[53] Wait-III

The valley looks mesmerizing today.

After two months of hot summer, I finally felt the cold winds soothing my skin. The houses built of black bricks look radiant surrounded by the lush green sceneries of mountains.

The evening has just started. My sisters have returned from the temple. The full moon was just five days ago.

Mother always take their stays as an opportunity to bring us to the lush sceneries of northern grounds. She would ask the Aunts and their pups to join us.

Pups would play with the sisters. The grown ones like me would lay a little away to make the most of the break from fields work.

We worked hard this past year. Father taught us to understand the different tasks we must complete and take care of to keep the pack going. From keeping a check on farming to making clothes and furnitures. From cutting woods to planting more trees around the territory. From doing labour for the males who were building houses for their future mates.

The only tasks he wouldn't involve us with were patrolling around the borders and towards the high mountains.

Uncles are working around, marking the plots to assign them for the families around the pack. They also train us to fight and practice some tricks until we would shift and practice them ourselves.

I am lagging behind at it. Oskar does better and Anton loves fighting. I am practicing hard in the morning but I still need to do more. I want to understand the tricks and fights, be so good at them, enough to make my brothers look at me the way they look at each other. With respect.

For now, they pat my head like I am still a little pup. I am grateful, Lysar is the youngest now. He distracts them from treating me like an infant.

"Thinking of a mate!" Oskar punches my shoulder while lying beside me on the ground.

I sigh. "I don't want one."

He chuckles. "I doubt it. It looks as if you can't wait to find one." He hums. "I know. I know. This age is difficult. We are told to do all the uninteresting labour work. We are building our strengths, morals, getting taught at every step. Whoever looks at us, gives that smile that says, Ah! You feel it. We felt it too. It's that age. Of learning. Growing. I hate it."

I blink.

"I am not tired of working. I am not tired of getting orders. This is how it is going to be," I say. He hums in agreement. "Younger brothers are meant to follow the orders. Not even the same routine hurts me. It's the dullness that depresses. Whenever I get happy, I feel as if it is for some time. Soon, I would be sad again."

Oskar glances at me. "Your sisters are laughing. Your mother is seeing her family growing. She has her grand pups. There is no reason to be sad about, Karam. Salome says, if we keep going, Goddess will reward us. And I believe him. I never saw him complaining about anything. He never disrespected anyone. Never eyed any female."

A cloud is shaped like a female. I can make out the side look. The hair. The nose.

"It didn't impress Natasha's brothers." I mock him.

Oskar smiles. "They are thankful it is him. They are just bitter about the life they are given by the Goddess."

The female in the sky is getting away with the Eastern winds.

"Salome says, Natasha is more than what he expected. He never stops praising her," he says quietly. "Maybe, there is a difference between the wolves of our land and the wolves behind the border."

Both our heads raise in the sky as the sharp pain explodes in our stomach. The sweet drink that mother had made for everyone, nearly reached my throat, ready to burp out.

I grab the laughing pup while tickling him hard. Lysar lets out sharp giggles at my painful groan.

From nowhere comes a flying Adam, hitting the foot right at Oskar's head, making him yelp.

If that wasn't enough, Tara jumps on my shoulder and covers my eyes with her chubby hands.

Anton's scent hits my nostrils. I hear him laughing at Oskar's groans.

"You little paws!" He yells while I put one hand on the back and pulls her to fall ahead on my lap.

Tara rolls ahead on the ground with Lysar. Both laughs at my messy hair.

Oskar is already chasing screeching Anton and Adam around. He looks funny when he is mad. Anton looks the funniest when he is scared. Adam had a talent of doing everything with a straight face. Even if it includes getting chased by a mad Oskar.

Before I can grab on to both these giggling balls, two hands grab both my ears.

I wince and sigh at the spot.

"You have grown. Haven't you?" Both the sisters speak at the same times.

"Ahh!" I gasp when sister Miggy twists it more. "I heard you went to the lake. I see what you and Oskar been watching there."

"No! I didn't!" I say as my cheeks turn warm immediately. "It was one time. We were washing clothes. . . We didn't know there were mates around the area. I didn't see anything."

"Liar!" Sister Lucine twists my left ear. "Growing up means you wouldn't even come talk to us."

"Not a pup anymore?" Miggy leaves my ear and pinches my muscled forearm.

That nearly took all of my breathes.

Lucine ruffles my hair more. "Forgot us already."

I rub my free ears and smile at them. Both sits down on the grass in front of me. Miggy pulls Lysar closer to her, Lucine pulls Tara in her lap.

