She didn't leave her username, but thank you a lot Jumana Aishath! For this banner (:
Word Count: 1617
Pages: 12
~Lexia
The moment I stepped outside, I was hit in the face with heat. I know I told Grayson I couldn't go out, but this meant answers from Jasper. I'm going to have to deal with it.
Aimlessly, I wander around the side of the main building. If I wasn't concentrating on not fainting from the harsh sun beating down on me, I might have been admiring all of the native tree life around me I've never seen before.
I think I circled the house four times before giving up. Jasper isn't here. He said outside, and I'm here, yet he isn't.
Annoyed, I rest my back against the side of the building, ignoring the fact that the humidity probably has my hair looking like those native bushes.
Suddenly, a rustle in those exact bushes catches my attention. Everywhere you look, there's trees, with Grayson's backyard basically being a forest. Clearly it was too much trouble to remove at least some of the trees, so my assumption is they must be protected. Either that, or people are too scared of what lives on there...
So naturally, the sound chills my blood.
"Jasper?" I question, looking through the deep undergrowth. I see dappled light dancing along the forest floor in there, but shadows still haunt most areas a possibly rabid killer might lurk.
I've seen those horror movies where people wandering into the stupidest of places-any well minded person would never consider to enter-end up dead. So, deciding on maybe not meeting with Jasper today, I turn around...
Only to see him right behind me, leaning against the wall of the house casually.
I yelp, nearly collapsing from the heart attack he just gave me. He only smirks at me, those deep violet eyes dancing with amusement.
"You scared the hell out of me!" I curse, running a hand through my hair, while the other holds my chest protectively.
"You should be more observant," he says breezily.
"And you shouldn't sneak up on people."
He shrugs his shoulder mindlessly. "I'm used to not being seen."
Taking in a deep breath, I observe him for a moment. Definitely still the man who I danced with last night, and who spiked my drink. Hasn't changed a bit. Still that elusive Alpha creature with the most distinctive eyes.
"Well..."
"What?"
"You're not going to hit me, or yell at me?" He questions, seemingly surprised. He still leans against the side of the wall.
Tempting. "Not yet."
Now he seems more surprised. In the light, I notice how he seems to attract the shadows, as if he is enticing the darkness from the forest with just his presence. It swirls around him, wrapping around him in a faint way I almost pass off as my imagination.
"So you don't want to know why I drugged you?" He says so casually, he makes it seem as if everyone does it. I sigh deeply, my finger clenching into fists ever so slightly.
"Would it shock you if I said yes?" I mutter sardonically.
"Should I just tell you that it worked well in my favour?"
It's my turn to be shocked. In his favour...? I walked away from him. I didn't stay like he ordered me to.
"But...I'm here."
"I know."
"So, that's what you wanted?"
Jasper smiled gently, before holding his hand or to me. When he nodded toward the forest, I knew what he meant. Shelter from the sun. I can tell why he would want it, considering he is dressed as if he's going to a funeral.
But when I touch his skin, it's ice cold.
"Although I didn't expect you to fall straight into Grayson's arms, it did end up working out," Jasper muses, using the smooth gait of his to glide over to a large boulder situated underneath a large tree.
"I didn't know he would catch me," I say truthfully. What would have happened had it been Noah that caught me. Would I be in the Harmony Pack right now?
"No, I would have taken you from him," Jasper says, answering the question mulling around in my mind.
I flinch, still not used to his strange abilities.
"Speaking of strange abilities, shall I tell you about me, before I tell you why you're here. It might make a more sense," he muses.
Sense? Jasper doesn't fit into the category of sense. More like the category of paradoxical contradiction.
"Knock yourself out," I mutter, leaning back against the trunk of a tree. It feels cool against my back, which hardly makes sense with the humid air mulling around us.
"Ever heard of the myth of the Phantom Wolves?"
Straight to the point, and the air is knocked right out of my lungs. Phantom. Wolves. My worst nightmare.
