Yil
The mere fact that I happened to be a being of flesh and blood guaranteed that throughout my lifetime, emotions were sure to become ever-present determinants of my state of being. Their spectrum was so far out that an influx of them was sure to set my heart racing and mind reeling from the impact. Obviously, not all feelings were gloom-ridden, however, some feelings just never seemed to veer into any side of the spectrum, be it positive or negative.
You just didn't know how to feel about them.
Confusion /kənˈfjuːʒ(ə)n/: uncertainty about a particular situation, just happened to be one of these feelings. Its ability to place the mind into a vortex of an uncertain whirlwind was unmatched. Thereby, leading to the triggering of the minds defence mechanism which was employed in an attempt at reconciling its muddled-up state. Consequently, leading to the formation of conspiracy theories and possible answers.
This was exactly how I felt as I watched Dina move around the kitchen, cheerfully, to make breakfast, chatting up everyone with her characteristic breezy and fun nature. Only now she actually remembered us again.
"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes," she turned around from mixing a simmering pot of oatmeal to assure Zena, Lloyd, and I with a smile.
"Yeah sure. Take your time," Lloyd replied with an equally warm smile.
At this point she was the only one apart from Roy who could still converse with Dina comfortably. Zena and I were still bewildered by Dina's change of attitude yesterday, especially considering the fact that she had refused, vehemently, to ride with Kiba, Zena or I. Instead she had ridden with Roy and we with Lloyd. The fear that shone in her eyes was bone chilling and haunting, almost as if she had thought that we'd really harm her.
"Lloyd you'd better start explaining this weird situation," Zena whispered, fiercely, once Dina had turned back towards the gas cooker.
"Yeah. Why did she act like that yesterday?" I probed, equally interested in the probable reason behind her drastic change of behaviour.
"I told you Alpha Aryn would tell you once he gets back. It's not my place," she whispered back with an apologetic expression.
"That bull of an excuse worked yesterday. It's not going to fly today, I'm afraid," Zena shot down her reply with a deadpan look.
I agreed with her wholeheartedly. We deserved the right to know what had triggered Dina's temporary memory loss and the way Roy and Lloyd were being so tight lipped on the matter, pointed to the fact that this wasn't the first time such had happened.
"We at least need to know what triggered her response. What if it happens again when you or Roy aren't there with us?" I reasoned. "Imagine if Roy hadn't been there when she acted like that, what would you have had us do?" I questioned.
Lloyd fidgeted slightly on the high-rise stool from being under our close scrutiny and after a soft sigh, spoke up.
"Dina's a regressing lycanthrope," Zena and I looked at each other in unison then we faced Lloyd with arched eyebrows.
"Are you making that up?" Zena snorted with derision but registering Lloyd's serious expression once more, the smirk fell off her face, rapidly. "What's that?" She asked, tentatively.
"Well, in present times the wolf gene has been..." Lloyd started but was soon cut off by Dina.
"Not trying to point any fingers but I've heard the whispers, going around," she commented with a frown.
Zena, Lloyd, and I snapped our necks in her direction at the sound of her voice like deers caught in a headlight.
"That's certainly not what we were doing," Lloyd denied, waving her hands wildly.
"I mean why would we gossip about you?" Zena corroborated Lloyd's claim and all I could do was smile, uneasily, at her in support of both Lloyd and Zena's words.
"What did yall say?" Dina gabbled as she, hurriedly, pulled out her earpiece. The repressed musical notes could be heard coming out from within the smartphones' accessory. "Sorry, I didn't catch your words. Grace Vanderwaal gossip girl is a banger, I tell ya," she squealed, carrying the pot of oatmeal, and placing it on a trivet.
Lloyd breathed a visible sigh of relief before slumping further into her chair and I almost guffawed at our shocked expressions.
Just why we were being secretive was beyond me.
"Yeah, the song certainly rocks," Zena agreed, getting up to help with the arrangement of dishes.
"I know! It's so apt in describing the feelings that come with friendship betrayal," Dina nodded, enthusiastically, with wide eyes before going on about her love for the song.
"That was close," Lloyd whispered to me with her eyes still on Dina.
"Doesn't she know she has..." I trailed off, sending Dina a fleeting look but before Lloyd could fill in the missing aspect, I continued. "...whatever you just called it?" I waved off.
