"What are you talking about?" He inquired.
"Do you remember Collin the black wolf?" She asked him.
"That's her father? He was good riddance or did she not know?" He inquired.
"The entire truth was kept from her as a means to protect her. I didn't want you ever at any point feeling guilty about killing him." She said,
"Feel guilty? I protected this realm from him. He went rogue. He lost it. He set out to eliminate the human species. He had to be stopped and so I did the earth a favour." He said,
"But what you do not know is that that night when you attacked his vehicle, Keira was in the back seat and so was her mother.
When he escaped from the woods and ran back to the vehicle. It wasn't to get a defence weapon but to get the blood of a pure one.
He knew she was a pure one– her mother." Lisa said,
"What? I knew he came back stronger. He killed his wife and mother of his daughter just to proceed with his mission?" He couldn't believe what he had heard.
"You didn't give him the time to allow the blood to mix well with his, which was why he was more vulnerable and you could kill him.
Keira must have seen you in your beast form when you approached the car making it the last thing she remembered. She was seven then." She said,
"Wow." Landon voiced.
"We need her on our side. To not be susceptible to Lucas. She needs to trust us.
You both will need to work together and I didn't want you to know this so she doesn't know for her mind to be straight but she recognised you and now you know." She said,
"In all, I am responsible for her mom's death. If not to defeat me, he wouldn't have killed her right next to her.
I see everyone is trying to protect her mind but then there was no point lying to me like I was some child.
She is a stranger, how could you ever think that I will go spilling the beans due to a conscience? So much blood on my hands and I yet to kill more."
He said,
Lisa sighed.
"Wait– what? You thought– really? You are disgusting." He said, turning around in a bid to leave.
"Come on, you can't blame me. We both cannot deny she is a beauty." Lisa said,
"That's what you think of me now? A pervert?" He inquired, getting closer to the door.
"She isn't a minor," Lisa said, rolling her eyes.
"She is a student in my school. Her records say she just turned eighteen. Do you need me to remind you of my age?" He asked her,
"Oh, please. You and I have lived longer because of who we are, doesn't mean we–"
–"Just hold it right there, Lisa. She may be beautiful in your eyes but is not in mine. Stop trying to match me up with every girl you think is pretty. I don't need it. I thought you were different from your sister." He said and then walked out.
Lisa heaved a long sigh tilting her head upwards and hanging her hands on her waist.
------------------
In a tub of warm water, Landon lay with his head resting above it. He had his eyes shut and his knees up, his hands rested on the sides of the tub and there was a bottle of alcohol not so far from his reach.
His mind travelled far and memory began to play. A memory of a lady, fair and beautiful. He could see her wearing a bright smile which revealed her perfect dentition as the sun's rays settled on her face.
Her slim figure was dressed in a see-through white flowing dress and her brown hair had some strands dancing to the early morning breeze. The environment was a large plot of land with beautiful flowers all around.
A butterfly had landed on the side of her hair as the others fluttered about. She spread her arms open towards him and it warmed his soul.
Then there was a switch. The perfect memory was replaced with another that wasn't so pleasing.
"You cannot just send me away. Do not send me away." The lady pleaded, holding firmly to his hands with teary eyes.
The sun was setting and they were a few walks away from the woods. His eyes were shut in that memory while standing before the lady.
"Emilia, you have to go," He told the girl.
"No! You don't mean that! You don't! Look at me, Lan! Look me in the eyes and tell me you want this!" She said as tears rolled down her eyes.
He withdrew his hands and turned his back to her.
"Lan! Lan!! Please!" The lady called out repeatedly till her voice faded.
He opened his eyes and they met with Mia. She had gotten into his room and was standing in his bathroom, beside the bathtub, in a bathrobe.
"What is this?" He asked her.
"Hush.." She said, loosening the belt of her robe, slowly.
"I know there is so much in your heart, I just– want to– heal it." She added, letting the robe fall to the floor.
"I don't need healing." He told her.
She got in the bathtub, crawling towards him like a serpent.
"I can take the pain away…" she whispered in his ears.
"I can make you forget." She added,
"I don't want to– forget." He voiced, blinking his eyes to clear his vision.
She began planting gentle kisses on the sid of his neck while taking her right hand beneath the water in search of his D*
"You want this. Don't– fight it." She said,
He moved his head from side to side slowly. She gently placed her other hand on his chin, about to kiss his lips.
She grabbed his D* and it sent shivers down his spine up to his head.
Emilia's face immediately flashed in his head.
"No!" He voiced, grabbing Mia's hands.
