[RUKIYA]
The evening was strangely calm considering all that had already happened. The sun was slowly setting beyond the Sicario slopes. The wolves were back home and were talking about the appearance of their once-loved yet now-banished alpha.
They were thinking of her and her adamance, not to mention her craziness for staying out of the gates for eighteen whole days. She was unhinged, and they were slowly coming to terms with that, though they could tell it wasn't going to be easy.
A fairly distant place from Sicario, just opposite the Greyson pack, was an alpha who was worried about her friend, if that was anything that Awuor could even consider them. Rukiya wanted to think that their acquaintance made them part of something.
Well, it sure did, but it was part of a past Awuor despised and a future that was so uncertain, save for one little fact that ran through the fallen alpha's mind. Her vengeance against her family and the people who had taken part in the atrocity against her mother, their luna Eniola.
"How long has she been out?" Rukiya asked her beta, Adolf, who was staring at Awuor's sleeping form.
He had been watching Awuor earlier, just like Rukiya had ordered him to, and when she had fainted on the road, a part of him hoped that her stupid ass mate would come and take care of her.
He thought that the mate pull would mean something to Jeremy, but clearly, it didn't, and now, they were stuck in the same place, with a woman who had been betrayed and broken one too many times than she deserved to.
"Four hours at most," Adolf said before adding, "she could have killed her mate, she could have pushed her best friend, and yet she decided to walk away? She's unhinged and worse than I always thought of her.''
He was frustrated by the mere fact that Awuor had chosen to walk away when the faces of betrayal had been right there before her. She could have killed them and gotten her vengeance. She could have ended everything already, but instead, she fucking walked away.
"Because, young Adolf, to be strong, sometimes you have to be weak," Hudayfah, the pack doctor said and they all turned to look at him.
"But surely her case should have been an exception, right?" Adolf insisted, but Hudayfah just smiled at him. He knew that Adolf's heart was bleeding for the white wolf in their midst, and he wanted to help her, but there were things that Awuor needed to do alone.
There was a reason she was the only white wolf in the kingdom, and the only person who could fix Sicario.
"No, child. She was thinking rationally and if she hadn't, she could have caused more damage than she wanted to. Her options are vast and there's a chance she may even want to accept your help," Hudhayfah said and Rukiya let out a smile since they had come here.
She had been worried about Awuor. She knew this woman was stubborn as fuck, and she understood her. She was however curious about what Awuor's play was, because like Adolf said, Awuor had every opportunity to end them and she didn't even lift a finger.
"You people never really shut up, do you?" Awuor groaned as she woke up.
She was aching all over, thanks to her apparent brevity outside the Sicario gates. What she had done was borderline insane and she shouldn't have tried it, but then she was who she was and did what she wanted to.
"Just like you never get tired of making yourself suffer, no?" Adolf bit back a little too angry than he had planned.
"Touche, Adolf, touche. Anyway, where the hell am I?" Awuor asked, before looking around and finding herself in her shelter.
She wasn't sure how to react, because bringing her here was so unexpected. So she let out a laugh, making even Hudayfah look at her like she was insane. Maybe she was, after all, she had gone through so much more pain than she needed to have gone through, right?
"Your home," Rukiya said as she helped Awuor sit up. Her shelter was tiny and yet they had managed to fit themselves in it. Hudayfah cast a spell and a magic ball of light appeared, making Awuor see her shelter even more clearly.
"Damn, it looks like shit," Awuor sighed and they just looked at her.
"Well, this was smart of you, I must admit. Anyway, I'm okay now. You guys can go back to your lives and run your pack alright?" Awuor said as she slumped back on her bed. She was tired and needed to rest a little longer.
The worry on their faces was making it even harder for her to focus, because they were a reminder that her mate had not tried to stop her, and that the woman who was supposed to be her best friend was in cahoots with the man.
She wanted to rush back to Sicario, but for some reason, she figured it would be pointless.
If her father hadn't come to meet her at the gates, then either he was really pissed at his daughter, or he was desperate to make the narrative stick. But why would alpha Sicario even do that?
Awuor was frustrated and rightfully so. Her world that was once blank was slowly gaining momentum and she wasn't sure if she wanted to do anything yet.
She had thought she would have at least a year before she began her process of revenge, but learning what had happened to her mother through Razia had made her take a step back. She needed to think clearly.
She needed to understand the risks, because this time, she wasn't just planning to go back home and teach her brother a lesson. This time, she was going to do worse, and especially to her mate.
"If that's your wish," Rukiya said angrily, her voice so empty and cold that you'd think she was waiting for this opportunity to leave. She hadn't though. She was just sick of trying to pump some sense into the banished alpha.
If Awuor was smart enough to run Sicario, then she was also smart enough to know that going to battle alone was a death sentence. Maybe, she wanted her space, and that was what Rukiya would give her.
"Yes, it is. Thank you," Awuor insisted, trying so hard not to sound ungrateful. She had lost her mother and didn't want to lose other people too.
Crazy as it may have sounded, she was already used to Adolf's nagging ass, and if he was close to Awuor then there was a high chance that Sicario would go to war with them. She did that. This was war, and she would fight it as she deemed fit.
"Goodbye Awuor," Rukiya said as she got out of the shelter, her people following closely behind her. She understood Awuor, and hoped that she would have a solution after all this anyway.
"See you around alpha," Adolf said, the scorn in his voice long gone. It was almost like he was slowly understanding that this woman had more to lose than they did.
"Yeah, yeah," Awuor said as she watched them go out. She wasn't unthankful for their offer, it was just that they would lose more than they planned to, if they got involved with Awuor.
She was a tornado, and they knew it too.