The wolf woman

Accalia's Past

I asked the chief why he was so kind towards Accalia when everyone hated her. He wondered for a while if he should answer me or not. "You're going to take care of her. You have the right to know," he said. He explained to me that his parents and Accalia's parents were friends. They wanted to take it to the next level. They wanted their kids to get married. Alpha was four years old when his marriage was already decided to John's due daughter. When Accalia took birth, everyone was afraid. She took birth as a wolf, not a human. Her imprintment was kept on hold. Everyone alienated her. She was smart. She mastered transformation by the age of three on her own. She was a master in primal hunting, which is hunting alone. Everyone thought she was a prodigy. She was doing stuff at the age of four that a normal child archives at the age of ten. People put more pressure on her to learn everything quickly. Her learning pace was disturbed. She was forced to sit in class with wolves older than her. They all bullied her. They didn't want to lose their respect. For them, getting beaten by a 5-year-old pup would be disrespectful. They beat her every day after school. Accalia never showed her wounds to anyone. She would cry inside a carved tree. Alpha was four years older than Accalia. He could understand everything that's been happening to her. He wanted to help her but he stayed a spectator. He was just an omega. He wasn't sure if he could do anything. He could have at least supported her. He improved her ranks but she stayed an Omega. He did nothing but watch her crack under the pressure. She was living in a tight community yet she felt alone. Alpha saw her crying alone many times but never lent his shoulder. When he turned eighteen, he was being forced to imprint on someone. He couldn't imprint Accalia. He was a candidate for the next chief. It could hurt his chances. He imprinted Accalia's younger sister who was also a candidate for the Alpha position. Last year when her sister turned 18, they got married and Alpha became the Alpha of the village. Accalia is 20 now. He deeply regretted never helping her. He was pressurized by the elders to kick her out of the village. After explaining everything to me, he stayed silent.
This was something I didn't know about her. She must have gone through much worse than Alpha knows. I wanted to know more about it. "Can I stay here for another week?" I asked. He wanted to know my reason to stay. I explained to him. He agreed. He also gave me a brooch made of bronze. "With this, you can interrogate anyone. No one will object," he said. I took the brooch and pin it to my collar.
The next day I got ready early. I started planning my day out. I had a list of people I am going to question. Accalia sat beside me. "What are you doing?" She asked. Her communication skills have definitely improved. Her accent is very cute. She sounds like a character from a child show. She had been hearing people talk around her all her life. She couldn't talk to them because of social anxiety. She speaks to me when we are alone but in front of people, her mind goes blank. In public, she gets too anxious. She's more comfortable with me than anyone else. I was the only one who never put pressure on her. She can do anything she wants as long as she's not hurting herself. I care less about what others think. "We are staying here for another week," I answered. She got worried. She didn't want to stay in the village. She despised it. It reminded her about everything she went through. She wanted to get out of it as soon as possible.
She is confident now. She can get out of the house alone. She avoids crowds as much as she can. It is a result of the trauma she got because of bullying. She gets scared around everyone but pups. She spends a lot of her time playing with pups. Accalia is allowed to go hunting alone. She masters in primal hunting. Yesterday she caught a goose by herself. She doesn't perform that well in packs. Alpha is still against sending her with a pack. I convinced him to let her hunt alone. Wolves are natural hunters. Their hunting rights shouldn't be taken away from her. Alpha allowed it with one condition. If she causes a threat to anyone, I will have to take responsibility. They don't care if something happens to Accalia. She was an outcast for them.  The public interest lies in the trouble she causes to people not in how they trouble her.
"Umm….why?" she asked. She was questioning the sudden changes in the plan. I told her that I have some things to do. "Will you be fine?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded. I patted her head. "You are a strong good girl." I praised her a bit. She felt joyish. Accalia took off to the forest. Sye loves hunting. It is helping her mental health. She feels more confident.
