Weeks have gone by–3 weeks and 2 days to be precise. Nothing has changed much for the 3 of them. Selena didn’t attend her graduation. She took the certificate from Dean Pete and continued working at Wildlife Research Centre. Her mood doesn’t seem to have changed much. Every day, she will go to work, come back home, eat and sleep–living a robotic life despite her friend’s effort to cheer her up. The career that she loved once doesn’t give her joy anymore. It seems like the moment Grandpa Kai asked her the promise, the same moment her life fell apart and a dark curse engulfed her.
It wasn’t any better at Mountain Manuka. Zaden and Orion rarely talked and Makeala became the second beta to substitute her big brother during his absence. Zaden kept himself locked up in the second-floor room most of the time, no one is allowed into the room and even cleaning is prohibited. Most of his essential belongings have slowly shifted to this room. He keeps minimal contact with anyone including his mother. He comes out to run his business, attend to the villager’s needs and then snuggles back into his cocoon. He hasn’t shifted to his wolf in these past weeks, making him grow weaker and weaker. Grandpa Kai and his mother Ruth often get together to basically sigh, thinking about their alpha.
Orion, on the contrary, never shifted to his human form and roamed the Mountain, following wherever his feet brought him to, hunting small animals when he is hungry and sleeping by the waterfall where he first laid his eye on Selena. Xavier and Sitka will come looking for him once in a while, try talking some sense to him but all they get is silence.
One rainy afternoon, Selena was sitting in the porch swing, alone, wrapped in a blanket, staring absent-mindedly at the spot where the 2 jeeps drove away weeks ago. Leonardo, couldn’t bear seeing his only daughter living hell on earth. He came with 2 cups of hot chocolate. She refused at first but Leonardo insists. They worked sip by sip through the cup
“I don’t like you like this…” he started a conversation. Selena looked at him in confusion
“Selena, you aren’t happy anymore. Something is taken away from you, isn’t it?” Selena remained silent, eyes drifting to the ground again.
“Go back to the Mountains, baby Bambi” Selena stiffened her back at his words.
“What?” Leonardo nodded
“But Zaden said I won’t be happy there…” she mumbled
“And I said I didn’t like Marine Biology. That didn’t stop you, did it? I didn’t like you hiking the unknown mountains. Did it stop you? I didn’t think it was safe for you to go to the gun shooting ground, that didn’t bother you, did it? ” he made Selena think
“Baby, you are the one that should decide what makes you happy, not me or Aaron or Zaden. You can be happy scooping cow dung as long as you like it and decide to do it” Leonardo chuckled softly
“But I want you 2 to be with me…” Selena and Leonardo let out a deep sigh.
“This house is the last memory of your mother… I don’t think I can leave it behind. But if I’m ever ready, I will come to you. Plus, we don’t know if you would want to stay there forever now, do we? One step at a time and we will see where it leads you to” Selena’s eyes dropped to the floor, thinking every word her father said. Sensing a foot back, Leonardo stood and sighed.
“A bird’s nature is to fly. You don’t expect it to do so, sitting in a cage. Do you know what a wolf is? It is nothing but a blown up puppy let to run free. It’s time to set you free” He pinched Selena’s nose making her smile. She sat on her windowsill, barefoot dangling outside as she gazed at the crescent moon. She took the whole night to think it through and got ready the next morning. Aaron was rebelling the idea but Leonardo talked some sense into him.
She arrived at the Mountain Manuka foot about 10 am and started to climb, alone, through the forest.
It was late evening when Zaden was sitting by the window looking out at the garden where the dinner is being served when he noticed a figure, zapping fast behind the tall tree hedging. He narrowed his eyes and a glimpse of black curly locks caught his wolf eyes as it widened noticeably. He ran out of the room, down the staircase, and to the front door where the now boiling Selena stood with Makeala trying to calm her down
“What sort of wolves are you? You didn’t notice a woman walking through your territory?” she threw a sharp glare at Zaden and walked past him.
“What’s wrong?” Xavier just came to stand next to Makeala while Sitka already ran to get Orion. Makeala just opened her mouth before she got cut off
“What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I am a non-member of your pack and your guards out there didn’t notice me passing through your territory.” She stomped to the ground floor room where she stayed last time, as if she owns the entire place.
“Is that a bad thing?” Xavier who followed her, questioned. She slammed her bag to the single bed and clutched her waist
“It is when I got lost in the mountain, walking in circles for 3 hours. I mean, 3 fucking long hours before I even realized that I have been walking in a circle. It could have been avoided if only your guards did their ‘JOB’ properly. Do you guys have an SOP, standard operation procedure?” she is still fuming while Makeala and Xavier turned their heads slowly, cocked their eyebrows at Zaden.
“What did I do?” he asked them, puzzled.
“You gave out the order to never mention Selena, ALPHA Zaden!!! That’s why the patrol team didn’t inform her arrival” Makeala said while she crossed her hand over her chest.