"No, she doesn't. Alpha Aryn never told her so that she would never feel odd among other wolves," she explained. "Besides, she'd never even remember that she was a regressing lycanthrope, considering her condition," she sighed, deeply, gazing at Dina who was now engaged in animated conversation with Zena.
What was even a regressing lycanthrope?
"Morning to my beautiful subordinates," Roy sing-songed with false haughtiness as he strolled into the kitchen with an exaggerated catwalk.
"Lord Edward Kingston do watch your step lest your precious toes get caught in the rat traps," Dina replied with a saccharine smile earning a few snickers from Lloyd, Zena, and me.
Roy's stroll faltered, momentarily, as he looked down at the floor, cautiously, for his feet were clad in a pair of faux fur slippers. Noticing that Dina had given into a fit of boisterous laughter and that there were no traps in sight, he finally realised that she had been pulling his legs.
"Very, very funny Dina," he noted, sourly, with a tight pull on his robe's belt before sitting next to Lloyd.
"But quick question," Zena spoke up and Roy smiled, signalling that she could fire away, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Did you lose your slippers? Because why else would you wear your mistress' own?"
I looked down at his slippers again and noticed that the colour was quite contrary to what he usually wore.
"My question exactly. Where's your slippers princess?" Dina teased with a wink.
Roy took a quick look at his slippers and noticing that they were pink, a transient look of surprise crossed his features.
"Lloyd," he drawled, unimpressed.
"What?" She shrugged, biting into a toast. "You gave us only two hours at the mall, so I just grabbed whatever was on the rack," she explained, hiding her smile behind a raised coffee mug.
"And it so happened that it was the colour pink," he deadpanned with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't be salty princess. It fits you nicely," Zena praised, before winking at Lloyd and Zena who giggled.
Guess they got him back for halving our shopping trip.
"Did you really just notice it now though?" I chewed on an apple before turning towards him.
"It wasn't by the side of my bed yesterday. I guess someone had sneaked into my room at the dead of night and exchanged my leather slippers for this...." he trailed off, looking down at the slippers before scowling at Lloyd.
"It didn't look like you hated it when you waltzed in here like you owned the universe," Lloyd disagreed, holding his gaze. "On the flip side, you and I are matching now," she laughed, pointing to her strawberry-coloured bob.
"Whatever," he muttered, tucking a strand of his dark locks behind his ear before picking up his mug.
"Wow your hair has grown out again," Lloyd gaped. "It grows so fast," she added, ruffling his tresses. "I wondered why you even cut it to begin with," she mused, lost in the feel of his hair.
"Oh! I'm glad you like it babe," Roy replied with a dazzling smile, moving his face closer to Lloyd who stared at him transfixed. Dina, Zena, and I looked on in anticipation, not quite knowing what would happen. "A whole lot of she-wolves say the same as well. Probably because it acts as an anchor for when I drive them over the brinks of ecstasy," he murmured, and she shoved him away faster than my eyes could keep up with.
"You don't get to buy me pink slippers and then sweet talk me Lloyd," he chuckled, sipping his coffee.
"I never even meant what I said," Lloyd muttered, begrudgingly, with a flick of her hair.
"Sure," Dina dragged out with a roll of her eyes before skipping over to someone by the kitchen door. "Come on in teddy bear. Why are you standing out here transfixed?" She smiled up at Kiba who dwarfed her with his muscled build.
He wore a perplexed expression on his facial features as he tried to understand why she acted relaxed around him as opposed to her fearful demeanour yesterday.
"Come on in," she encouraged, excitedly, as she ushered Kiba towards the kitchen island where Lloyd, Zena, Roy, and I were seated. "I purposefully made a lot of everything because of your large appetite," she announced, pushing him down, towards a chair while she sat on his other side.
True to word, she had woken early to prepare a large breakfast of cheesy egg toast, sausage, baked beans, pancakes, oatmeal garnished with berries, some fruit pieces and yoghurt.
I swear if Dina cooked sand, I'd still eat it.
"Are you feeling better now?" He questioned, quietly, looking at her face for any signs of discomfort that she may be hiding behind her bright smile.