"Never." I have to calm my emotions.

Both look big females as elder as Amelia and Nysa look. The young playful females are gone. My sisters look wise.

They arrive every month. But this time, sister Miggy looks sadder than I have ever seen her. Her eyes has circles under them. Her face has sharpened. She has gotten weaker. It is only their long untied hair that makes them alive.

Sister Lucine is good at not showing her pain. She smiles more than anyone would in her place. She still hasn't smelled him and it saddens me. Her yellow eyes don't hold those happy dreams anymore.

Sister Miggy's eyes do not even have life in them. She pretends for our sake.

"Nysa told me you have gotten quiet these past months," says Lucine. She is making high buns of Tara two braids.

Miggy turns serious. "Is the work too much? Or these pups bother you?"

My smile is tight when I say, "I enjoy the work. And no. They don't."

Tara blinks her innocent eyes while Lysar controls a goofy smile. They have turned eleven and eight this summer. They still look like infants to me.

"It looks dull. But it will soon get colorful, slowly." Lucine says, giving me a nod. "Once you shift, you will run around and find the beauty of this land. For the time being, it must have felt you are working. Yet you are reaching nowhere. But this helps. This time is passing slowly. But it is helping you find yourself."

Sister Miggy smiles sadly. "Of all the pups, I don't want you to turn directionless. If you do not like anything, speak it out. Just like you stood for us that day. Do not be like us," she says and it breaks my heart.

My eyes lower and I take a long breath.

Mother calls out for Tara and Lysar. Both get up and run far towards the carpet where she is sitting with aunts, like there is no tomorrow.

"Do you enjoy there at the temple?" I ask the question that I couldn't all these years.

They hesitate. Lucine answers, "We do. Severa is kind. She understands us. The more I learn about her, the more she makes me feel safe."

"The more I learn what happened to her, the more I hate our ancestors," says Miggy, turning the direction of the air.

I look up at the sky. The female is gone.

"What happened to her?" I ask.

Both exchange a look and shake their head together at me. "The border, of course."

They want to mention their rising hatred towards our father and brothers and uncles. But they don't. Because deep inside, we cannot not love our family.

"Amelia and Nysa? How are they?" Lucine asks and my eyes move to the carpet on the other side under a different tree. Their infants are sleeping and thus, they are resting.

"Amelia is good. Nysa is turning strange slowly." I tell them in a whisper.

It makes them sad. They lower their eyes.

"I don't like the way the things are," says Miggy lowly. "I wish I could change everything."

"We heard, Father turned angry when Nysa shifted for a run during the day," says Lucine with wide curious eyes. "That is mean."

I nod. "The word has spread around. No wolf is allowed to shift in the day unless it is the first shift. The nights are the only time they are allowed. She was turning suspicious day by day. She was running around the western border. It really scared Robin."

Miggy chuckles briefly in sadness. "It is so their thick scents won't reach the border. Father is clever. The packs would know that their brides and brothers are alive."

"Enough," says Lucine while putting hand on her twin's shoulder. "He does everything to keep the legacy on and protects the pack. He is helpless."

Sister Miggy looks in my eyes. "He does not respect Severa. He does nothing to crush that border. All he cares is about the legacy to continue. The legacy of arrogant Lycan males."

"Why don't you say it on his face?" I ask her.

Miggy blinks. "Because he is my father. It will cost me my life to raise voice against his beast. I wouldn't even care to die. But I first want to see the happiness on your face when you smell the scent of your mate. You, Tara and Lysar. I want to see King turning the Alpha too."

The thought makes me raise my eyebrows. It will be such an occasion.

"I want to see Amelia turning into a Luna. She wants it badly," says Lucine, letting out a chuckle. "She always looks like she is holding back scolding. Once she becomes the Luna, she will release it all. Even on our father."

"She will be great. But might not be as soft as mother is," I say while looking around.

"Father!" Tara squeals as for real, Father appears. He looks cleaned and walks towards Mother.

The Aunts gets up to meet their mates. Uncle Radu skips the pups and steals a long kiss from Aunt Rose.

I look away. Sisters get up and walk towards father.

Kingston and Robin too reach mother's carpet with their pups in their arms. Amelia and Nysa follow them.

"Lucine, did you notice Tara speaks clearly now?" Father jokes while leaning on his elbow. "Call your brother."

Tara giggles before speaking, "Lobin!"

Everyone chuckles while Robin opens her braid buns with a smile.

"Miggy looks she is planning to kill me," says Father while shifting the collar of his shirt to show his neck. "Try."

