VIKTOR
“NO!”
“No! No! Stay away from me! Don’t touch me! Stop!”
“Please, please, don’t.”
“Please, please, please.”
The memory keeps replaying in my head as I storm out of the mansion and break it into a run round the perimeter.
Terror.
That is what I saw in her face.
Terror.
Rowan, strong, smart, witty, Rowan…
Who was it?
Who was the bastard that hurt her?
Who would dare hurt a wonderful woman like her?
Just what sort of spineless, unfortunate coward would hurt her?
It can’t be anyone from the settlement.
From what I have observed and heard, everyone loves her or at the very least respects her.
And they are also very protective towards her, so no.
It can’t be from here
Her pack, then?
“Some of us… some of us were made that way. By our packs. By those we trusted. Abused. Tormented. Left for dead. It takes a while for us to begin to trust again, even longer for the trauma to fade.”
Who made her that way?
So panicked?
I want to kill them?
Slowly choke the life out of them until they too are begging for mercy.
“Damn it!” I snarl as I stop running. “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” I continue as I repeatedly punch the tree in front of me.
“Um… are you ok- whoa!”
I didn’t hear anyone come up behind me, so it is just my quick reflexes and control that stops me from taking off his head.
“Sorry man,” the wolf says as he carefully backs away.
“What do you want?” I snarl at me, my emotions still a mess and with rage being the predominant one.
“I… I saw you running, and then cursing … and I guess, well, I just wanted to make sure you are okay,” he says.
He is an average looking wolf, dark hair, blue eyes, average build.
Totally unremarkable and unfamiliar.
“You are in the coalition?” I ask. “I haven’t seen you around.”
“That is not surprising,” he says. “First of all, you are new, and second, I mostly stay in the armory.”
*The armory? You are in charge of it?”
“Yeah. The place is quiet, not many people around. Just how I prefer it.”
“You like to be alone?”
“Sort of.”
“And yet you came up to me,” I remark.
“You look like one of those deranged slash unhinged wolves that is about to make a series of bad choices. Are you okay?”
“Why do you care?” I ask.
“In case you haven’t noticed, this is a settlement of rogues, which means we all have some traumatic experiences locked in us. Sometimes, it come up and causes us to make bad decisions.. I want to make sure those bad decisions don’t affect the rest of us.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can control myself.”
“That is great,”he says as she turns away.
“Wait!” I call as I hurry after him. “You said you watch the armory, right?”
“Mmm.”
“That is a … delicate job. Ro- the Guia must have a lot of trust in you.”
“I suppose so. I was the first she recruited into her… group.”
“Really?”
“Hmm. They had found me bleeding in the forest and she had chosen to help me. I remember Jhenelle was just a toddler then, not more than a year. She took a risk letting a strange rogue into their group.”
“Wow. How did Jhenelle’s father react to that,?”
“He was never in the picture. I don’t think he had been for a while. He was … a forbidden subject.”
“I see.”
“Are you good now?”he asks. “You are not going to pick a fight with another tree?”
I give a light chuckle at the question.
“Yeah, I am good. Thank you for checking up.”
“No problem.”
He walks away while I am left to my thoughts.
A forbidden subject huh?
An image of her tear streaked face flashes through my mind again, the wide eyed fear and desperation…
Please…
Please don’t let it be what I think it is.
I don’t think I would be able to hold myself.
Somehow, in my wandering, I emerged from the woods to the bright and happy call of my name.
“Louis!”
I look over to see Jhenelle with a bright smile, running towards me with Lisa tagging behind her in a lazy stroll.
“Where have you been?” she asks as she crashes into my legs. “I have been looking everywhere for you?”
At her wide eyed and joyful look, the anger bleeds out of me.
It is just hard to remain pissed when faced with that smile.
I squat down to look her in the eye.
“Hey you, shouldn’t you be grounded in your room?” I ask with a cheeky smile.
“Shh!” she hushes with a wide eyed look as she places her hands over my mouth. “Don’t say it out loud or mummy will hear you and then I will have to go in.”
“You should obey your mummy, Jhenelle,” I retort as I gently pull her hands off me.
“I do! I will!” she exclaims with a pout. “I was just looking for you!”
“Well, you found me. What’s up?”
“I have questions,” she says as he puts her hands on her hips and assumes a position I have seen Rowan take a few times.
“Ah, do you now? Well, ask away.”
“Why did my mummy kiss you in the field?”
Oh, wow.
I have heard how kids ask the most embarrassing questions, I just never thought I would be faced with one.
“Um, I don’t know, Jhenelle. Maybe you can ask her.”
“Hmm!” she pouts before moving on. “Did you like it?”
Oh boy.
“I… I did not not like it,” I reply.
“What does that mean?”
“It means… I didn’t mind it.”
“Oh, okay. Last question then.”
“Shoot.”
Fingers crossed they will be nothing like the last two.
“Do you like my mummy?”
No such luck.