Suddenly Liala’s vision was back. She was still facing the ground, staring at her hands, screaming as she watched them clench, break, and change their form, dark-brown fur growing from her skin within mere seconds. Her scream deformed just the same, turning into a howl at the top of her lungs. Still her body continued to break itself and takes a whole new form. Her hands, looking so much like the clawed hands, like hands of a werewolf, become paws, ginormous paws.
I’m a wolf!
Jumping around Liala saw that all the werewolves including the big black one had stepped away from her and now stared at her in awe. She could tell from the distance to the ground and the size of her paws that she was taller than a normal wolf. Her tail was so familiar to her that it wasn’t odd to feel it.
The noises coming from the men were like foreign thoughts, in her head and she couldn’t distinguish what they were saying. There was nothing coming from the big black one, nothing but an expression that was hard to put in words without sounding cheesy.
Kiana!
Liala shot into motion without thinking twice. Leaping right towards the werewolves, they instinctively jumped aside and she shot past them like a straight arrow. She broke through the underbrush as if it was nothing, being able to track the trail of her own scent.
A howl, followed by a set of more howls shook the forest behind her and she felt herself grin. Liala didn’t answer. This wasn’t her pack, this wasn’t her family, but Kiana was, and she would protect her.
What had felt like an eternity before now passed by like it was nothing, and she jumped into the clearing with the fire just moments after it shone through the trees like a bright welcome beacon. As Liala tried to stop, her hind legs slid further, making Kiana jump and squeal as she saw her.
Kiana!
But her thoughts didn’t become words, when they left her muzzle.
Her cousin whimpered and hid behind the tree.
Liala pressed her head to the ground, making her ears stand straight and her eyes as big as she could, as she took another step, slowly approaching her. A whine came from her throat
Please, it’s me!
Then, the other werewolves jumped into the clearing and Liala shot around, baring her teeth, snarling at them, and taking another step back towards her cousin, hoping she would recognize the truth.
“Lia?!”
Instinctively, she turned her head around, as she heard her name, realizing that her cousin was calling out for her. Kiana looked at her, flabbergasted about her reaction.
“Is that you?”
Liala nodded and her cousin fell onto her buttocks.
“Lia,” an entirely different voice brought her attention back to the werewolves; it was a female voice.
Liala lowered her head in suspicion.
How the hell do I turn back?!
All of a sudden, she felt dead tired: with the chase, the extreme sex and her transformation taking a toll on Liala. But she had to stay awake, she had to protect Kiana. She continued to move backwards to her cousin, watching the werewolves closely, flinching briefly as she felt Kiana’s hand on her back.
“Your friend is safe, Lia,” the female spoke gently.
In her ears, the alfa sounded just like her mother, and it pained Liala to hear her speak.
Then, from behind the fire another shadow appeared. It was tiny in comparison to all the werewolves. But all of them gave way to her, seemingly even bowing their heads.
Kiana gasped, and Liala felt the same as they both recognized the old woman, they had asked for directions just hours before. She was carrying something that looked like a wool blanket but it turned out to be a dressing gown; which she then placed around the female werewolf’s shoulders.
Again, terrifying noises from snapping and crunching bones echoed across the clearing as the female werewolf changed into her human form. Liala could hear her cousin wince next to her, but she was paralyzed as she recognized the woman, who was standing in front of her.
Mom?
“Yes, my sweet, sweet daughter, it’s me,” Liala’s mom choked on her words, with tears in her eyes, as she knelt and opened her arms. “I’m so, so sorry. You are here now. I’ve got you. Everything is going to be fine.”
7 – Home
Lia was woken up by the sunlight and its warmth on her face, exactly how it should be. Ever since she was a little girl she slept with open curtains, so that she could see the stars in the night and the sun in the morning. As she began to stretch out her numb limbs, she noticed that she wasn’t lying in her bed, and not in her sleeping bag, but, more importantly, she wasn’t alone either. There was an arm wrapped around her torso holding her close. This was odd.
Forcefully she tried to open her heavy eyelids and she had to blink several times as the sun’s rays filtered straight into her eyes. This definitely wasn’t her room back home. Trying to rub the sleep from her eyes, Lia fought against the weight on her body and sat up to take a look around. Her movement was accompanied by a creaking sound and the ground beneath her gave in. She was sitting on what seemed to be an old king-sized bed. As she turned to see who was lying next to her, she saw that it was Kiana, lying beneath a blanket, still sleeping soundly.
Liala frowned as she tried to remember what happened. That strange dream she had had couldn’t be real. They weren’t attacked by werewolves. No one had been hurt. No one had been killed. But the aching in her body, especially her sore pussy told her otherwise.
Holy…!
Lia jumped onto her feet but the ground beneath her started shaking. Standing on legs like these felt strange, and that only confirmed further that she hadn’t dreamed it. She hadn’t been covered with the blanket and as she looked at the bed, she could see some short hairs with her hair color lying where she had just woken up.
“I’m a wolf!” she whispered loudly. “I’m really a wolf!”
