After much anticipation, she turned around and howled, stomping towards the woods. It doesn’t mean she has accepted them but it also doesn’t mean she rejected or intimidated by them. The other 3 howls delighted and followed her to the woods.
Her palms wholly embrace the mother earth with each step, her eye looked forward in full confidence, ignoring the other wolfs around her that kept gazing at her. She loved mother nature–the wind rippling through her fur, the soft cushion of forest floor imprinted by her paw and the scent of grass mix dirt, the cool temperature of the night, the full moon and the scattered stars on pitch-black canvas, not missing the sound of nature around her– she loved everything nature has to offer.
The trio practically wasn’t looking at where they were heading, blindly followed the silver wolf. She headed straight up a mountain, deep in the forest. A small body of water, pooled in the middle of the rocky mountain, like a large hole, and rainwater formed narrow streams that eventually filled up the hole. She must have been very familiar with the mountain since she head straight to the waterbody and dipped herself in it. The trios slowed to stop and lay down, snouts on their palms, mesmerized at Selena. Wolves are supposed to be admiring the moon on a full moon night, for example, tonight but Selena stole the spotlight. She swam happily in the water, dipping her head down from time to time. After a while, she came out and shook her body to dry herself, away from the others. She then started climbing up the rocks and rested herself on a flat surface about 100 meters above the others. She looked up at the moon with great admiration as the moonlight bathed her, radiating at her silver coat. Orion cooed like a puppy at the view of a magnificent wolf while Grandpa Kai and Zaden couldn’t take their eyes off her. The shiny ball in the sky made her happy– happy like you just found your hidden Christmas present. She let out a howl. Zaden blinked a few times when he finally remembered the presence of the full moon and joined her, followed by the other 2.
They stayed the same for hours before Selena stood up, jumping from rock to rock and strolling away from them. They stood up as well and followed her from distance. She never paid attention to the 3 this whole time. She paced gracefully towards an empty field where she took pleasure rolling over grass, chasing after frogs and fireflies. The field leads to an opening and then to the backyard of Selena’s house. The silver wolf continued walking, eventually stopping to play with something or brushing the grass with her palm and then back again on its track. She took a leap and reached the roof of the ground floor. Another leap to enter the window of Selena’s room.
Zaden, Orion, and Grandpa Kai shifted to human form and ran to Selena’s room–naked. They slowly opened the door and saw a human figure in the darkroom, on Selena’s bed, with her arms tucked under her head as a pillow and body coiled into a fetal position, her favorite sleeping position to Zaden’s knowledge. Her skin wasn’t visible but from how smooth the curves are, it is obvious that she is also naked.
So, this is what her routine has been all these years!!! She must have been able to somehow contain or zone out or control the mind of her own wolf to never manifest itself but when it’s a full moon, her body reacts, causing a panic attack-like symptom and she consumes pills to fall asleep. Once she is asleep and loses grip of her wolf, the silver wolf comes out to play.
They shut the door slowly and turned around to see Leonardo and Aaron, frozen at the staircase.
“Is she here?” Leonardo
“Is she safe?” Aaron, both asking in chorus. The 3 exchanged looks and decided to explain to them through their mind link, an ability werewolf in pack poses, a way of communication.
Soon, they got dressed and sat down with a cup of coffee. It was 5 am in morning. They explained the core of Selena’s issue, that she is a werewolf and that she is an active gene after 5 generations or more of dormant gene, and that her mother suspected so and also about the moon birthmark.
Aaron and Leonardo were still in a frozen state when all 3 had fallen asleep on the couch itself. They had a long sleep after a beautiful full moon night, so did Selena. None bothered to wake up until it was 5pm that day. Once Selena is awake, they showed her the video proof Aaron took yesterday night and explained to her with much excitement and amusement –where they went and what she did yesterday, turning to question each other once in a while
“Did you see how her fur radiated the moonlight?” Orion to Grandpa Kai. Zaden was exceptionally quiet due to the internal battle he was facing. Selena closed her mouth with her palm as she replayed the video again and again and again. After a while, she placed down the handphone. From the corner of her eye, she can partially see Zaden staring coldly at her, waiting for her logical explanation. She didn’t have any and she was embarrassed about it. She stood up, walked past him, avoiding any contact at all, and went to Daisy’s room. She stayed there till it turned dark.
Aaron wasn’t home ever since they woke up and Leonardo is sitting on the swing silently, with his thought drifting to a few years back. Zaden noticed him but he didn’t know exactly what to say. He was hoping Selena would come to fix the situation but she didn’t as well. Finally, he got fed up with waiting for her and went to Daisy’s room. He gently knocked on the door but there was no response. He opened the door cautiously and when he saw a big lump on the bed, he smiled and walked in more comfortably.
“Are you asleep?” he sat next to the lump on the edge of the bed. A small portion of the thick duvet moved up and down, indicating ‘yes’. He grinned wide at her childish act.