Kiba had been badly shaken by the near accident. He had tried to hide his emotions behind a blank expression, but I knew that Dina's behaviour had really baffled him.
"I was never sick," Dina replied as she piled a heap of every type of food, arranged artistically on the kitchen island, unto a plate and placed it in front of Kiba. "But I woke up with some cuts and scratches and I can't seem to remember where I got them from. Quite weird right?" She laughed and we all remained silent.
Lloyd and Roy concentrated a little too hard on their meals and Zena and I looked in opposite directions, away from Kiba and her.
"Ah! I forgot the orange juice," she huffed, irritatedly, before facepalming. "I'll be back just now, okay," she assured Kiba then she rushed into the kitchen's pantry.
Kiba couldn't stomach tea or coffee and so she always made sure that there was an alternative beverage that he could drink as he ate.
"Don't eat anything till I get back," she poked her head from behind the pantry door and seeing Kibas' nod, she smiled and retreated.
"Why does she remember me today?" Kiba questioned, going straight to the point, as he directed the question at Lloyd and Roy. Zena and I angled our faces in their direction, in unison, with a firm cross of our arms. It was about time.
"Start talking," I urged with a raise of my eyebrow.
"I already told Zena and Yil that she's a regressing lycanthrope, you can do the honours of explaining further," Lloyd winged our questions and tossed Roy under the bus.
"Gee thanks," Roy whispered, dryly. Then turning to address us, he continued. "For the past few years, our kind has been experiencing a phenomenon that we refer to as the regressing lycanthrope gene," he started, softly. "New-born wolves are getting weaker and have less heightened senses just as you saw with Dina," he looked at Kiba who nodded in deep thought.
"That was why she noticed the biker late and even when she did, her reflexes were slow," I mused, and Roy nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. It's because the wolf gene is getting much more repressed as opposed to the human gene which is getting stronger," he said, popping a cherry into his mouth.
"And this makes them more susceptible to diseases, they heal slowly and are just as weak as humans are in comparison to our kind" Lloyd added. "That's the reason why Dina has dementia. She experiences bouts where she has access to her memories and at other times, she doesn't remember anyone except Roy for some unexplainable reason," she rolled her eyes at Roy and he stuck out his tongue in response.
"That would explain why she always referred to Aryn as Alpha, right?" I questioned.
"Yes," Roy answered, sensing Zena and Kiba's confusion, he added. "Dina is Alpha Aryns' sister,"
"Oh!" Zena gaped and looked at me with an accusatory expression.
Didn't cross your mind to fill me in on that, she mind-linked and my cheeks coloured in guilt.
I forgot. Forgive me huh? I apologised, giving her a bright smile which she huffed at.
"So, she might not remember us another time," Kiba asked, absentmindedly, as he stared in the direction in which Dina had gone.
"Yeah. I can't tell when that'll be but it's highly likely," Roy replied.
"Doesn't it have a cure or something? I mean I've never heard of such before and we are wolves as well," I countered, still trying to wrap my head around the bizarre phenomena.
"None that I've heard of," Lloyd mused, looking at Roy who had gone deathly quiet. The way he avoided my gaze, hinted at the fact that he knew about a cure or possible solution to the problem. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to enquire further for at that moment Dina walked in with a bottle of orange juice.
"You listened?!" she commented, surprised at Kiba's untouched meal.
"Did I have any other choice?" he mumbled, and she laughed.
"Well here's your reward, wise guy," she chuckled, pouring him a glass of juice. "Now you can eat, teddy bear," she giggled, sitting down next to him.
"Teddy bear?! What kind of name is that?" He asked, repulsed.
"It's a name befitting for a soft, mushy person who hides behind a hard exterior," she answered with a muffled voice as she stuffed her mouth full of food.
"I'm not soft or mushy," he disagreed with a grunt.
"Yes, you are," she insisted, smiling. "I had a dream that you saved me from getting hit by a biker," she continued and Kiba choked on his drink as the whole room went quiet. Did she remember yesterday or not? "You act so detached but deep down you care about me," she stated, passing him a paper towel. "I know it was just a dream, but it felt so real. Are you all right?" She asked when she noticed that he was now coughing.
"Yeah, I'm good," he coughed out, dabbing at his chin as she rubbed his back, gently.
