The Twisted Links

Chapter 49

CHAPTER 49

Cub Creek...

The constant wails were enough to keep everyone away. Sensitive ears were pierced by the sound but no one could complain in light of the pure grief behind it. Ruby sat in one of the private parlors in the pack house, crying loudly. Tracy wrapped her arms around the younger woman waiting for the tears to subside. Jessie held her hand whispering words of comfort. Lucy and Asya sat silently across from them in solidarity.

Flashback...

Ruby left the hospital quickly and walked towards Galen's car. Something felt off. A cool breeze raised the hairs on the back of Ruby's neck and unease made her freeze. Alertness and an unknown fear, made her look around for a threat. Running to the car, she smelled that her mate was there recently but so another scent, it smell like a woman's perfume and there was also a smell like moldy wood and burnt rubber. 

Her wolf, Faye, whimpered when she couldn't find her mate's scent anywhere else. It was like he just disappeared.

End of Flashback...

There was no other way to express her sorrows. She had felt her mate's fear, his struggle, his pain, his acceptance, and finally his death. Her wolf whimpered in her mind and she no longer wanted to live. Her heart no longer beat as loudly. It felt brittle and broken.

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Galen's Home Village...

The woman quickly answered the video call from her son anxious to find out if he was alright. She and her husband were packing their bags as soon as she had gotten the call from her daughter-in-law that her younger son had been taken. Hattie stared in horror at the computer screen as her oldest son showed her the powers he had stolen. The injured man stood from his wheelchair thanking Ameqran profusely for this miracle.

"Aren't you proud of me, mama?" he asked. His face gleamed with pride.

The woman felt decades older than her years and the tear flowed down her cheeks as she realized the monster she had created.

When Hattie was a young woman, she received the gift of healing that had been passed down from one generation to the next. Her father was the Heartless Healer before her and he had died in an accident when she was only 17. A disease struck the community a year later. She had been so afraid, when the people of her village became angry with her for not receiving her powers earlier and staving off the disease. Many had died and the relatives thought that she didn't heal them out of spite. So, they sought to kill her. It was a long time before she was able to return.

She didn't want this to happen to her child. So when her twin sons were born, Hattie, like everyone else, assumed that the oldest boy would receive the Gift. She worked hard to educate her fellow villagers about the generational powers and made sure to promote her oldest son's popularity. Her husband helped her with that.

Unfortunately, in her quest to protect one son she unintentionally neglected the other. On the day that was set for the powers to be received, it was not Ameqran but Galen that became the next Heartless Healer. Enraged, Ameqran attacked his brother and tried to kill him. He acted like a rabid dog and there was nothing she could do. Ameqran was obsessed with a gift that was not meant to be his.

This time he didn't fail.

Hattie could not stop the tears. Her son was dead and she didn't know the stranger speaking to her now. She had lost both her sons. If she had a heart, she knew it would be breaking. She closed the call without answering the question. Looking up she saw her husband. She knew that he had heard. She followed him to their room.

He stretched out on the bed. "Come lie with me." He said gently patting the space next to him.

She heard his heart sputter and knew there was something wrong. Lying next to him, she placed her head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her, "I can heal you."

He kissed the top of her head. "Let's just lie here." He said.

They watched they sun set. It was their last. When his heart stopped, she no longer had a heartbeat. The couple went to joined their ancestors in the next life.

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Cub Creek Territory...

"I'm coming. I'm coming." Haggai grouched as he walked across the front room to open the door.

"Two locking spells and four layers of wards... a bit excessive." The woman complained.

"Worked didn't they?" Haggai huffed. "What the hell are you doing here Puddles?"

"Technically I'm not here I'm outside." Trish snarked.

Haggai started to shut the door but Trish stopped him.

"Wait! Please?" Trish pleaded. "I have nowhere else to go."

"I thought you were in Rogue Lands."

"I was but..." Trish looked down, fidgeting with her fingers as she whispered. "I met my Soulmate."

Haggai was dumbfounded. He never really considered that Trish would have a Soulmate. He felt sorry for the poor joker but seeing the normally arrogantly obnoxious Trish so humbled kind of worried him. "So why aren't you with him?"

"He deserves better."

"Okay. I give up. Where's Puddles? You know the 'Witch Bitch?'" Haggai asked shaking his head. "I don't understand why you're being like this?"

"I know!" Trish burst out as she angrily dashed away the tears that start to flow. "I'm not a good person! I don't know why I'm trying. I just..." she sighed. "I just don't want to be me anymore. I want to be a better person and then maybe I'll get to be happy. Just once."

Haggai didn't know how to handle this new Trish but he felt sorry for her. "They're looking for you. You could possibly be executed for your crimes."

"I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid to live."

"What about your Soulmate?"

"I can't. I can't offer him anything more than a fucked up shell. Believe me. He's better off without me."

Haggai snorted. "At one time I would have agreed..." He sighed once more. "Don't try to be noble now and break the bond. Give yourself some time. Time tends to give perspective."

Trish sniffed. "Can I stay?"

"I'm sharing this house with my... um my Soulmate." Haggai cringed internally not knowing how to describe the situation. His Vixen's spirit was in another's body and Dona was her own person. It was like a love triangle that was non-triangular. This courtship was taking forever but considering how long he's waited to be with her again. He could wait. "It's not just up to me but if Dona agrees then you can stay."

Leading her down a hall, he opened a door revealing a small guest bedroom. "The bathroom is the first door on the left. My room is the door after that and Dona's is at the end of the hall."

"Thank you." Trish said quietly.

"Good night, Puddles."

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Just made this up...

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Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Lilac.

Lilac who?

Why you gonna Lilac that?

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So any thoughts about the story?

Dang... Just looked at the weather. 70 degrees on Wednesday and 48 degrees on Thursday. Last week it was 71 one day and snow the next. 

Ugh my allergies... sorry my "covid" (that I've had for the last 30 years because no one has allergies anymore) will be acting up. People are going to be looking at me like they're church people staring at a woman holding flowers during the Salem Witch Trials era.