Wild at Heart

“Derek’s dead, Ophelia.” I don’t know why I had to say it out-loud; everyone knew he was dead.

“I know.” She responded with a dumbfounded look on her face. “I’m not stupid.” She rolled her eyes at me. “She’s looking for his body.”

“What does she need with his body?” Nick said the Omegas tracked her to the cemetery. Derek had a tombstone and grave there, but it was empty. After the fire, there was nothing left of him to bury. Whatever bones didn’t burn were lost in the rubble of the explosion.

“I don’t know.” Ophelia shrugged. “I was hoping you could take me to his grave. Maybe I can track her down.” I nodded. It was the least I could do to help her find her sister.

Walking through the woods in heels wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for tonight, but to say I was worried about Octavia was an understatement. I’ve reached out to her in many ways and she continued to hide. If it were Derek’s remains that she wanted, why wouldn’t she ask me? Why did she want his body in the first place?

“This is it.” I nodded towards the cemetery that lay only a few feet from us, but something caught my eye. Derek’s grave was never dug, there was nothing to bury. We simply placed a headstone for him for our friends to remember him by, keeping his betrayal a secret. So why was his fake grave dug up and reburied? The ground was disturbed and obviously recovered, but by who?

“Has it always been like this?” Ophelia asked. I shook my head.

“No.” I answered. “Someone dug his grave up.”

“Octavia.” I turned to Ophelia, more accusing than before.

“What the hell is going on, Ophelia?” I asked. “You know something. Why is your sister digging up graves looking for Derek’s body?”

“Was it here?” She asked, ignoring all my accusations.

“Ophelia…”

“I’m serious, Emma! Was his body here?” She asked.

“No!” I finally blurted out. “He died in a fire, there was no body to bury.” I ran my hand through my hair, trying to calm myself enough to focus on what the hell was going on around here.

“Where was the fire?” She asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “No more. You either tell me what the hell is going on, or I’m calling every single Omega in the North and East to hunt your sister down and throw her ass in the cells until she tells me exactly what you’re not.” Ophelia held her hands up to me in a surrender.

“Okay—okay.” She looked down at the ground, but I could tell she wasn’t looking for something she was just trying to advert her eyes from mine. “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on, because I don’t know.” A low growl escaped my throat, and she twisted her head to look me in the eye. “I’m telling you the truth. I will tell you what I know, but I don’t know what she’s up to.”

“Then talk.” I instructed.

“After Nick killed our father, she ran.” She began. “I grabbed her before she got too far, and I asked her what she was doing. She said she was happy he was dead.” Ophelia took a breath and let a grin appear across her lips. “We’re all happy he’s dead. But I didn’t understand why she was running if she was so happy. She said she had to find Derek’s body before it was too late.”

“Too late for what?” I asked.

“I wish I knew.” She answered. “She took off before I could get answers and I haven’t been able to find her since.”

“Who’s Holly?” I asked, but the instant the name rolled off my tongue, Ophelia’s nose crinkled in distaste.

“She’s bad news.”

“You mean she’s dangerous?”

“Not so much, she just has a lot of power and no one to tell her how to use it.”

“Where is she now?”

“I have no idea.” Ophelia shrugged her shoulders. “She came by our pack, dropped off a bunch of shit Octavia had no business holding onto and disappeared.”

“Why would she trust Octavia with all of her books?”

“Octavia owes her.”

“Owes her how?” Ophelia shrugged again. I thought Ophelia and Octavia were closer than that, being twins and all. Most of the time they were joined at the hip, but now it seems as though her sister has left her in the dark just like everyone else. “How do we find her?” I asked. Ophelia’s nose crinkled again, but this time she was catching a scent.

“We don’t have to.” I turned around to see Octavia emerging from the woods, her naked body covered in a fresh later of dirt. She’d been running in her wolf form. “What the hell Octavia?” Ophelia asked before I had the chance to.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “I was trying to get to you, but I couldn’t rink the Omegas finding me first.”

“They were only looking for you because I couldn’t find you.” I admitted. “Did you do this?” I asked, motioning towards Derek’s stone. She nodded.

“I’m sorry. I have to find him.”

“He’s not there, he never was. If you would have came to us, you’d know that.” Ophelia pointed out.

“I need to find him.” She repeated.

“Why?” I asked. She looked away from me, a look of shame on her face. “Octavia, I will take you to his body, you just need to be honest with me.”

“What did you do?” Ophelia asked.

“I didn’t—”

“That witch!” Ophelia yelled. “What did you have her do?”

“I—” Octavia had tears in her eyes as Ophelia walked closer to her. She grabbed her shoulders and began shaking her.

“What the hell did you do?” I gripped Ophelia’s arm and pulled her from her sister.

“Enough!” I silenced the entire woods and turned Octavia’s face to me. “Octavia—” She finally met my eyes. “Why do you need Derek’s body?”

“I have to be there when he wakes up.” She whispered.

“Oh, my Moon Goddess…” Ophelia gripped her hair with both hands and started walking away from us.

“Derek can’t wake up, Octavia. He died in the fire.” She shook her head at me. “Octavia...” I wiped a tear from her face. “What did you do?” I asked gently.

“Holly— she’s—she’s—”

“I know what she is, Octavia, what did she do?”

“She owed me. A lot. I did a lot of stuff for her, and I told her it was time to pay me back.”

“What did you ask her to do, Octavia?”

“I—” She sniffled and started chuckling.

“Octavia?”

“I asked her to link Derek’s life to my father’s life.” I sunk back and nearly lost my balance. “So, when Nick killed my father, his lifeforce was transferred to Derek.”

“Octavia—” I couldn’t breathe. “What the hell did you do?” My heart was beating out of my chest. My world was spinning around me.

“I brought him back, Emma.” She smiled at me. “I brought him back from the other side, I just need to find him.” The woods around me were closing in. I was going to pass out. “Emma, he’s all alone, he’s not going to know what’s happening. I need to find him and make sure he’s okay.”

“What the hell did you do!?” It was my turn to shake the hell out of the wolf in front of me.

“I brought him back to us, Emma.” She was insane. She clearly lost her marbles, and we didn’t have time to find them too.

“Emma?” Ophelia put her hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face her. “This is dak magic.” She said. “You need to listen to me because clearly my sister is not in her right mind right now.” I nodded in agreeance. “If this is true and it actually worked. We don’t know what Holly brought back. Derek has been dead for over a year; his soul has been searching for peace and it was just ripped from that back into a body that was burnt to a crisp. I don’t know what kind of dark magic she used, but it’s black. It’s so black. We need to find whatever Holly brought back into this world before someone else does.” I nodded again. “Derek is dead, whatever is in his body right now isn’t Derek. It’s evil. We have to find it.”

The world was perfect. The war was over. The packs were unified into one of the largest territories known to wolf and I was their leader with my wonderful mate. Our Beta and one of the best Omegas our pack has ever seen was just united in marriage and we celebrated. Nick and I were happy. We were at peace. All was right with our pack and the world around us. We finally figured it out. It was time to go home and finally rest my body to prepare for a pregnancy. It was time to get pregnant and rest so a baby could grow healthy in my womb. I was ready to bring a little pup into this world and pack. I was confident in the home we could give one, maybe even two pups. Maybe that was my downfall? Maybe I was too comfortable, and the Moon Goddess had to bitch-slap me back into reality. I wasn’t meant to live a normal, boring life. I am the Luna of the Northeast Pack and I made a vow to keep every single wolf in my pack safe. No matter what. And that is exactly what I’m going to do.