Children of Aakela: The Girl With The Wolf Tattoo

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter 22, Liam's POV:

After everything the girls had told me, I was at a loss for words. I mean, how could someone do something so horrible to a child? To their own pack? To their brother? I sat and grieved silently for Xavier, the brave wolf I'd never met, but whom I owed my life to for sacrificing his for Aria.

"Shauna?" I asked, "You knew all of this?"

"Sortakindaalmost..."

I stared at her blankly.

"You didn't think the story was over did you?" She laughed.

"I told you it would take a while." Aria finished for her.

"Ready for round two?" They asked in unison.

"Shauna, how long have you known all this?"

She looked around the room, avoiding eye contact, "I've known since you were in the hospital. Our parents came to visit and they ran into Dr. O'hara and Monica. They knew instantly who and what they were. That's when we were told about Dorchadas."

"After that," Ari continued, "I left the hospital one day and went to visit some of our older members who had been around when before we lived here."

"What do you mean 'before we lived here'?" I asked.

"You'll see." She said, "Anyways, I went to visit them and at first they were hesitant to talk about such a dark day in our past."

"Who wouldn't be?" Shauna commented, "I mean, if your Beta had tried to murder your Alphas daughter wouldn't you be hesitant to talk about it?"

"With a little coaxing and assurence that they wouldn't be punished, they began to give me little pieces of information. I could tell that they weren't telling me everything so I decided to use my powers to look into their memories from that day. From there I was able to piece together what had happened, almost like a big puzzle. The problem was, I was only able to learn what they saw or had been told since that's all they knew. I was slightly distraught since I had most of the story, but it had a big hole in it. I went back to the hospital when an idea hit me, what if I could use my powers to search my own memories?" Aria continued.

"You shoulda seen her when she came into the hospital. I'm sure the poor nurses thought she'd finally lost her mind." Shauna remarked.

"Anywho... when I got back to the hospital I called Dr. O' hara and Monica into the room. That's whe-"

"That's when she told the three of us what she'd learned." Shauna finished.

"With Shauna, Michael and Monica in the room, I settled down to try and search my memories. Imagine my surprise when it worked! That's how I know all of this." Aria finished.

"And that's how I know." Shauna replied.

"OK, fair enough." I said, "but what did you mean 'before we lived here'?"

She looked at Shauna and sighed, "I never thought he'd find us here."

"I know Ari," Shauna said soothingly, "But he did."

"After his banishment," Aria said, looking at me, "My father moved our pack from our home in Rosscommon to Dublin. When we moved here it was open territory, there was another pack where your pack is now but they didn't give us any trouble. When we settled in, we found out that there actually was another pack living here. They had recently lost their leader and Natashas father, Seamus was next in line to lead. Seamus knew that he was not what was best for his people, so instead, knowing my fathers, and our packs reputation, he agreed to give my father the territory in exchange for allowing his pack to join ours. That's why our pack is so large, we're made up of two very large packs plus any loners we've taken in over the years."

"But wait, Natasha has special powers too. How is that if she isn't part of your original pack?" I asked, at this point I was totally lost.

"Nobody knows for sure, but it seems like any of the children who join our pack develop powers when they shift."

"Really?"

She nodded, " We've had lone mothers come to us with children as old as five who've ended up developing powers when they mature. No one knows why but we think it has something to do with them still being young enough for the powers to manifest themselves before the child shifts. That's why Seamus or any of the adults from his pack do not have these abilities."

"I always thought you all had always lived here..."

"Nope."

"I guess it's just because you were here long before we arrived."

Probably."

"That's why your packs children go to different schools than us." Shauna interjected, "Since we were already here you all had to find somewhere within your territory."

"Our entire school is nothing but werewolves, save for a few humans thrown in for good measure." Aria pointed out, "Part of that is because our pack is so large, that we take up nearly an entire school." Aria said, matter-of-factly.

"Where as my school was mostly weres but a good portion of the student body where human. Some of that was because some of our members are mated with humans but the other part is because while we are large, we're nowhere near large enough to need an entire school. The elementary schools and such tend to be predominantly were but high school and junior high tend to be mixed."

We spent the next few hours talking. It's sad to say that that's probably the most time I've spent with Shauna in the time that Aria and I have been together. I that time Shauna and I talked about everything from her and Craig, to school, to what Aria was like as a child. While Shauna and I were talking, Aria had dozed off and was now sleeping peacefully across my lap. I was absent mindedly stroking her hair when I heard Shauna yawn.

"You should get some sleep," I said, "It's been a long day."

"Yeah, you should too." She cautioned, looking at Aria she sighed, "I'm glad she has you to protect her. I don't know how she'd get through this without you Liam."

I smiled, "She looks so peaceful. I Wonder what she's dreaming about?"

"We she's smiling so that has to be a good sign right?"

"I guess." I looked at the clock, 5:30, "Oh shit. Shauna why don't you get some sleep? She'll be fine." I said reassuringly.

She nodded, she leaned over and kissed Aria on the forehead before hugging me and sluggishly walking out of the room and down the stairs.

"GoodnightLiam. Sweetdreams!" She called behind her, her words where slurred I could tell she was half asleep.

I chuckled softly to myself before laying Ari on the bed and draping the blanket over her. I walked into the closet and changed before climbing into the bed. I fell asleep instantly with Aria wrapped in my arms.