Miggy looks at father, reads the unsaid apologies and helplessness in his eyes. "I sure will."

"Careful," jokes Uncle Radu. "If you are unable to rip the veins. You might end up seeing the processes of how they made your brothers and sisters."

Lucine hits uncle Radu's arms. "Urgh! ... Uncle, shut that mouth." She scolds him like a mother.

Mother blushes, chuckles and opens the big vessel full of meat she had cooked in the afternoon.

Everyone starts picking up the pieces as if this is their last bite of the life.

Father turns his head and looks at me. "Ya! You want me to throw the piece right in your mouth?"

He looks cheerful today. The weather does it to our hearts. Doesn't it?

I like to lurk around the limits when he turns soft. So, I lean back to rest my hands against the grass. My smug smile irritates him.

Father picks up one piece and throws it my way.

I open my mouth and grab it.

Cheers erupt as I chew the food. They call me again. But I enjoy it here. It is not everyday, I see the whole family laughing together.

This view will give me smiles in the sad times.

Father puts a morsel in Nysa's mouth. She turns emotional and only thanks him politely. I wonder, how he would behave with my mate. Would she be a rebel or obedient enough to earn fatherly love from him?

He puts another in Amelia's mouth, not before touching the gravy on her nose.

Mother laughs. He puts one in her mouth. She chews and picks up morsel for him. She jokes, "Where do I put it? I don't see your mouth under that bush."

I chuckle and breathe out. I wish for everyday to be like this.

"Barald!" Uncle Armedyl yells while waving his hand in greeting.

"Valeria!" Mother calls out with a smile.

The scents of four more reach my nostrils. My teeth turns weak in the discomfort.

Rosetta tries to play with me even when we are not the little pups anymore. She behaves different with me. She hits Oskar and Anton. But she turns soft and smiles funny at me. It churns my stomach. It doesn't feel right.

I get up and think of a way to ignore her.

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My nostrils flared in slight anger.

My mind was full of these memories. They all had flashed like a quick series when the canines had sunk into my neck.

My eyes twitched shut as the glimpses of that night and the pain brought shivers against my spine.

The heat was going away slowly.

I still felt weak.

After cleaning myself, Nysa had helped me sit back on the bed. Amelia had changed the bedsheets and had left to wash the dirty ones. Alvena came to deliver a plate of vegetarian meal for me.

I wasn't hungry at all. She fed me two morsels and I couldn't eat anymore.

I didn't say anything when she kept requesting for me to eat.

My tears wouldn't stop sliding from my eyes. I didn't say a word.

She put the covered plate on the table near my bed and left quietly.

The door was closed. The candle was lit on the other side.

It felt as if the early days here had returned again. Same agony. Same kind of disappointment at fate. Same kind of hurt. Betrayal. Self-pitying.

The only difference was that the females weren't forcing on me. Amelia had returned with a glass of hot milk, asking me to drink it to earn strength. I didn't move or say anything.

I was too upset to say anything. I was too lost in replaying and understanding these memories.

She took the cold untouched food and milk away with a sigh. But not before correcting the fur on me, putting a glass of water on my side and closing the door after her.

She put the canopy curtain down so I could feel cosy and comfortable alone.

I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to be with Gran.

The bandage around my neck was a soft white cloth, smelling of some medicinal herb. It was soothing. But I could only imagine the worst of how my neck would look like without it.

Who knew if he even took chunks of meat from my neck? He looked so angry. So upset. So infuriated. So hungry to keep me caged. And he won.

The tears slid down my eye down to the pillow. I raised the hand slowly to wipe it. It took all of my strength to put my hand back on the bed.

The cold soothing air from the window helped me relax physically. But there was a lot going on in my heart and mind.

The eyelids turned heavy quicker than I had thought.

As if my eyes wanted to see his world through his eyes again and again.

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Our brother looks like a God.

The crown full of feathers, the thick furry coat, the art drawn on his bare chest-make him look supreme than any of us.

It is not just the sight. It is also the aura we feel.

He is radiating power. He is glowing. His gaze holds the red and golden glow together as he smiles when father completes the rituals with him.

We hold our breaths when he turns around from the fire and raises brother's arm.

"Alpha Kingston of the Lycans!"

The shouts and cheers erupt. The males and the females, we all howl as loud as we can and bow for him.

My heart swells in pride. Father looks happy. He cannot stop hugging my brother.

Mother completes her rituals with Amelia too. The Aunts help her as they put the crown of feathers on her head. She raised her arm and yells, "Luna Amelia of the Lycans!"

We all laugh as Kingston howls along with us.

