Chapter 70

• ALPHA ZACHARY. Heara blinked back at me as if she'd been caught doing something really bad. At first, she seemed to be unfazed by what I found very alarming when I returned from my hunt for something to reduce the blood she was losing and also treat the open wound. I stared at her, questions running through my mind, confusion edged deep somewhere in the middle as I tried to make out an explanation for the situation myself. I stared back at her– shocked to silence and dumbfounded at the unusual, even impossible situation that was staring me back in the eyes, daring to find the matching explanation among the thousands roaming in my head. A few of them were ridiculous. They had to be and the impossibility of the whole situation only drove me crazy the more I thought of it and so I had to voice my thoughts before I became deranged from thinking about them. I stepped closer to Haera who shifted backward as I did. My gaze left her face because it's been staring at it for too long and it had no answer whatsoever to give me and so I slowly raked my eyes down to the torn part of her dress right below her stomach that was stained with blood and once bore a deep cut that made my heart almost bleed itself out from seeing it. That particular part of her body was my subject of confusion. The question I needed an answer to. The bloodstained cloth and skin could hide the real cause for my attention but I was no fool. I knew what I saw or perhaps what I was seeing. "How did you do that?" I asked for the second time since I returned from looking for something to stop her bleeding and treat her wounds only to return to a perfectly healed cut that was previously branded on her body. An omega's body. "I didn't do anything." She looked me in the eye and it was hard to tell if she was feigning the sincerity I saw or she really didn't do anything. She had to be faking it. She must have done something before my arrival–spells, black magic–anything! If not, why would an injury so deep it cut through her stomach in such a brutal way, heal as fast as lightning? How long was I gone for? Did I really stay out too long and lose track of time while looking for a remedy? "You can't look like that and tell me you didn't do anything. You have a wound on your body, perfectly healed for someone of your rank and you tell me it is nothing?" I said again not meaning for my voice to come out the way it did but I couldn't help the hard tone of it. I saw the moment she took offense when her eyes narrowed at me. "What does it matter to you that something like this happened? After all, someone of my rank shouldn't matter to someone of your rank." Her heavy emphasis on the word I used previously spoke volumes of her irritation and how she took my words the wrong way. We never go minutes without either seething or shouting at each other and I was slowly getting used to the cycle but the thought was for later. Right now, all I need is answers. "Haera, I didn't mean it that way okay? You would be like this too if you were the one standing here, looking at what I am seeing." "No, no I wouldn't. It's in your nature to never believe anyone, not mine." She said begrudgingly. It was my own turn to be irritated. She was picking up offenses in everything I said and nothing I I stepped closer, into her personal space in a bid to at least scare her into silence but she didn't flinch. I held back a growl. All I wanted from her was an explanation not for her to pick at every one of my words and hurl them back at me like stones. "Do you think I don't want to believe anyone too?" I asked, peering into her amber eyes that didn't make as much as a blink. Her confidence was both aggravating and alluring. "Do you think I don't want to trust every single word that comes out of your mouth? Do you think I don't want to damn it–the consequences and all, and run into your fucking arms? Do you think I sleep at night without thinking about every single word you have said to me, every single thing I did wrong, every single guilt of–" I paused, my jaw clenched as I thought of the punishment she wrongly received from me. I couldn't even bring myself to say it. I swallowed instead. "If you were born this way and grew up fighting for your damn life! You'll understand how hard it is to trust anyone and take their word for it." Haera said nothing. Or she tried to but failed because her little round mouth that suddenly had my attention, opened and closed a couple of times. Her eyes softened and then it made me feel guilty for talking to her that way. I wasn't ready to apologize though. The shift in her body and mood was so glaring from where I stood. Was it something I said? "Of course moron! You literally just made yourself look pathetic in front of her and you ask if it's something you said. What do you hope to garner, her pity?" Serge piped. I shrugged him off. The look in her eyes wasn't that of pity. "I didn't do anything, it's the truth." She said quietly, her voice soft and resigned as she looked away from me to the side. I could tell she was really telling the truth and now I feel mad at myself for taking everything too personal. I get like this whenever I'm with her and it wasn't something I could control. Seconds of silence passed before I sighed and crouched down in front of her. We don't know how long we'll be here for and so saving our energy rather than wasting it on arguments was better. "For how long?" I questioned. She looked back at me and then at her sides and then shrugged, maybe to herself or to me but either way, it meant there was no use hiding anything anymore. "So long that I can't remember the first time it happened. It has always been a part of me. I've been bullied all my life and so I guess my body just found a way to protect itself." "It's not possible Zach and we both know it. The only explanation for this is crazy considering her current status but–" My eyes fell to the part of her body where the open cut was before. All that was there now was her dried blood. Her pale skin was just like it had never even seen a bruise or burn in its entire life. I was curious as to why an Omega had fast healing particles inside of her. It's a general knowledge that Omegas are the second to the last rank in the werewolf system, meaning they only beat a single rank–The gamma–to get the spot. It's also common knowledge that they are weak and incapable of the feats other ranks above them can perform with abilities like healing fast as one of them. The average Omega has to go days in pain and even employ the use of herbs and other possible means to get themselves healed as soon as possible. Haera was an Omega but her wound healed up In barely an hour and she claims it's been like that all her life. I didn't know what else to think. The moon goddess has outdone herself once again if she made an Omega possess the abilities of an Alpha. Since