The Revenge

The next morning I woke up early. After getting on with my morning routine, I got dressed in a long-sleeve black t-shirt, back cargo pants with a matching jacket paired with combat boots.

I packed spare clothing and toiletries. Before leaving the room, I hooked a hunting knife around my waist and tighten my throwing knives around my tight, securing it on my belt. Last night, I had all my knives and arrows dipped in wolfsbane concoction since I would be protecting myself against werewolves. Lastly, I hanged a bow and sleeve with arrows around my shoulder and my backpack. On the way to meet Sin, I stopped in the kitchen for the blood.

When I entered the foyer Sin stood with Nicolas by his side waiting for me. Once hearing me, both of their heads snapped towards me. Nicolas's eyes found mine, unease and worry written all over his face. Sin however looked tense but his facial expressions were void of any emotions.

Seeing Sin standing there, guilt washed over me for lashing out on him. Not wanting to be awkward, I sent him a small smile to see if he was angry with me. He returned the smile but it didn't reach his eyes. He was irritated, to say the least. I sighed and lowered my gaze as I approached.

“Be careful, please” insisted Nicolas, his eyes pleading with mine once I approached them.

“I will,” I smiled reassuringly.

“You know what to do, don’t get too close to him and once you have intel we can use, come back home” his eyebrows furrowed.

I sensed the turmoil in his mind through our connection. He knew I could get valuable information while he waited for instructions from the council, but he also hesitated to let me go knowing my history with the Alpha and fear for my life. I couldn't blame him, most likely I'd be the same if I would be in his shoes. I was his family and he was mine.

I nodded “don’t worry” I hugged him tightly. As if reassuring him I would be ok.

Once we left the mansion, we headed towards the forest. The thrill from getting out of the mansion settled in. I handed Sin the mixture I made last night from the herb. There was enough for a couple of uses.

He suspiciously eyed the flask.

“Drink it every twelve hours to make sure our scent is gone.”

I opened my flask and I grimaced at the bitter taste along with slight mint that attacked my taste buds. Sin let out a chuckle upon seeing my face then took a drink of his flask.

“How far away is his packhouse,” he asked few minutes into our journey.

“About five days on foot, two if we ran”

“We should take the car, we would be there in a few hours,” he said flatly staring into the deep forest in front of us.

“We can't afford anyone noticing us” I glared at him

“I know it was just an idea” he muttered.

It was still morning, the sky was without sun, with low clouds. The forest before us was endless. And I thought for a second, maybe we should have taken the car and leave them somewhere once we were nearer to their territory. I was disturbed by my thoughts when my stomach rumbled. I took out one of the blood pouches I stuffed in before leaving, and slowly drank its content.

“At least there's something good about drinking blood." I glanced at Sin, one of his eyebrows rose in silent question "We don’t have to cook” I laughed.

Sin shook his head then chuckled.

“This is going to be a long journey,” he muttered.

I couldn't help the smile appearing on my face.

For the rest of the day, we walked in comfortable silence. Concentrating and listening to our surroundings. I suddenly admired our vampire enhanced senses. I heard the faint stomping of the deer herd, birds singing high in the trees. A wind tousling the crowns of the trees and a stream of a small river not far from us.

When night fell, we both decided to build a camp, both of us feeling exhausted. Taking turns for the watch, I offered to go first. As I sat in front of the tent staring into the small fire, nostalgia washed over me. The time when me and Thomas were on our way to the other camp. I missed Thomas. I should have never left him there to die. I could have patched him up, he would have survived. A pang of guilt settled in the pit of my stomach once again. If I would make him go first, he would still be alive. Once again someone died because of me.

I would never forget the journey to the other camp with Thomas. We were both broken from our loss and we were each other's rock. I held it together for him, he was all I had.

The next day was the same. We slept, drank some blood and walked until night came then build our tent. It was our routine me being on watch first few hours and Sin the rest until sunrise. Tonight, as I sat on the ground playing and admiring my necklace Sin sat next to me.

“What is it?” He asked his eye glued to my eagle necklace pointing at it.

“An eagle,” I said staring at the bird, holding it in my hands.

“You’re always playing with it”

“It calms me down” I mumbled.

“You seem attached to it,” he stated curiosity written over his face.

“Ya, I am. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost it. It belonged to my husband.” I sighed, looking into Sin’s eyes, my sorrow resurfacing that I managed bury deep in my heart.

"I am assuming he’s no longer alive,” he nearly whispered his onyx eyes full of compassion as he bore them into my soul.

I faintly nodded.

“What happened,” he asked carefully.

I signed and looked in front of me into the blazing fire ”after I escaped the Alpha, Luca my husband, found me in the forest. We fell in love and after a while I became pregnant. We had a beautiful little girl. He named her Suren. We were happy until one day I was hunting for a celebration and by the time I came back they were slaughtered. The Alpha killed them.”

