Hidden lycan

14.

Axina
A female given name.

I struggled to stand on my feet. I felt pain, that’s what I get for sleeping in the middle of the woods for a whole night. My face should be really messy.

I still pondered if I should wait a little while and then, I started hearing footsteps again, I didn’t know where to hide this time so I just ran.

For how long will I keep running.

I stopped running, hiding behind a tree so I could arrange my hair that kept falling to my face. Thankfully, I still withheld my scent. How would I go back to the pack house now.

I walked steadily and when I heard footsteps, I started running again.

There was a river ahead of me so I jumped in without thinking for a second, I went in deeper, caring little about how cold the water was.

For how long will I hold my breath.

I couldn’t make out any scent as I was in the water, the footsteps came to halt and after sometime, it started moving again.
When the coast was clear, I came out and I took a bolder step by going back to the pack house.

The place was still quiet and I was grateful for that. I entered my room to meet a frowning Axina.

“And she walks in dramatically” Axina said dryly, her sea blue eyes burning directly at mine.

She should be worried, I gave her a reason to, soaked from head to toe and I just arrived so early this morning.

“Hey” I managed to say like I was meeting her for the first time. It’s not my fault though, that was the first word that popped out of my head but it felt odd coming from my mouth.

“Care to explain, seems all you do this days is keep me in the dark” She voiced out.

“…”

Suddenly disinterested, she goes out of the room without sparing me a glance.

I was still soaking wet, I looked at the direction she walked out from, grateful that she closed the door tight, not like I don’t care about her feelings but I needed to change into something more appropriate first.

I went to the closet, rummaging the area, looking for something nice to wear. Thankfully enough, the white gown, I always abandon was staring back at me. I took hold of it immediately.

I was dressed, my black sandals on. I didn’t even care to look at the mirror, just dashed out from the room.

I could still inhale her scent. Scent of pine and the woods, The odd scent of Maria was there, mixed with hers.

I walked steadily afraid that I might wake those still asleep, not that the pack house was occupied by a lot of people.

Suddenly, I bumped into someone, his soft stare on me. “Sorry” I muttered to the boy, probably in his early 20s.

“It’s okay” he replied. He tucked the side of his hair at the back of his ear. He wanted to say something but he decided against it, to keep mute. He relaxed his muscles and still stood waiting.

“My name is Samuel but you can call me Sam for short”

“Ohk” I said Coolly wondering why he suddenly introduced himself to me, what a kind gentleman he was but something about him didn’t seem right. Was it his scent or was it just me.

My powers did have limits and I know I’ll have a hard time sniffing out the scent of the person who had nearly seen me. I don’t know if it was even possible. He smelt of a gamma but his unique scent was what I just can’t seem to pinpoint.

“Uhh …I’m your neighbour… “

“Neighbour, like we’re neighbours?” I asked, surprised. How come I never noticed that there was another door after mine and someone could be living there.

“You never really noticed, but I watched you carefully,” He completed and I couldn’t put aside the fact that he had been watching me carefully, it just sounded weird.

“Huh” I didn’t even know if it came out from my mouth or it was in my thoughts but Sam’s readiness to say something told me otherwise.

“Not in a creepy way. I was just curious to know, to see for myself” he explained but it didn’t make much sense. I noticed that he was slightly uncomfortable, his stare wasn’t fixed on mine, he couldn’t talk to me head straight.

“See what?” I asked. He scratched the back of his head before he was finally ready to say something.

“You were the girl in black hoodie and up to this very moment, everyone still talks about you. Rumours has it that you’re someone special for alpha king Roux to let you in. You’re still a mystery to us” he finally said.

“Umm… I don’t really know what to say” I wasn’t lying, I didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s okay, but see you around,” I didn’t know if he gave a wink or what, I only stared at his retreating figure.

I walked down the hallway. The pack house is really big that I’ve never really made it up the stairs, the last floor. I wonder what was up, the building was really big from the outside. Maybe one day, just maybe, I could see for my self.

The early morning sun radiated on my skin, the birds sang their melodious song, the leafy scent overtook my senses but Axina’s faint scent didn’t leave my nostrils. The area wasn’t really empty. I caught sight of a figure, heading to where I was.

I still followed the scent, moving steadily. “Maya” A voice called which I recognized as Anna. She was almost close, I still headed in her direction, waving at her in the process. That was where Axina’s scent was prominent the most and I was sure she was close by.

My body collided with Anna’s, her mild perfume of rose was wafted through my nostrils.

“You’ll pull me to the ground” I tried to warn Anna, but it was too late. We both fell to the floor and Anna couldn’t hold her laughter.
“It’s not fun at all Anna, that’s not a nice way to hug someone” I complained but it went to deaf ears. Anna was still laughing while I tried to pull my self up, giving Anna a stern look.

“You should blame my cheeky attitude, it’s definitely not my fault” She denied, getting up from the floor.

“Have you seen Axina around” I asked, still craving the need to talk to her, to tell that I wasn’t keeping her in the dark.

“Yeah, she’s just around the corner. I could show you if you want.”

Anna took the front lead, I don’t know if it was just to piss me but she walked really fast.

“Slow down already” I called out to stubborn Anna, she came to a stop and I remembered when I had told Axina to slow down months back.

She came to where I was, dragging my hands. She didn’t slow down and I tried my best not to miss a step.

Axina was seated on a bench, below a mango tree. Her face was bent looking at her folded hands. She was thinking really hard, something was bothering her.

“I should go now” Anna spoke up, I didn’t even have the chance to say anything and she was gone. It didn’t bother me much. I went to sit near Axina, mirroring her posture.

“Axina!” I called before her dull gaze met mine.

“You shifted yesterday” She said all of a sudden. I didn’t know if she expected an answer but it sounded more like a statement than a question.

“Uhh….yh” I answered anyways.

“Someone caught your scent yesterday and it’s not good news. Any moment from now, they’ll start searching, it’ll mean something, the other packs would be informed Maya, it’s no longer safe” That was what she was thinking about all this while. I wonder where she got the information from, the person wouldn’t have gotten much, right now I smelt of a plain omega but in the woods when I shifted, I was running. He couldn’t have seen me but I’m sure he smelt something powerful, something beyond his understanding and he followed, he chased after me purely by instinct.

“How did you know” I managed to ask. Not looking directly at her, my head still bent down.

“I overheard it when a warrior was telling the alpha yesterday. I was really worried about you that night but a slight whisper stopped me when I wanted to look for you. I think his name was Uhh…Dominic”

I was worried, sure enough but there was nothing I could do. Back in the days, I killed anyone who had the knowledge that I was never dead, the case with Dominic was different, I ran like a coward and now the world would come to know of my existence but they certainly won’t know I’m Ralia.

“We should go back now” I heard Axina’s voice say, drawing my attention.

“Are you angry with me” I asked her, my gaze moving to her direction before I sat up straight.

“No, I don’t blame it on you but please don’t keep me in the dark ever again.” She answered, standing up with her hands by her side.