the Alpha was at the top of every other status, our wounds heal pretty fast in comparison to the others. With such a fast healing process like that of Haera's, I couldn't help but think of the impossible as the answer to my questions. Alpha blood. I slowly reached forward, curiosity getting the better part of me as my hand moved to the opened part of her body. I stopped midway, looking into her eyes as if to get approval to touch her in the way I wanted to. She nodded the positive and I took it as my cue to do what I was bent on doing. My fingers grazed her skin–the part that had a deep wound barely hours ago. The pad of my fingers touched and pressed on the skin of her stomach and she sucked it in on impulse. I was mesmerized by how flawless that little part made obvious to me was. How perfect and seemingly untouched it looked. It made me wonder if her entire body was like that–flawless without a scar or bruise. My mind raced along a dirty lane as I let my fingers remain there and rub on it. Haera said nothing as well and the air that passed between us was one of mutual understanding and in-depth attraction that has been there since the very day I met her. I looked back at her and the whirl in her Amber eyes urged me to continue, to do more than just touch her there, to do more than just stare at her flawless skin and I really wanted to listen to it. Even my upright wolf did nothing to warn me of the lane I was taking. She closed her eyes, lips parting and that's when the spell broke. I moved my hand from her body like it burned and she opened her eyes sharply. I cleared my throat and moved back while she adjusted herself as well. I didn't miss the crimson stain on her cheeks before I sat down beside her. "It might not be as simple as you think." I said after seconds of silence. "What?" She turned her head to look at me. I looked ahead of us from where we sat under the shade of the tall tree. "You said it's because you have always been bullied. That isn't enough explanation for something so phenomenal." "Do you have a better explanation?" She asked quietly and it was really a sincere question without sarcasm lacing it. I shrugged and said nothing. "You're not going to tell her?" Serge asked incredulously, through our mind link. "It's only an assumption out of many, we can't conclude that is the answer." I replied to him through the mind link as well. We said nothing after that–Haera and I, watching the birds and every other creature of the forest play about. "What you said...about being born the way you were born..." her voice trailed off like she didn't know how to ask her question. I knew what she wanted to know. "It's no news I was born illegitimately is it?" Everyone knew that. She nodded. More silence. "Was it hard?" She asked again. I shrugged my shoulders. "It wasn't...at first, when I had my father." Memories of the first time I arrived at the imperial pack with my father, came filtering into my mind again. They were never buried no matter how hard I tried. "Although I hated him for making life miserable for my mother and taking me with him after her death, I felt safe knowing he was there for me. He wanted a happy family, wanted me to be loved by someone who wasn't my mother and till his death, he assumed she really did love me." These words. I shouldn't be saying them to her but I couldn't help myself. When was the last time I opened up to anyone? Even my mate doesn't know my deepest wounds and it's strange that I find it so comfortable and soothing to share them with Haera instead. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. I turned to look at her, scared I'll see pity in her eyes like Serge had said but it was the least thing that whirled in her beautiful eyes. I wanted to continue talking. She urged me to continue talking. To share my pain with her. "Before he died, she made me go through a lot behind his back and I wished I'd never been brought there. After his death, it was hell for me. I wanted to die so many times. I cried myself to sleep everyday and I didn't even have just her to contend with. Tybalt inherited every single one of his mother's hatred for me." The days when Luna Hegna would mouth "Son of a thief" at me from across the table, the days she would tell her son to stay away from me because I was cursed, the days I would be made to do chores a little boy isn't capable of, the days I would starve for hours...all those days made me into who I was. A distrusting and paranoid man. I told Haera everything. It all came out with ease and even as I remembered them, they didn't hurt so much anymore. Maybe because it's been so long or maybe, just maybe it's because of the woman beside me, listening to me with all her attention and understanding. Either way, it feels like a burden has been released from my chest. "I don't want to be like my father. As much as Ilvira confuses me...I marked her." I said quietly, waiting for her reaction to my words but none came. When I looked to the side, her eyes were already closed and she was breathing softly. She was asleep with her head resting on the tree whose branches served as shades for us. The sun had already gone down and I didn't even realize how much time I spent talking to Haera. I could understand her fatigue. Her head suddenly dropped on my shoulder and I froze for a second, my body resonating the usual tingles. My eyes roamed her face, every single feature of it daringly close and alluring, from the length of her lashes to her full lips. "I don't want to be like my father...but you're making it so hard." I whispered. Her lashes fluttered and I felt her shiver. The night had already turned cold and her clothes were torn on almost every side. I looked around for something that I could cover her with but there were no suitable options. There was only one thing I could do to keep the cold away for the both of us. I slowly moved her body to the ground so I could shift. My bones cracked out of place as the other part of me began to form. I closed my eyes and let the feeling of changing into my wolf for the first time in weeks take over me. I'd almost forgotten the slight pain that came with having your body morph into a different one. Seconds after, I was standing on all fours, my fur getting breezed over by the cold night air and my frame towering over Haera. Good thing she was asleep. I was scared my size would terrify her. Slowly, with quiet strides that wouldn't wake her, I roamed around her like a hound before finally finding a spot to lay down on. I nudged her with my head before finally settling around her and curling myself around her small frame until she was completely covered by fur. She sighed comfortably, sinking deeper into me and snuggling closer. Nothing has ever made this content and I've never cherished a moment like I cherished that one moment with her. A moment that sadly won't be forever.