A soft knock landed on the door repeatedly and then the door was pushed open upon invitation. Silas stepped into the room with a calm expression. He was out of his robe and neither did he have his mask on. Just on their inner wear, pure black rashguard and fitted black pants tucked in an equally black boot. "Hey" He greeted, shutting the door.
"Hi!" Tessa replied, climbing out of bed and taking a sitting position on the edge.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, pulling up a chair and sitting in front of her.
"Honestly?.....I don't know. I don't know if I'm fine, if I'm getting better, if I'm putting it all off and not confronting it or if I'm just too full of hate and rage and seeking for vengeance that it has become my stronger emotion, overshadowing every other emotion. One thing is certain, it's all overwhelming" She explained, sincerely. She found it natural to open up to Silas, he was the only person apart from Kieran who she felt that way with.
"I can understand that, trust me. It's exactly the same as what I felt on that day of the cleansing. You're gonna get better. I promise" He stated calmly.
"I hope you're right"
He fell silent, heaving a deep sigh as his expression became solemn and gloomy. "I wanted to apologize...for failing to protect you from what happened. If I had known that you were..."
"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known. Don't blame yourself" She cut in, making sure to let him know so he doesn't keep on blaming himself.
"Thanks. That's honorable of you" Silas replied with a little smile forming on his lips. A smile that quickly disappeared
Tessa caught the smile before it disappeared. It was the first time she had seen him smile and it looked good on him. She had never had a brother and have always wanted one. So hearing him concerned for not being able to protect her made her feel warm inside. She now had an older brother she could rely on, a brother that will always protect her.
"Can I ask you a question?" Said, Tessa
"Of course"
"Why do you always focus on the honor of others? Why do you demand it and live by it?" She asked with a curious look.
"Hmmm..." He sighed. "I think it started when our parents were killed and you were taken, or rather, it started because of that. I was pissed and mad at the fact that they had to trick our clan to get rid of the strong ones who could fight and then came with their full force against women and kids who couldn't fight. It was cowardly to me. It made me mad because if they had tried to come fight our whole clan head on and honorably, the result would have been different. So I think because of that, it stuck with me and became part of who I am. It refined me and I lived by it because I never want to be like them. I believe in fairness, equality and honor" Silas explained
Tessa bobbed her head, taking in all he just said. "Wow! I think I now know you and understand you a lot more. We haven't had a chance to hang out more and chat. We should rectify that after the war"
"If I make it out alive" He pointed out.
"What?" Her brows furrowed as she gave him a puzzled look.
"It's war Tessa. There's going to be a lot of deaths and no one can tell who's gonna survive or what the outcome of the war will be. We have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I don't mind dying, Kreed mentioned to you that none of us expect to come out alive. My main mission is to avenge our clan and most importantly, to make sure you survive. So protecting you is my priority, it has always been. But you should make peace with the fact that you might not see a lot, if not all of us after the war. This might be the last time we sit like this and chat" He explained clearly so she would understand the gravity of things.
"I...I...I don't think I can make peace with that" She replied with denial in her eyes. "I can't lose you when I just found you. Kieran too"
"Well that's the reality of things. We should be realistic..." He stood up from his seat and began heading to the door. "But dont worry, I'll make sure to protect you this time and I'll try to stay alive for as long as I can for you" He concluded, getting to the door and turning the doorknob.
"Thanks...big bro" Tessa stated, hugging her pillow.
This made Silas pause while still holding the doorknob. He never thought he would hear that. Hearing her call him big bro made him happy and fulfilled. He's always wanted that. "It's my honor" He smiled and left.
***
Tessa paced about the room with a worried look. What Silas had said had messed with her head. She hadn't thought of it before, she was avoiding the reality of things. Now she was forced to confront it and it reminded her of the reason why she wanted to stop the war before. She wasn't ready to lose Kieran and her brother again. She felt she had lost a lot already and it was enough for her.
The door clicked open with Kieran walking in. He was in the same outfit as Silas, their inner wear. "You wanted to see me" He announced. Tessa without saying a word, walked hastily toward him. She walked past him and shut the door, locking it with the key. "Are you okay?"
She ignored his question and walked hastily to him. She grabbed him immediately she got to where he was and pulled him into a deep kiss. This action took Kieran by surprise. He broke the kiss and stepped back, staring at her quizzically. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Making sure I don't have any regrets" She replied.
