Breathless

Chapter 5 (Pic of Thomas)

Chapter 5

"No" I shook my head, "he can't be alive. He died. You told me he was dead! Zane told me he was dead! He has to be! He can't be alive!"

My head began to spin and I put my hand up to the side of my face, slapping myself gently checking if I was awake. If anything she said was real. I looked past mother as she talked on, looking out the window behind her my thoughts drifting to my father. And to that night.

That horrible night when he died.....

I shook my head as I focused back on mother, her eyebrows wrinkling down with concern and she stopped talking. We both sat there in silence, taking in the harsh atmosphere growing tense around us. I didn't understand why she would keep this a secret from me. She knew how much of a deal father was to me. I just sat there, my head still spinning with all these possible answers to why she would do this. Maybe she wasn't comfortable telling me in my earlier years? Maybe she only just found out?

Or maybe she didn't?

The subtle grab from my mothers hand on my own, woke me from my daydream, her bright blue eyes looking right into mine. But they weren't so bright anymore. Something had changed in them, something sad. Which startled me quite a bit, since she never showed any emotion towards me before this day. Her lips, painted in a thick red lipstick, were talking to me but I couldn't hear anything she was saying. All I could focus on were the thoughts in the back of my head telling me the same thing, over and over.

'She lied to you Aleisha'

'She lied to you about your father'

'They all lied to you'

I refocused my eyes back on mother and slowly, mothers voice returned to me, along with the soft murmur of Zane. I whipped my head around me to see where he was, but there was only mother and I. I scrunched my face up, confused at why I was hearing his voice and stared at the door, expecting him to barge in.

"Aleisha? Did you hear me?"

Mothers icy tone had returned to her voice, making me more irritated about the whole situation.
I groaned and snapped my head back around to her. Anger surged through me like a heating flame, growing with a terrible force of discomfort and disbelief.
"What? What could you possibly say to make this any better?" I barked and stood up, my knees weak. Steadily, I pointed to the window, an intense swell of fog covered up the glass but through it, faintly, I could still see the beautiful lite street. "My father is out there somewhere. He has been all this time and you've managed to keep your mouth shut this whole time, letting me believe that my father is dead!" Lillian growled inside me but I didn't bother to fight it. She had a right to be mad. We both did.

"Aleisha calm down"

"No" I stood up "you can't expect me to be okay with this!"

"I'm not. I wasn't exactly okay with it either, but-"

"How long have you known?" I cut her off.

"What?"

"How long have you known?" I repeated, talking slower this time, like to a small child. She rubbed her temple, sighing as she arose from her seat and over to the desk. She had her back to me, looking out the window, her long blonde hair folded down her back making her appearance seem larger than her standing by the window.

She took a moment before replying. "I can't answer that question, not now at least"

I wanted to press more into what that meant but I knew that by the state she was in, she was too emotional to answer. I fought back my rage, biting the inner flesh of my cheek. I knew being fiery wouldn't get far with her. So I left it unsaid.
A light tapping became against the door and Zane stuck his head in.

"You called mother?" He asked, sliding his whole body into the room.

"Yes, Aleisha is too tired to worry about this now." She said, waving her arm in my direction as if I was nothing. "Please escort her out of here and run her through the plans while I recharge".

"Of cause" Zane wrapped an arm around me and hurried me out the door. Once we were safe outside, he let out a long sigh of relief and turned to me. "Are you alright?"
Something about his tone of voice stirred something inside of me and I quickly looked away so I wouldn't cry.
"Hey" he wrapped his arms around me, his chin wresting on top of my head. "I know it's quite a lot to take in, believe me when I found out that he was alive I-"

"How long ago did she tell you?"

He hesitated for a minute before replying bluntly. "A few years"

"Oh" I nodded, not sure of what else to say to him. I couldn't get mad at him, he did nothing wrong. I knew it wasn't his place to tell me, and everything he does was only for my protection. Or so he tells me. He answer though didn't surprise me. Mother was capable of doing mischievous stunts like this and if never took me by surprise when she would come clean.
We stood there for a few minutes, him holding me in his arms. It was nice to have him here taking care if me like this, because if he wasn't I wouldn't know what to do with myself. He was my father figure and still will be, no matter if my father was still alive.

After a while the door rung, braking the moment and he pulled away rubbing my arms gently. "I know you don't understand all of this" he licked his lips, "but just trust me that what mother and I are doing, is to help protect you"

I nodded. "Okay"

"Are you alright now?" He asked, walking down the hall. I stayed a few steps behind him, following, my eyes never leaving the ground. I shrugged a shoulder "I think so". We walked in a comfortable silence, nothing disturbing out peace, until we reached the door. Outside, a few people stood growling and talking amongst themselves, their scents burning my nose. I whipped my head over at Zane, confused at why there was so many people here.

"What's all this?" I asked but he ignored me, shaking off the question.
Lilian howled inside of me trying to tell me something but I tuned her out. My heart raced faster, unable to control the fact that I was both shaken and curious to why there were so many people here.
"Zane? What's with all the people here?" I repeated but he ignored me again, walking towards the large wooden door holding out all the wolves on the other side.

As soon as he opened the door, a scent hit me so powerfully I almost stumbled back. It smelt like wild berries and fig and yet, even though I had already smelt them before, I had never smelt anything so delicious in my entire life. Lilian howled louder and all eyes were on me. Dozens of people stood in front of me, piling into the entranceway of my house, half of them I've never seen before. Half of the pack had to be here, other surrounding packs including North Flomin, Slaton and Trenck also stood in the entranceway. Each Alpha stood in front of their pack, each one eyeing me carefully. Zane shut the door after everyone piled in, harsh silence filling the room.
A wash of self-consciousness came over me, afraid of having so much attention from all these people which I've never received before. I stepped back towards the stairs, knowing if I wanted to escape I could do so with ease.

In an instant, the scent was gone and my attention automatically left all the eyes looking at me and returned to that. I had never smelt anything quite like it in my life and obviously Zane could tell I could smell something. As soon as I started sniffing the air again, his ears pricked up and he looked around taking a few step towards me. I too started to search around the crowd, taken aback of just how many people were actually in my house.

"Aleisha"

A large built man stepped forward from his pack, his greasy hair slicked back. All eyes followed from him to me and I raised an eyebrow cautiously at him.

"Yes? What is it you want?" I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to make myself seem tougher than I really was. The man seemed quite satisfied with my response and giggled darkly, his hands resting on his rather large belly.

"My name is Laurence McGrady and we are your guardians"

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Hi guys, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been quite busy lately and have had no time to do anything for this book except for a few rough drafts. I will try my very best to update quicker than before since I have nothing planned for the next weeks. Thank you all for reading this so far.

Sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes.