“We’ll always be by your side, no matter how bad things get.”
Edith stroked Julie’s blonde hair. She reassured her with every word. She had been through phases of fear and insecurity like Julie was going through right now. She had cursed herself for ever hurting a human just because she was too jealous.
“I’ve been scared like you are right now. I once hurt a human being just because I was jealous that your father was flirting with another woman. We can’t avoid that kind of thing, but I tried to control myself afterwards.”
Edith told about her experience exercising emotional control so that she would not harm humans. It made sense to Edith when she felt jealous and angry, so she simply accepted it and made peace with it. She dealt with letting her human side live on in her heart and mind.
Edith fully understood her daughter’s angst. She thought Julie was too quiet and reluctant to express her feelings to others. Edith offered to train Julie to control her emotions when she was discussing Julie’s fears.
She saw a happy twinkle in her daughter’s eyes. Edith thought that Julie felt better when they had a heart-to-heart talk with each other. For the time being, Edith concluded that Julie would have to fully recover to start her self-control sessions.
“Mum, thank you for always understanding my feelings. I really appreciate it.”
“I’m sorry that you have to become an adult and do things that supernatural adults usually do.”
“No mum. I’d have a hard time if I had to go through it alone without you.”
Edith took Julie into her arms. She felt Julie’s weak body as she held her. Edith knew that Katarina’s process of implanting the sigil in Julie was quite overwhelming for her daughter. She accepted the price she had to pay to keep her daughter safe someday.
The silence in the room was only temporary. The next second, Edith heard a few scurrying steps outside the room. Intrigued by curiosity. Edith got up from the edge of the bed and walked quickly towards the door.
She opened the door and saw several warriors running towards the great hall. She managed to intercept Jen, who was running behind the warriors. Edith grabbed Jen by the shoulders and gave her a stern look.
“What’s the matter, Jen?”
“Alpha called us. Christian was attacked by Rouge. I don’t know the specific details yet either; I’ve got to change first.”
Edith turned around and said to Julie, “Wait in the room; don’t come out until I get back.”
Edith saw Julie nodding her head and then followed Jen, who had turned into a wolf, to the great hall. There, Edith saw that several Red Crescent Moon warriors were lined up waiting for the Alpha.
Edith saw her son Julian standing on the pillar closest to her. She immediately approached Julian to find out what Seth had said to his warriors. She also looked closely at her son’s face, which turned anxious.
“Julian, tell me; what is the matter?”
“Grandpa was attacked by Rogue, and Dad is going to follow him there. The rogue swarm broke into the Black Bold to free one of his rogue friends. Aunt Eva was sent by Grandpa to fetch Dad with a portal to make it faster. The rogue swarm was assisted by a witch while passing the guard, and now Grandpa is fighting against them. They are outnumbered.”
“By the Moon Goddess…”
“Dad said you should stay here to look after Julie. He’s headed off with Beta and Gamma, so Uncle Liam will be looking after the pack house for a while.”
Edith was speechless after hearing Julian. She had done nothing to help Seth. She also thought about asking Kai for help if the hybrid was here with her, but it was impossible because Kai was being sent by Seth to watch over the vampire clan.
Edith watched as the portal began to close after the great hall became empty, leaving only Liam, herself, and Julian. Some of the warriors had gone into the portal, and the rest ran out to tighten the guard around the pack house.
“Easy there, mum. Dad will be fine, especially since he’s accompanied by Aunt Eva,” Julian said to calm Edith.
*
Black Bold.
As soon as Seth stepped his front foot out of the portal, he was already greeted by a spark of light that shot in front of his muzzle. He was almost hit by one of the spells cast by the frog-faced witch. Seth growled under his breath and looked at Eva, who was already standing beside her.
“I’ll take care of her,” Eva said with her hands ready to swing in the air.
[Jadden, Will; you focus on Rogue over there. I’m looking for my father.]
[Do we need to kill them, Alpha?]
[As a final resort, yes. I’m more concerned if we capture them alive.]
[Okay, we understand.]
Jadden took the first step with five warriors behind him towards the glass partitioned room, while Will was followed by four warriors out of the room chasing after the three Rouge who were trying to escape.
Seth ran out of the room, but in a different direction from Will. He was looking for his father’s whereabouts to provide assistance. He thought that his father must be after one of the Rouge who had been held captive in prison.
Seth was again hit by the sparks of the fire spell cast by the witch. Behind him, Seth could hear Eva’s powerful shout to distract the witch from attacking Seth. Seth jumped on all fours as he passed through the rubble of the wall that exploded from the witch’s attack.
“Alpha Seth, where are you going? Huh!” said the frog-faced witch.
“Hey bloody witch, your foe is me!” shouted Eva as she hurled a slashing curse at the frog-faced witch.
“Wait for me, cute dog. Ah, this silly witch is slowing me down.”
The witch turned around and swung her hand quickly at Eva. Seth wanted to help, but the look in Eva’s eyes that seemed to say to immediately go find Christian was understood by Seth. He continued his steps to find his father’s whereabouts.
Seth’s steps stopped at the end of the corridor with Black Bold’s signature black gargoyle ornament. He saw his father let out a long screech as his body slammed into the wall and landed on the ground. Seth immediately put his weight on his hind legs and prepared to jump.
He lunged at the jet-black, furry wolf that was Christian’s opponent. Seth managed to sink his fangs into the black wolf’s stomach, sending them both tumbling to the marble floor. He was reluctant to let go of his deeply embedded fangs as anger overcame him when he saw Christian being attacked like that.
“Ahh… Mckirby junior. We meet at last.”
The black wolf shifted himself into human form to release Seth’s muzzle grip on him. Seth saw that fierce face grinning at him. Seth removed his fangs from the werewolf’s body and stepped back. He did not want to fight in such an unbalanced situation.
The werewolf struggled to stand up. With his innocent body, he was still confident enough to look haughty in front of Seth and Chris. The werewolf tilted his head and said, “Let me introduce myself. My name is Gautier.”