I close my eyes. "When I was first kidnapped, and brought to the Vengeance Pack, they used to tell me stories of them, so I wouldn't sleep at night."
The memory I stored in the ones I wish to forget holds a lighter under my emotions. It's still rough to think about, and I can tell Jasper feels it to, by the hooded look he gives me through his mass of dark hair.
"Your perception of them?" He asks, his voice similar to the murmur of the leaves surrounding us.
"Cruel. Sadistic. Merciless. Evil." I pause, looking up to meet his eyes. "Vengeful..."
If Jasper is offended by this, he doesn't show it, as his fingers tap rhythmically on the rock he sits on.
"You're not completely wrong," he says gently, as if his own words my be hurtful. They aren't. I knew it was true, even if the fabrications made by my old Pack members were lies.
"Are you one of them?"
Jasper cringes. "Not just one of them. Their leader."
Didn't doubt it. "Are you all those...things?"
"A Phantom Wolf is cruel only because of his situation. They are created, by their own death and sorrow. Myself, on the other hand, was cursed," he explains, although the cryptically.
Cursed? I didn't know that was possible. Then again, I didn't believe in Phantom Wolves until now.
"Where do you think Phantom Wolves come from?" He asks, taking me back for a moment.
"Hell?"
He chuckles. "Think again."
"Magic?"
"And where does magic come from?"
I blink. Then I realise. "The Devotion Pack."
He nods slowly, and I attempt to swallow the lump in my throat. It makes perfect sense for him to be the Alpha of a Pack filled with cursed people, but it still didn't help me understand why I'm here.
Hearing my thoughts, Jasper answers. "Gaze Readers, who weld magic to see into people's futures are the only ones who can become Phantom Wolves naturally."
I didn't even know Gaze Readers still existed. Another fable that I once doubted.
"Those who control magic, who die with a burden, become trapped souls on earth. But you can be turned into one. One curse, and you're just another Phantom."
Jasper stares at the grass by my feet, gaze clouded over. He looks regretful.
"My father cursed me," he says, voice cracking slightly.
He looks up at me. "My own father...Because he was scared I would take over is reign of Alpha before he was ready."
My heart pounds, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm in the presence of my former nightmare, or in sympathy of this mans life.
"So I killed him."
My heart stops at the callous in his words, his expression, his tone.
"And now, I have a burden on my shoulders. I can't die with it, or I'll never become normal again. And I can never be with my mate," he says, and I can't ignore the pain drenching every word coming from his mouth.
"I'm sorry," I say, but the uselessness of it carries away with the wind.
He stands suddenly, and it's as if the nature around us cowers away. But it makes sense. It's his burden.
"You think I can help?" I say, unable to cover the doubt in my words with my confidence. Because I've lost it.
"More than help," he tells me. "You can cure me...And everyone else who has been cursed."
He suddenly grabs my hand between his icy fingers, clutching it tight.
"But you can't help me, because you're weak," he says. I blanch. Weak? That what he thinks I am? After trying to convince me to help him, he pulls that out?
"And you're only going to weaken further."
I go to say something, but he cuts me off.
"Only he can help it," Jasper insists. I shake my head.
"My mate?"
"Yes!"
"And who may that be?" I say cynically, not interested in the slightest about who he's about to say. Because it doesn't make a difference. My mate won't change me. Unless...
"Alpha Grayson."
💚••💚
So guys, I want to bring a new Pack into this world, since awhile ago, when this idea was being created, I cut three Packs out.
And I want your help to come up with a new Pack!
I need:
A Pack name
Pack values
Pack situation (warmer, colder climate)
An Alpha
Pack traits (eye colour, hair colour)
I could do it myself, but if you guys would like to participate too, that would be awesome!
So let me know in the comments, your ideas, or personally message me through inbox! Thank you (:
Snapchat : midikacrane
Radish: Midika
YouTube: Midika Crane
~Midika 💜