf form and slammed backwards into the oncoming werewolf who had almost succeeded in biting his arm off.
That was when all hell broke loose.
An onslaught of werewolves attacked at the same time just as Albus bit off the wolf's neck and there was barely a chance of me escaping as they appeared from every corner.
However, majority, if not all of them advanced towards the original werewolf than towards my worthless figure. And even though it was a huge advantage on my part, that didn't mean that I was overly enthusiastic about that.
Choosing that moment as a distraction, I was just about to retreat towards safety somewhere away from the fight when one of the wolves suddenly pounced on me, my back colliding harshly onto the ground.
I choked in a scream and grabbed its jaws with both hands as it snapped at my face in an attempt to rip it off. Its fangs penetrated my flesh as it fought to bite my hands and I gritted my teeth due to the immense pain that erupted from the act, which subsequently drew out a lot of blood.
I tried to kill it, but its jaws were really hard to split apart and the fact that I hadn't bonded with my wolf yet made me vulnerable by being less strong than the wolf was. Nevertheless, the adrenaline pumping fiercely through my veins had me screaming out and separating its jaws much farther apart after each second passed.
A cracking noise signified that they were on the brink of breaking apart when all of a sudden the wolf was ripped away from me. I gasped as my fingers were abruptly released from their torture and clutched them close to my chest, shutting my eyes in an attempt to will the pain away.
"Kara!" A somewhat familiar voice rang out but I was too much in pain now that the adrenaline had worn off slightly to figure out who it belonged to.
However, in the next moment, a pair of muscular arms curled beneath my frame raised me from the ground and held me tightly against a bare chest.
"Let's get you out of here."
☆~☆~☆
A/N: I don't know if I got the last action part right, but I guess that's up to you to decide ;-)
Wondering who that familiar voice is? Well, you'll have that answer pretty soon mis lectores ^_^
Anyhow, thanks a lot for reading this chapter! I really appreciate it❤
☆~☆~☆