Ella’s POV
I was in a panic all through the day, afraid of what was going to happen at the end of it. I couldn’t sit still. I knew Kevin and Liam were also afraid but they didn’t have their fears boldly written on their faces like I did. They were masters at pretending to be calm and I didn’t think I could ever get to that level that they were in. I just couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried to reach it.
I should have known this was coming soon when Nathan had flown into a rage and beaten up that boy over his refusal to apologize. I should have prepared for this day if not that I had been distracted with finding the girl as soon as we could.
I wondered what kind of mother I was becoming if I was willing to let my kids be a nuisance around here. I was a werewolf mother with werewolf kids living in a mortal world, I shouldn’t have forgotten about a day like this.
“What was wrong with me?” I muttered softly under my breath.
“Now, you are being too hard on yourself.” Kevin said.
I glanced at him, wondering how he could stay calm while I was already freaking out and only an inch closer to losing it. I wondered if it was because he was a warrior. My mother also had that ability to stay calm in disastrous situations. Even if her whole world was crumbling down on her, her face would be as rigid as stones as if the disaster was nothing but a caressing breeze moving gently over her face. I didn’t think I could stay calm like that even if I had been a warrior for years. My heart wasn’t as cold as theirs was.
“How can you stay calm on a night like this?” I blurted out, glaring at Kevin and Liam as if it was their fault that I had totally lost my own composure.
Kevin shrugged. “Because freaking out wouldn’t solve any issue.”
“Thank you for reminding me of that.” I bit out, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
Kevin chuckled. “Don’t get stressed yet. It will cause you more pain tonight. We have an underground chamber so everything would be fine. Liam and I had cleared out everything in there and made it suitable for tonight.”
“What if the boys break through the hold? Have you seen them in action recently? They are strong.” I said, picturing the way Nathan had jumped in the air at the rude boy the other day and how strong his fist had been.
“No matter how strong they are, they can’t be as strong as us. You should calm down, your highness. I’m sure we can get this under control.” Liam added.
I nodded, finally letting reason to go through my brain. They couldn’t be as strong as the three of us and we could deal with this night no matter what threatened to go wrong.
It was the night of the full moon and I couldn’t help worrying about what might happen since we were in the human world. I wouldn’t have to worry like this if we were at home as everyone was a werewolf and there wasn’t any possibility of anyone getting hurt by the boys or freaking out at the sight of wolves.
An hour after it got dark, we moved to the boys to the underground cellar where we already had everything prepared.
“Mum, why are we getting chained?” Neo asked as we strapped them into the chains that had already been hooked into the wall.
“It is the night of the full moon.” I explained to them, hating that I had to put my kids in chains.
“We know but we had never had to be in chains.” Nathan pouted.
“Because you have never had to shift in the human world.” Liam explained as he tested the firmness of the chain he was strapping Nathan in.
“I don’t think I like this place.” Nathan grumbled. “I keep finding a reason to hate it anytime I think I have found a reason to like it.”
Kevin chuckled. “Don’t grumble, boy. This is for your own good. Do you want to wake up tomorrow and find out that you have hurt someone? The people here know nothing about werewolves and they are going to freak out if they see you outside so we have to do this to make sure you don’t go out to hurt anyone.”
“There are only three chains here.” Neo observed.
“Yes, for the three of you. Uncle Liam, your mum and I are strong enough to still control ourselves while we are in wolf forms. We won’t go out there to hurt anyone but the same can’t be said about you.” Kevin explained.
“What if we are strong, dad? You don’t have to keep us in chains.” Neo said, jiggling the chains and tugging them forward. “Ouch, these chains are tight, dad. They hurt.”
Kevin chuckled at Neo’s attempt to be free. “Nice try, son but you failed. I know those chains are tight but they don’t hurt. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my son. You should know that we wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. If you are in control this night, we might consider not keeping you in chains next month.”
“Let’s be done, your highness. It is going to be the full moon soon.” Liam said, reminding us of the time.
We had locked the door to the apartment upstairs and did the same for that of the underground cellar that we were in. The boys were well strapped to the wall and we all stayed in there, waiting for the full moon to reach its peak.
