The Red Wolf's Daughter (Book 3 Part 2: The Making of the Siran)

Chapter 12

I stopped in front of the fire and took a deep breath. I called the fire towards me and gathered it into a small ball, ignoring the new people that were gathered around me.

"Are you two ok?" I asked and clasped the ball together until it disappeared.

"We are," Giselle confirmed from where she was protecting a cowering Caroline. "Are you ok?" she asked, concerned. "Are you hurt?"

I shook my head, no. "I am not," I said, surprised that I was still standing, "but I do think that I had used more energy than I should have."

Giselle frowned and slowly nodded. Worry filled her eyes, and she took a step towards me but stopped when someone growled a warning.

I groaned and closed my eyes, knowing full well that Cooper was coming over to us.

Couldn't this happen later? I silently asked with another groan. I'm too tired to deal with his shit.

Cooper growled again, and I rolled my eyes and scowled. "What are you?" he asked. He made no move to touch me, and I was grateful because I did not want to get shoved away from them when I was still very hyper aware of my surroundings and protecting them.

"The Red Wolf's Daughter," I replied and opened my eyes to look at him. "I thought we had gone over this, especially since I look like her, act like her, and I have the same goodies as she does."

"If not more," Giselle said softly, and I knew that she wasn't talking about me having other powers because she didn't know herself. "Did you know that you were glowing?"

I cocked my head and looked at her with furrowed brows. "What do you mean?" I asked, confused. "I know that my spear was glowing, but I didn't know that anything else was glowing."

Giselle shook her head, and she smiled, her eyes filled with hope and relief. "You were glowing as well," she said, "while you were saving someone else's life."

I didn't respond and looked at Caroline to see what she had to say.

Caroline slowly nodded, and her eyes were wide. She didn't say a word, and I had a feeling that it was because she was in awe, which I didn't understand why.

I wrinkled my nose and pursed my lips. "All I was doing was making sure that an innocent wouldn't turn into an uninnocent," I said, "because it looked like he was going to kill an innocent."

Cooper scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Like there were any innocents in that group," he said darkly. "They are all bad. They deserve t-"

"And that is where I am going to stop you," I said, interrupting him while I looked at him, "and remind you that Mom wouldn't have liked that talk at all."

"But she isn't here," Cooper replied. "It shouldn't matter wh-"

"It should if you want to keep the hope alive," I said, interrupting him, "not only for you but for the people that you swore to serve and protect." I gestured to Giselle and Caroline, and he looked at them before he looked at me.

Giselle shifted on her feet and looked nervous and sad. She looked away from me when I looked at her before she cleared throat and looked at me again. "That is something that is hard to come by these days," she said softly when Cooper didn't say a word.

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, staying silent while I waited for her to continue to talk. I knew what she wanted to say, but I wanted to hear it, to hear her thoughts and fears.

I wanted her to let me know what she was worried about and to give her the hope that she desperately wanted and craved.

Giselle sighed and shook her head before she cleared her throat again. "Hope," she said softly, ignoring Cooper's growl of warning. "We haven't had that much hope to give because of what has happened."