by Idella Breen
Gwen shook her head. “I was on my way back to Remus’s house. Why?”
“I just thought I should mention that Snow and I will be leaving on a trip for a while. Elena will be staying with her grandparents but she will continue to have her weekly classes with you.”
Gwen frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Snow has to do some political training for her mother.”
“Oh, that sounds boring.”
Cait chuckled. “Believe me when I say it won’t be.”
“How long will you be gone?” Sam asked.
Snow frowned. “Two years.”
“What!” Gwen yelled only for Sam to cover her mouth.
“Would you quiet down? We are in the hallway. All the neighbors can hear you!”
Gwen pulled his hand away. “Did you say two years?”
Snow nodded.
“What the hell?”
Cait laughed. “It’s not that bad Gwen. We will be back before you know it. Two years in our long lifespans will be nothing but a blip in our memory.”
“But, what about Elena?”
“Integra is more than enough to handle her for the time being. On top of that, she has you and the rest of the Lander clan to help her werewolf develop safely. I trust you guys. You’re family.”
Gwen paused as her eyes suddenly began to tear up. She sniffed and wiped at them before growling softly. “Damn you Cait Fallon and your sweet talking. Don’t think that I’ll miss either of you!” she yelled before stomping off towards the elevator.
Cait smirked as Sam turned back to them. “You know she didn’t mean that, right?”
She nodded. “She’s just a big softy deep down. Tell her we love her and to keep her chin up. We will be back before she has a chance to really miss us.”
Elena frowned when she heard what her mom said. What was a big softy? The little werewolf puzzled over this phrase only half listening to what was being said around her.
Sam nodded. “Safe travels you two.”
Cait nodded while Snow smiled and Sam followed after Gwen. Noticing that her parents had finished speaking, Elena decided to voice the question that was running through her mind. “Mom, what is a big softy?”
Cait chuckled as they all went back into the apartment. “It’s someone that is tough on the outside but soft and squishy on the inside.”
Elena thought this over, a visual of a large green fruit appeared in her mind. “Like a watermelon?”
Snow burst into laughter. “Yes, honey. Just like a watermelon!”
Chapter 4
After speaking with Gwen and Sam, Elena’s parents had quickly prepared her to go to her grandma’s house. The little girl was confused but excited to see her grandparents. It wasn’t until they sat her down, in the big comfy chair in Integra’s study, that Elena realized something wasn’t quite right.
“You’re leaving?”
Snow nodded, tears filling her eyes, as Cait rested a hand on her shoulder for support. “That’s right baby. We will be gone for a while but we’re coming back.”
Elena frowned. “Where are you going?”
Integra answered when she saw her daughter struggling to find the right words. “They’re going on an adventure my darling,” her grandma said as she picked her up and set her on her hip in a well-practiced motion.
“And they should be leaving soon as I’m sure Beck is waiting for them right now.”
“An adventure? What’s that?”
Her grandma smiled. “It’s when you search for something that is lost.”
Elena frowned and looked to her parents. “What did you lose?”
Snow frowned but Cait decided to play along with Integra. “We lost our story.”
“What story?”
Cait smiled. “The story of how we became heroes.”
Elena grinned. “A hero! Like the people from the stories you tell me at bedtime?”
Her mom nodded. “That’s right baby. We are going on an adventure just like them and when we come back we will have a bunch of stories and goodies to share with you. So, you have to be a good girl while we are gone and not cause trouble for grandma or else we won’t bring you anything back.”
Elena nodded. “I promise. I’ll be good.”
Cait smiled and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. “Good. Now, say goodbye to your Mama.”
Snow sniffed and rubbed at her eyes when Elena held her hands out from her position on Integra’s hip and Snow lifted her and snuggled her tight. Elena laughed. “Mama is holding too tight!”
“I’ll miss you so much.”
“I’ll miss you too, Mama.”
“Be a good girl.”
“I will.”
“Promise.”
“Yeah, Mama.”
“Snow.” Cait placed her hand on her wife’s shoulder. “We need to leave.”
Snow kissed Elena on her cheek before hugging her tightly one more time. Then she placed her back on her feet and wiped at her eyes. “I promise to call you every night.”
“Okay.” Elena smiled and fit her hand into her grandma’s.
“Be good.”
The five-year-old giggled. “Come back with something cool.”
Snow sobbed a laugh. “I will. I promise.”
Cait wrapped her arm around her wife and guided her towards the front door. She waved back to her daughter and Integra. “I love you, Elena.”
“Bye, bye. Love you!”
The door closed softly behind them and it wasn’t until she heard the sound of tires on gravel and the slowly fading hum of a car engine that Elena felt a little off. This seemed different for some reason. It wasn’t like when she was left with Gwen and Sammy or even like when she usually visited her grandparents. For some reason, this felt more like a parting than a visit and her wolf was whimpering inside at the loss of its alpha. She felt somewhat empty and alone.
Integra crouched down and met her gaze with a soft one. “Darling Elena. I know this is hard for you. Harder than you even know right now, but they will come back, I promise. So, for now, how about we go on a little adventure of our own.”