As I was saying it, I felt Sin's eyes burning into my face. “I’m sorry, I hope they found their peace,” he said with a soft voice.

“They find their peace when I kill him,” I couldn't help the anger slowly rising within me.

“That’s why you nearly attacked him at the ball?”

I nodded ”if you wouldn’t show up, who knows how it would end.” After a few seconds, the anger slowly ebbed away as I added ”I never thanked you for that, and for helping to get me into my room, I was too drunk” I chuckled, flush coloured my cheeks.

That night was the first time I was drunk this much and I could only imagine what nonsense I said to Sin. The embarrassment I felt at that moment was an understatement.

He sensed my uneasiness and cracked up. “It was funny, I had a good time”

"oh, I’m glad you had a good time,” I said playfully smiling and bumped my shoulder into his. After that silence filled the air between us. I felt his demeanour changed. He tensed and when I glanced at him, he chewed his lip and ran his hand through his black hair nervously.

”I don’t know if this is a good time to say anything but if I don’t say it now I don’t think I ever will.”

My eyebrows furrowed in concussion. “What is it?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you for months but never had the chance. You were always with someone or drunk” he chuckled at the last word.

I watched him intently.

He signed loudly ”I like you, ever since I first saw you I couldn’t get you out of my head.” His eyes flashed with something I couldn’t read. Something I didn’t see before in his eyes.

My eyes widened, dumbstruck. I never felt from him any kind of affection or even nervousness until now. Then I remembered it was the same thing with Luca. I was really bad at noticing these things.

When he noticed I was drowning in my thoughts, speechless, he added ”please say something. Don’t leave me hanging” he mumbled in defeat, staring into the ground. At that moment he looked like a boy.

That snapped me back into reality "umm...I don’t think I am ready for anything, not now.” my voice was shaky, as I nervously scratched the back of my neck.

I wasn't ready to let go of Luca. He was my first and only love. He was the father of my baby girl and I loved him with all my heart. His death broke me and all I wanted to do was to join him in heaven.

Still staring into the ground he just nodded once, his face clear of any emotion. I noticed, he was good at hiding his emotions. My heart sank when I noticed the change in him. He was always nice to me, always ready to help if I needed it, always there for me.

“I mean I like you too, it’s just too soon for me after the death of Luca and Suren,” I mumbled with guilt in my voice.

“That’s fine, I understand,” he said as he stood up and walked into the tent.

I hugged my knees closer to me and buried my face in my elbow, guilt settling in the pit of my stomach.

***

Two hours into my watch I heard movement from the left side of me. A twig snapped from that direction. I quickly stood up, scanning my surroundings as I reached for my bow and arrows.

“Sin, wake up, there’s something out there,” I said just loud enough for him to hear me. The second I said it I heard shuffling from inside of the tent then he got out holding his knives prepared for an attack.

Ready, aiming into the darkness, I saw two yellow orbs staring at us from the darkness. As it slowly came out from the shadows, a silhouette of a werewolf and behind him, another pair of yellow orbs with the same shape appeared. They watched our every move like the prey we were to them.

Once close enough, both of them pounced at us. I let the arrow go as the werewolf flew mid-air, hitting him in his belly. He fell on top of me. He let out a whimper as I tried to get his slag heavy body off of me. His shallow breaths filled my ears and his blood covered my jacket.

Once standing up I picked up my bow and shoot the beast into its head killing it instantly. I checked our surroundings making sure there was no more lurking around and noticed Sin walking towards me, panting, the slight sheen on his face glimmered from the fire. His clothes were covered in droplets of blood but noticed it wasn't his. He didn't seem injured. My eyes shot to the other dead werewolf a few feet away.

“Are you ok?” He asked cautiously as he approached me, his onyx eyes checking every inch of my body. When he stood in front of me, he tucked a tendril of hair that escaped my braid behind my ear.

"I’m fine, are you ok?" I said slightly nervously, flushing at the gesture.

“Ya I’m ok,” he said looking around cautiously “We need to move”

“Ya we must be close, it’s a matter of time until they find the bodies,” I started walking towards the tent.

We ran quickly thanks to our supernatural speed, both watching our surroundings, making sure we weren’t watched. The last thing we needed was to be caught.

The closer we got the stronger the werewolf smell got. The night sky started catching deep orange hues as the sunrise approached. Once we were close enough to the pack’s territory we climbed a tree and jumped from one tree to another to keep away from the ground. If we would get caught the beasts wouldn’t get to us so easily. We were jumping as quietly as we could, trying not alert anyone.