I looked at Lloyd for an explanation of why Dina might have thought what happened in reality was a dream, but she shrugged, probably confused as I was and lacking the answers.
The meal carried on with light conversation among us and I was sure to laugh, and smile where necessary as I lost myself in my thoughts, slowly. I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the regressing lycanthrope gene and there was only one person that could give me a satisfactory answer. Aryn.
☘︎
"Where exactly are we going to in this humongous cabin?" Zena whined, closing another door in frustration.
"We're looking for answers," I repeated with a roll of my eyes as I followed her lead.
It was no joke when she referred to the cabin as humongous.
For it was indeed enormous and confusing as it encompassed countless rooms adorned with vintage tapestries, crystal-lit chandeliers, modern-style furniture, and exquisite paintings. The interior decoration told a tale of two contrasting times involving the incorporation of modern designs into the cabins' previously antique decorations to rejuvenate its allure.
An added flair of luxury against certain minimalist spaces, bright-coloured cushions against dark hued settees and elliptical spiral stairs leading to baroque themed hallways with framed artistic paintings lining the walls, created a juxtaposition of designs that contributed equally to the cabins resplendent beauty.
"And exactly where are we to find these answers, oh great wise one?" she implored, mockingly, before turning back to face me. "Is it in the charming paintings of old?" she pointed to one painting among the numerous ones, hanging off the wall. "Or do you reckon these twinkling chandeliers hold the key to your puzzles?" she was now walking backwards, motioning to the dazzlingly light pieces above her.
"Aren't you curious about the things that are actually happening in this pack?" I interrupted. "First off, Aryn asks me to stay for a month, stating that I would soon find out the reason he actually sought the white-wolf power box in the first place. Then all of a sudden, he's not in the pack anymore but on an expedition, that I have no idea about and then the bizarre regressing lycanthrope phenomena pops up," I recounted all the confusing events that had occurred up until now. "Star's not even in the pack as well. Maybe she followed him on the expedition," I added, not understanding why Aryn would disclose the intricacies of his trip to her but not me.
An all too familiar emotion thrummed steadily within me, feeding off my insecurity and I fought to quell its existence. Thinking back to the interactions that I had witnessed between Aryn and Star, it was clear that they were remarkably close friends.
Also, considering the scientific and mathematical knowledge that Star possessed, it was plausible that she was needed on the expedition. In addition, I didn't even have the right to get jealous when my heart was torn between him and Rae.
"Then Roy's your best bet in having those questions answered," Zena reasoned, still walking backwards. "Not some aimless walk around the cabin," she turned around with a motion to our surroundings and kept on walking.
"Roy's been tight-lipped on what he knows," I sighed, frustratedly. "And I'm above threatening to burn his arms and legs off if he doesn't tell me all he knows," I traced the lining of one painting with my finger and noticed just how clean it was. Cleanliness was sure a priority in this cabin.
"I'm not," she replied with a shrug. "Shall we go and scare him senseless?" she asked, craning her neck to smirk, mischievously, at me.
"No," I deadpanned, and she sulked.
"It's sure better than this boring visual history class," she muttered before stopping, abruptly, to turn back at me. "But you do know that we won't find any answers by just walking around," she emphasized with an akimbo stance and a quirked eyebrow.
"Of course not," I shoved her playfully and she made a noise of protest, low in her throat. "We're looking for a library. I'm sure they'll have past writings of some sorts and history on the lives of our forefathers before the separation era," I explained, and she yawned, disinterestedly, and mouthed 'meh'. "Come on," I encouraged with a petulant stamp of my feet.
"Threatening to burn Roy's legs is still a far better option if you asked me," she checked her nails and walked on anyway. "Because this plan to find more information through literary reading reminds me of a certain, sneaky person," she murmured, referring to the last time Measer Fern had outsmarted us by tucking the book under his toga.
I laughed silently at her response and together we trudged on with the intent to find the cabins' library. Lloyd had referred to its existence in one of our conversations and I was positive that I'd find at least some details about the werewolf clans in this world and the separation era. As for the regressing lycanthrope gene and Aryn's mysterious trip, prying information from Roy was a much more arduous task than getting a horse to drink water from a stream, and so my only option was to wait for Aryn's return. Whenever that'll be.