The feast is bigger than I had imagined. Everyone has brought food. Everyone is sharing wine. Everyone is delighted.

This is the occasion that comes after a long time. It is a bitter sweet feeling for every member of the pack. We miss the old Alpha and welcome the new one.

Amelia looks like the Goddess in the thick furry coat. Both her and King sit on their big wooden chairs on the wooden stage.

Father and mother join us, the rest of the pack, to enjoy the feast.

We dance. Drunk uncle's keep bowing and making jokes for the couple. The Aunts keep showering praises for Amelia.

Mother looks amused by the happiness that is swirling around. She is content.

I was only dancing with the brothers when my eyes fall on Uncle Radu looking angry. Uncle Armedyl tries to put hand on his shoulder to calm him. But he only says something to father that makes him sigh.

I walk away from the drums and hear the words. He is complaining about the dirt colonies again. They didn't arrive. They didn't come to greet the new Alpha. As a member, as the resident they should have arrived.

"Even if they don't want to bow, they could have just smiled at us." Uncle Radu complains.

Salome stands a little away from them and hears everything. He looks disappointed too. But he won't complain a bit to Natasha. He stays that way. He stays peaceful and spreads peace around. That is how he is.

I wonder what depth of anger will trigger his beast. He never riles up. I learn from him.

My heart starts sinking all of a sudden. I look around and find Mother covering her chest too. Tara who was playing with little Amelia suddenly gives her back to Amelia.

Kingston gets up with narrowed eyes.

The drums stop being beaten. Everyone stops dancing.

My eyes look around for father. It is Robin who points at the crowd to stop singing.

Lysar runs up to me and grabs my hand.

The sudden howl echoes around the territory.

It is not a howl of celebration. Someone is mourning.

"Miggy!" Mother cries the loudest.

We all run towards the ground behind the houses towards the West. The pack follow us.

I walk the faster and stop at the sight of Lucine sitting near Miggy at the edge of the dense forest touching the open ground.

I hear only one heart beating. My heart almost stops too.

The cries erupt from each one of us.

"Miggy! Miggy!" Father shakes her corpse.

Mother looks blank herself. She tries to sniff. But my sister has started to smell like a corpse would. She smells of death.

My eyes burn with thick tears. Her eyes are closed. Her face looks white. Her lips are turning blue.

My lips tremble. My legs shake.

Our eyes move at her sitting five steps away from the corpse. Her yellow eyes are at the ground, holding nothingness in them.

"You saw something." Beta Barald comes forward to ask Lucine.

Father is still rubbing Miggy's hands. Mother smells her hair while her sobs nearly choke her.

"You told her something," says Beta Barald while Lysar wraps his arm around me, sobbing softly.

Tara is crying softly, a step away from the corpse, being hugged by Aunt Pola.

"She can see more than any of us," says Beta Barald, while looking at my father. "Just like your aunt, Kai."

"What did you tell her?" Uncle Armedyl asks calmly.

Lucine cries softly, her eyes don't move off the ground. "I didn't do it knowingly. She grabbed my hand and I saw her mate. . ."

Mother gasps and my heart drowns in a fear.

". . . I saw her mate collapsing. Dying," she whispers.

Robin stiffens. I know why. Mother would always ask us throughout our young ears if we could see beyond. We never understood what she meant.

Now we did.

"He was gone years ago," says the sister who lost her twin. They have been together their whole lives. How would she live alone without Miggy?

Mother lets out loud cries and hugs Miggy to her chest.

"The temple taught you this!" Kingston growls. It is a bad omen for an Alpha to witness the death of a member before the birth of a member after holding the title. "Everyone called her insane. But it was you! It was you!"

Lucine flinches.

I step forward but she answers, "I wish it could have been me instead of her. I didn't want to hurt her. My mouth worked on its own."

Kingston growls angrily.

Father looks at her. "How did she. . ." His voice cracks.

An Alpha's voice cracks. I never heard him crying. I never saw him this weak for someone. I never knew he could cry. I never knew he could feel pain.

"Her heart stopped," says Lucine while giving the dead eye.

Kingston steps ahead and grabs her arm. He drags her on the ground. "You killed our sister just by your words. I always knew you were evil!"

The lightning struck hard in the sky.

I looked up in the dark sky. The stars were gone.

I looked back at the sister and my heart almost jumped in fright.

Her yellow eyes were wide open at Kingston's back, looking up at him.

"I see the brothers collapsing too," she says and King stops immediately.

My heart freezes and everyone gasps.

