Chapter 3

Kavi's POV:

I jolted awake when I heard my mom's scream. I quickly searched for my black sunglasses and the syringe and put the glasses on before rushing to her room. I saw her thrashing around in her bed and yelling for help. The same nightmare! I quickly straddled her, holding her hands below my thighs, and injected the liquid into her upper left arm. Her struggles died down as she passed out. I ignored the tears flowing from my eyes and quickly went to her bathroom, soaked a towel in warm water, and dabbed her sweat from her body. After cleaning her, I went to my room. I removed my sunglasses and stored them safely near the syringe.

Tears continued to flow as I remembered the first time I accidentally walked into her room while she was having the nightmare. I was just eight years old then. My grandpa was trying to control her wolf, but her wolf went mad upon seeing my eyes, and she clawed my left thigh. But immediately, her wolf recognized me as her pup and whined, knowing that she hurt me. She gave control back to my mom, who treated my wounds with tears.

After that, I never went near her without sunglasses to cover my eyes. Also, for the most part, her wolf wouldn't take control. In fact, it has been a while since I've seen her wolf. I sobbed silently at my inability to heal her heart. I may heal physical pain, but I don't have the power to heal ugly emotional scars.

I couldn't sleep anymore. I changed into a sports bra and shorts and headed to the small gym we had put together. I grabbed my hand wraps, wrapped them securely over my hands, and started hitting a sandbag to get out all my anger.

Oh, Moon God!

When will you answer my prayers? Punch

I have been praying to you for the same thing for the past four years! Punch, punch.

I want his blood. Hard punch.

I want to kill him by tearing him apart limb by limb. Punch, punch.

His death should be the cruelest in history. I want to give him that. Punch, punch, punch.

I will give him the most painful death. I WILL! Hard punch.

The bag tore and sand fell with a 'whoof' sound.

Yes! Just like this bag, you will fall at my mother's feet lifeless!

I made that promise to the faceless monster in my imagination.

I sighed, removed the empty sandbag, replaced it with a new bag, and continued to work out my anger. While I was on the verge of breaking the fifth bag, the door to my small gym slammed open, and my mom sighed in relief.

"I was scared when I couldn't find you in your room!"

She walked over to me and pulled me into a tight hug, not caring about my sweaty body. This is why I love her more than anything. I placed my head on her shoulder and greedily breathed in her vanilla scent.

"Sorry, Mom! Couldn't sleep!" I said in a small voice.

"Sorry, Kavi. I'm the reason for…"

I shushed her. She would blame herself for everything. I pulled away from her and turned around, so she wouldn’t see my purple eyes.

"What's the time, Mom?"

"5:45."

I nodded and started cleaning the sandy mess without making eye contact.

"Kavi, we need to talk about something."

I furrowed my eyes as this was the first time in a long time that she had said something like this to me.

"Okay, Mom. But please wait a few minutes. Let me get cleaned up."

I heard her hum in response and walk out of the room.

I took a quick shower and dressed in a grey t-shirt and black jeans. I put in my brown cosmetic lenses, checked my moonstone pendant, and walked out. I inhaled the heavenly aroma of my favorite meal: chicken curry and rice.

It's been a while since she cooked something at home since she was usually too busy with work. I cooked sometimes, but mostly I ordered out.

'Something is not right with her,' my wolf stated.

I went to the kitchen and focused on her. I learned this new thing on my sixteenth birthday. My wolf could identify moods from the color of someone's aura. Now she was glowing deep violet mixed with a green outer layer. She was sad but trying to calm herself.

"What's wrong with you, Mom? Why are you sad?" I asked while hopping on the kitchen counter. Her head snapped towards me in shock. I giggled a little on seeing her open-mouthed and wide-eyed reaction. I heard her let out a deep breath. She prepared a plate and gave it to me.

"Luna Laya asked me to resign within a two-month period."

She tried to mask her sadness but failed terribly. Her job was everything to her. But why did Luna ask her to retire? She was only thirty-three. On seeing my confused look, she continued to talk.

"Actually, her niece completed medical school a few years back, and the Alpha couple wants to give her an opportunity here. He suggested we go back to Green Ocean Pack since their pack doctor recently passed away."

I could feel the depression radiating off her.