“Shit!!! What if she got attacked by a bear?” Xavier isn’t helping at all.
“So, it was you!!!” Selena crossed her hands across her chest and pouted her lips with anger, all attacking Zaden at a time.
Thankfully, storming footsteps diverted her attention. Sitka and Orion came rushing to her door, panting for breath. Orion looked so dirty with mud all over his body and wearing nothing but loose shorts, as he just shifted to human. His eye froze at Selena as he tried to comprehend the situation.
“And where have you been?” Selena questioned Orion with the same fume. Before he could answer, she took over.
“Let me guess!!! Having fun with some bitch on forest floor?” holly shit, she shouldn’t have said that. Zaden crossed his hand over his chest and leaned on the door frame with a devilish smirk.
“Lock her up” Deja-vu
“With pleasure” Orion cracked knuckles on his hands as he walked over, carried her over his shoulder and proceed out of the room. Selena punched and kicked him with all her might.
“Let me down!!! I don’t like to be manhandled. This is against human rights and hell, when was your last shower?” She shouted making Zaden smile, after weeks.
“Za…den… I am hungry!!!” she manage to say it out loud before Orion took the first step on the staircase. He froze and turned around, showcasing Selena’s butt to the group. His eyebrow cocked as if questioning Zaden.
“Put her down…”Zaden said with a smile and Orion obliged. She neatened her shirt, chined up, and stomped her feet towards the buffet table. Orion wanted to follow when Makeala stopped him
“Go get a bath Orion, you smell like a wet dog!!!”
They all got together at the same rocky corner they used to gather, only Jeffry, Jewel, Oliver and Noah are missing. After weeks, Zaden and Orion is almost back to normal in eating and speaking that made the whole pack back to normal. Selena was the magic that they needed, only this magic could also be a curse between the alpha and his beta.
She later went to the room on the second floor. Although Zaden tried to thrust her into a more comfortable room on the third floor, she insisted. Noticing the change in ambience with man’s clothing and toiletries, she slowly turned to glare at Zaden.
“So that’s why you didn’t want me in this room!!!” she stated the obvious. Zaden rubbed his palm over his neck.
“Sorry… I will get it cleaned up” Selena gave him a fake smile, chasing him away from the spot.
She then took a bath and came out with wet dripping hair and a towel around her chest when she heard a knock on the door
“One minute, please…” she quickly got dressed and opened the door a little, and peeped out as her eyes landed on Orion
“Hey,” he said
“Hey…” she opened the door completely, letting him in. He looked nervous while Selena casually found a small towel and started rubbing it on her hair. She sat on her bed, crossed leg, still busy drying her hair.
“Sit…” she nudged at a chair, further in front of her and he did. He thrust his hands into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate, stretching it to Selena and she gladly accepted it.
“What is this for?” she is unwrapping the chocolate
“One–because I didn’t get to say a proper goodbye…and two–I missed you…soooo much…” he said in a low husky voice
“But I am here?!? Your number one reason is invalid” she took a bite of the chocolate. The moonlight made a drop of water on her neck glimmer like crystal and caught his eyes.
“Still, I hate how we said goodbye…All because of Alpha Zaden, we couldn’t disobey him. It’s a werewolf thing, you know” he shrugged. She nodded with a pursed lips.
“Thanks,” she said. He wanted so much to ask about the kiss between Zaden and her but the possible answer strike terror within him. It was just a kiss and he still had a chance to win her, he thought. But what if she realize that she likes Zaden after he questioned her? That could take the worse turn. She is a virgin and any good kisser can shut her down. It doesn’t necessarily mean she fell in love with him.
‘This is just an attraction, Selena. I will win your heart and we will be together for the rest of our life. I promise you that, my love’. Orion thought to himself
They were talking about random stuff after that until Selena asked for a favour.
“Orion, can you teach me how to shift?” Orion thought for a minute, does he know ‘HOW’ to shift? It came naturally and he never paid attention to step by step how to shift.
“Hmm…sure, we will try tomorrow,” he said with hesitation. He left for his room on the third floor in the next 15 minutes.
Selena was too tired and she fell asleep within seconds. In the middle of the night, about 3 am, a knock on the door jolted her to awake. She shuffled to the door and opened it. Zaden with a clear, sober face was standing there, running his fingers through his hair while Selena could barely open her eyes, messy hair, a loose t-shirt with shorts and a pair of fluffy socks. She had barely opened an eye.
“Can I sleep here?” Zaden, straight to the point. Selena shook her head NO and he sighed low
“Selena, I couldn’t…I couldn’t fall asleep in my bed.” He said with a hint of frustration.
“Where is your room?” with that, they switched beds. She was sleeping in Zaden’s king-size bed, only utilizing ¼ of the space while he slept in her single bed, covering most of the surface area available. It’s not like they never slept together before but after the goodbye kiss, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to sleep together.