“You saw the video, right?” It moved again, up and down.
“And where is your logical or scientific or psychological or common sense or…” he said in a calm voice, stretching each word, surely mocking her. She pulled down her duvet at a lightning speed as she shot up.
“OK FINE… I give up, there is no explanation on my part YET!!!” she pointed her finger at him and started talking fast without caring about her messy hair, falling to cloud her face. Zaden stretched out his hand, gently combing the hair off her face with his fingers while she kept ongoing.
“Not yet. How am I supposed to come up with an explanation within hours after finding out that I AM a werewolf? But I have a theory. You see, the dodo bird, dinosaurs are all creatures that are now extinct but proven to have lived. There are also other creatures like megalodon, the giant Kraken squid, and even mermaids that are still under controversy and… and… and… who knows, maybe they are still alive in the depth of the ocean. The werewolf must have been one of these creatures and…and…” by this time Zaden had already cleared her face and combed through her hair length. He then placed his elbow on his lap, supporting his chin with his palm, listening to Selena with a twinkle in his eye.
“and… you guys are thought” he cut off Selena’s word
“WE are thought” Zaden corrected her. She threw a piercing glance at him
“WE are thought to be mythical when you… I mean we…technically you, because I wasn’t hiding. I was living like how every human should. But you!!! You and your village, hiding in the middle of..”
“You know your rambling, right?” Zaden cut her off again. She froze for a moment while her eye flickered at the ground, thinking if this is considered rambling.
“And you know what I do to a rambling woman, right?” her eyes snapped up to him
“Choose one” he demanded while he pointed 2 fingers in front of her. She recalled the options, either a tight slap or a kiss, and she didn’t want either. She bites down her lips as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and swallowed her saliva.
” Good girl” He retrieved his finger with a gentleman smile
“Now, you had a warning from us days ago that you are a werewolf and still, you are shocked and apparently, losing your mind. Can you imagine how your father and brother would be right now?” she dropped her head down while fiddling with the duvet.
“Exactly!!! You have no idea. Who do you think can comfort and coax them, me? Orion? Or Grandpa Kai?” he asked her with now a stern expression and a frown. It made Selena feel a burn in the mid of her chest. He then stood up, pulled away from her duvet, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her behind him till they reached the front door.
He came to a stop, pulling Selena forward, past him, making her stop exactly behind the door. She looked back at Zaden for assurance and he winked at her. She know what she had to do and peeped her head out of the door frame, with a wide eye filled with fear. Leonardo noticed and turned to look at her. There was a moment of silence.
“Dad…do you hate me?…” deep inside, she had the fear of rejection. All of a sudden, another head peeped above hers. It was Zaden and he mouthed ‘Please’ to Leonardo. Leonardo stretched his hand towards her and wiggled his fingers, signaling her to come. She walked slowly towards him. He pulled her arms to sit on his lap before sighed out low.
“Daisy and I meet when we were working at an ice factory and fell in love, instantly clicking. I believe she told you this…but what she didn’t tell you, is that I was a school dropout, a gangster, and a bad-tempered man. She changed me in all ways possible but my temper persisted. Until, one day, in a hospital room, she handed me a little thing, wrapped in a yellow towel. It was a baby girl, hands soft as peeled and roasted potato, skin so fair that it turned red when you cried and the eye that could bring the whole world to their knees.” He chuckles while fiddling with Selena’s fingers.
“Who am I? A poor, 6-foot man who grew up in an orphanage. I kneeled in front of you, not once but almost every day when you stretch your hands up, demanding to be picked up. You had pooped, peeped, and threw up on me. You have even hit me with a stone you found by the roadside because I refused to buy ice cream.” Now, even Zaden was laughing behind the door. Selena chuckled as well but a drop of tear collected on the corner of her eye.
“Such a naughty brat you were. I had no choice other than to submit to you and never lost my temper anymore. Due to that, my boss promoted me to work with customers and we managed to save a lot of money. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted my baby Bambi to be treated like a princess, so I went to your mother and told her I wanted to start a business. She asked me what I can do? Filthy mouth, I had to answered ‘ I can make coffee'” Leonardo smacked his own forehead.
” She opened a café with breakfast and lunch. The 2 women in my life, steered me to what I am now and I consider myself to be very lucky” he went silent for a minute
“Selena, I am not filthy rich or highly educated yet I am the king of the world because of you two. So, I don’t care if you are a wolf or a Bambi, all I want is for you to be happy. If I can endure you working in that zoo and return home stinking shit, I can endure this too” Selena punched his chest before resting her head on his shoulder. Those last world shot arrows to Zaden’s heart.
“So, I am basically worthless–unwanted– accident and so on?” Aaron walked from the yard towards them. He had been waiting by the corner for them to finish.
“Hey there little fox!!!” he teased Selena as he ruffled her hair, earning a tongue out from her. It’s weird how he still had the audacity to call her LITTLE FOX after seeing her wolf. Zaden walked away from there.