Chapter 31 Back to the past
“Auren has something you need to hear. It’s important. And kind of private,” Hope says.
Alpha Dravik folded his arms leaning back on his heels. “If it's private, then why are you still here?”
“Hey, I was here first,” Hope replies, tearing open the last tub of ice cream with more force than needed. “Besides, I’m here for emotional support.”
He snorts at that, then turns fully toward me. One black brow lifts. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“I…” My throat tightens. I draw in a slow breath, the kind that feels like it scrapes my lungs. “I told you before that my pack members don't have names for their wolves. What I didn’t tell you is that they never talked to it either.”
His silver eyes sharpens. “You didn’t think that was important?”
“No. I mean, I didn’t think it was strange. I thought it was just… you. Like an Alpha thing.” My eyes flick to Hope. She nods at me, gesturing with her hands and urging me to continue. “What I’m saying is I didn’t know everyone else has a wolf that is… like…..a different person and is treated as such.”
“Okay……,” he says slowly as he puts his hands in his pocket, looking bored. “Now you do. I still don’t get where this is going.”
Silence stretches a bit. “I never saw them,” I whisper.
“Never saw who?”
“Their wolves.”
His posture changes, subtle but sudden. “What do you mean by you never saw their wolves?”
“I mean exactly that,” I say. “I never saw anyone in Silverveil shift. Not once.”
He stares at me, his eyes wide.. “That’s not possible.”
“I swear it is.”
“You’re telling me, you lived in a wolf pack for years and never saw a single transformation?”
I nod, shame burning in my chest. “I know how stupid it sounds. But it’s true. The first time I ever saw a wolf was the night of the attack here.”
“But you said you got your wolf when you were like eleven,” he presses. “You woke up in a pool of your parents’ blood. What about them?”
I shake my head. “I don’t remember anything about my life with my parents or that night. Not their faces, not their voices. Nothing. I was just told what happened when I woke up, my memories gone.”
Hope lets out a sharp breath. “That sure isn’t normal.”
Dravik keeps staring at me, unblinking.
“And,” Hope adds, “we all got our wolves at fifteen to sixteen, that’s when the bond forms. She was told she got hers at eleven. That’s weird too, right? Or is that not the norm?.”
Still he says nothing.
“Not even a half change?” he finally asks me. “Claws? Eyes? Anything?”
“Never,” I whisper.
“Not even when they……beat you?”
I shook my head. “My uncle has a strict rule to keep any form of wolf changing in the woods and I never go there. My job was just to clean and get beaten.”
His jaw tightens and rage flashes across his face instantly. “Getting beaten is not a job,” he growls.
The room goes quiet and my chest aches as I stare at the floor waiting for him to say something.
“If this is true,” Dravik says, his voice turning cold, “then it looks like we’re going to Silverveil afterall.” He turns to Hope. “Hope, go get Garrick and Brandon, and tell them to prepare our finest fighters.”
Hope’s spoon freezes in midair. “We’re going to attack?”
“No, you’re staying here. We….. are going to get answers and we're taking Auren with us. The men are for when Auren’s uncle refuses to give them.”
Then he looks at me. “Auren, go change into something practical.”
I move to our room on shaking legs, pulling on a pair of black jeans, a thick sweatshirt, and cargo boots. My hands were trembling so much I could barely tie my shoe lace. My thoughts were all over the place.
We’re going back to Silverveil, I had hoped I would never get to go back there ever again. What if Alpha Dravik decides to give me back or what if something happens and I am left behind or what if the answers we seek turns out to be something else…..something bad.
The door opens and Dravik steps in. He gives me a once over not commenting on my outfit as he grabs his jacket.
“Ready?” he asks.
“I I think so.”
“You’re shaking.”
I look down. My hands are trembling and I clutch one with the other. He steps closer and cups my face, his touch warm and firm.
“Hey, look at me. I’m not giving you back to them, ever. I just want answers and I'm taking you with me just to piss them off. Do you hear me?”
I nod. How did he know that is what I was thinking about? It’s as if he can read me like a book.
I follow him downstairs. Outside, vehicles line the pathway like a very long convoy with people already getting into them except for the first car, the long black limo I had entered when Dravik took me from Silverveil. The driver stood beside the open door, waiting.
He leads me to the limo, his hand never leaving mine.
“They will follow us as far as they can go and hold back, but close enough to attack if your uncle doesn’t cooperate,” he says to me. “I don’t want to appear as if we’re planning to attack so as not to spook them”.
I watch as Garrick and Gamma Brandon enter first. “Don’t worry, someone will be with you at all times,” Dravik mutters to me, urging me into the car.
The men had an open discussion about the trip and their plans and once so often I feel eyes on me, especially Garricks’. I still don't know why he still looks at me weirdly.
“Well, what do you think?” Garrick asks as we arrive, looking out the window.
Gamma Brandon sniffs the air, “It’s not abandoned like before.”
I look out my window and see Silverveil and the people who had made my life a living nightmare.