Zaden and his pack are now standing at the river bank. The water is so still, and it’s an exceptionally deep river. Crossing it might be risky for both humans and wolves. Dangerous creatures such as bull sharks, piranha, and anacondas have grown out of proportion in these waters due to no interference from the outside world.
Zaden has checked with his patrol team. Ozrain Samrat hasn’t left the mountains. He still can sense her presence within his territory but they didn’t find her in any other 2 villages which means, for some reason, she must be in the elderly village. He has to cross over alive to be able to bring her back. Mind-link to his father had been nothing but a dead-end. He couldn’t mind-link Selena as well, which means she must be on the third floor of their house, across the river. A few rooms on the third floor and dungeon were built to disable the mind-linking and special abilities of the werewolf. Alexandrite, a very powerful crystal has been embedded around the bottom and top edges of the room, forming an invisible cage to block all, if not most special abilities.
If Ozrain ever wants to leave these mountains, he has to come across the river. The best option, for now, is to wait. Every minute is stabbing a knife into Zaden’s heart, thinking how Selena might be suffering over there. Is she feed? Did they inflict any pain on her? Is she in a comfortable situation? Is his baby doing fine? Did she remember her promise to shift?
He recalled the days when they had Selena captivated at the second floor of the red brick house. He feeds her dinner, thinking that she might stab him with the dinner knife. How nice would that be now, having her push a knife through him, in front of his eyes and embrace, instead of across a dangerous river, in an unsure situation. He didn’t stop mind-linking his dad and it is already midnight.
Across the river, Selena still hasn’t moved from her seat. All of a sudden, a memory came to her mind. A memory from her point of view, Zaden sitting in front of her with his hand cupping her face, eyes looking straight into hers, glistening under the moonlight.
“Promise me that no matter what happens, you will keep shifting every night. Promise me that you would keep on doing this with or without me…”
Selena frowned slightly. Where did this memory come from? She doesn’t remember him telling her those words. It must be from her wolf. But how would she shift, usually it happens without any effort on her part. Now she doesn’t know how or what to initiate. The wolf is inside her– finding it would be a good starting point, she thought.
She closed her eye, blanked her mind from all the storms going on around her. She failed miserably to connect with her wolf, as she missed Zaden terribly. His face, his smile, and those bronzy chocolate eyes kept interfering. No wonder why her wolf would only come out when he is around so that no distraction comes to her mind. Selena didn’t give up, she kept trying again and again till 3 am. All of a sudden, her surrounding felt extremely silent and empty as her vision constricts. She felt like she has detached from her body, flying, feeling so light but at the same time, her body felt extreme pain all over, tip to toe. She got sucked back into a hole, a vortex.
When the inertia stopped, she snapped her head left and right, but it was pitch black. She can’t see anything. Fear started creeping up her leg when the scenery in front of her began gradually fading from pitch black to gradient black. She blinked her eyes a few times. The view in front of her kept sliding left and right although she is not moving her head. Her view came on and off, like blinking although at the moment, her eyes are wide open and she is not the one blinking. She felt her view raising upwards and began shaking, even though she is standing still. The view in front of her tilted upwards, the sickled moon is visible from her current room.
A painful howl erupted from around her, flinching her back as she closed her ears with her palms. It took her a while until she realized that she is behind her wolf’s eyes, not in control of her body. Her wolf is out. Selena bend her head down to look at her paws and her wolf also bend down, a silvery paw with blunt claws came into vision.
“Oh shit,” she said out loud and her voice echoed around her, making her shut her eyes tight. She snapped her head up and the wolf does the same. So, she has some basic control over her head. She jumped up and down trying to move the body but nothing happened, so she can’t move her body and can’t see her human body as well. She sees a wolf’s body instead. It was a very confusing state and after a few more experimental moves, she sat quietly, as well as her wolf, frozen gaze at the moon. Another pair of eyes is also frozen at the moon, Zaden, and little that he knew, Orion wasn’t sleeping as well. He has the same level of hurt Zaden has, only his is considered inappropriate and shouldn’t be expressed, she is their Luna. Cruel but true.