Zena and I passed and opened many doors, but none had revealed the interiors of a library and I was starting to regret not taking Kiba up on his offer to accompany me. At least he would keep quiet and be very much observant as opposed to Zena who made it her life's mission to remind me every few minutes that turning the heat up on Roy, literally, was the easiest way to get answers. Instead, I had bequeathed him the role of being a spectator to Dina's baking for the time being as Lloyd and Roy rushed off to perform their pack duties.
I just felt this instant urge to protect Dina even if we were on pack land. Especially after learning about her condition and I was sure Kiba agreed as well because despite his first loyalty being to me, I noticed the relief in his eyes when I had suggested that he stayed behind with Dina. The cheeky, little, teenager had grown on him and the same went for Zena and me.
"Sky Lordians let this be a library please," Zena's statement drew me from my internal musings, and I looked in her direction, in time to catch her movements as she opened the rustic oak door, slowly. We were now at the end of a long stretchy passage at the east wing on the highest floor of the three-storey cabin. "Is it a library?" she asked with closed eyes as we faced the now opened door.
Inside was the largest library I had ever seen. Rows of books lined the numerous shelves that were placed closely together so that they formed a spiral circular shape that lined the four walls of the library. Due to the shelves imposing height, easier access was granted either through the stairs that stopped at the second level or the tall ladder that rested against the bookshelves. There were a few comfy-looking furniture's placed sparsely on an oriental rug and single arabesque hanging lamps with stained glass dropped from the ceiling.
"Is it?" Zena repeated with a whine and I snapped out of my trance.
"See for yourself," I breathed, walking into the library, and towards a bookshelf. Her soft gasp was an indication that she had opened her eyes and seen for herself what had enthralled me.
"Are you sure what we had back at our pack was a library and not a clownery of what it's supposed to be?" Zena snorted, picking a book off the shelf, and blowing on it to rid it of the dust particles.
"That's not nice," I reprimanded, stifling a smile. "Besides this library is more like a container for books, they all look like they haven't been touched in years," I held up my dusty fingers to emphasize my point.
"It's quite stuffy in here, yes, but it's more stylish than ours," she countered, opening up the windows a slight fraction to let the cool air in.
"Whatever you say Zenito," I giggled, knowing quite well that she hated the childhood pet name.
"Please don't call me that," she shivered in sheer disgust and I laughed, loudly, at her discomfort.
I turned back to rummaging through the numerous books that lined the shelves of the library, reading anything that caught my fancy while Zena finally settled, cross-legged on the oriental rug, by a small area after she had lighted the overhead arabesque hanging lamps with different coloured fire balls. The fireballs swirled and danced energetically in their enclosure in time to the repressed musical notes that emanated from her plugged earpiece.
Lloyd had gotten Zena, Kiba and I smartphones and while Kiba and I had trouble adapting to the foreign device, Zena had breezed through the electronic maneuverers and complexities of the device with ease. I watched her, silently, for a while as she focused intently on a book that had snared her attention, her dark, long tresses flowed down to touch the page of the book and she had to move it away, intermittently, to be able to see the books' lettering. She was such a cutie when she was focused.
Turning away from her, I climbed up the movable stairs and noticed a huge book with a family's crest embedded on it, hidden deep within the bookshelf. The jewelled encrustment on the book had caught my eyes and if not for them, I would never have seen it. I pulled it out and airlifting myself with the book resting in the crook of my arm, I set myself down on the floor and placed the book, heavily, on the wooden panels.
"Airians..." Zena muttered with her eyes still on the book. ".... always showing off, the whole lot of them," she tutted, and I laughed.
"It's the air in us. It just has to be released and left to flow," I replied and traced the family crust with my fingers.
The resplendent shield was beautified with the hues of royal purple and black with a claw mark entrenched in its structure. On its crest sat a crowned half-wolf and half-man with facial features positioned in a menacing snarl, scars added to its haunting allure and its iridescent, electrifying, blue eyes stared back unfazed.
As I got acquainted with the paintings of Aryns' predecessor's, I noticed that they all bore the characteristic, blue, cold orbs that held you under their enchanting spell. The muscled wolves, one being male and the other female, which supported the shield at the sides bore equally ominous expressions and below the shield, just under the wreath, lay the calligraphic writings of a foreign language that I couldn't decipher. It looked oddly similar to the writings in Measer Ferns' books of prophecies. The language of the Sky Lordians, he called it.