Elena sniffed slightly. “Will I get to be a hero?”
Her grandma smirked and nodded. “I’ll even pick out a sword for you. How about that?”
“Okay. Maybe I’ll even find my mommies?”
Integra frowned but didn’t respond as she stood and took the little girl’s hand leading her down one of the many hallways of the mansion. “How about for your first adventure you find grandpa? I’m sure he will have a lollipop for you if you can.”
Elena immediately brightened at the thought of candy and skipped a little as they entered the bedroom she always stayed in when she slept over. Integra bent down and pulled out a blue foam sword from a pile of stuffed animals and handed it to the little werewolf. “Maybe you’ll have to slay a dragon on your adventure. This sword will help.” Integra smirked when Elena giggled and grabbed the foam toy. The little girl ran out of the room screaming and waving the foam weapon around as she chased imaginary dragons in search of her grandpa.
Integra giggled. “Forgive me, Adam, you are collateral this time,” she whispered as she left the bedroom and headed back to her office where she had been looking over treaty agreements and other paperwork before her daughter had shown up. She smirked, when she heard a masculine yell that could have only been her husband, right before she closed the door.
* * *
Gwen sighed, for what seemed to Elena, for the hundredth time. “Aunty Gwen?”
The omega glanced in the rear view mirror to see Elena’s worried face. “Yes?”
“Are you alright?”
The omega was once again shocked by how observant the little werewolf could be when she wasn’t occupied with playing. She shook her head. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
Elena nodded and turned to look back out the window. Gwen caught her attention once more. “Elena?”
“Yep?”
/> “I want to go over a few things before we get to the park.”
“What?”
“I want you to promise me that you won’t phase into your wolf.”
Elena frowned. “Why not?”
“Because you are still young and your wolf can be dangerous to others if they don’t know how to behave around you.”
“Oh, okay. I won’t then.”
Gwen nodded. “And one more thing.”
Elena waited as Gwen seemed to think something over before speaking. “I want you to practice tracking while we are there.”
Elena frowned. “How?”
“I want you to find me. I’ll be moving around the park while you play and I want you to search for me every fifteen minutes. If you don’t come for me, then I’ll come for you and we will start over again. I want you to aim to find me three times before we leave.”
“A game?”
Gwen smiled showing off impressive canines. “Can you do it?”
“Yes!”
“Good. The game begins as soon as you enter the playground.”
“Okay.”
It took them a good fifteen minutes just to reach the park, and another ten for Elena to find the playground, but by then Gwen was already hidden somewhere in the forest surrounding her. Elena looked around from her spot by the swings and her nose twitched as she sorted through all the different scents around her. There were several other people in the playground. Most were human though she scented two tengu and one kitsune mixed in with the bunch. The human children probably couldn’t even tell them apart from an average child.
Elena was making her way over to the blue slide when she caught the scent. It was solemn and spicy but for some reason there was something strange mixed in with the spicy smell. She couldn’t put her finger on it but it made her wolf growl from within her mind. It was something mysterious and cold, she decided. It made her hackles rise in preparation to defend herself if necessary.
Elena glanced around the playground and moved to track down the mysterious scent. Her nose led her to the small hidden room under the tall purple slide. She only hesitated for a moment before her curiosity won out and she entered the hiding area.
There, sitting in the wet sand and playing with a couple of rocks, was a girl with white hair. Elena gasped as the girl’s hair seemed to glow in the shaded area. Her gasp drew the attention of the other child and when she looked up Elena’s midnight blues locked with two of the greenest eyes she had ever seen. They held each other’s gaze, neither moving or speaking, just…waiting. For what, Elena wondered.
Elena smiled. “Hi.”
The other girl didn’t respond but seemed to shrink within herself at the greeting. Elena took a step forward and the girl seemed to cower back. She frowned. “I’m Elena. What’s your name?”
Curious but guarded green eyes seemed to study her for a moment before the girl parted her lips only to snap them shut when a boy pushed past Elena and ran into the hiding spot. Elena immediately realized that he was a tengu through his airy scent and frowned when his eyes lingered on the white haired girl.
“I’m hiding here,” he said hurriedly and pointed at the two girls. “You both need to get out.”
Elena’s frown deepened and her wolf brushed up against her mental cage. Neither were pleased to be commanded by someone without the proper authority.
The white haired girl stood quickly and bowed her head before trying to slip past Elena to leave but the werewolf wasn’t having any of that. She blocked the girls escape route but turned on the tengu. “Why don’t you leave? We were here first.”
He frowned. “You wanna pick a fight or something? I said leave.”
The girl tried once again to walk around the werewolf but Elena reached out and grabbed her hand only to jerk back at the sudden electric shock. It seemed to travel throughout her body before resting warmly in her chest. The tengu moved forward and pushed the white haired girl into the sand and the next thing Elena saw was a blinding red that seemed to consume her as a violent anger she had never experienced filled her being.
“Stop!” Someone was pulling on her.
“Stop! Please, or you’ll kill him!” the voice cried and Elena felt her senses come back to her.
