Lexy’s POV.
The morning sun reflecting on my eyes causes me to groan tiredly. I scooted away to the other side of the bed where the run rays couldn’t reach my face again.
Then I peeled my eyes open as I remembered where I was. Was all that happened yesterday a dream? Was I truly here?
I looked ahead and found my bag still seated right where it was last night. I saw the walls and recognized everything in this room. This was no dream. This was reality. And I’m hell well part of it now.
I stood up and walked out into the sitting room. The room was quite and rid of anything that looked like Cilia.
I walked out through the exit to the outside and was greeted by the bright sunlight shinning from above. I shaded my eyes with my palms and trued to look ahead. I spotted the gathering of some men involved in a serious discussion, probably over the table to food on the table before them. Kids ran around carrying balls. I saw a couple of younger men standing bare chested at the river bank, busy fighting and all.
For a second I just stood there watching them, lost within their hard, rock-like chests and amazed by how the water dripped off their dark curly hairs to their chests.
Realizing that I was being a total creep and above all was lusting after a werewolf man caused me to shut my eyes and look away to the far distance. Opening my eyes again after regaining myself, I saw Cilia standing at the far end by the opposite.
She waves at me and gestured her hand for me to come over.
I never thought I’d be so relieved to see someone.
I walked over to her, careful not to hit somebody while at it before reaching her. She smiles sweetly at me.
“Good morning” she greets before we started walking.
“Good morning”
“I hope you slept well”
“Yeah, thank you. I didn’t know when you came back to the house last night”
“Actually I didn’t. I was into the woods,” I turned to look at her, to understand her better “you know, to let my wolf run”
Yeah, right. She’s a wolf too.
“How do you do that? I mean, you have a wolf lurked inside you”
She smiles and replied “well it’s pretty easy. Don’t worry, you’ll come here more. often and you’ll get to see many of us transform”
I found myself smiling at her words before facing forward. I caught sight of a group of guys walking up, one of them limping as he came and the others not looking any better. Cilia stops under the tree as she saw them come too.
I turn to face her and asked “all these sick people. . . . What happened here?”
“War” she replied monotonically.
“You keep talking about this war. What’s it about?”
“There’s a fight between our pack and the Yellowstone, Lexy,” she replies “and it didn’t just start today. It never stopped since the first day during the Anuke war. . . .”
I noticed the wounded men walk past us and I couldn’t help notice so many things about them. It was like I could literally diagnose them.
“We all hope for the best, Lexy”
“Where is this war happening and who’s winning?” I asked curiously. A bigger part of me wasn’t just curious but concerned.
“I don’t know. We haven’t heard a war from the Beta, nor our Alpha himself”
“You have an Alpha?” All this is real, isn’t it?
Cilia stares at me and chuckled amusingly like she’d heard the biggest joke of her life before replying “of course we do, Lexy. A couple of months ago, our men assembled and left to fight after getting the war notice from the enemy pack,” she looks into my eyes and added “my mate went too”
I saw how she said that, how she struggled to say that with so much energy but deep down, I knew she was suffering silently, she was thinking negatively and deeply, she was hurting. The sadness was suddenly so visible in her eyes. I wished I could make it all go away.
“Hey, don’t be sad, I’m sure he’s fine” I inched closer and tried to cheer her up.
She nods “you know, I feel so sad for Melissa all the time. We were at the clinic when she got the news about her mate. She was devastated and I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to help her. She acts like she’s okay now but she’s really not”
“I’m sure she’ll be alright, Cilia. I don’t know how this mate bond works but we’ll figure something out”
She smiles before continuing to walk “how come you never came here before”
“I didn’t know about this place before,” I replied as we continued to walk “my father never told me”
“That’s a pity”
“Pretty much. Where are you headed?”
“The clinic. I need to see Drako. Where do you wanna go?”
“I’ll see my dad too, so clinic it is”
We both walked along till we came into the pack’s clinic house. There’s nobody outside so we walked straight in. Cilia pushes the door open but my father wasn’t anywhere here.
Instead, I saw a different man lying on the second surgical table. He’s conscious but seemed to be in some pain judging from the discoloration in his face.
I found myself walking near him, watching his face. I noticed how he winced.
I placed a palm over his forehead and felt how he burnt inside, how his breathing came out haggard. It was natural to say he has an internal injury or misfunctioning. I looked around the room but there weren’t any equipments I could use to run a proper test. I couldn’t possibly perform surgery here either.
Turning the the doctor standing beside him before I came, I asked “what happened to him?”