I finally opened the book which was an accumulation of the different journal entries of individuals in the Vasquez linage and with each page turn, I learnt of the history of the Black Moon pack. There were tales of love, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, clan clashes, rouge attacks and victories. However, among these conquests, their win at the devastating chain war against the other four clans and begins called Jerlions was the most celebrated.
The book had little information about the mystical begins and I made a mental note to ask Aryn to explain more on them. Apart from the obvious success, the tale also hinted at the fact that the pack had suffered a great loss at the war but nothing more was revealed, almost as if the person who had been writing the entry had stopped, indefinitely. I yearned to learn more but there was only so much an array of blank pages could offer as information. The separation era was also documented, however, the different perspectives on the subject matter made it difficult to ascertain exactly what had happened and why. Consequently, there was no success in that respect.
White wolves just upped and left but why? Were they treated badly? Did they have their own pack apart from their relations with Alpha Kali's pack? And why was it recorded that there were minute numbers of our race?
My absentminded page flipping stopped when the papers got heavy and I looked down to see that someone had stuck a few pictures on the papers. The coloured pictures were fairly new, depicting the timeframe of a family of five. One picture illustrated the love that shone in the exquisite smile of an olive-skinned lady who looked up at her brown-haired mate who bore striking resemblance to Aryn.
His chiselled jawline complimented the easy-going smile that lined his features as he stared down at the cherry-red lips of his stunning partner who was enclosed in his warm embrace. They were both dressed in a pair of dark-coloured turtlenecks with their backdrop being the magical lake that Aryn had shown me during our walk into the forest.
In the next picture, the lady who was reminiscent of Dina, cradled a new-born bundle, with a mass of blonde curls, in the crook of her arm with her brown-haired mate hugging her and the baby from behind.
Subsequent pictures illustrated the growth of the blonde-haired, chestnut-coloured eyed baby into a young child with a new cute, chubby, blue-eyed addition, who was undoubtedly Aryn, by his side. It now became apparent that the blonde boy was Aryns' elder brother, Liam.
There were lots of pictures with their parents and friends. I sighted a young Star and Roy with other children that I couldn't name. Towards the end of the large book, there were a few pictures of Dina when she was a baby with her olive-skinned mother but that was where it all ended. No newer pictures graced the books' crisp-white papers.
My eyes wandered from the book and I wondered why I had never met Aryns' parents. I had never heard anyone talk about them either and when I had asked Aryn he had evaded my probes to learn more about him and his family. It was as if they had died.
My sights fell on Zena and I noticed that she had dozed off on the rug. I got up slowly, stretched lightly and air-lifted the book back into its original position. Moving closer to her, I pried the book, gently, from her fingers and removed her earpiece then with great concentration, I air-lifted her so that she levitated above me as I moved to a comfortable settee where I placed her so that she could sleep better.
I walked out of the library with the intent to stroll along the corridor to bring back the rush of blood that my legs had been deprived, owing to my prolonged cross-legged position. Reaching the far end just opposite a balcony which I walked into, I leant against the railings and with my eyes closed, relished in the frigid air that blew against my face. Lloyd had said that winter was coming, I guess it was here now.
A slight shift to my side drew my attention to a new presence. I was sure it wasn't Zena or someone I knew for the scent was much different. It held the undertones of power and authority as well as the repressed testosterone filled, musky scent of oud wood and pine leaves.
"She loved chilly days as well, you know?" the quiet, deep voice stated, and I turned my head slowly to regard this unknown presence.
His brown hair was white at the temples with an aged, chiselled face of ancient wisdom and valour. He gave off an unkept aurora which was reflected in the full long beard that flowed unrestrained down his chest and sighting his fingers, I noticed that they were extremely long.
His dark, overflowing robe dwarfed his slight figure and I found it hard to believe that I was standing face-to-face with the former Alpha of the Black moon pack, the handsome, powerful, man in the picture. Aryns' father. His youthful virility had withered away to leave behind a sunken, encasing of the man he once was.
"She always said it was the perfect weather for strolling," he continued, staring into the distance. "I disagreed with that reasoning. Still do," his dull, blue eyes lit up momentarily at the distance memory and he sighed deeply.