Once the all too familiar packhouse appeared in front of us, we remained hidden in the trees waiting for the day to start. The packhouse vicinity was huge, stretching at around 3 miles with the all-around deep forest which was to our advantage.

Being there and seeing all the slaves walking towards the crops brought bad memories to the surface. All the beating and humiliation played in my head. I shook my head trying to get rid of it.

It wasn’t the place and time for it. As I concentrated on the noises around, I heard the wild animals, the sound of wind rushing through the trees and the odd noise from when the slaves whispered to each other. I noticed there were fewer werewolves around than I remembered. When I looked at Sin he was watching and concentrating too, his face stoic and not making any movement.

We stayed like this for a few hours, until mid-afternoon. As I was scanning the grounds in front of the packhouse I spotted the Luna with a boy. He was about eight years old, small skinny and his head full of light brown hair with blue eyes. He was the image of his father, the Alpha.

He ran towards us with the ball in his hands, oblivious of us being so close. Behind him, Diana, his mother and the Luna, ran after him calling out to him. They began playing together with the ball and running around, his laughter filled the air.

I watched her closely, anger slowly building inside of me. After what she did to me, I wanted the same for her. Just return the favour. To feel her flesh under my knuckles and crushing of her bones.

I wouldn’t have the heart to harm the boy. He was only a child and he was innocent. I wasn’t going to hurt him once the time would come to kill his father. I wasn’t a monster like his father, killing innocent children.

Few more hours passed, nothing interesting happened and we didn’t even spot the alpha while we were spying on them. When the sky got dark, the moon came out and everything and everyone around quieted down for the night, we headed back deep into the forest.

Once we were far enough out of the pack’s territory, we set up a camp. We drank some blood and sat on the ground in front of the tent.

“I don’t think the Alpha was there,” Sin sipped a bag of blood in front of the fire.

“Ya, there weren’t many warrior werewolves either,” I said taking a sip of my blood.

“We wait one more day, if we don’t get anything we could use, we will head home” decided Sin, his eyes narrowed at me expecting me to argue.

I nodded in agreement.

“You go sleep first,” he said eyeing my face with concern ”you look exhausted”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

I got up from my spot on the ground and headed inside the tent. I couldn’t help but feel guilty for rejecting Sin. We haven’t spoken about it since last night. He seemed distant and it hurt me a bit. I did like him, I just wasn’t ready for any kind of romantic relationship. I hoped he would wait but wouldn’t blame him if he wouldn’t. Once I lied down and got comfortable in my sleeping bag, I fell asleep straight away.

The next morning I woke Sin at sunrise. We drank some blood and the mixture I made to keep our scent away. After we finished our breakfast we packed everything and ran back towards the packhouse.

Once we took our spots in the trees we waited and waited. We watched the same slaves working on the fields, the same werewolves slave keepers and the same young warriors training.

It was late afternoon when I heard two werewolves speaking to each other.

“Make sure everything with the slaves is in order, Alpha is returning tonight.”

That piqued my interest. I sat up straighter concentrating on the conversation.

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

"Another win for us." The werewolf fisted the air "The blood-sucking bastards will be dead soon.”

A looked at Sin that was sitting on another branch to my left. When I caught his attention I mouted him ‘are you hearing this’ and he nodded.

We waited until nightfall. Sin gestured for me to go back into the forest but I shook my head. I wanted to see the Alpha, to make sure he really did arrive. Sin furrowed his eyebrows and send me a questioning look. I just ignored it and watched the buildings in front of me.

Not too long after the dawn, five black jeeps arrived at the packhouse. As the werewolves jumped out of the cars, I instantly recognised Torben. More werewolves approached the packhouse in their wolf forms and shifted before entering the house.

Both me and Sin kept as quiet as possible. If one of them had suspected someone was watching them and they decide to check, we would be doomed. Only then I realised what mistake I made. I put Sin at risk because of my stupidity.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow" I found myself asking as I built the tent.

“We get what we need and go back straight away” then he added ” if we keep our distance, we should be fine”

Once we finished we sat on the ground and drank from the blood bags.

“Don’t you think it’s weird no one seemed to care about the werewolves that attacked us?” He said doubtfully.

“Ya, that is weird. Let’s hope they were rogues” I said before taking a sip of the blood.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air around us. I signed and couldn't help asking "are you ok?"

He looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion “what do you mean? I’m fine”

“Um...you seem a bit distant. Is it because of my rejection?” guilt was written all over my face.

He looked away “no, everything is fine,”.

“Are you sure?” I asked hoping he would tell me anything. “I just don’t want it to make our friendship awkward”

“It won’t, I understand you need time. Don’t worry about me,” he said reassuringly then placed his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him. “I just can’t wait for this to be over”

“Me too, I’m dying to have a shower” I confessed.

He laughed at my statement.