I took off to the chief's house. The first person on my list was Accalia's sister. She's Alpha's sister. I pinned the brooch on my collar to make it visible. The security saw my brooch. They look shocked. They didn't try to stop me. His wife and chief were sitting together in the living room. As soon as I entered, his wife went inside. Chief turned to me. "Leo, you need something?" He asked. He wasn't expecting me for sure. I explained my reasons. He called his wife in the living room. She was dressed in a more presentable way than before. I asked for some alone time with her. She might not be uncomfortable to talk about this in front of her husband. Alpha was resistant to leave us alone. He wanted to take part in the conversation. His wife gestured to him that it’s okay. He walked off the room while making faces. I looked at Accalia’s sister. “You look an awful lot like her,” I asked. She nodded. “Many people say that to me, though I am not as good as she is,” she answered. I had a lot of questions in my mind that I wanted to ask her. I decided to start with her name. Her name was Ana. I was trying to be as gentle as I could. She was comfortable with answering my questions. I came directly to the point. “How was your relationship with your sister?” I asked. She started to tell me her side of the story. Accalia is a great sister. She always tried her best to support Ana. When they were young, Ana was weak and frail. Accalia would hunt animals down so that she can get stronger by eating them. She would spend most of her time playing and taking care of Ana. But things changed with time. As they grew older, They started to become distant. Accalia locked her in her room. She stopped interacting with people. "Why did that happen?" I asked. "Our parents," she replied. She told me that her parents were really happy when she came into their life. People would praise her for her achievements which was making them feel proud. But, it all changed on her rank exams. Accalia spent most of her time taking care of me, she didn't study at all. She failed the exam. After that, their parents tortured her. They called her useless, stupid. She was too young to let it not get inside her skin. Her parents demotivated her a lot. They put immense pressure on her to reach the top. She got nervous and anxious and failed the exams again. "I still remember the way my dad beat her that way," she told me. She was wiping the drop of tear that snuck through her strong composure.  She was getting beaten by her parents every day and getting verbally abused. I asked why no one raised a voice against it. "Because no one knew. Sissy's wounds heal rapidly. No one lasts on her body more than an hour," she answered. "Wounds on her body healed but her soul is still wounded," I said. She nodded. She looked at Accalia crying alone many times in her room. She would try to help her but Accalia always asked her to stay away. Ana tried many times to talk to her about her problems but Accalia didn't open up. "Did she have a friend in school?", I asked. To which she replied "none," and added that there's a guy who might help me. His name is Sylvester, rank sentinel. He had a crush on her. "Why didn't he imprint her then?" I asked. She told me that elders didn't allow her to get a partner due to her behavior in public. They knew about her social anxiety. Accalia has never been around a male except for her dad. I am with the elders on this decision. Getting paired up with an unknown male would only worsen her situation. I thanked Ana and walked out of the house.
I knew where I could find Sylvester. I marched to the outer circle. Sentinels were training and marching all over the circumference. I asked someone to help me find him. They walked me to Sylvester’s house. He was exercising in the front yard. Sylvester was a strong-build muscular male. One of those who can be deemed as perfect. I, on the other hand, am a thin athletic guy. He would look better beside Accalia. I walked to him. "Hello! I am Leo. I am here to seek your assistance," I said. "Heh! You think I would help a mere human like you!" said Sylvester. Some people were unhappy with the chief's decision of letting a human stay in the village. Most of them were sentinels. As the guard of the village, I understand that they see me as a threat. I flashed the brooch on him. He was ghasted. He bowed down and apologized for his behavior. I was astonished by what this brooch can do. I have to make good use of it. I have to gather as much information as I can. I want to help Accalia. To help her, I need to know everything about her. I made Sylvester spill every bit of tea.
After going around the village, talking to people. It concluded that everybody knew Accalia was suffering and nobody wished to help her. They isolated her only to push her down and show themselves great. They used her "prodigy" status to improve their ranks. The doctors knew about her mental health yet, they didn't take any action. They are not psychologists, was their excuse. Elders knew about the bullying and mental abuse at home but they didn't interfere. They did not want to interfere in her family matters, they said. It was agonizing to see how she was left alone. Her sister did try to help her, but she could have been more assertive. If she had hugged her tightly and said that everything would be alright. Accalia would have been in a better state. She could have become her strength. Alpha, he could have helped her after becoming chief. He was unfair to her, kicking her out of the village because of her insecurities when he could have talked to her parents. He could have helped Accalia to better her mental health. Accalia was trying to be tough. She bottled up all her emotions. She might not want to be annoying to others. She denied taking help from her sister because she might not want to burden her. What she didn't understand was that helping her would have made Ana happy.
It was the end of the week. I learned as much as I could. It was time to depart now. I was at the main entrance of the village. Alpha with his wife and Accalia's parents came to see us off. Before departing, I went to Alpha. I intended to return the brooch. "Keep it! It's a brotherhood brooch," he said. I asked him to elaborate. He told me that these brooches are given by Alpha to those who he sees as a brother. "It's an honor to have this," I said. His subordinate walked us out of the jungle. My car was still parked on the side of the highway. The road is not used by many, luckily I didn't get a ticket. But wild animals trashed my car. I will have to get it washed tomorrow. I drove us back to my apartment. I was drained. A lot has happened in the past month. I fell asleep as soon as I sat on my bed.