Chapter 21: Apology

Carina's POV

"What the hell do you think you're doing, young man?'"

I knew that voice from somewhere, but I could not place who's voice it was; I could not even turn, and my eyes were too heavy to see anything. All thanks to Christ—what was his name again?

"I suspect her! She might have been the one who gave out information about Linda. She went to the enemy's territory last night. She could be a traitor!"

"What if she's not?"

"Why are you defending her?"

"She's a youngling, you know, and—"

That was the last thing I heard before everywhere went black. By the time I was up, I saw its faces starting at me with so much concentration; it was Charlotte and Christos.

"She is awake", Charlotte announced, like Christos had not seen that already. Whatever had happened to me had not taken away my memory because I still remembered what happened—some things at least.

"Has Linda been buried?", I asked.

"Yes, she has; she was buried yesterday", Charlotte said in a low voice, then added, "You have been out for three days."

"Oh, I have? Thank Christos; he did such a nice job. You did too", I said, sarcasm dripping from every word that came out of my mouth.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just got carried away by thinking you're a sort of double agent because I went into investigation, but Cora told me she was the one that sent you to the enemy's territory that night as part of the training she is giving you. I'm really sorry for assuming that you are a bad person", Christos apologized.

So it was Cora who saved me. If she had not come in that night, he would have known the real truth because whatever he gave me had the power to force you to say things that you would not say on a normal day. It was all thanks to Cora that I was still breathing fresh air, and Christos was here apologizing to me. But why did Cora help me? She had not sent me to get tulips that night; she had sent me the previous full moon instead. I was with Conall on the last full moon and not on any training quest. I needed to know why she helped me.

Right now, I wanted to train and then meet with Cora, and I needed to do it now, so I had to pretend not to want to talk to Christos and Charlotte.

"I need space, guys. Thanks for waiting by my bed to make sure I am okay. I appreciate", I said in the nicest way possible. They got the cue to leave and left without saying a word. I knew Charlotte was hurt by my reaction, but I could not deal with her now.

First, I went to train myself and requested to fight with random werewolves, and I noticed that I was getting better. The day I was going to fight against Cora was fast approaching; I could feel it.

When I was done with the training of the day, I went to see Cora, who, as usual, even in her grieving stage, was taking care of flowers.

"Hi", I said, taking a seat.

"I hope you haven't come with the intention of fighting against me today because I can tell you that you're not ready, plus you look drained. Did you train today?", Cora asked.

"Yes, I did train, and no, I did not come with the intention of fighting against you; I just came to talk to you for a bit", I said. There was a bit of silence before I went on to say, "I had wanted to challenge Linda to a fight to know if I was fit enough to challenge you."

Cora laughed a dry laugh. "That was smart of you. But as you can see, I failed to protect her like I should have."

"I'm so—"

"Don't be sorry. I have tried not to be sentimental these days, and I have been able to keep that up. Linda was a strong Luna and would never be forgotten, but let us not talk about her now", Cora said. She was obviously hurt, even though she tried to pretend that she was okay by smiling.

"Thanks for saving me the other night", I said, changing the subject.

"Don't mention. I knew Christos was going to be very vulnerable and do stupid things in the name of investigation. I couldn't save my cousin, but I sure as hell won't let Christos create more casualties", she said.

"But why? Why did you save me? You didn't send me to get tulips on the last full moon; I left on my own the real pack territory", I said.

"I saved you because I could not get Christos to hurt you, plus I still need to fight against you before you can go ahead and be unalive." I was surprised Cora could crack a dark joke in her present state.

"Aren't you going to ask what I went to do at the real pack territory?", I asked.

"It's none of my business. One day, if I decide that I want to know, I will know without asking you", Cora said, and there was a pause. I did not know what was going on in her head, but she looked disturbed. "Everything doesn't seem as good as it looks; one day you will find your own truth."

My own truth? What did she mean by that?

"I don't—"

"You don't have to understand what I said now, Carina. Please leave, and the next time you come here, you must be ready to fight", she said.

I was not unhappy that she told me to leave, but I was sort of happy instead. She has tried helping me many times, lending out information to me, and challenging me; it was time I did something on my own. I was going to find out what she meant on my own. Two thoughts came into my head immediately, and I realized that I would need both Christos and Charlotte.

Christos was surprised to see me at his front door. I went in without being invited. "Don't worry, I will do well to not take anything you offer me this time."

"I'm so sorry, Carina; I truly am. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please forgive me", he pleaded. A whole alpha was pleading; this was pretty interesting.

"I'm sorry for leaving the territory without letting you know, but I can't forgive you for tampering with my memory and speech with whatever you gave me. But I will forgive you on only one condition", I said, walking up to him. This was all part of my game plan. I was going to plan another day for him, specially, but today I had something else in mind. I could feel the strong tension between us as I waited for him to say something.

"What is that?", he finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I want to be allowed to go to human territory", I said, "this night."

"That is not right. The humans—"

"Please, I just want to meet with my friend", I said.

"You would be back before sunrise", he said. That was not a question or request; it was a command, like he would come looking for me if I stayed past that time, but I did not care; I needed to see my friend before anything else. It had been a while since I saw her.

"Yeah, sure", I said.

"You have the most beautiful eyes in the world, Carina", he said. I was taken aback by his compliment, so I did not say anything.

"I'm sorry, I—what happened to your neck?", he asked the boy. I straightened my turtle neck shirt. Somehow, for the past few days, I was able to hide the hickey that Conall gave me, and I was not about to allow anyone to see it.

"It's nothing. So please, can you help me get away to the human city", I asked, brushing off his question.

As I expected, the guards at the gate were multiple, and they looked more alert. This was the reason I needed Christos, so that I would pass the gate easily and without any suspicion since he himself was the one that made the gate so guarded, without him it would have been very tough or even impossible to pass by.

I changed to my real form when I passed the gate and raced down to meet Bella, dodging any human I saw, but all of a sudden I was stopped by another werewolf who just jumped in front of me from wherever it was hiding, and your immediately changed to its human form; it was Conall. I changed into my human form as well.

"What are you doing here?", I asked.

"Did you really think that I would let go of you so easily?", he asked. I felt my body go hot.

"How did you know that I would be here? Are you stalking me?", I asked.

"Maybe", he answered quietly. Just a single word was making me feel like I should just rush up to him and kiss him.

*I'm still mad at you", I said, walking away from him, but he followed me. "I don't want you following me."

"That doesn't mean I will stop following you."

"What do you want?", I asked.

"This", he said, rushing to me and crashing his lips on mine.