Chapter Twenty-Eight: Heart-to-Heart

Sapphire Nightborne

“I can’t do this anymore!”

I rolled my eyes as Chloe collapsed to the ground next to me. We had just crossed the borderline which was just a small little brook running through the forest. I turned around to see the numerous humanoid figures among the foliage, they were not breaching the boundary line... this was a good sign. This meant that this was another Alpha's territory and he had not shown his belly to Damien, this would buy the time I needed to go further, and worse case scenario, we could seek asylum for a few days to rest.

Snarls and growls filled the air as the wolves passed up and down the brook. One tried to put his paw in the water only to get his ear bit by another, this Alpha must be strong if they did not even dare toe the line. It was almost laughable, the big bad wolves were thwarted from their prey by a small little river, growls could be heard as they retreated to most probably tell Damien of the situation now. I waited till each and every single one of them disappeared till I turned my back to the other side of the brook, I would not put it past any of Damien’s pack to try something rash and break centuries’ old law. He has shown before that he cares not for the Laws that were set centuries ago. Alphas were only allowed to send their pack members into other pack lands if they were coming under the flag of diplomacy to seek alliances, or if they were invited in by the land's Alpha. Damien definitely did not come to my home under the flag of diplomacy, but who knows? Maybe Ryder broke under pressure and gave him his permission for Damien to invade our land.

“Ow!”

I took a deep breath as I looked towards the ground to see the heap at the base of a tree, that heap was Chloe who had so carelessly tripped over an exposed tree root and most probably sprained her ankle. At least we had the time now. She looked up at me with a sheepish smile on her face, I snorted before wordlessly picking her up and walking on.

“How much further?”

That question caused my heart to ache as I remembered a similar situation in the past when someone had asked me that question, someone who I had loved very much... someone who I failed. Now, another person had placed their trust in me to keep them safe.

“Not much further, I just need to find a good place to camp for the night where we can rest and you can have enough time to heal. We need to find a place that gives us enough cover from the pack that currently lives on this land. They might not have surrendered to Damien, but I cannot risk them finding us when you are injured and vulnerable. We will play by ear for now, you should heal in two days. If we need to, we will seek asylum for a few days before moving towards the human settlement.”

She silently nodded before her eyes wandered through the rest of the forest and we began our silent journey.

***************************************************************************

“Why do you keep doing that?”

My question visibly shocked Chloe as munched on her piece of rabbit that I killed, nervously taking small bites and chewing on them for a ridiculously long period of time. The crackling of the fire between us was the only noise in the awkward silence that blanketed us. She began to pick at the dead leaves that lay at our feet with one hand, waiting for me to drop my question.

“Why do you keep looking around the forest like it is the first time you’ve been in one? I don’t know if you noticed, but you have been jumping at every sound the forest makes, natural sounds that usually comes with such a place.”

She looked down and bit at her lip before looking back up at me, she swallowed the rabbit in her mouth as she saw me quirk my eyebrow at her body language. Wolves were supposed to feel the most at home in the forest, regardless if it was their forest or not. She moved as if she was in a unfamiliar environment.

“Well, it might sound weird as wolves…but…I have never been so deep in a forest before much more this far from home.”

My eyebrows were in danger of escaping into my hairline as I processed her response. How could she not have explored the forest within her borders? Although, seeing who her brother is, I could understand her situation, but still puzzled me. She was the sister of an Alpha, they were almost always present wherever the Alpha went, she should have gone with him for various negotiations.

“Does your pack not have mandatory training exercises in the forest or go out to other packs to source for alliances?”

The forest became our second home as we were often blindfolded and left to find our own way out in the dead of the night with traps laid everywhere so as to test our senses.

*The blindfold scratched against my eyelids as my teacher continued to wrap the rope around me, binding me tightly to the trunk of the tree.*

*“Sapphire, I am going to untie your blindfold, but I want you to count to ten out-loud. I promise that you will be fine as long as you remember everything I have taught you, just trust your senses and you will be fine. You have two hours to find your way back to the stronghold, if you come back after that time, you will be kicked out of training. Prove to the everyone that you deserve your place amongst the warriors.”*

My pack might not have been pro-women in the warrior department, but Ryder’s father still made sure that all wolves in his pack, no matter what gender, had at least the basic defence training in case of a fight. Hence why most of my pack besides the pregnant, young, old and sick was on the battlefield that day. If not for Alpha Edan, our pack would have fallen much sooner as his son belived that women should not be on the battlefield at all which was why he always carried resentment towards me as his father went against him to make me Head Warrior Commander.

Moreover, I had been brought from pack to pack as the Alpha family sourced for allies as I was their main bodyguard and had to fulfil my oath of guarding them. Besides that, we often had exchanges between different packs to train together to better each other, thus this improved our relations and allowed for many of our pack to find their mates.