“He was hit during the war. I didn’t know what with but he’s been unconscious since yesterday. He woke up a few hours ago”
I nodded before looking back at the patient. I moved to his abdomen and gently placed a palm over it. He winced in pain, moved the position of his head to the side in pain. But he doesn’t open his eyes. I knew immediately what was wrong with him. Perhaps I could find the right medicine to inject him with.
I walked over to the cabinet and rummaged through it. I caught hold of a bottle. I took a syringe and drew out the contents of the bobble before walking back to the man. I placed my two first fingers on his abdomen, found the right spot and injected him. I saw how his chest made a pacing movement before slowly relaxing, his breathing become less haggard and more normal.
Looking back at the doctor, I said “a towel of warm water should be placed over his forehead for his burning”
He nods.
“What is your name?” I asked him.
“Jim” he replies with a courteous smile.
He was an old man, looking in his middle 70s. He was slim and tall, his hair a combination of ashes and black color. His body would never give his age away except for his face.
“Have you seen my father?”
“Your father?”
“She’s talking about doctor Bronte” Cilia replied.
“Oh, yes. He stepped out a minute ago. He’s been here all night tending to the wounded men”
I nodded slightly before turning back to Cilia.
Just then I noticed my father walking in with Drako. He gives me a smile the moment he saw me.
“Cilia” Drako calls.
Cilia walks away to meet him after which they moved away to engage in a conversation.
“So,” my father said as he got to me, sliding a hand into the back of his pocket “are you ready to leave yet?”
I didn’t know what to say that moment. Did I wanna leave? No. I feel there’s so much I need to do here, so much I need to see. I looked back to the sleeping man lying on the table.
“I see you treated him fine” I heard my father say.
A couple of hours ago if I’d been told werewolves were real, I’d probably had told them it’s mere mythology but now my perspective has been changed and turning away now feels like leaving it all behind. But isn’t that what I want?
Turning back to him, I replied “yeah, dad. I’m ready”
“Okay. Come on”
We turned around to see Drako and Cilia still engaged in a serious conversation.
“Are you sure about that?” Was the last thing Cilia said before they noticed our attention and turned to us.
“Are you ready?” Drako asked us.
I nodded, causing him to nod back before he walked out. We followed him out.
I came out of the clinic to find Melissa standing with my bag in her hand. She gives me a smile before pointing it at me. I walked closer and reached for it.
“I hope to see you soon, Lexy” she said before letting go of the bag, a smile on her lips. I smiled back with a nod before following Cilia and the others towards the other side that led through the market.
I looked back to see Melissa who stood still,. watching us go. She waves a hand at me and I waved back.
As I walked back the way we came yesterday, I felt strange, like I was leaving something behind, like I wasn’t done yet. I heaved a sigh to get rid of the sinking feeling as we stepped out of the fence.
Just as we came, We got into Drako’s car and he drove us for some minutes back to where my father’s car was waiting.
Drako shakes my dad’s hand.
“You’ll be alright, right?” I asked Cilia.
She gives me a smile and replied “yeah, I will. I hope you come back one day”
“I’ll try” I replied with a grin before walking to the car. Cilia pumps the trunk and dumps our bags inside before watching us get into the car. They watched till our car went off and completely out of site before they probably went back.
My father drove us out and before I knew it, we were heading into the city. Where I lived. Where we both lived. Away from all these.
He drove silently and I didn’t say a word either but from my peripheral view, I could see him stealing looks at me time to time.
“Are you alright, sweetie?” He asked finally.
Turning my face slightly to see him, I replied “yeah, I’m fine”
“I’m sorry about what happened back there, Lexy. I wish I had told you earlier”
Looking back on the road, I replied “I guess I was mad that you didn’t tell me, Dad. . . . . but that’s because all my life I never believed in their existence and now. . . . I don’t know what to believe anymore,” looking back to him, I added “how long have you known them?”
“A couple of years”
I looked back on the road and silence broke in again.
” I thought we had surgery scheduled for today, Dad”
“I’ll go to the hospital when we get home,” he replied ” you don’t have to come. Stay home and have some time to yourself, okay?”
“Okay,” I nodded ” Millie’s coming over anyway and I also think I’ve been rude to Adam”
“Adam? Why would you say that?”
“He asked me to go grab dinner with him”
“He asked you on a date?” I could hear the faint mockery in his voice as he said that.
“No Dad! He didn’t”
“But you like him right?”
My eyes nearly popped out of it’s sockets “I don’t!”
“Relax, Sweety , I didn’t mean it that way. I meant to ask if you like to go out with him. If he doesn’t make you feel comfortable”
I found myself smiling widely at his change of tone.
Typical Dad.