Chapter 33: CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

The moment Alisha stepped into the pack house mansion, she could tell that something was going on. Everywhere was so quiet that if a pin fell, she was sure the dropping sound would be heard. She became a little afraid as her mind whirled around what could have happened for the usual loud pack to be silent. When she saw one of the minor wolves pass by her, she stopped him.

"What happened here?" she asked him.

The boy lifted his two palms into the air in resignation. "I was out on an errand for the beta to his town, so I don't know anything."

"It's okay. You may go," she told him and the man hurried away from her. She wondered if he thought that she was going to punish him if he said what had happened.

She didn't blame them, if she hadn't gone out in search of what Sam had asked her to get for him, she would have found out the reason for the quietness of the pack house. Rather than look for someone else to explain the situation going on in the pack for her, she went straight to her mother's private room. She met the other woman rushing out of her room in a hurry. Alisha thought again about how she had thought that something was going on in the pack and nearly winced.

"Mom," she called out.

"Oh, Alisha. You're here? Where have you been before?"

"What happened here?" she asked her mother instead, effectively evading the question the older woman had asked.

"It's Xana."

"What happened to her?" Alisha asked immediately.

"Sarah nearly killed her this evening. As it is, I am going to her place now to get this ointment over to her," the older woman explained.

"What?!" Alisha asked in complete astonishment. When she got over her initial shock, she stretched her hands to her mother. "Bring the ointment. I'll give it to Xana and check up on her at the same time." She finished.

Her mother gave the ointment bottle to her without any further probing and Alisa turned away from her mother before the older woman would remember the question she asked her about where she had gone to. But more than not wanting to explain where she went to, she didn't want to delay in seeing Xana and knowing how the other woman was faring. When she got to the room that now belonged to Xana, she knocked and waited until there was a response for her to go in.

Xana was examining her neck carefully in front of the mirror when she heard the knock on her door. She picked up a scarf and tied it around her neck before she stood up from the mirror and went to open the door with high hopes that it was Adam who was on the other end of the door to check on her. After he had rushed off in search of the vampire woman, Xana had been waiting for him to return to the mansion and also to check on her. When she saw that it was only Alisha on the other end, she was disappointed but she masked the emotions completely before the other woman would see it and thought that Xana didn't want her around.

"Hey, Alisha.* she called with a sweet tone. And although her voice was still hoarse from screaming earlier, she didn't let it reflect as the characteristic of a woman who should be a Luna was to hide her pain well.

Alisha smiled at Xana as she accepted her invitation to enter the room. When they were both seated on the bed, Alisha held up the ointment bottle that was held secured in her hand and smiled at the other woman.

"Mother sent this over," she told Xana with a smile.

Xana smiled at her and she removed the scarf to reveal the flesh around her neck. "Can you help me to apply it? I can't see all the places where they should go."

Alisha got angry the moment she saw the mistreated neck. There were a lot of strangled marks around the neck to show the agony the redhead had gone through. Marks that despite being a werewolf, it hadn't erased away from the neck. Alisha was sure that if Xana wasn't a werewolf, she would have died because of how tight the vampire woman had held her neck just to prove a point.

And her brother had said that she shouldn't hate the woman he claimed was his mate? She thought. How could a normal person try to kill another woman? Or even threaten their existence? No one Alisha knew was completely normal would do such a thing. Maybe the vampire wasn't normal a single bit. Even if Adam likes, let him try to persuade her one million times over, Alisha would always choose Xana over her.

"Come on. Help me to apply the ointment in it," Xana said.

Alisha got up from the bed, opened the bottle, scooped some with her fingers, and began to gently apply it to Xana's skin. Even though Xana had tried not to show any pain while Alisha carried out the exercise, she knew that the place must hurt the redhead a lot. When Alisha was done applying the ointment, she went down on the bed again.

"Why didn't you just shift into your wolf form and kill her? Were you afraid that my brother would reprimand you?" Alisha asked the redhead.

"No. It's just that I can't shift at will," Xana answered solemnly.

Alisha was surprised to hear those words that the redhead said. At first, she thought that the woman was joking but when she didn't retract the statements, Alisha had no choice but to believe her. "But you are from the full moon clan of the Colven pack!"

"True, I am but I still can't shift at will. You should know how hard it was not being able to shift at will," Xana admitted in a low tone.

No, Alisha didn't know how hard it was to shift at will since she could shift whenever she wanted. If anyone had asked her if Xana could shift at will, she would have gladly said yes. Why was fate so cruel to such a gentle and kind soul like Xana? Why wasn't she given the power to be nice as she was? But Alisha also knew that some people couldn't shift whenever they wanted even though they were from the full moon clan also. Most of the other willful shifters she knows were the warriors who protected the pack.

"I didn't realize that it affected you too," Alisha said as an apology for asking about such a sensitive thing.

"its fine,'' Xana said, waving it away like it didn't matter at all.” So, tell me about this man you are seeing." She added.

Alisha blushed in surprise. She hadn't expected anyone to notice but the redhead had. Alisha began her narration while Xana kept smiling to encourage her to say more.