“The words were foreign. Jumbled together, almost like a chant, but definitely words. I had excelled in studying ancient and dead languages as well as modern ones, but I hadn’t even recognized the rhythm of the words” Annabel muttered, letting out a deep breath.
It was obvious that she was tired. Emma was too. She couldn’t wait for the plane to come to rest. She needed to see Amelia. She wondered what style of hair her sister would be carrying now. It’s been ages.
Ben staggered up to the other side of Annabel’s chair, pressing his hands to his ears. “Something’s wrong,” he hissed. “This is about her. Something evil wanted her dead.”
Jubal and Gary nodded their agreement. Emma shrugged. Nothing to do about all that. It’s all in the past. Annabel was still alive, and it was all that mattered.
“It’s all in the past though.” Annabel said as if reading Emma’s mind. “We must look to the future.” She added, looking out the window.
The huge birds which had been following them were nowhere to be seen now. It was like they never existed. Seems they were about to land.
Just about the same time, the pilot’s voice was heard over the intercom. The time was here. It was time to part ways.
Emma sighed in relief, looking out the window too. She could see the tarmac some feet below. Soon, she will be free from the company of her fellow airplane colleagues.
When Freya had signed this plane for her, she hadn’t budgeted to form an alliance with someone, not when her trust levels were low, but she did. She was going to miss Annabel, but definitely not her friend’s rantings about a mountain and magic and vampires.
Soon, she will be home where she belonged. Where she was at least loved.
As she shook hands with Ben, and waved at an ecstatic Miles, the thought of Derek and his pack crossed her mind.
She wondered, just for one second before hissing and picking her bag laying idly on the ground, what he would be doing at this moment. Did he miss her?
At Black Moon’s Pack, the same moment:
Derek couldn’t believe what he just heard from Shane a few minutes ago. Another Emma’s look alike, but with grey eyes? Aunt Sheila? How? They had thought she was dead.
“Hurry Derek! Everyone is at the meeting place, including some pack members. It’s a full blown pack meeting. You are lucky though.. it seems your father is out of the woods. Your mother’s shouts of joy had managed to bring him out of the room. Didn’t you hear her?” Shane asked.
Derek shook his head. He had been inside with Maya.
Maya looked confused, just like him. She, too, did not understand how and what was exactly happening.
“Let’s go.” Shane took Maya’s hands, dragging her with him, and Derek had no choice but to follow them through the well lit passageway to the meeting ground.
In the meeting ground, Derek’s mouth fell agape when he saw Sheila and the girl. They were literally surrounded by people who were hugging or asking a lot of questions.
He didn’t blame them though. He had a lot to ask, himself.
Like why does Sheila look like Emma? How come he hadn’t made the connection earlier.
It was easier to say now that Sheila was the mother of Emma and the girls. Triplets? That’s what this could mean.
Triplets who looked almost the same except for the color of their eyes and the thickness of their red hair.
Emma’s was the thickest. He could also see now that her forest green eyes had been taken from Sheila, her mother. Why hadn’t he made that deduction either?
But If this was really so, then that changes everything.
If Sheila was Emma’s mother, then Emma could never be a human. She was a werewolf for fudge sake. A werewolf that belonged to this pack! And he had ousted her out. What the hell! What has he done?
He caught the girl gazing at him, her eyes filled with scrutiny and probably admiration.
She found him handsome, and although he was flattered by that, she wasn’t Emma, and he wasn’t her mate. He would pass on that.
“Everybody sit down!” Peter shouted, calming the noises and murmurings everywhere.
Quickly, without hesitation, everyone dropped down on the available seats in the large hall meant for the meetings like this.
People had come to hear Derek’s conclusion on the attacks and how to move forward with plans, but instead they were met with a more juicer gist, a long lost warrior that was back with a kid, whom some knew looked like the girl that Derek had ousted from the pack, the girl that Derek claimed to be a second fling meant to tame a beast that had possessed him.
They were beginning to have doubts. What if Alpha Arnold had been wrong, what if they all had been wrong? What if the girl they had exiled from the pack was Sheila’s daughter? The woman might not find it funny.
Scratch that. She wouldn’t find it funny.
“Good morning everyone.” Peter greeted the crowd, and they echoed back his greeting, still attaching the Alpha title even though he had handed over already to his son, Derek.
“Okay, I know we have a lot of questions for Sheila right here. I promise we will get all our answers from them at this moment. But let’s also remember the purpose of today’s meeting before the surprise. We have been having attacks constantly this period and we are looking for a solution. So, which should we start with first? Should we invite Sheila to share the story behind her survival and disappearance since the last pack war first, or should we talk about the war brewing now. before that?” Peter interrogated, leaving the choice to the people.
He wanted everyone to be involved in the decision making today. From the oohs and ahhh he was hearing, it was obvious that everyone wanted to quench their curiosity first.
Sheila then it is. He concluded.
He looked at his far right and noticed that Derek had come in, probably a while ago with his niece, and Shane. He waved them over, to come and join the higher platform where the members and acquaintances of the Alpha’s family usually stayed during the pack’s meetings.
The trio complied. Melvina was grinning from ear to ear but her eyes were still tainted with bustling curiosity especially when her mate invited Sheila and the girl she had come with to the podium.
“Good morning members of the Black Moon’s pack. It has been a while. I’ve missed you all…” Sheila started, a lone tear slipping from her eyes.
The crowd shared her sentiments, as some, especially women, were dusting their eyes.
Sheila wiped hers off immediately, then tightened her hold on Lucille’s hands as if seeking and drawing strength from the girl who though was looking quite confident was very nervous.
Lucille had never seen much supernaturals in one place. Well, she had never seen any, till her mother. Or has she? After all, there were no physical differences between humans and supernaturals except there was a shift or an occasion of revelation.
“We have missed you too, Red warrior!!” There were echoes of this all around, causing Lucille to smile. Her mother was quite popular. She had to agree. She too was curious about what Sheila would say even though the woman had given her a brief history of what had happened and why she had disappeared from her pack those years ago.
“I know a lot of you have questions. But I will answer them all generally. Even though some matters of mine should be private, I will put it out in the open, because I think the time is right. Hearing about the attacks going on around the pack is just the right indicator that the time has come for me to tell you all that I know. And if there is a spy amongst us here, then the better. Because this piece of information will be good for them too, in a way.” Sheila started, a sharp smirk on her lips which caused the crowd to go wild again and Lucille to startle at the woman whom she thought was toning in her element.
Was the nickname, Red warrior just a name or was her mother really a fighter?
She remembered how Sheila had punished her step father and shrugged her shoulders. It wouldn’t be a surprise. The woman was damn fast.