— Kaden —

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I… My instincts are sharper than most. If I open my senses, I can get more. I don’t always control what I get or how much, but I can aim it a little,” Elaeya explained.

“Is that how you saw my injuries?”

“I didn’t see them, at least not with my eyes.”

“What else did you see?”

“I see…” She tilted her head slightly, her eyes getting out of focus again, her hand resting on my chest again. “I see that contact between us helps heal you faster.”

“Does it?” I supposed it wasn’t a far-fetched idea if it was the distance that had caused it. “Does this help?” I pressed my lips on hers.

Frankly, I could stop all life plans and just kiss her for the rest of my life. That sounded like an excellent retirement plan. I don’t remember being this obsessed with physical contact with a woman since puberty.

She nodded, but didn’t break the kiss, so I slid my hands on either side of her hips and pulled her astride me. This was much better.

The fact that half her back was exposed didn’t go unnoticed for long and I reveled in the skin contact. I mean, it’s for health, you know.

I don’t know how much healing our make-out session gave me, but I felt wonderful.

“What are you?” I asked her.

Her eyes shifted away from me. She was clearly uncomfortable.

“I know you’re a hybrid,” I told her. “You don’t have to tell me now if you don’t want to, but sooner or later I’m gonna have to know.”

She nodded, her eyes still away from mine.

“I don’t care,” I said.

“About what?”

“About what you are.”

“You might not say that later.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I could bring you trouble.”

“I’ll definitely bring you trouble,” I told her.

She looked back into my eyes. Whenever she did that, it was like I was being pulled inside, as if every second made the world around me fade a little bit more.

“How?” she asked me.

“Some would call me a bit of a troublemaker,” I said, still not breaking away from her gaze.

She broke it first, her eyes going to my jawline, her index finger tracing ever so lightly a scar I had there. Then she traced with her other index a faint mark near my hairline on the opposite side of my head. She looked at the scars as if she was reading their story in a book.

“Trouble,” she whispered, her attention still on my skin, the touch so delicate, it made me shudder in pleasure. A little smile graced the corner of her lips at this, but she kept her eyes on my skin, finding other scars. There was a long one above my collarbone and going further under my shirt. Her finger slowed as it was halted by my clothes.

I had half a mind to take my shirt off so she could keep this up, when my bloody phone rang.

It was not a number that I had in my contacts.

Elaeya looked behind her through the window at the sunset. “I think this call is for me,” she said looking back at me.

Right, her parents.

She took the phone and looked at the screen, nodded as she recognized the number, and answered.

She didn’t leave my laps, which I appreciated, so I just put my hand on her thighs and enjoyed the view. And I don’t just mean the sunset.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Ela,” her father said, or so I assumed it was him. His voice had a different quality to it. Far more human this time. I doubted he was shifted. “How are you?”

“I am fine.”

“How do they treat you?”

“Respectfully,” she said.

“Where are you?”

“An allied pack named Monaweard.”

“You are far,” he noted.

“I doubt there are many packs closer to camp.”

He sighed. “Probably not.”

“How is Mother?”

“Not happy.”

“Is she around?”

“No. I’m pretty sure a part of her made sure she had something to do elsewhere not to have to face you right now.”

“Is it this bad?”

“It’s…” He sighed. “It’s hard on her. I’m sure she will talk to you tomorrow. She is afraid. It brings back rough memories.”

“I understand.”

“No, you don’t. But you understand enough, child. This decision has to be your own.”

“Mmh,” she replied.

“Just tell me you’re okay.”

“I am.”

“Good, I will talk to you in the morning. Maybe if we are lucky your mother will be there too.”

I saw a faint reflective glint in Elaeya’s eyes as they went out of focus for an instant.

“She will be,” she said firmly.

“Take care,” he told her.

“Take care,” she replied. “Both.” She hung up and gave me back my phone.

“Does insight also gives you knowledge of the future?” I asked her.

“Sometimes,” she replied, hesitant.

“That’s convenient,” I said.

She shrugged.

“Can I ask what is wrong with your mother?” I asked her.

“My situation … this…” she gestured vaguely at us. “It scares her.”

“Why?” I asked.

“She … the past has not been kind to her. It hasn’t been so for either of my parents. They worry about me.”

“What happened?”

She laid her head on my shoulder for a minute before she started to talk.

“My maternal grandfather was at the head of his tribe. He was also in an open relationship with his wife. My mother was the fruit of such a relationship. Her mother, got into a difficult situation when my mother was very young and she sent her to live with her father. He, and his wife raised her like their own. Making no distinction between their daughter and my mother, but it was not common knowledge that she was illegitimate. As the tribe was strongly against hybrids, they also kept that information under lock and key.

My grandfather’s second was only a few years younger than him. He had married young, the girl had died along with their child in childbirth. So when he discovered that my mother was his mate he was more than thrilled, and they forgot the age gap very rapidly. When my mother got pregnant with a boy, I believe he saw suddenly the possibilities open to him, as my grandfather had no sons. He was the second in command and his son-in-law after all. One evening after drinking a little too much, and bragging a little too much, someone who knew, informed him that he was married to the illegitimate one.