“I know it sounds weird and awful, but that has been my life for the last twenty years. Damien had kept me locked up like some princess in that house and he barred me from military training, I was trained just enough so that I would not be a bother during a fight. And about visiting other packs, I am sure you could tell that my brother is not much of a people person so we never visited any packs other than to slaughter and conquer them.”

Poor girl. She suffered, not physically like I did at the hands of Damien, but she suffered mentally and emotionally as well, but unlike me who made a huge fuss out of it, she suffered in silence for years. That almost seemed worst, to allow another to control your life and not having the courage or means to stand up to them to take back they life that you were given, that only you should have the right to control.

“That is just sad, so is that why you wanted to leave? To be free of Damien? And why now? You had many years to escape, and no one would have tailed you around the stronghold."

I was curious, to say the least, I could not imagine being cooped up in a house for so long, not being able to run or even interact with other wolves besides my own pack. There were times when I had been locked up away from everyone, but I had the freedom after to run and train. She did not even get to taste this freedom, save for traveling to spill blood.

“To be free of Damien was one of the reasons I left, the other was to find my mate. I know that you don’t find that a very empowering reason to leave, but it's just that despite being in such a big house so full of people, I had just always felt like I was alone. Nobody actually cared for me there, they just tolerated me because I was the Alpha’s sister, so I just want to find someone who would make me feel whole and loved, I know it may sound stupid to you but it’s what I want.”

She looked up to gauge my reaction and I simply responded with a shrug, finding her mate was her desire so who was I to stop her. It was her life so she could do whatever she wanted with it. It was good to believe in something, to have a goal that gave you the drive to move forward. For her, it was love. For me, it was revenge.

“And to answer your question, I guessed I never left because I still, like you said, forced myself to live in my own little fairy tale. I could not bring myself to believe that Damien was the monster that everyone said he was, you know that when we were young he would make me cakes when I cried and would go into the forest just to pick me flowers because I wanted them for my hair. Our father was always traveling, and our mother spent a lot of time in her room.... he was all I had.”

She gave a watery chuckle as she reminisced memories of her childhood.

“It all changed when our mother left, our father took him aside and soon it seemed as though he changed overnight, it was like he was a whole different person.”

I looked up to the moon above us, I hope that the goddesses could feel the pain they caused so many people for their own selfish decision. They took a brother away from a sister, when she had no one but him.

“I bet he was.”

“He barely talked to me and then the torturing began, he started from someone who hated watching people get tortured by our father to someone who enjoyed doing the torturing. He started to follow our father around, learning all is heinous methods of conquest. I thought that maybe having you in the picture could change him, bring things back to the way they were. But after the Bloodbath, when I saw how he gave Karmen that knife, that was when I realised that I had lost my brother and I am so sorry Sapphire, that due to my blindness I could not help you escape sooner.”

She looked so small as she brought her knees to her chest, sniffling as she used the end of her shirt to wipe her tears.

“I forgive you.”

Her head snapped up from the shock of my words and I could not help but chuckle. I did not think I still had the capacity to forgive.

“You seem sincere in your actions and tried to help me besides, we are all a little blind when it comes to family.”

I had turned a blind eye to all the warning sign that Ryder gave of because Lia loved him. I wanted her to be happy, and Antiny adored him. If I was not so blind, maybe they would still be alive. Her lips trembled at my words, she was an emotional one, now wasn’t she?

“I am so sorry that I just stood there when Damien…when Damien…”

I stopped her blubbering with a gesture of my hand.

“The past is the past, what is done cannot be undone so the best we can do is move on from it.”

What I said was more for my benefit than hers, I needed to accept that nothing I do would bring them back. If I continued to dwell on what could have been, I would not be able to move on which would make me reckless... I needed to think straight. She gave a few sniffles before giving me a small smile.

“We should get some sleep now, we still have a long and tiring run ahead of us.”

I could not help but bark out a laugh as Chloe’s face fell at the mention of a ‘long and tiring run’.

“My love, wake up please!”

I jolted up from my otherwise peaceful slumber at the sound of that voice. mMy eyes raked through the forest, my ears on the alert trying to detect any possible movement that could indicate possible danger but there was none. The forest was quiet with the exception of Chloe’s soft snoring.

I could not help but let a small smile escape my lips. She enthusiastically volunteered to be on watch first telling me that I as our main line of defence should get as much rest as possible. I guess she let her fatigue take over as she was probably not used to staying up the long hours that I had been accustomed to without sleep. I shuddered as I thought of that voice I heard. I knew it had not been Chloe due to it being the low voice of a male, but what made me uncomfortable was the fact that that voice made me feel safe, but yet it had been so desperate. I looked up to the moon above us. Why was I still being haunted? I thought that part of my story was over.

I shook my head before picking up a stick to poke at the dying embers that was once our campfire. It seemed that I would have to be on watch from now on since Chloe was dead to the world. I continued prodding at the ambers when I heard a crack coming from behind me. My whole body tensed as I shot up to me feet, landing in a crouch, ready to tackle any possible threat.

A girl just couldn’t catch a break.