I felt the familiar pain as my bones started to crack and my body started to shift. I went from being Ella to being Lucy in a matter of time but my eyes were still on the boys. Kevin and Liam had also changed and were watching the boys who were howling and getting aggressive as their bodies went through the shift.
I was grateful that I hadn’t gotten soft and they were chained as I saw how red their eyes were and my heart clenched as I watched them snarl, their fangs jutting out of their mouths as they glared at us.
I didn’t think they recognized us at that moment and we would have had our hands full with trying to keep them under control if we hadn’t kept them in chains.
I watched as they struggled to break free of the chains, sounding tortured and dangerous and my heart broke with each of their pull at the chains. I wondered how I was going to last through the next full moon night if my heart was already tearing down tonight.
Kevin’s POV
The battle was over and it was a peaceful day once again. The night had been tough but the boys had eventually regained their senses and everyone sagged in relief, well except the boys.
They had seen the damage they had done to the floor and walls of the underground cellar and had winced, getting filled with remorse and regret all through the journey back upstairs.
They had agreed that they needed to be chained every night of the full moon as long as we were still here but that didn’t make them less sad about what they had done. They had reminded us that they would love to go back soon as they walked into their bedroom.
I had done everything I could do to cheer them up-we had all done that-but still they wouldn’t care. It hadn’t been their fault that they had done that as it was a normal reaction for a wolf to have if they were in chains. They wouldn’t have done that if they were home as they wouldn’t be in chains and would have the freedom they needed to run and play around under the gaze of the full moon.
We knew what we were getting into coming here and knew we would have to remould the scratched walls and floor of the cellar before leaving here if we don’t want our existence to be leaked to the human world. All I needed was for no one to be hurt because of us or the boys and I was relieved that we had gotten that under control last night.
I was sure that the boys would come around and would go back to being their cheerful selves, hopefully after they wake up. I wished for them to forget the bad memories in their dreams and wake up refreshed.
Ella had given them a bath after we got back into the apartment while I fixed breakfast with Liam. We had all eaten and Ella and the boys had retired to bed, leaving me and Liam alone in the sitting room, talking in low tones so we wouldn’t disturb the others.
I looked up as I suddenly heard a knock on the door. I wondered if I was hallucinating as that was strange. No one had knocked on our door ever since we had moved in here. It was as if we didn’t have neighbors and I loved it like that. I glanced at Liam to see if he had heard the knock and I knew that he had with the curious look on his face and I hadn’t been fooling myself. I couldn’t help but wonder who the daring person was and what the issue was.
I waved at Liam to stay still while I moved to the door to check what the problem was.
I opened the door and met a woman who seemed to be in her fifties at the door, a scowl on her face. She turned to face me when she noticed that the door was open and blinked at the sight of me like she wasn’t expecting me to open the door. I wondered who it was she had been expecting when she knocked on the door of a neighbor she didn’t know.
“I thought a single lady with three boys lived here.” She said after clearing her throat. “She is the one I used to see walking out of this place.”
Oh! I found it fascinating that our neighbors was watching us or it was possible that she was the only one doing that. Every street has their own busybody who kept their lives going on by monitoring that of others. I wasn’t surprised that a person like this was also in the human world.
I smiled as I realized that she was still waiting for my response. “That is my wife and there is nothing single about her.”
“Why don’t I see you?” She asked before she could catch herself.
I didn’t think I owed her any answer to that. “What do you want, ma’am?”
“I heard some strange howls coming from your apartment last night and thought I would check up on you before calling the police.”
I winced, grateful she had the sense to come here before calling the police. “I’m sorry about that. We had the TV on all through the night and didn’t realize that it was loud.”
She gave me a look like she wondered if we were deaf but seemed relieved that we hadn’t been in danger. “That is a relief butt please, reduce the volume of your TV next time. I’m sure you kept the whole neighborhood awake last night.”
Better than killing off the whole neighborhood last night. I nodded at her words. “Thank you. We will. My apologies once again.”
She nodded as she walked away and I sighed as I walked back into the house, wondering what lie I was going to spin next month to explain the howls.