Selena didn’t know when but she had fallen asleep on the floor, naked. She stood up and grabbed a blanket in a hurry when a knock came from her room door. Without waiting for her permission, the intruder enters the room. Ozrain became uncomfortable at the state Selena is in now that he snapped his head to the side
“Hmm… I will get you some clothes” he placed a plate of toast and scrambled egg on the nearby table and walked out. Soon, an omega she-wolf came with some clothing for Selena. She showered and slipped into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. She sat back at her chair, looking out of the window again. Her heart and soul are searching for something on the horizon. A hope, maybe, although her logic tells her that it is impossible for Zaden to come here, he said so himself. He built a foul-proof system that came back to bite him now. Another knock came from the door and Ozrain paced in, again. Selena saw him with a raised frown before slowly laid her head on her knees, facing the window. Ozrain paced to her. He gently brushed his palm over the back of her head
“Could you at least eat something?” he said, his gravelly voice is low and pleading. He had another chance to have his daughter again, he believed so, but she is hurting herself and possibly his grandchild.
“I want my Zaden” stubborn but calm. Ozrain inhaled deep as he swiftly moved to her knees and crouched down.
“Your Zaden is not coming, darling… I am not giving you to him. So, cooperate. You wouldn’t want to hurt your baby, would you?” he said, cajoling her.
“I want my Zaden” it seems like that’s all her vocabulary capacity is and that she never learned any other word. The same happened at lunch and again, at dinner. She didn’t take even a bite of food and started losing energy that now, she laid on the bed.
Ozrain tried every method he could possibly think of. He sent Mother Ruth to make her eat, he used harsh tone and threat, plead, force-feed but nothing worked.
“I want my Zaden” that is all she kept repeating. Truth is, his remembrance is shattering her from within that maybe, Ozrain doesn’t have to go through the trouble of killing her.
That night, she still shifted to her wolf. She kept her promise but this time, it was easier and less painful than before to be sucked into the vortex. Like her, the magnificent silver wolf also did not move and laid its head on the floor, tears after tears flowed down, staining her silver fur. Selena could feel her pain now, mixed with her’s, making it unbearable as she kept throbbing and twisting behind the frozen pitch-black eye. Selena wailed a cry of hopelessness. Given no option, the wolf cooed before forced herself to close her eyes, falling asleep, hoping it will calm Selena down. It is her job to take care of Selena, too.
It hasn’t been any better across the river. Nelson came by to deliver the pack their meal. All ate except for Zaden
“Zaden, you need the energy to fight when she comes. Please…” Orion tried to force him into eating something. He stood up and walked away to the woods nearby, where he climbs up a large rock and settled down to get a better view of the mountains, where his heart is beating towards. When he returned, the rest of them were sitting down to discuss, Zaden joined in
“Zaden, if the alexandrite can block mind-linking and a wolf’s special ability, shouldn’t that block his alpha order too?” Makeala asked
“I am not sure. Alpha order or shifting is a wolf’s natural ability, radiating from and remaining within them. Alpha is always an alpha. Unlike mind-linking and special ability, the energy starts within but is exerted on others. It may or may not work” Zaden said low and they all remained silent before Sitka decide to ask
“So, what will we do when they cross over? What is the point of us waiting here?” he exclaimed
“The point of ME waiting here is to be as close as possible to her, maybe even lay my eyes one more time on her. Who knows, if the circumstances changes, I might get her back. It’s a hope, a tiny drop of hope and I’m fighting to avoid it from evaporating. So, please… If any of you feel like this is a waste of time, just leave.” He exclaimed before dropping back to a low tone, his eye didn’t budge from the horizon.
“That’s not what I meant, Zaden. We should be forming a plan of attack when she is here, not just simply wait” Sitka said. He took a step to Zaden before Nelson stopped him and turned him around, guiding him somewhere else, giving some space to Zaden. Zaden feels mentally worn out. He has been thinking about the same, a plan of attack while trying to connect with his father and mother the whole time. It is tiring. Zaden gazed at the moon before he too slipped into a mere sleep.