Blaze

Chapter 27

"Your brother? Then that means that the Virginia pack was here before?" I was the only one speaking in the silence now.

"Or that we were born in Virginia." Adrian spoke. "We found Blaze in 1800, when Lily and I were 17. We were already married, as was expected back then. We had found Blaze while sailing. We had gotten caught in a storm and were stranded. Lily and I wandered through the forest until we found the natives. Or should I say, they found us. They cared for us, until our people found the island of Blaze. They, too, were stranded. For the next few years, many more people found Blaze, normally by accident. Some we knew, while many others we grew to know. All were stranded."

Lily picked up the story. "The natives helped us as best they could. They helped us to build boats to leave, yet whenever we tried, the boats always got thrown back to the island. So the one hundred of us, for that was how many were stranded, decided to stay. Adrian and I were voted to lead, as the King and Queen. Most of the First Settlers were European, and under royal rule. Democracy was outvoted, as odd as that sounds."

This time Jayden began. "Then the First Settlers built their town, only one because of their size. They called it 'Virginia' after the King and Queen's former home. Years later, when the rulers were thirty, and many Settlers had passed away, and the population had grown, a fire started. No one knew how. It was suspected by a lone candle that caught the curtains, and in turn caught the wood cabins to burst into flames. The beautiful forest started to burn to the ground, while Virginia's many citizens fled to safety."

Alexander, from across the clearing, continued the tale. "The Goddess appeared to them all, and created the Underground. She brought them to its entrance and they filed down. However, some people collapsed from the flames. The ones who collapsed were not supposed to die. The Goddess took pity on them, and turned them into wolves, where they could run faster from the flames. The Goddess also put the fire out, for it was begun by magic. The people who went Underground were never seen by the people Aboveground, and vice versa. The Moles, as they were deemed, believed everyone else to be perished."

Adrian once again spoke, "The people turned into wolves kept their King and Queen, but instead called them Alpha, for their wolves inside told them to. The pack repopulated slowly, and soon discovered new things: we had mates, destined to be; the Alphas had power, enough to force their pack to their knees; and we could turn to wolves at will. The last thing was the most surprising: Any shifter over the age 18 didn't grow older. Where we did not know things, the Great Alpha helped. Our wolves also helped us with what they knew. Because our wolves had lived before. Our wolves knew more than we did. We were not born at the same time. Despite all of that, the pack survived."

Jayden wanted to continue. "Then one day, my mother got pregnant. She did not want her child to be stuck on the island, never to know what the outside world was. She could not do anything about it. However, the Great Alpha proved her wrong. The Great Alpha contacted the pack in Virginia, in the United States. You see, when she first turned the shifters on Blaze, many more humans turned wolf all over the world. They knew the same information the Blaze shifters did: virtually nothing. Anyways, the Virginia pack heard the Great Alpha's call to Blaze and they came."

Alexander finished the true story of Blaze. "They came, arriving a year after the child was born. At my mother's plea, the pack took the child with them when they left. Soon after, my mother got pregnant again. By this time, though, the Virginia pack was in America again. The Great Alpha told my mother to keep this child on the island; it would serve this island well. Meanwhile, the older child grew up without his mother, father, and brother - who he didn't know he had until years later. When the older child was 14, he sailed on his own to Blaze. He found his family, living happily without him. When he tried to stay, they refused, telling him to go home. As if it was only a few minutes away, not a few months. The older child grew even older and alone. 

"Until one day, the Virginia Alpha realized the power the older child had. He decided to harness it, and use it for the pack. The Alpha made him a Beta, even though the child's rightful place was Alpha. The pack came back to Blaze, for urgent business. The business was thus: destroy the Blaze Alphas and replace them with a trusted ally. This was the plan, until the child's plans changed. The child met his mate, and nothing else mattered." Alexander looked straight at me when he said that, but quickly looked away before people could follow his gaze.

"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry you had to go through that alone!" I felt his feelings come through the bond; they were feelings of happiness for finding me, sadness that I had to hear about his before life, and anger towards his family for making him go through it. I had no idea whose bond it was now. Mine and Jayden's? Or mine and Alexander's?

"It's not your fault, princess."

"I know, but I still feel like it's my fault. That I should have been there, helping you through it. So you wouldn't be alone."

"That's the beauty of the bond, love. Always feeling responsible for the other's emotions."

"But I never felt that way with Jayden."

"That's because he wasn't your mate. The bond was forced there. Your feelings for him were forced. Nothing you felt for him was real! It was the doings of a witch!"

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Hey, sorry for all the dialogue in this chapter! I know it's a lot, but I thought it was about time you heard the real story behind Blaze. 

This chapter is dedicated to my friend, Add3345, for dealing with all the twists and turns this story has taken so far.