The first thing she noticed was that she was naked and that could only mean one thing. She had phased. The second thing was that the white haired girl was hugging her from behind. Her small arms were wrapped around Elena’s stomach covered in a red sticky substance. Elena frowned and finally trailed her eyes down her arms only to realize that her fingers were buried in the tengu boy’s chest.
She gasped and jerked her hands back causing blood to leak out from the unconscious wounded tengu. “What…”
The arms around her tightened and the girl sighed in relief. “You’re back to normal.”
Elena belatedly realized that the girl’s voice was like a soothing whisper. It sent a shiver of warmth down her spine and Elena relaxed in her hold even further.
“What happened?” Elena couldn’t keep the tremble from her own voice as she gazed down at her victim? Was that what he was? She had hurt him. Made him suffer. For what?
The girl made to move away but Elena grabbed her arms and held them tighter around her center. “Don’t let go!” her voice wavered as the fear she felt creeping up on her turned cold. “I don’t know what I’ll do if you let go.”
The white haired girl nodded against her shoulder and held on tighter. “Sorry.”
“What happened?” Elena tried again.
“He touched me and you attacked him. You turned into a black wolf and wrestled with him until you pinned him down. But you didn’t stop! You just kept attacking him!”
The girl attached to her back seemed to be fighting her own fear and Elena’s wolf hummed with energy and a deep burning anger that wanted to consume her again. She held on tighter to the white haired girl whose touch seemed to be the only thing keeping her from finishing what she started.
“Are you scared? Of me?”
The white haired girl stopped shivering and there was a moment of silence before she spoke. “Rae.”
Elena frowned. “What?”
The girl behind her moved up and touched her nose to Elena’s sticky cheek in what Elena knew was a greeting kiss. Her mom had taught her that it was a werewolf custom to greet another werewolf by nuzzling their cheek. Elena’s wolf calmed a little and slowly went back into her mental cage. She sagged as the violent anger left her.
“My name is Raegan McCloud.”
Elena quickly realized that despite the other girl’s scent being so strange there was also an underlying earthy smell that could only belong to another werewolf. She turned slightly to asked Raegan a question but a startled gasp drew both of their attention.
“What happened, Elena?” Gwen stood in the entrance to the small hiding area, her face pale in shock before she looked to the dark haired girl.
Suddenly, tears started falling down her cheeks. “I hurt him, Aunty. I didn’t mean to.”
Gwen nodded slowly and moved forward pulling off her shirt to wrap it around Elena. “It’s okay baby. Come here.”
Gwen reached out but Raegan didn’t move to release her niece making her frown in puzzlement. “It’s okay. You can let her go now.” Honestly, Gwen was surprised that the other child had been able to stop Elena. She knew from first-hand experience that the dark haired werewolf was very strong as well as fast and even gave Remus a run for his money when they fought.
Instead of answering Gwen, the girl looked to Elena for confirmation which she gave and Raegan let go sitting back on her haunches.
“Come here, Elena.”
The little girl nodded and Gwen scooped her up and helped her put the shirt on. “I need you to go to the car and wait for me inside, okay?”
Elena’s brow furrowed and she looked to Raegan. “I don’t want to leave her.”
Gwen frowned and turned to the other girl. “Is your mom here?”
&
nbsp; Raegan shook her head. “I came alone.”
“Alone?”
Raegan nodded. “I always come alone.”
Gwen nodded warily. “Can you go to my car with her? She won’t go without you.”
“I will.” Raegan stood and walked over to them, holding out her hand for Elena to take. Gwen watched in shock as the white haired girl led Elena to her car only to realize a second later that she had also been a werewolf from the lingering scent she left behind. Gwen shook her head and looked down at the injured tengu. He wasn’t in critical condition and had most likely fainted due to the shock of pain inflicted on him. She sighed. Tengu mothers were always a pain to deal with on a good day. She didn’t even want to imagine what they would be like when she walked over to them to show off their injured son. She reached down and carefully picked up the boy. His advanced healing ability would have him back to normal in a few days but until then it was going to hurt for him to move. What had he done for Elena to attack him like this?
Gwen was careful to leave the hiding area without revealing the injured tengu in her arms to the other human children around the playground. Her under shirt was covered in his blood by the time she reached the two chatting mothers who stopped and glared as she approached them. Their glares immediately turned into looks of absolute terror and she knew she was in for it.
Elena held onto Raegan as she led her to Gwen’s car and couldn’t help the fear festering in her chest. The other girl hadn’t said anything since they’d been alone and she was beginning to think that the other werewolf was mad at her for what she did. When they finally reached Gwen’s car she was shocked to feel tears streaming down her face. She wiped at them but no matter what she did they just wouldn’t stop. A warm hand cupped her cheek startling her to look up and into concerned green orbs.
“Are you okay, Elena?”
She shook her head. “Are you mad at me?”
Raegan frowned. “No, why would you ask that?”
Elena hiccuped. “Because you haven’t talked to me.”
Raegan wiped a stray tear with her thumb. “I’m sorry.”