Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Forty-Four 🌑

"I understand," I said, then. "You can't trust that everyone would use magic for good. They might want to use us for our powers." 

"Right," Accalia replied, with a serious expression. "Though I trust that you have every faith that Kate won't expose us?" 

"Alia, you trust me, right?" I asked her. 

She hummed in agreement. 

"Then trust me when I say that you can rely on Kate to not tell anyone about us," I said. 

Accalia's expression appeared to soften, then, as her worry became less apparent. 

"Some magic is against wolf law or code, if it hurts someone or risks revealing us to the human world. Nevertheless, magic is generally used for keeping our kind safe," Accalia told me. 

We had been walking for so long by now that we were already back in the forest. 

Once I had charged my phone, I was going to have to explain to Kate where we had got to. 

At least, I thought as much before I heard someone speak behind us. 

"You guys rushed off without us? Rude," Uma said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. 

Kate hopped over a loose tree branch and then joined the three of us. 

Accalia turned to Kate with an apologetic expression. 

I could understand why- we were near the cave and Kate was a human, thus not allowed inside. 

"I'll stay with Kate. You two go on," I said. 

Accalia and Uma regarded me with appreciation, before they made their way into the cave. 

"What's that?" Kate asked me, with visible interest. 

"Another wolf thing," I replied simply. 

The two of us stood in the cool, fresh Autumnal breeze for a short while, until we were joined by Fenn, whose gaze warmed as it settled on us. 

"Hi Fenn. Kate, this is Fenn- he's Accalia's younger brother," I explained. 

"Hey, Fenn," Kate replied, with warmth behind her voice. 

I could tell that the two of them would get along- they were both very kind people. 

"I'm just hanging out with Ophelia. Have to keep an eye on her," she said. 

I rolled my eyes in gentle amusement. 

"Because you love me," I teased. 

"Well, duh," she said. "Anyway, how are you, Fenn?" she asked him, with a quick glance at me that asked 'wolf?' silently. 

I nodded in response, hoping she caught onto it before she returned her attention to him. 

"I'm just fine, Kate," Fenn replied with a friendly smile. 

"Glad to hear it," Kate replied, with a genuinely kind expression. 

The three of us were soon joined by Accalia again. 

"Hey, Fennick," she greeted him. 

Fenn turned to his sister and raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything more. 

I supposed he wasn't bothered very much by it. Fenn had always struck me as a fairly easy going person. 

"Want to go home now? Kate, I'll drop Ophelia off and Uma's going to give you a ride home, if that's alright?" she asked. 

Kate's eyes widened a little, then, but I knew she didn't want to appear rude. 

"Uh, sure," she said, "That's fine." 

"Great!" Accalia replied quickly, as she reached out to grab my hand in her own and led the two of us out of the forest. 

"You can be cruel sometimes," I told her, as I sat down in the passenger's seat of the car again. 

"Those two need some bonding time," Accalia replied matter-of-factly. 

I released a gentle chuckle. 

Accalia drove on and the engine of the car growled slightly as she was able to speed along the mostly silent roads. 

She slowed down a little until she came to a stop outside of my house. 

"Hey, take care of yourself," she told me, as her warm golden eyes locked with mine. 

"Always will," I assured her, before I moved forward to brush my lips against hers and then exited the car. 

I waved to Accalia, who was beaming back at me, and then made my way into the house again. 

When I arrived back home, I found my father in the living room working on a drawing. 

He turned to me and greeted me with a gentle smile. 

"Are you doing those mindfulness exercises your therapist recommended to you, after mum died?" I asked. 

He looked tempted to laugh. 

"Heh- no. I felt like doing something creative," he said. 

I supposed I knew where the creative side of my personality came from. 

"I'm naturally gifted, I'll have you know," he added. 

"Hm," I said, as I inspected the page in front of him. 

He was right, though. He really was good at this. 

"You seem happy," I commented. 

He smiled. 

"I'm feeling a lot more easy going these days," he told me, with a friendly tone of voice. "When you first moved here, I was worried that you wouldn't settle in." 

"Dad, believe me. I'm settling," I said. 

Into a life of being a werewolf, apparently, settling nonetheless. 

"I think I might sell some of these," he said, as his eyes glanced over the colourful page in front of him again. "I've also taken up a new job." 

I felt my eyes widen. 

"In landscaping," he said. 

I immediately felt relief wash over me. 

"Sounds great, dad! I'm happy for you," I said. 

"Me too," he said, "You know- you inspired me to do all of this. You've always occupied a good imagination, I suppose that's why I wanted to get into art at first. I thought it might be a distraction, and it was at first, but now I'm actually enjoying it. Besides, it keeps the bunnies alive, doesn't it?".

 I knew he was joking but I met him with a serious expression. No one was hurting bunnies on my watch, even if I did happen to be a wolf. I was a werewolf, it wasn't ingrained into my mind to kill every living thing that I knew I was capable of eating. 

I felt a little nervous, in all seriousness. 

I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to tell my father the truth. 

If he knew, would he still love me the same? 

I could understand why Accalia wished she was human from time to time. This really could be difficult. 

"Can I help you with anything?" I asked him. 

"Uh, yeah. Can you sharpen some of these pencils? It's taking me ages," he said. 

I released a gentle laugh, but it sounded a little nervous. 

"Sure," I said, glad that it was an easy task. "I'll always be here to look out for you, dad," I assured him. "And you know you can rely on me for anything, right?" I reminded him. 

I wanted him to know that he would forever be appreciated, even if I hadn't been around as much recently. 

"There is something I wanted to speak with you about, actually," he said.