"What do you think you are doing!" He asked with fury roaming his eyes.
"I just–" she said,
–"get out." He ordered, letting go of her hands as he got up.
Water dripped down his body as he exited the tub. He headed for the room.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" She asked in a disappointed tone, having followed behind him.
Ignoring her, he wore his underwear.
"I am talking to you!" She yelled.
"Why are you so desperate? You wish to be Luna. The years of coordinating the pack have made you taste power and now you want it for real." He said, looking straight into her eyes, having turned swiftly towards her.
She slapped him hard.
"Don't you ever liken me to such a level? All because I stooped this low for you, you think you could now what? Ridicule me to nothing? How dare you!" She sounded really upset.
"Apologise!" She ordered.
He remained quiet.
"I said, apologise!" She yelled again.
Slowly he turned his face towards her from the position the slap had taken it.
"The next time– you try this, you will not have a hand to retrieve. Get– out." He ordered.
"Leave!" He yelled.
She became frightened. His voice, his face, and his eyes showed something wasn't the same as him.
"What did you do?" She asked softly, taking quick breaths while her feet carried her backwards, slowly.
Landon turned away from her and moved very fast. He got to the window and placed his hands on the walls beside it, grunting.
She saw his scapula move weirdly, that he almost looked like a hunchback and his bones sounded like they were restructuring– painfully.
She hurriedly got her clothes from the bed and hurried out with her eyes fixed on him.
–––
"What is it? What is it?" Lisa questioned Mia who had just bumped into her in the passageway.
"Lan. He– is changed. He is not the one we know. Something is off about him." She said and rushed away.
Lisa stood trying to make sense of the news she had just received but she wasn't one to make judgements based on a side of the story.
She barged in.
"It's rude to barge," Landon said,
"Well, you look normal." She told him, shutting the door behind her.
"Wasn't I supposed to?" He responded.
He had dressed up and was returning from the window with a glass of wine in his hand.
"She bumped into me with fear in her eyes, that isn't Mia," Lisa said,
"You should have asked her why." He told her.
Lisa rolled her eyes.
"I feel like deep down you hate me." She said,
"And why would you think that?" He asked, walking over to take a seat at the bottom of the bed.
"I don't know, you think I am partly to blame for Emilia's death." She answered.
"You told me if I let her go, she would live." He said, gazing at her.
"Emilia was a witch from the Shadowlands. They and we were at war. It was an impossible love. You saw for yourself how risky it was for her to even be around you." She told him.
"And you said you foresaw that if she didn't leave, that if I didn't end the affair, she would be killed by her people on the eleventh night at the twelfth hour.
I did just that and what happened next?" He asked,
"Landon–"
–"What happened next!" He said,
"She died but it wasn't our fault." She said,
"It wasn't." He reiterated.
"No, it wasn't. I am sick and tired of you making this your shell. A third party took advantage of our weakness– our hateful hearts to conquer us all.
The Redclaws or don't you remember? Did you choose to forget that truth? They killed her!" She said,
"We helped them! I let you all make me help them kill the one woman I had ever loved! You all did this to me!" He got up angrily throwing the glass at the wall.
"Landon, you cannot continue like this. What we are doesn't make room for a longer lifespan as it seems.
It could be us in Emilia's shoes at any minute, you have spent your life hating on us, blaming us, blaming yourself, not wanting to go on living! You can love it again! Allow yourself!
Mia practically just ran out naked and I know you turned her down as you have done to every other woman that's ever come into your life!
You have got to stop!" She said,
"I can't stand you!" She added in a tone of frustration before disappearing.
–––
"I can't believe you wouldn't believe me," Keira said to Naomi.
"You were just a child. All werewolves look the same." Naomi told her.
"Listen, this is your new life now. You need to be protected, you saw that thing that came after you and Sam.
More horrible things will come because you– are sacred. You must keep a straight head, trust no one, speak to no stranger and understand that your life is about to change and maybe not how you would want it." Willow said to her,
"She is right. I know you have a million questions and I wished I had listened to her from the onset when she insisted we not hide this whole truth from you.
I just felt it would be too much for you considering you had just lost your parents but now that you know, I need you to understand, we all are here to protect you and I know and I have sensed that you do not like him– but, I can tell you." Naomi said,
–"we can tell you.." Willow added,
–"that he is a good person." Naomi said,
"I don't care. I am not apologising to him for my actions because even he was a total jerk." Keira said, getting on her feet.
"We won't force you," Willow said,
"So – you mean I can't go back? Where is this place?" Keira inquired,
"We are in the polar world" Naomi responded.