When you’re about to die, you try and do anything to stop it. I made a desperate attempt at throwing a handful of sand into my attacker’s eye, making them blind while I run away. Instead, I ended up tripping on a log and falling flat on my face.
“You can never run from me, Zenobia!” Rebecca laughed, pointing a knife at me. Suddenly, she clasped my neck. She was strong, way stronger than me. She held me down while she prepared to kill me.
Then, suddenly, she started up ahead. Horror filled her eyes as she looked at a figure right ahead.
“Zulia,” she muttered, backing away looking scared. I turned to look at the woman, yet, her face was obscured. All I could make out was the dress she was wearing. A red dress with golden specks and a string of pearls.
“Zulia!” I woke up muttering that name. Zulia! Who was Zulia? Why did that name sound so familiar? Why was Rebecca so scared of her?
I got off the bed, jumping into the shower before I headed out to see my mom. I stopped by Maxwell’s door, I thought about knocking. I missed him. Now he was sleeping with Rebecca, mad at me because of Luis and treating me like I was a monster.
I headed down to the hospital wing, anxious to see my mother. Her sudden collapse still made no sense. Wolves don’t just get heart failures, especially not the moment they lay eyes on someone.
“Oh!” A familiar voice made my skin crawl. Rebecca was walking across the hospital halls, clutching something to her chest. As we passed each other, a small bottle slipped from her hands, rolling across the floor. Green liquid sloshed inside it.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, staring at the bottle.
Rebecca quickly snatched it up. “Just helping out. Cleaning hospital beds and floors instead of sitting idle at home.” She shrugged. “Since you’re making it difficult for me to be Alpha, I thought I should earn my keep. ”
“And that bottle?”
“Cleaning solution.” She hurried past me before I could ask more questions.
Something felt off, but I couldn’t focus on Rebecca now. I needed to see my mother.
The sight of her made my heart stop. She looked worse much worse than yesterday. Her skin was grey, her breathing labored.
“Mom?” I rushed to her side, taking her cold hand.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Ze… Zenobia…”
“I’m here. What happened to you? Please, tell me what’s wrong. I’ve sent a message out to dad but he’s not yet responded.”
She tried to speak. “Re… Rebecca…”
“What about Rebecca? Mom, please!”
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She gripped my hand with surprising strength, her eyes wide with desperation.
“Zu…” she choked, blood spattering her lips. “Zulia…”
The monitor beside her bed flatlined.
“Mom? No, please, MOM!” I screamed for the doctor, but I knew it was too late. She was gone.
…
Two Days Later
As werewolves, we’re blessed with the gift of living past normal human lives. Wolves rarely get sick. As I held my mother’s ashes in a purple urn, standing over the cliff looking at the forest she wanted us to run in, I couldn’t help but break down.
“Oh Mom!” I let out, hugging the urn.
Her ashes feel too light, too insignificant to contain the woman who raised me. The woman who taught me everything I know about being an Alpha.
“Remember when you used to bring me here to watch the sunrise?” I whisper. “You’d wake me before dawn, saying ‘A true Alpha rises before her pack.'”
I cry while I look out over the forest where we used to run together. Every memory feels like a knife in my heart – Mom teaching me to track in these woods, showing me how to lead pack meetings, holding me when I doubted myself.
“You were right about everything.” I sink to my knees. “About being strong, about protecting the pack. I should have listened harder. Should have seen what was happening.”
“I failed you.” My voice cracks. “Rebecca came into our home, and I let her. I watched her destroy everything, and I did nothing. And now…” I choke on a sob. “Now you’re gone because of my weakness.”
My hands shake as I open the urn. “I’m so sorry, Mom. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me most.”
The first handful of ashes catches in the wind, dancing over the cliff edge. “You tried to warn me with your last breath. Rebecca… and Zulia. I didn’t understand then, but I swear I’ll find out what it means.”
Another handful joins the wind. My mother’s final moments replay in my mind – her desperate attempts to speak, the blood on her lips, the terror in her eyes when she saw Rebecca.
“I won’t let her take anything else from us. She’s taken my wolf, my baby, and now you. But I swear on your ashes, Mother, I’ll make her pay for what she’s done.”
The last of the ashes drift away on the breeze. “I’ll protect our pack, just like you and dad taught me. I’ll be the Alpha you always believed I could be.” My fingers trace the empty urn. “Even without Luna, without Maxwell, I’ll find a way to stop her. Whatever it takes.”
I press my forehead against the cool ceramic. “I love you, Mom. I’m sorry I couldn’t say it one last time. I’m sorry I let you down.” My tears fall onto the urn. “But I promise – Rebecca won’t hurt anyone else. Not our pack, not our family. Never again.”
The wind carries my words over the forest where My mother’s ashes now rest, where her spirit will run forever. And in that moment, I make a vow that will change everything: Rebecca will pay for what she’s done, or I’ll die trying.
A twig snaps behind me. I turn, tears still fresh on my cheeks. My heart stops. The massive black wolf from the hot spring stands mere feet away, his golden eyes fixed on me.
I scramble backward, falling onto the ground. “No, please. Not now.”
The wolf takes a step forward, head lowered.
“Stop!” My voice breaks. “Don’t come closer. Please don’t hurt me.”
He freezes, but something in those golden eyes looks almost… concerned? I try to steady my breathing. “Are you here because of the letter? The one I lost?”
The wolf takes another careful step toward me. That’s when I feel it – a flutter in my chest, a warmth I thought I’d lost forever.
“Luna?” I whisper in disbelief. My wolf, my other half, stirs within me for the first time since Rebecca arrived.
I take a step back, and Luna’s presence fades. Another step forward, and she returns, stronger than before. My heart pounds against my ribs, but not from fear.
“How are you doing this?” I reach out a shaky hand. “Why can I only feel her when you’re-”
“Zenobia!” Maxwell’s voice cuts through the trees.
I whip my head toward his call, and when I look back, the wolf is gone. Only massive paw prints in the dirt prove he was ever here.
“Zenobia?” Maxwell appears through the trees. “Who were you talking to?”