"What does that mean?" He stared at her more confused.
"We are marching tomorrow to the battlefield and I just realized that the outcome of the war is uncertain. This might be the last chance we have to be together and I don't want to waste it doing nothing. I want to spend it with my mate" Tessa explained
"How do you know we are mates? I didn't mark you"
"Silas told me when he came to check up on me alone after the encounter with Alpha Maynard and Damien in the woods. I asked why I could feel your emotions when we aren't mates and you haven't marked me and he explained to me how it works with our clan. Having sex is our marking and it establishes our mate bond. So I know"
"I see. I didn't think it was necessary to tell you" Kieran pointed out.
"Why? Because you don't want to be my mate? What happened between us wasn't real because you were pretending to be who you were not and was just acting to not raise suspicion? Is that it?" She blurted out, cocking her brow. "You might have never told me you love me yet but I know how you truly feel Kieran. No one acts a lie that good. Don't forget I'm your mate now and I can feel your emotions. I know you care about me and I know right now you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you. I can feel it clearly. Right now Kieran, I want to feel you, touch you, feel your warmth and your hands wrapped around my body, bond with you and spend as much time as I can with you" She laid bare her feelings.
Kieran said nothing but stared at her. He knew she was right and there was no point in arguing with her when she could feel his emotions just as he can feel hers. Her desire for him at that moment was turning him on. With his wolf sense of smell, he could already smell her arousal. "But with what just happened, I don't think it's okay yet for you to get back into...."
"Don't forget I'm a wolf. I have healed fully"
"I see" He bobbed his head
"Kieran I do....." His lips sealed hers suddenly, cutting her words off. His arms were already around her small waist. This brought joy to her. Her wolf was spinning with happiness. Her heart raced with joyfulness. She accepted his lips and eager tongue that snaked it's way into her mouth, twirling with her tongue.
He broke the kiss and then grabbed her white tee and pulled it over head in one swift motion. Leaving her standing in just her red bra and jean. She returned the gesture and took off his rashguard. She stepped back a little, eyeing his hardened pecs. She reached out and ran her fingers on it seductively, feeling it.
Kieran caught her hand, pulled her to him and picked her and she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. He took her to the desk by the window and set her down on it but she refused to unwrapped her legs from his waist. Her fingers ran into his snow white hair as they resumed their kiss which was getting intense by the second.
"I want you so bad" Tessa moaned into his mouth.
"Well you have me" He replied, reaching behind her and unclasped her bra whilst he began kissing and sucking along the lines of her neck.
She moaned softly, digging her nails into his back. "Take me and make me yours" She moaned.
"With pleasure" He picked her up and took her to the bed.
***
Laying next to him with her head on his chest and his arm around her, Tessa couldn't help but smile. That was the most normal she had felt in a long while and it succeeded in making her forget everything that made her sad. But not for long, laying there, her smile faded as it all came back to her. Including the new fact that has added to her worries.
"I still don't know a lot about you and your life. I assume what you told me before was a lie" She spoke up.
"Not entirely" He kept staring at the roof. "About my family. I did have a mother and a little sister and my sister really died a day after my mom. It's just the story is different from how I told it before, a lot more tragic"
"Do you mind telling me?" She asked softly.
"Well....on the day of the cleansing, I wasn't at home when they came, I was out in the woods training. I wanted to be strong enough to protect my family even though I hadn't gotten my wolf yet...in the end I couldn't protect them. I saw signs of trouble coming from our place and I ran back home. When I got there, it was a disaster, a slaughter house and mad town. Old people were being humiliated and disrespected and then killed, kids where being killed without remorse and the women were being molested, raped, abused before they were killed---"
"Oh my God" Tessa muttered with a sympathetic look.
"Yeah, and my mother and little sister weren't exempted from this. I ran home to find them but all I came back to was them being ambushe in our barn and tortured. They injected my mother and sister with dose after dose of liquid wolfsbane. It placed my mother in constant pain and torture and for my little sister, it was different. She hadn't gotten her wolf yet so it affected her differently. She was in agonizing torture. Throwing up blood and her veins popping out. Then they were forced to swallow monkshood, a lot of it. My sister couldn't take it anymore so they tossed her aside and focused on my mother. They began passing her round, groping and molesting her, ripping her clothes off. I was just thirteen years old and was forced to witness these awful torture being done to my mother and sister. When they were done and she had given up, they left them both there and set the place on fire---"
"That's just awful" Tessa stated, feeling the pain and wondering what they must have gone through.