"I'm not a fan of the chilly weather as well," I chuckled, lightly, and he turned towards me for the first time with a confused expression.
"And you would be?" he asked, squinting at me with a distrusted expression. I caught the strong whiff of alcohol emanating from him and I noticed that he could be inebriated. But why? Where did the man materialise from, anyway?
"Ahm we haven't met yet but I'm Yil. Aryn's..." I started with an uneasy smile, but he cut me off.
"What kind of name is Yil?" he scrunched up his face, disapprovingly. "Children nowadays just be adopting weird names," he tutted, and I repressed the urge to laugh at his expression. I took no offence that he found my name weird, after all he wasn't enlightened on my origin and so it was expected.
"It means cherished one," I explained with a small smile. My parents had told me the meaning but, unfortunately, that was as far as my knowledge of the ancient language went.
"Still sounds weird," he re-emphasized, eyeing my appearance. "But you compensate for that with your fine features. At least out of Aryn's floozies you seem to be the most sophisticated," he added, nodding slightly with a curved lip. He totally lost me at floozies. "There was the cheap bimbo, Trina or Twinkle, something along that line...." he scratched his chin in concentration and I filled in the blank spaces in his mind.
"Tina," I offered, and he backed away, slightly repulsed. Looks like I wasn't the only one who didn't like that blonde she-wolf.
"Yeah that one," he nodded. "But Star's a sweetheart," he appraised. "Just like my Arielle," the glazed, faraway look coloured his vision once more and I was convinced that he didn't register the magnificent sights that lined the horizon but his faraway memories involving a certain Arielle.
I sought to understand why Aryn's father was in such a state and so I steered the conversation in the direction of this unknown person.
"She was an angel, I'm presuming," I noted.
"An angel who loved chilly winter nights and peonies a little too much," he chuckled, the carefree gesture sounded like it hadn't been released in years as the side of his eyes crinkled in pure bliss.
"I have a friend who loves peonies a little too much as well," I said, referring to Rae and I felt a twinge in my heart. I couldn't deny the fact that I missed him terribly.
"I had to travel so far to get her some you know," he laughed, softly. "She could sing beautifully as well and was a darn good cook just like my little jewel, Dina,"
The old Alpha and I sighed deeply in unison at our blissful reminisce. I was still confused as to who he referred to, but I was betting that it was his mate, the lady in the picture and mother of his children.
"Where is she now?" I asked, absentmindedly, relaxing into the soft conversation between us. There was a moment of silence and looking back at him, I understood why.
His features had darkened, momentarily, and his eyes burned with resentment and hurt. Surely, I had asked the wrong question.
"Why don't you ask the Sky Lordians, white-wolf," he retorted, angrily, and I was taken aback firstly by his tone of voice and secondly, by the fact that he knew I was a white-wolf. "Your kind is said to be close to them, so why don't you do me the favour of finding that out," he added, his fingers were jittering uncontrollable now and reaching into his robe pocket he brought out a stainless, steel hip flask and downed it hurriedly. "Those bastards stole my most precious gift from me, and you have the audacity to ask me where she is?" he snarled, backing away.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," I apologised, hurriedly, but he brandished his flask at me, signalling that I shouldn't near him. My apology sickened him; he didn't want to hear it.
It was even much more saddening that an Alpha who could snap me into two with the sheer strength of his hands had resulted in protecting himself from a non-threat with a measly flask. I hated to think of whether he'd be able to defend himself from a real threat.
"What's sorry going to do huh? Will it bring her back," he questioned with a cracked voice of pain as he stopped momentarily a few paces from where I stood.
Looking into the old Alphas' dead eyes, I could understand now why Aryn was reluctant to disclose anything about his family. It had been torn apart by a pain so great, it was unfathomable.
"Thought so," he added, quietly, when I didn't reply and with a slow turn faced the opposite direction, towards the balcony's entrance. "Don't ever come here again. This is my sanctuary, and I won't have some white-haired she-wolf running all over the place," he added with his back still turned to me.
I nodded silently even though he couldn't see me and as I watched the old Alpha trudge back into his quarters, I understood now the greatest loss that the Black moon pack had suffered at the Chain war. The death of its Luna.
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