But her excitement was quickly replaced with her memories of all the dark events of the previous night. She still didn’t know if her father had survived, or if someone had been sent back to find her. What would happen if they sent troops out there to search the woods for her? And what if they had found the camping spot? Lia sat down on the bed feeling dizzy.
Kiana’s brother Jason and her father were dead: Jason’s friend Liam probably was, too. And Brenna...she had faced the most horrible death Lia could imagine.
This couldn’t be real and yet it had to be real, because that meant that her mother was alive: Her mother, who allegedly died while giving birth to her little brother Benjy.
As she was trying to digest the information invading her mind, Liala looked around at the room she had been sleeping in. It had an old looking wood floor and vintage wallpaper.
It had a civil war vibe to it, as did the bed. There was a large closet, a free-standing mirror, a side board, and a dressing table, all looking like antiques. There was nothing hanging on the walls.
This room belonged to no one.
Somehow Lia felt as if all of this had been meant to be hers: The colors, the patterns on the wallpaper, the ornaments on the bed’s steel frame and around the large mirror. It all spoke that truth.
Why?
Her glance fell to the old looking carpet her bare feet were currently resting on and that she had previously been standing on.
Golden sunlight, which fell through two large windows that went all the way down to the floor, made the entire room look warm and welcoming. Then her glance returned to the old looking door.
Mom… is she there, waiting for me?
Lia got back on her feet and tiptoed towards the door and turned the handle, expecting it wouldn’t move, but it did, without a sound. Frost gripped her heart and crawled down her spine.
Do I really want to see, what’s behind this door?
What if I hallucinated and the alfa isn’t my mom?
Lia stood there for what felt like half an eternity, while her mind tried to find another explanation for all of this, one that didn’t result in her nig
htmare or dream – however one might put it – being real. She had no recollection of being brought into this room. What if there had been a storm or something and they had been saved and brought into this house?
She looked down at herself, noticing that she was wearing a nightgown that looked as if it came from the seventies, or the eights, tops.
Who put that on me?
But she couldn’t shake off the memory of being carried by a big black dire wolf, walking on his hind legs. Liala shuddered ‘involuntarily’ when more memories of this werewolf returned to her mind and her body then confirmed it; with not only feeling sore but with such an overwhelming and undeniable need.
Shaking her head, she tried to shoo these memories and feelings away, still feeling ashamed of herself. But if she was honest with herself, she had known that she hadn’t dreamt it since the moment she woke up in this beautiful bed.
Carefully she moved towards one of the large windows to her left. Lia didn’t know what she had expected, yet, it was far from what her imagination had been able to come up with. She was looking at a huge yard that ended in a mason wall, which was several feet tall, behind which was the forest. Her room was on the second floor and as she looked down she could see a big, empty patio with a huge fire place, big enough to barbecue for several people.
Taking a deep breath, Lia returned to the door, turned the handle, and opened it. She found herself stepping into a long hallway, her bedroom door at the far right of it. The door opposite from hers was standing open and she saw a vintage bathroom. Cautiously she took a peek inside and was relieved to find a modern toilet.
A few moments later Lia stepped up to the bathroom windows and to the curtains which were closed. She dared to only push it aside a little with her index finger and peek outside. What she saw looked as if it came straight out of a historical movie.
This was definitely the front of the mansion: Huge planters with old looking trees were placed around a graveled forecourt, and in its center was a fountain that wasn’t running. To the left and right of the forecourt were more houses which had to be stables or servant’s quarters. On both sides, all additional smaller houses had been added, as well as along the graveled road so that the mansion rather appeared to be the town hall.
Liala’s glance came to a full stop, as it grazed upon something familiar looking. It was the wreckage of her father’s Land Rover crammed with their camping gear inside it. Apart from that the forecourt was empty.
Just when she was trying to decide what to do next, she heard steps on a creaking, wooden stairwell. Panicking, she ran across the hall, pulled the door behind her closed and gently into its lock, and jumped onto the bed, waking Kiana, and quickly slipping below the blanket. She didn’t say a word, but simply stared at the door.
Why the hell am I scared?
Her calmness gone, she could feel her heart beat on her tongue. Kiana was saying something but she didn’t hear her, not even when she felt her hands on her shoulder, shaking her gently.
The mere thought of seeing the big black wolf, or any other werewolf from the night before, terrified and fascinated her at the same time.
Get your shit together, you know they’re friendly!
Kiana, infected with Lia’s panic clung to her, she squealed when the door opened, just to see that it was Lia’s mom.
“Good morning sleepyheads,” she tried to sound normal but Lia could read from her mother’s face how awkward and insecure she actually felt.
Or was this more like an intuitive feeling?
“You girls must be hungry,” Lia’s mom smiled softly.
That’s when Lia realized that she was holding a tray with two plates, two bowls and three mugs. Looking up from their breakfast to her mom, she was incapable of moving. All she could stare at was the mother she thought had been dead for over a decade. Lia attempted to speak but had a lump in her throat. She swallowed dryly but it was Kiana, who found her voice and said: “Thank you.”
It was also Kiana who got up from the bed, took the tray and placed it on the dresser, taking a plate, cutlery and a mug and then left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Coffee?” Lia’s mom asked her and all she was able to do was nod.