Mother looks at her daughter as if she has seen a ghost. As if she looks like someone she used to be scared of.

"A bad omen is a sign,

how will be my brother's reign,"

Lucine chuckles while her eyes stays wide open.

I rub the goosebumps against my skin.

She continues.

"Her suffering, the pack knows.

Births will be the deaths, she shows.

The legacy continues, no one cares,

Alpha, a myth, She rules, she declares!"

"Lucine!" Father growls angrily.

He gets up. My heart jumps in shock. His eyes hold the red. His claws are out when he raises hand to hit her.

Lucine turns her head to look at him. She laughs and it scares us all.

"Severa! Severa!

You will look for her!" She tells our father. Her eerie laughter fades. The wind turns loud.

"Break the legacy, it will be too late.

You will cry the tears of fate.

Severa's mother was a mystic, mine is too.

Her brothers were fools, mine are too.

Miggy died just like her, the history repeats!

The border doesn't break. Every Lycan cheats!"

She sobs and shakes her head. Her lips tremble.

"She doesn't talk to me!" Father growl. Tears leave his eyes as he yells, "She doesn't show the place to me!"

Lucine raises her head to look at him.

"Seek the truth and you will find her soul.

Seek an escape, she won't hear your call

Ronyn is gone, so will be you," she tells our father while looking in his eyes.

She turns her head and looks up at Kingston who doesn't move.

"Another Luna dies caged, you will be gone too."

Kingston leaves her hand in shock and steps back.

Lucine's head lowers.

"Severa has possessed her?" Aunt Rose guesses.

Beta Barald shakes his head. "Severa has find the new chieftain."

"No!" Mother shakes her head in horror. "No! That temple! My daughters! No! My mate! Save them! Severa!" Mother sobs while looking around. "Don't do this! Don't kill my daughters!"

"She needs to be killed. Severa will use her against us." Aunt Rose says, studying Lucine's head hanging low as if she was drunk.

My heart shakes in shock.

"No!" I shout at her. I walk ahead and run for my sister. "Don't you dare touch my sister! Anyone!" I warn while glaring at both brother and father.

"Sister," I try to shake her shoulder.

I carry her in my arms and take her back to the house.

The crowd makes a way for me.

Sister glances back at her twin's corpse. "Miggy will find him up in the Moon," she says and I control a sob.

It finally starts sinking that she is gone.

She had wished to survive long enough to see my mate.

"Don't let the uncles leave home," she says while resting her head against my arm. "Truth lies in the hidden histories. Father lies. He has not been looking at the right place knowingly."

I stiffen and she faints.

I knew what she was talking about.

I could see the right place immediately.

She disappears from my arms and so does the rest of view. The houses gets smudged like waves of water. They disappear and the waves settles slowly to show me where I have arrived after two weeks of Miggy's death.

The scenery is vast and green. The wind is aggressive. The sky is grey. The lightning might struck soon.

The high mountain looks like another world from down here. The eight towers piercing through the clouds call out for me.

An urge to take a step back and turn around to go back to home comes strong.

But then I hear her whispering my name in my ears.

I am looking for you, Severa.

Not for escape. For the truth.

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Sharp pain jolted in my neck when I sat on the bed panting in fright.

The candle flame was out. So were my breaths.

Gasps escaped me continuously while I looked around in the dark.

"Karam," I whispered in the fear that had started to crawl my spine.

I felt scared.

So many questions were running through my mind. I wanted answers.

I also wanted to stay upset.

So, I laid back on the bed.

My heart ached in loneliness. I cried softly and hugged the pillow that he would have used if he had been here.

Despite how much hurt I was because of him, my heart could only wish for his presence to feel safe.

Even when he was the one of all who betrayed me, I could trust him only.

Even if my self respect was clawing at me inside, my heart needed his closer to keep beating.

I wished I could just cry for my loss of freedom to cross for the border.

But fate had chosen more reasons for me.

One of them was this distance that he was maintaining.

Even if he had too much of ego to not beg for forgiveness in front of me, I just wanted him to be here and see me suffering.

That's all I wanted, stuck behind this border with a Lycan mate.

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"What do you think?"

Please vote and comment.

_

I wrote this in a hurry because I wanted to wish the readers who had birthdays yesterday and today. I got more than ten messages from readers who have birthdays this week and I was endeared by it. So many Taurus people! The compassionate, cool and steadfast kind of energy right there. Happy Birthday to you guys!

I tried hard to be on time but with the tough circumstances going on, I couldn't complete it on time.

I didn't proofread. So forgive me for any errors or omissions.

Hope, you'll like it.