Wolf Bound

Chapter 23

  I opened my eyes to see the sun, I was in the field, except it was not just me... it was every one of my pack... dead, wolf and human bodies stained red laid on the ground... I saw Meagan on the ground looking almost asleep if it hadn't been for the ugly mark and gash on the side of her head... Nick's grey and brown fur was tinted red as his large head laid still on Meagan's middle, he'd died defending her... Rose and Bryan were side by side, two wolves. Two matching deaths... their throats were red and furless... David was almost unrecognizable... it looked like a horror movie... there was so much blood that, even I felt like throwing up.

But what confused me was the fact, I could not find Clare, I looked at everybody and none belonged to her.

I had given up looking at the bodies of people I had lived with and fought for.

Sitting in the middle of it all, I just put my head in my hands and cried for what felt like ages... I had lost everything.

My family, my pack, I could not even find the girl, I swore to care for.

It was nearly dark when I started working on building a large bed of wood, I was not leaving them all in the field to rot.

I was putting wood on the pile when I heard laughter... a child laughing.... I looked up and saw a flash of gold and blue.

Suddenly, I saw the figure again, but this time, I followed it, running as fast as I could after the child.

But somehow... the KID outran me?!

I let out a deep breath, before trying to track its scent, but what I smelled threw me off... it was the same mint and strawberry scent that I knew but could not place it with a face or name.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind me, I turned around to see the kid... it was a blonde little girl in a pair of overalls and a white shirt underneath. She could not have been more than four.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"This can't be real.... Your-... Your supposed to be-..." I stammered, shocked, and utterly confused.

Suddenly, the little girl vanished, the second I blinked.

"Jason, why are you just standing there?" I turned again to see her; except she was different, older... seven at most.

Her blonde hair was in a braid and she stood in a pair of shorts and a red shirt.

"We're goanna be late; you know how Mom gets when we're late." She said, I nodded, not knowing what else to do, she stepped over and grabbed my hand, smiling up at me as she led me towards the field.

"Wait, we shouldn't-..." I started, not wanting her to see.... Nothing?!

"Shouldn't what?" she asked confused as we entered the empty field.

I looked over at her, but she was gone, I heard footsteps from behind me and whipped around to see her now, looking like how she did when she was ten....

It went on for what felt like seconds, but when she came to me at age fifteen, I nearly broke down, she looked almost the same as she had the last time, I had seen her, she was so beautiful... I could not help but smile faintly at her.

She sat on her bed, with her head tilted to the side, smiling, before laughing a bit as she got up and walked over to me.

"Hey, I see you found your phone, I just was curious about the whole full moon thing, my parents won't tell me anything except for the usual stuff... I was hoping you'd tell me, like what really happens when you turn, do you guys act like a real pack of wolves, or are you guys like half wolf half man sort of thing like in those old movies?" she asked.

"What? Your... You didn't know-..." I started; how did she know at age fifteen?! Her memory had been erased almost the day after she turned fifteen, they had used that hypnosis magic trick, or whatever the hell it was.

I groaned, rubbing my eyes, trying to figure out what was going on... except, when I looked back up, I was not in the house... I was not in the field, either.... When I finally realized where I was, it did not take as long as the other times it took for her to appear, only matter of seconds.

She stood in her old blue jeans and a plain red shirt with her old black hoodie on over it. She looked like how she did before the shift before Natalie and before all the crap that happened to her... to all of us.

"You're older... again." I sighed, half joking.

"That means your time here is almost up, the girl you know hasn't let herself aged to her nineteenth birthday, not yet anyways... but when she does, you will need to be there for her." She said... but it was not actually her, not really.

"Who-..." I started, but she stopped me.

"The legends about me you know well, I'm surprised you never guessed this could've been my doing, but a goddess mustn't be vain, I suppose... anyways, it is time for you to leave," she said.

"Lupa? Wait... what do you mean time to go?" I asked so confused about so many things.

"She found my old almost forgotten gift to my daughter's line, to your mate's line, the old magic, she's made a trade.... An eye for an eye, really, you for something else." She told me.

"What did she do?" I asked worried.

"Jason, you mustn't worry, she is alright. Now, wake up." She said smiling.

Right then, I opened my eyes and felt my heart speed up from coming back to life.