"Who will train me?"
I was the first to speak after seconds stretched into minutes after Hannes had spoken, his tone telling me there was no sense in arguing with him. I hadn't planned to anyway, for I agreed with him; I needed to learn how to defend myself effectively.
"I've asked both Jeremiah and Willow to do so. I will assist at times, but for the most part, they will be the ones training you."
Hannes shifted on the bed, lowering his body beside mine when I eventually slipped under the covers of his bed. Warmness enveloped me, and I curled and uncurled my toes as a slow shiver crept up my skin.
"Eric from Corozal had tried to train me for two weeks," I told Hannes. "I was horrible."
There was a moment of silence and then Hannes grunted,
"Eric Mason trained you?"
I turned my head his way, and squinted in the darkness. I could not see him despite my best efforts to, but I could certainly feel the heat from his body, especially when he eventually raised the covers and moved to rest even closer beside me under them.
"Yes." I finally answered. My fingers traced the soft cotton of my pajama pants in thought, angling my head so it faced the ceiling as I inquired, "Who were the persons that attacked the pack you travelled to today?"
The atmosphere in the room shifted. Some sort of heaviness seemed to weigh on my shoulders, and as Hannes' body became tense, so did mine.
Hannes finally answered lowly, "Hundreds of humans attacked the lycans. The humans, as far I am concerned, are not a part of Corozal, but their beliefs are similar to those of that community. The Beckland pack had never wished or done ill towards humans, but that mattered little to the humans. They would not surrender despite the amount of lycans against them, and the majority of them who attacked are now dead."
I tilted my head to where his voice came from, and felt warmth brush my cheek. "Do you think they are many communities or groups of people like those of Corozal?"
I jerked at the feeling of a thumb tracing my lower lip, grazing over the areas in which I'd nibbled on whilst I'd been showering. "I know they are." His touch moved away, and I released a short breath. Hannes continued, "I will speak with you more about those who attacked tomorrow if that is what you'd like. Right now, I am tired."
I nodded in understanding, knowing that he could see me doing so in the dark, and listened to his even breathing for a long while. Thinking that he'd begun to fall asleep, I too began to slumber but was momentarily roused when I was pulled so that I came to lie on my side, and my head rested upon Hannes' chest. I could feel his continued even, soft breaths against my hair, and the rise and fall of his chest repetitively eventually led me to sleep.
When morning came, I awoke before Hannes did, and managed to successfully leave the room without him awakening. After taking a quick shower and slipping on some warm clothes, I eventually heard Hannes stirring in his bed and then the gruff sound of him calling my name, confusion and tiredness laced between his words.
I didn't answer immediately, as I was brushing my teeth throughout that time, but when I did leave the room after fifteen minutes or so, I saw that the door which I'd, of course, opened when leaving was now closed, and there were barely audible footsteps heard behind it.
Both Jeremiah and Willow stood near the end of the hallway, beside the stairs which I walked to, and they straightened at my appearance.
"Good morning." I told them, beginning to brush by so that I could head to the kitchen and begin to prepare myself breakfast if the cooks hadn't already.
"Olivia." They simultaneously responded, and I paused mid-step, arching an eyebrow high as I barely suppressed laughter. Jeremiah curled his lip at his partner and Willow scowled at him before falling into step beside me.
"Any plans for the day?" Willow asked casually, too casually. She was watching me with a cautious gaze as we walked down the stairs, and I had a suspicion that Hannes had already given her instructions regarding training me, but she was currently withholding from speaking about it, because she was unaware of whether or not Hannes had already discussed the topic of training with me.
"I'll be going on a walk sometime today," I admitted, shuddering as my bare feet touched the cold wooden floor once we stepped off the last stair. I shot Willow a questioning glance. "Do you have any plans?"
Before she could utter a word however, Hannes' voice came from behind us.
"If you go on any walks today, Jeremiah or Willow will be joining you." Hannes told me, voice firm as he placed a hand on the middle of my back, and maneuvered my body so that I was no longer facing the general direction of the kitchen but instead walking to the dining room. "I won't argue with you about that, Olivia. Although more warriors have been stationed around the borders of Wildeland, anything could happen and I won't risk your safety." He added with a small snarl when I opened my mouth to question him.
My lips pressed into tight lips, and a skittish, alien feeling squirmed up my body as I muttered, "I wasn't going to argue, Hannes. I was telling you that you're leading me in a direction which I wasn't planning on going to."
Hannes pulled out a chair once we entered the dining room. "I'll prepare breakfast for us. The cooks don't always work here." He gestured that I sit, and I heard the retreating footsteps of Willow and Jeremiah. The tense, hard lines of Hannes face softened as I watched him, unsure.
"Would you like some help?" I finally offered. His lips curled, and I resisted flinching at the glimpse of fangs I saw as he did so.
"I should be fine." Hannes said, and with one last nod towards the chair, he left. I lowered my body onto it, and sat in uncomfortable silence. My eyes travelled to one of the many windows, and I tilted my head, eyes following the silhouette of a person passing by.
Since being back in Wildeland, and even before then, my need to be outside almost all of the time had been strong. Being able to see nature, the environment or observing the everyday acts of persons in this pack was something I found pleasure doing.
"Has something outside interested you?"