Her mother picked up the two remaining mugs and handed one to her daughter, sitting down awkwardly on the edge of the bed. Sitting up, Lia took the mug which was offered to her and looked at the liquid. It was beige and smelled like coffee and cream.
“One sugar, right?” her mom asked and Lia nodded.
“How do you know?”
“I never let you out of my sight, Lia,” her mother said carefully, taking a sip from her coffee. “Although I wasn’t with you I was always there. Not in person, but one of our pack was. They reported back to me, got me pictures, and kept me in the loop. We couldn’t get as close as I would have wanted, but it was close enough to keep you safe.”
“Mom, why?” Lia shook her head. “Why did you pretend you were dead? Why all of this? Why didn’t I know you were a wolf? Why didn’t I know I was? Why did this happen? Why did you have Brenna killed? Why did you attack our camp?”
“I know you must have so many questions, and I will answer them. All of them,” Lia’s mother reached out to touch her hand that was resting on top of the blanket, but she hesitated, sadness taking over her face.
Lia moved her hand and placed it on her mother’s. Touching her skin, she remembered how she had opened her arms last night and embraced her, hugged her so tightly that she wasn’t able to breath. Lia had been a wolf, but it hadn’t made any difference. Her mother took her hand and squeezed it tightly.
“I am so sorry that I had to leave you, Lia,” she shook her head and blinked some tears away. “But it was the only way to keep you safe from the hunters.”
“Hunters?” Lia repeated.
Of course, if there are werewolves there are hunters…
“I want to explain it all to you at once, but you coming here has set things into motion for which we all have to now prepare,” Lia’s mother squeezed her hand once more. “What we did and the way we did it was the only way; you have to believe me. And we will need blood from you and your friend.”
“She’s my cousin and why do you need our blood?” Lia asked, frowning in confusion.
“To make them believe that we killed you, too,” her mom answered instantly and without hesitation.
“But I’m your daughter? Why would I be killed?”
“Because they don’t know I’m alive and they don’t know that you never were a half-breed.”
The last word that came from her mom’s mouth struck her like a burning blade.
“What does that mean, mom? That my dad is not my dad?” Her voice faltered.
Her mother taking a deep breath was answer enough. She was just as bad at being the messenger of bad news as her daughter.
“No, he isn’t your father, but he doesn’t know,” her mother confirmed.
“And my brother?” Lia inquired, her voice again faltering.
“He is your half-brother.”
“So, that’s why you called Kiana my friend,” Lia stated and her mother nodded again.
“When your father was killed, murdered that is, I had to make a decision,” Lia’s mother began to explain, choosing her words with thought. “I had to protect you and protect my pack and the pack of your father.” She looked at her daughter’s hand in her own and her face reflected her thoughts of sadness and the joy of being reunited with Lia. “I loved your dad, for very similar reason’s that I loved Benjamin’s father. He and I, we brought our two clans together that had avoided each other’s territory for a long, long time. It was a big turning point and it was welcomed by all the packs, since we were the oldest non-native clans. We should have known that it scared the hunters.”
Lia’s mother sighed, shaking her head again, playing with her daughter’s fingers.
“For they are descendants of those soldiers that had annihilated entire American tribes,
they killed because they feared their abilities. They didn’t understand that we skin walkers, we animal spirits are protectors, and not a threat to them.”
“My father was killed?”
Her mother nodded.
“Because of that, and because I was pregnant, I made the decision to leave my clan in order to raise you far away from the hunter’s threat. I wanted them to believe that I left the old ways behind and that you weren’t one of us,” her mother explained. “And a half-breed, which…”
“Which what?” Lia needed to know, after all this was about her brother, the boy she had cared for and raised.
“Half-breeds used to not be accepted, because they were a threat. They often weren’t capable of keeping our existence a secret for several reasons,” Lia’s mom told her and looked her straight in the eyes, sincerely. “Most half-breeds cannot change entirely, they only are able to become what you would call were-creatures, how we are sometimes depicted in stories and movies. They cannot take an animal form because they don’t have an animal spirit like purebreds do. Some become jealous, but usually they have difficulties controlling their primal urges. Which is why I have decided to take all half-breeds in and show them our ways: To give them a place where they cannot put themselves or others in danger. I give them tasks, where less restraint can be of use to our clan.”
“Like killing and raping Brenna?” Lia dug deeper.
She expected her mother to be uncomfortable, to avoid her daughter’s inquiring glare, but she didn’t.
“Exactly something like that,” her mom stated coolly and Lia waited silently, expecting an explanation. “Her father is a hunter and he was part of the group that claims to be responsible for your father’s murder. They attacked us when I was visiting the last time with you, when I was pregnant with Benjamin. He was the reason I had to fake my death, so he wouldn’t become suspicious of you. But when his own daughter became friends with Kiana, I was worried that he either knew I was still alive or he was monitoring you. Standing by, not knowing if you were in danger those were the worst years of my life.”
Lia didn’t know what to think.
HOWL and HUNT the HEIR: HOWL 1-3 (Dark World) Page 10