Wolf Blood - The Rewritten Version (2019)

Chapter Two

We had been surviving on our own for almost 8 months. There had been enough food in the escape bag to last us 3 days in the cave we stumbled across, which was the first step of the plan that mum had taught me daily since Toby was born.

The next step in the plan was to go back to where our house was and retrieve as much of our belongings that I could, so that we could travel across the country. I was always told that there would be a suitcase in the shed for everybody, and I would need to be quick to grab as much as I could because I would be the least suspicious of our group. It was never a part of the plan that we wouldn't have been together as a family.

But mum and dad would've met us in the cave if they were alive. I knew they were gone, but I wasn't ready to accept that. When I arrived at our house, I was shocked to see what was left. Every single thing on the property had been set alight. What was left of the houses, and sheds was just a pile of rubble. The trees in the backyard gone, the grass dead, and the flowers I had grown by the letter box no longer existed. It looked as if a bomb had blown up just at our house, and there had been no remains.

The morning paper had been left out the front of where are letter box used to stand, and when I picked it up, I gasped at the front page.

                                                          Family of Four Killed in Local House Fire

I opened the paper and read the article, which claimed the oven had an electrical fault and the house had been caught in a blaze. According to the paper, by the time the fire services had made it to the house, there had been nothing to save.

The reality of the situation finally hit and I let go of all the emotions I had been holding onto for the past 3 days. I cried for my father, the sweetest man who had been put through too much. I cried for my mum, who had made some bad choices but wasn't a bad person. I cried for Toby, who would never get the chance to grow up with a family. I cried for myself, because I knew that this would only be the beginning of what was to come.

When I had finished crying, the sun had almost risen, and I knew I would have to get back to Toby soon. I wiped my face on my dirty top and took a deep breath before heading back to our cave. Toby didn't say anything when I returned and packed our bags. The next step in the plan was to go to the airport and catch a plane across the country.

It went by in a blur, I was stuck in autopilot, unable to switch it off. I could feel myself going through the motions, and yet I wasn't aware of it. I smiled when needed, gave passports, money, whatever it was needed to get us out of the town we were stuck in. I knew we were wearing clean clothes, to not look out of place, and from the judging stares from the older women, they must have assumed Toby was my child, not that it mattered anyway.

The next few months were a blur of survival. Auto-pilot was still on, and I just did what I needed to do to survive. We had enough money to get a little apartment room, and I started working part time to make ends meet because our funds were running low. I would wake up at 4am each day, work 5am - 9am shifts, be home in time for Toby to wake up, spend the days tending to him, and keeping up my training, only to fall asleep by 11pm and do it all over again.

One night, I had a dream. It was my mum, from before the incident, talking to me as I was right now. I saw myself, worn out, with the spark of life in my eye gone.

"Beth, you didn't survive to migrate into the human world. You need to go and be free. Let your wolf form run free" I stepped away from her touch the second she had mentioned my wolf form.

"I haven't been able to be free since you fell pregnant with Toby. Did you realize you threw away the chance for a relationship with your already existing child when you became that devoted to having another one, that you broke our laws and summoned us to exile with you" I cried, finally feeling an emotion I hadn't allowed myself to feel in a long time.

"you don't understand..." mum started but I cut her off "no mum, you don't understand, you already had a child, we could have been a family, and just survived the three of us. But you were the one you didn't understand. You kept trying to have another baby, even though you couldn't. You are the reason my wolf form doesn't run free anymore. Because your choices got you and dad killed, and I got stuck raising your baby that you so desperately wanted"

"find the Silver Storm pack, they will explain everything" mum spoke in a hushed tone, oblivious to what I had said to her.

"why mum, why should I? if they could have helped us, why didn't we go there as a family, before you guys were killed...or did you just remember miraculously?" I replied sarcastically, feeling a range of emotions that I wasn't quite sure how to deal with.

"Bethany, stop being so stubborn and do as you're told! I am trying to help you, why can't you see this!" mum said, raising her voice at me

"do as I'm told? What are you going to do if I don't...ground me? Oh wait, you can't because you died and now? Now I'm left cleaning up your mess" I turned my back on her, feeling the hot tears roll down my cheeks. I was angry, but I was also heartbroken. Seeing her in my dream felt as real as if we were standing in the kitchen arguing together.

"Just trust me Bethany. Find the Silver Storm pack. They can help" she repeated, stepping forward to embrace me.

"Don't. Touch. Me." I snarled, not wanting to forgive and forget, but also wanting nothing more than for her to hold me and tell me that things were going to be okay.

"Find the Silver Storm pack, Bethany" she whispered.

I willed myself to wake up and jumped when I opened my eyes to Toby inches from my face.

"what are you doing?" I cried, trying to put some distance between us and wipe the tears from my cheeks

"Beth, you are sad?" Toby asked, reaching a hand out and placing it on my cheek. Within seconds, I could feel the anger and sadness subsiding from my mind, and I smiled at the small child.

"Thank you Toby, I'm okay...I promise" I said, removing his hand from my face.

Toby had developed a new power whilst we had been fighting for survival. He had learnt to manipulate emotions of those he touched, which terrified me, but was also pretty cool.

At first it started small, he would be able to sense when I was tired, or had a long day at work, and then it grew to being able to help release the negative feelings when he hugged me. Now he can do it from the palm of his hand. It still is only small and doesn't fix my mood completely but its sweet knowing he is learning with me and is using his powers for good. 

The whole reason Toby was taboo was because he had a lot of power running through his veins, and if he wanted to create havoc, he could. I mean, its definitely not what I think when I look at the three year old, but I also knew that as he grew there would be opportunities for him to broaden his powers, which could lead him down a dark path if he wasn't careful.

I just hoped I could be a good enough influence to protect him for as long as I could.