Green Ocean Pack is the pack that my grandpa merged with and handed over his title. And it was our old pack. My mom's brother, Aryan, is beta there. My mother and I were born there, but due to one bitter incident, we transferred here. My grandpa made an offer to the pack warriors in Mountain Shadow Pack while my mom was studying. I was born while she was in her first year in medicine. After her studies, she joined the pack hospital and worked hard all these years.

But it seemed the Alpha couple didn't consider any of these things. And they wanted us to leave in two months! My eyes welled up, remembering a pair of hazel green eyes that I was sincerely trying to forget, but it only made me remember him more.

"What are you going to do, Mom?" I asked her, blinking back my tears.

"I know we both have some memories from the Green Ocean Pack, but we don't have any better options. My wolf won't take the new girl's orders, and it might lead to conflict. That's why they want me to resign. "

"That makes sense, Mom. But isn't two months short notice? And what if Green Ocean Pack doesn't accept us? Do we have to become rogues?"

My wolf growled in anger at the Alpha couple.

"No, I already got an appointment letter from the Green Ocean Pack. Aryan arranged everything. He even made arrangements for us to get an individual house in the pack land. So, we don't need to stay in the packhouse," she said nonchalantly.

"Wow! Someone is so eager for the return of his sister!"

She smiled genuinely.

"Yeah! It's been eleven years since I've seen my elder brother. Inba will be mad for not visiting her all these years. We used to be close friends in school," she said dreamily with a smile. I could tell she was remembering their good old times. I smiled and hopped down from the counter to wash the plate. She took her plate to the dining table and started eating, but her eyes had a distant look, and her focus was not here. She knew better than me not to let the past haunt her present, but I knew she couldn't help it.

I grabbed my bag, packed lunch, and walked out, shouting, "Bye, Mom." My final exams were due in a week. I have been waiting for this for a long time since I couldn't prove myself in the previous tests. My only chance to show my real intelligence was to give my everything in these final exams. It would make my mom proud of me, I hope.

Anyway, I guess we’d be leaving the pack before the results. I won't get more attention, but it would be fun to see the smart students' faces when I got good marks. They probably wouldn't even recognize my name. And that would be my final legacy at this school: achieve a spot on the top list. I don't have a big dream to get a degree, but my mom said it's mandatory, so I will do what she suggests. My main focus is to find that sorry ass wolf and get my revenge. But no one knows anything about that man. Maybe going back to Green Ocean Pack would help me find some clues about him.

~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~

I opened the door enthusiastically as I was leaving our territory tonight to attend a fighting tournament. I changed into a black t-shirt and blue jeans. I stuffed my usual black ski mask into my pocket, checked my moonstone pendant, and tucked it safely inside my t-shirt before making my way out. I walked towards the border and climbed up a tree to check where our border patrols were hiding.

After calculating a loophole, I threw two stones in different directions past the place where patrol wolves were hiding. As soon as I heard the shuffling sound of them making their way towards the sound, I silently crossed the border and ran using my wolf speed into free land. After reaching a safe distance, I stripped my clothes off, put them into my bag, and shifted into my whitish silver Alpha wolf form. I picked up my bag in my mouth and made my way towards the tournament.

My wolf enjoyed her freedom and let out a happy howl. A mile before the tournament location, I shifted back into human form and put on my clothes and mask.

I paid for my entry and walked inside the grounds. It was a barren land with a lot of space that humans usually didn’t visit. A few light posts illuminated the dark place. The place heavily stank of rotten meat with so many rogues gathered in a place, but I was used to it. There were no seating arrangements as every wolf would stand in a circle around the line drawn for the fight and cheer for the fighters. The fights usually started at sunset and went on till sunrise.

I walked closer to the circle, and a brown wolf and red wolf were fighting neck and neck. The red one was bruised badly. I leaned on the light post and watched them. The brown wolf made an attack, aiming for the red wolf's right paw, but the red wolf jumped left to dodge the attack. The brown wolf seemed to have predicted his move as he swiftly turned right and captured his throat, snapping it without giving the other a chance to submit. Few wolves were merciless like this brown one. All the younger wolves took a step back from the roaring brown wolf who was howling for a challenger to defeat him. I heard that he'd been fighting for the past two hours and had killed seven wolves so far.

Good! I would get good practice tonight. The tougher the competition, the stronger I would get.

I walked inside the circle and clapped my hands to get his attention as he was facing the opposite direction. His wolf turned towards me and snarled.

"I accept your challenge," I said in a loud voice.