He came home that night, drunk and furious. He would berate my mother, and be harsh on her. Then once again he would be the sweetest to her, to switch back to anger and animosity. Like a pendulum, day after day.

But after my mother gave birth, he overheard her talk to her step-mother about how her son could be affected by being a hybrid.

Not all hybrids are easily detected. And my mother had a necklace given to her by her mother which helped her camouflage, and she wanted to find one for her son.

But her husband found out, and when the three of them returned home, he flew into a rage like he had never done before. His anger became physical and he beat on my mother to an inch of her life. He was himself quite strong, to begin with, his weakened wife had no chance. Then he dragged her by the hair to their child’s bedroom, took a knife to the crib, and hacked at the newborn while she watched helplessly. Then he threw her in the basement and told her that he would inform the tribe that the filthy hybrid killed their infant son, and that if anyone ever saw her again, they’d killed her for it. No one would believe a hybrid over the Second. Then he threw the corpse of their child in there with her, in case she would get ‘hungry’. And he locked her up.

It took her days, and she survived only because she managed to damage a water pipe so she could drink a little water. But she eventually dug her way out of there. She wrapped the child in what little clothes she could.

She buried him in the wood, in an unmarked grave, and left her tribe, never to return.”

There were a few seconds of silence.

I slid my fingers instinctively through her hair.

“So now she’s afraid her daughter might get a mate?”

“Yes, and she is particularly untrusting towards anyone powerful, in a position of power, or who has ambitions.”

“I see,” I said absentmindedly. I heard of men having issues with their mothers-in-law, but there was a level of trauma here, I didn’t know if I could ever overcome.

“My father came from a normal family,” she said. “He was not born with rank. His pack was isolationist and highly traditionalists. So when my father began showing signs of being more capable than what his position warranted, it made some people uncomfortable. But a few saw potential in him, and before his teenage years he was already training with warriors. As he grew into a young man, some began to realize he had the potential of an Alpha. Made-Alphas are rare, and traditionalist pack gave power only to Blood-Alphas. And then he found his mate in the daughter of the Alpha. It created even more of a stir. The son of the Alpha in particular, reacted very negatively, and ultimately, she was convinced to reject her mate to marry the Alpha of another pack. And within a week of this, she was gone.

My father was not very happy about this, but he also understood that his situation was becoming precarious. Meanwhile, the Alpha died, and his son saw more and more comparisons between the two of them, and began spiraling down. Which only fueled a faction within the pack to believe he might not be suited for leadership, and my father had the right strength to challenge him. And the more this happened, the more the Alpha became paranoid and unstable, and the more it fueled resistance. By this point, there were some considering fractionating the pack into two, and departing with my father at their head.

In the middle of all this, my father said nothing. He did not encourage it—knowing how risky this was—but his anger got the best of him and he nonetheless enjoyed watching the Alpha fall apart.

One evening, the Alpha berated him in front of the whole pack, and my father stayed stoic, which only enraged the Alpha further, and in a moment of impulse, asked my father for a challenge.

Refusing was not really an option. My father, at first, thought of ending it in a draw if possible. But things escalated. They were both young and their emotions got the best of them. In the end, my father won, and in a fit of despair, the Alpha declared it was too late to transfer power that night, and it would be done in the morning.

In the middle of the night, the Alpha sneaked into my father’s room with around twenty of his most faithful, and before my father woke, they attacked him. They beat and clawed at him until there was nothing left but a mangled corpse, that they loaded in a truck, and went to dump off a cliff deep in the woods.

My father’s heartbeats were so faint then that they didn’t hear them. Luckily he was dropped at arm’s length of a stream. It took him a week of drinking from the stream until he could catch and eat a frog. In a few more weeks he was strong enough to crawl. He did so until he reached a harbor, sneaked into the cargo, and left the island to never return.

When he met my mother, she accidentally stumbled upon him. He had severe infections from his wounds and could not move most of his body, but when she was chased, he shot the attacker with a stolen gun. In exchange, she treated his wounds. He realized early on that she was a hybrid, but he never made anything of it. And soon they fell into a rhythm of helping one another, caring for one another. I am not even sure if they even spoke until I was born.

They never were in love, but they have respect and care for one another. They both have suffered great wounds and found comfort in the safety of each other. That’s why I was never part of any pack. Because packs have betrayed them, hurt them, and the people in power abused them, their mates broke faith with them.”

“And now they think it will happen to you?”

“I am sure the idea crossed their mind.”

“I don’t intend to hurt you,” I said.

“Maybe,” she said.

“Is that what your insight is saying?”

She raised her head from my shoulder and looked in my eyes.

Her eyes changed. All werewolves have eyes that change colour when our wolf is close to the surface, but I don’t know if it’s her wolf that got close to the surface when she looked. But those were no werewolf eyes I’d ever seen. They became opalescent. It was like looking at moonstones, with their lustre that reflects light. She put her hands on me, and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back to their usual pink. She shook her head.

“You won’t hurt me,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t be hurt.”

“Will you?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly.