Chapter 64
Run Away
***
Content Warning: This chapter might contain violence, abuse, crime, or triggering factors that may be harmful, disturbing, or traumatizing to some. Reader’s discretion is advised. Thank you.
***
Leila, in her wolf form, let out a loud growling sound as shifted back into her human form.
Her eyes were blurred with the tears forming in front of it blocking her vision as to where she was now.
However, she found herself leaning against the huge roots as she hugged her bent knees and rested her arms on it before burying her face and cried her heart out.
She ignored the eeriness of the place. She ignored the creepiness of the hustling wind causing the dried leaves to fly with it.
All that she was focused on was the fact that she had found out the truth and it was totally wrecking her right now.
It was as if fate decided to play on her.
How could this happen?
Of all people…
She closed her eyes firmly as fragments of memories started to creep into her mind. She felt the excruciating pain as it attacked her heart.
*** Flashback…
“Happy birthday, my dear Leila…” Lindon Mercado, her father smiled at her softly.
His eyes were filled with so much happiness and love.
As five-year-old Leila hugged him tightly.
“Thank you so much, Daddy…” She smiled at him as her father slightly tapped her small head.
She chuckled.
His father’s face was always filled with joy, excitement, and love. She has a lot of great and happy memories with him.
Even though she couldn’t stop herself from getting worried because he rarely went home. His absence was filled with her mother’s warmth and love.
“Daddy needs to work for our family, Princess. So, be a good girl while I am away, okay? Don’t be stubborn…” That is what her father always tells her whenever he has to leave and work.
At young age, she didn’t know what his father’s work was.
She remembered her mother told her that he was working near the Sacred Village with her grandparents.
So, she was so happy when her mother took her to the Sacred Village at her grandparents’ house.
“Will I see Dad, Mom?” She asked excitedly.
Her mother smiled at her and simply nodded her head making her jump with so much joy.
She bit her lower lip as she saw her father smiling at her from ear to ear.
The little Leila bugged him tightly but it was just for a few seconds. He went to her mother and pulled her inside the house. She pouted for she was expecting him to play at her immediately.
Then, she heard her parents hushing with their angry remarks.
“Stop it… the child is here.” Her grandmother reprimanded the two of them causing her parents to stop quarreling, as she entered the house.
“Dad…” She called him but her mother pulled her outside the house.
Her face was a bit angry and devastated.
But she couldn’t understand why.
“M-Mom… Are you okay?” She asked worriedly.
Then, her mother let out a deep sigh and faced her. She saw how she gave her a forced smile but she simply stopped herself from pointing it out.
“I… I am f-fine, Leila…” She said stifling her broken voice, making her forehead to crease.
“I just need to prepare our room. Stay here and don’t go out of the house, okay?” She told her before she went back inside.
Leila obediently nodded her head and stared at her mother’s back.
She let out a deep sigh. She felt so bored as she played with her cute doll. However, she heard a faint growling sound causing her to stand up.
Her forehead creased as she saw his father ran towards the woods.
“D-Dad…” She uttered under her breath and automatically followed him.
She swallowed hard as she saw her father running towards somewhere. She followed him secretly as she giggled in her mind, wanting to surprise him.
However, the growling sound became louder causing her to suddenly feel frightened and look at her father.
But he wasn’t around!
Tears started to form in front of her eyes blurring her vision.
The hooting sound of the birds on the trees sent shivers down her spine.
“D-Daddy…” She called her father with her shaking voice.
She didn’t want to shout louder for she might attract some ghost and beast around, like what she was watching a while ago at her grandparents’ house.
“Leila!” She heard a faint call of her name.
She looked around but silence filled her ears.
There was no one.
She stood still hoping that she could hear it again… But nothing came.
Leila didn’t know how long she had stayed there. Standing with her trembling legs and crying her fears hoping that it would go away.
Then, a growling sound echoed causing her to run.
She felt the hair at her nape stand up as her instincts told her that it was a dangerous animal coming.
However, the moment she was about to hide from the huge tree in the middle of the forest, she saw her father lying on the ground, hardly breathing.
She was dumbfounded.
Her feet were deeply rooted on the ground.
His blood was covering the dried leaves.
She was so worried. She wanted to go near him but she was just so shocked.
Then, she heard someone coming Leila hides in the nearest tree, covering her mouth with her both hands, like what her mother always told her to do in times of trouble and danger.
“What happened?”
It was a woman’s voice.
“He’s dead.” A man’s voice replied.
She peeked at the people who caused her father’s death.
Those faces… were etched into her mind forever.
But a loud breaking twig as she stepped away gave her in.
And there she saw a beast looking at her it was a huge wolf sneering at her, and everything went black.
*** End of Flashback…
She didn’t know what happened next. She didn’t even know how she survived. This time, she knew that someone had found her a werewolf, but she lost her consciousness and didn’t know what happened next.
All that she knew was the man and the woman who were talking in her father’s dead body was no other than Hunter’s parents.
Hera and Hudson Black.
They were the ones that killed her father.
And with that, her heart was already filled with so much pain, anger, and betrayal.
She just couldn’t believe how small this world is.
And it was just so heartbreaking to think that she had fallen for the wrong man. And that was breaking her heart the most.