A bowl of warm porridge was set before me on the table, and then a hot cup of tea as Hannes spoke twenty minutes later. My mouth watered immediately at the scent of my breakfast, and my eyes wandered to Hannes as he sat beside me after arranging his own food.
I didn't answer his question, although not out of rudeness, but because most of my attention had become now on the breakfast. I lifted a spoonful of the porridge as I murmured, "Thank you."
Hannes watched apprehensively as I began eating, and I nodded in appreciation at the flavour, especially at the warm taste of cinnamon.
"Who were the persons that fought the Beckland pack?" I filled the silence that had followed shortly afterwards with my question and internally winced when I immediately realized that perhaps Hannes would not want to speak at the moment of what happened yesterday.
And at first, it seemed as if he wasn't going to answer me at all as he continued eating his porridge, but then after resting his spoon into his empty bowl, his bright eyes lifted to my mine and he rested back in the chair, his gaze drifting over me in thought before he spoke,
"Those humans who attacked call themselves Alberrechians, and like I said last night, they both share similar values to the Corozal people," His eyes flickered behind me, and they dimmed as a frown made its way on his lips. "They did not send their entire army, and few survived."
His eyes returned to my own and I could not resist recoiling at the way they blazed; unexpected yet horrid anger was in his gaze, and I could only watch in stunned silence as he continued speaking, "When I was twelve years old, I was beaten and kidnapped by the Alberrechian people. I was made to stay in a lab."
His eyes traveled to my bowl. "You should eat. Your porridge is going to get cold." He grunted. "It won't taste good like that."
"How long were you in that lab?" I asked, deciding not to listen to his command that I eat. My voice was coated with shock, and it sounded odd to my own ears. Hannes watched me for a short while, and the fury still remained in his eyes, even though I knew it wasn't directed towards me. Nonetheless I could not deny the uncomfortable feeling that crept up my spine and the way my body tensed defensively.
"Not very long," Hannes simply and finally said. "For five months."
Before I could question him further, Hannes quickly reverted the topic back to the neighboring pack as he stood, the legs of the chair dragging noisily against the floor. "I will be revisiting the Beckland pack this morning to assist Riggs and his beta wherever necessary." He walked around the table, pausing by the doors to say, "I should be back by this afternoon."
My mind flashed to the Alpha, Riggs, who I'd seen in the tent days ago. I nodded, hand reaching for the spoon resting in my bowl once more.
"Goodbye." I muttered, listening as his footsteps began to sound softer as the distance between us grew.
**********
Yanneek was by my spot in the woods.
He turned to watch me as Jeremiah and I walked over, his eyes searching my face as if gauging my reaction to seeing him. What he saw there must have satisfied him, for a faint smile grew on his lips before he faced forward once more. "The views from here are fantastic." He called to me when I sat on the tree stump. "I often would walk past here without a second glance, but look at that." He casted a hand towards the sky and then at the trees in the distance. Birds' chirps rang in my ears, along with the sound of the strong wind. I listened as Yanneek began to exclaim, "Beauti-"
The word died on his lips, and I watched the rapid paling of his face, the slackening of his jaw. Immediately I stood, concerned and alert as I stepped to his side, grabbing his muscled arm.
"What?" I demanded, a shock of fear and unease shooting through my veins. My eyes followed his gaze, and I immediately caught sight of a small circle of lycans in the distance, their backs and bodies blocking what they all looked at. I shook Yanneek's arm, who yanked it out of my hands before quickly walking away.
I followed him, struggling to keep up with his pace and I was mildly impressed as he moved easily past many trees, his fast stride never slowing. I was breathing heavily by the time his footsteps did falter, and I looked around me cautiously as we broke out into a small clearing, Jeremiah close behind, but completely silent.
I could see a few tombstones partially embedded in the snow and earth, and I stared, throwing Jeremiah a look of disbelief as I realized that we stood in a graveyard.
Voices floated in the air, and I whipped around, right ankle throbbing from how rapidly I twisted on my feet as my gaze travelled over the lycans, including Athena, who noticed me as soon as I did her. The tight circle of the men and women prohibited me from seeing what they all obviously stared at, and I barely registered the way Athena gripped my shoulders after marching over to me.
"I don't think you should be here Olivia." Athena murmured, but there was hesitancy in her voice, as if she didn't believe her own words. There was no pressure which she placed on my shoulders to push me backwards, which I knew she could easily do if she wished, so I shrugged out of her hold, side-stepping her and following Yanneek, who roughly shoved past the men and women.
The gap that was eventually made allowed me to see that the snow and earth had been dug, and the deep hole that was left behind was what many stared into, before breaking off into conversations only for their attention to be briefly averted back to the hole.
My eyes moved to what looked to be the remainder of a tombstone, and I narrowed my gaze.
"Who would do such a thing?" A female lycan breathed in disbelief from beside me. She saw my confused stare, and surprise lit up her gaze, as if taken aback as she watched me.
"What happened?" I asked quietly, glancing back at the hole. The woman swallowed, lips parting and closing before she finally said, her voice strained,
"This was Anabelle's grave. Her coffin is gone."
********
Well that's a surpise, huh? 😶 Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. 💕
Chapters 32-40 are available on Inkitt for free. As usual, the link to read them is in my bio.