His wolf bared his teeth, but soon a wolfy grin appeared on his face. He shifted into his human form and pulled on a pair of shorts that someone threw towards him.

"Ha! See who we have here! The famous Black Mask!" he said sarcastically, laughed, and looked at me with a deadly glare. He was an intimidating size with humungous muscles. Even though I was only 5'7," my wolf and I eyed him as good prey.

"No one has seen your face, right? I will tear off that mask today! Not only the mask…" His eyes turned black and traveled over my body. I gulped down the disgust and maintained my calm posture.

"Are you afraid to fight me? Why are you wasting time with your bullshit speech? Kneel and submit, and I may leave you alive," I said with a smirk.

His nose flared as he let out a growl and walked towards me. I returned his loud growl and stood in a fighting stance. It was not my style to attack first. So, I let him throw his hands and legs in my direction for a few minutes and managed to dodge everything without taking a blow. His frustration increased. It was a big blow to his ego not being able to hit a small girl even after several tries. My wolf was watching his every move and waited eagerly to dig her claws into his filthy skin.

I swung my leg to his left side, but he ducked his head and dodged the attack. I tried to punch him, but he used his wolf speed to dodge me. The real fight started now. He started throwing punches with his wolf speed. While I was calculating his punches so I could dodge, he kicked my left thigh, making me lose my footing. He punched my left rib. Before his second punch, I punched his thigh hard, making him groan and take a step back. He laughed out loud.

"Ah! Not bad, pup! But remember, if you lose, I will ravish your sexy body in front of all these rogues and let them take you after I am done with you."

I let out a loud growl, not liking his disrespect. My wolf scratched for me to let her take control and put him in his place. But I wanted to break a few of his bones first.

"You've signed your death wish," I growled and launched myself towards him.

I raised my right hand in a punching stance but swirled and kicked his face with my left leg, taking him by surprise.

Taste your own medicine, bastard!

He roared and ran towards me. I kicked his thigh, held on to his long hair, and landed a few punches, making sure to break his nose. His wolf took over his human form and dug his claws into my thigh. I yelped and backed away. I could feel my wound healing. I couldn't waste my healing powers on this small wound as it would drain my energy. I let my wolf participate with me as my claws and canines came out. I snarled at him. His wolf tried to claw my mask off to fulfill his challenge, but I dug my canines into his forearm and bit hard to damage a few nerves. I spat out his foul blood and rushed towards him. He jumped up, kicked me in the stomach, whirled behind me, locking my hands over my head, and laughed out loud at my struggling body. He ran his tongue over the exposed part of my neck.

"A strong she-wolf! You are perfect to bear my pups, and you smell so sweet, bitch. Be mine. I will forgive you and let you live," his wolf growled, making me shiver in disgust.

Another unfaithful wolf to his mate!

You don't deserve to live!

My eyes started showing red as I let out the loudest howl. His body shook at the sound of my wolf's growl. I stomped on his foot and bumped my head backward strongly. His grasp on my hands loosened. I turned around and dug my claws into his throat. He withdrew reflexively and shifted into his wolf to heal quickly. I didn't want to play anymore with this filthy unfaithful bastard. I captured his beast's throat and tightened my grip. His neck bone broke with a sickening sound, and I let his lifeless body fall to the floor.

I let out a victory howl and growled for the next challenger. Two rogues cleared away his body.

A man jumped into the circle, shifting into his cream-colored wolf. My wolf winked at me as I made my way towards my next target. After a few hours and making three more wolves submit, I let out my challenge howl.

"Will you accept a friendly challenge? Umm…I lost a bet with friends. The bet is to make you accept my challenge and to fight with you. Will you accept my request?" a teen boy around my age said confidently, scratching his neck. But his aura showed slight fear, and he didn't step into the circle. He looked me up and down as my shorts were almost torn off at my thighs and hips from constant clawing and was soaked with my own blood and my opponent's blood. He didn't stink, which meant he belonged to some pack.

In friendly challenges, we don't do any intense damage. I needed someone strong to improve myself since I was preparing myself for that unknown monster. But he was trying to be confident. Shall I? I asked my wolf. She agreed with a grin as she seemed curious about this pup.

"Step in. I won't kill you," I assured him.

He grinned and was about to step inside the circle, but a tattooed muscular hand caught his wrist and stopped him. I looked up at the person who was stopping him. Time stood still when I looked up into a pair of grey eyes.

My wolf sadly muttered, "Mate," and curled up inside my head.