"I ran to the barn when they were gone and realized my sister was still alive, so I took her and ran into the woods to hide. I stayed awake till the morning protecting her but she never woke up once until morning. She opened her eyes and called my name. I was excited that she was awake. Excited and hopeful....but my hopes shattered when she begged me to kill her and put her out of her misery...."
"Oh no"
"I couldn't agree to that. But she insisted, pleading and begging, trying to make me understand the amount of pain she was in. Her face was getting paler. I soon realized she really wasn't going to make it. And she was too young to be in such pain. After a while I gave in, it was the only way I could help her, by stopping her suffering. So I took my favorite dagger, given to me by my father and then hugged her. We were both in tears. I hugged her tightly and from behind, I pierced the dagger into her heart"
"Oh no" Tessa gasped, covering her mouth, tears rolling down her left right cheek.
"Now you see where my hate is coming from. I was forced to watch my mom and sister being molested and tortured and then was forced to take the life of my little sister and bury her when I was just a child myself. This war is going to happen Tessa"
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that" She hugged him tighter on the bed.
"Thanks"
"I have one question. Something that's been bothering me. When you were still with us as Kieran and we were all sent to the woods where we encountered Devil Eyes, well you for the first time, how was it we were seeing him with the others and at the same time you were still with us?" She inquired with a curious gaze.
"That was thanks to Zamir's ability. He has the ability to make a clone of himself using a wolf. So all he did was make a clone of himself that played him and then he played me. The masks made it easier to excute" He explained
"Oh! I see....but what about his eyes? It changed colors, I thought only you could do that"
"Yes only I can and I was the one that did it. Apart from changing my own eye color, I can change someone else's by staring into their eyes. That was why I stood behind you guys, so I could do that without being spotted"
"Wow. That's sneaky of you" She smiled.
"You too will gain your ability soon Tessa"
"What do you mean?" She questioned, puzzled by his statement.
"Both times we've fought, I have seen your eyes change from the yellow color it is to red, an Alpha's color. Not all members of our clan who are Alpha, became an Alpha from birth. Some starts as Betas and later on in their lives transition into an Alpha. I think that's the category you are in. You'll become an Alpha soon and an ability, visual prowess comes with it" He explained.
"Wow. You never told me that before" She said with disbelief but a little excited too. Afterall who wouldn't be at the thought of powerscaling.
"We should get ready. We march into war in less than twenty four hours"
***
Alpha Maynard stepped out of his tent. Looking around at the preparation going on, a fulfilled smile was fixed on his face. They had combined forces with Alpha Daemon and now all of them had come together to prepare. Setting up camp in the woods where they had enough space to house everyone there.
Their numbers were too great for any hall or house. With his pack merged with Alpha Daemon and then Alpha Mason and Howard's pack now members of theirs too, the fighting wolves they had ready for war were over three thousand.
"Alpha Maynard" He heard his name and turned to see Alpha Bayron approaching him with a young man beside him.
"Alpha Bayron, you made it" He replied, exchanging handshake with him.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss it. This is a revolutionary war that will change the werewolf world forever"
"That is true" The Alpha nodded
"I assume you haven't forgotten my son" Alpha Bayron pointed at the young man beside him. He had a short red hair, well built form that was skinny but not too skinny. "After all he was once your prisoner"
"Of course I haven't forgotten him. Will he be fighting alongside us?"
"Yes. He's ready"
"Is he an Alpha too?" Alpha Maynard asked.
"Unfortunately, No. He's a Beta. But a good fighter"
"Well we can make do with that. We have enough Alphas now to lead the charge" He explained and just then Derek and Vee came over to where they were. "These are some of them. Alpha Bayron, meet my son, Alpha Derek and this is...Alpha Vee" He introduced
"Nice to meet you both" Alpha Bayron replied
Alpha Vee nodded and then shifted her attention to Alpha Maynard. "We are done with the preparation. The allied forces are ready for war" She announced.