Chapter 2
TEMPLAR P.O.V
I couldn’t breathe through the hand clamped on my throat. The girl, who had looked as innocent as a child before, now looked like she was set to kill me. I know I really shouldn’t have said what I did out loud, but it just slipped out.
“What are you? How do you know about wolves?” January asked through gritted teeth, her black eyes filled with fury.
“Stop it January. She is one of us,” June snapped at her.
“She doesn’t smell like a wolf,” January said, not loosening the grip she had on my neck. I grabbed a fistful of sand at my side and grew ready to throw it into her eyes if she didn’t let go of me soon and I had no other option.
“It’s because she hasn’t shifted yet,” June replied, and that stopped my retaliation.
I wanted to ask her how she knew that, but with the situation I was in, I would be lucky if I would ever be able to talk again. There was no sign of January’s grip relaxing.
As if reading my thoughts, June slowly pulled January away from me and helped me stand up. I looked at January and her saw that her eyes were back to their normal green colour. If January had been human, I could have easily taken her down, but being a shifter, she was much stronger than me despite looking like an anorexic model.
“Do you belong to this pack?” questioned January.
I opened my mouth to reply and couldn’t utter a word. I coughed a few times and then stuttered out, “I-I-I dud-dud…..” January burst out in laughter at my reply and I just really badly wanted to kick her for it. I cleared my throat and finally was able to reply, “No.” I held my throat, trying to rub away the pain, and January continued to laugh loudly, looking like a fool.
“Apologize,” June demanded smacking January’s arm.
“i-i-I’m so-o-r-r” January mimicked me and then burst out laughing when I turned bright red. June smacked her again to get her to calm down. “I’m sorry, it was just funny,” she said softly and started giggling.
“I’m sorry for my sister’s idiotic behaviour,” June said looking at me sympathetically.
She apologizes way too much. I used to do the same thing in my old pa…. enough Templar. New life! I warned myself.
“New life?” June questioned. Did I say that out loud?
“Uh… I was just thinking about something,” I answered.
“So, you don’t belong to this pack?” January asked again.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t know this was your private property. I’m sorry, for trespassing. I’ll just leave,” I said and turned on my heels to leave.
“Wait,” June said loudly and I quickly looked back at her. “If you don’t belong to this pack, then what are you doing here? I know you are a shifter.”
“How do you know, I haven’t shifted yet?” I asked her.
“I know,” she replied and before I could ask anything else she gave me a small smile and looked at me with pure admiration in her eyes. I didn’t understand what she meant by it, so I just nodded. “You didn’t answer me,” she reminded.
“I…” should I tell her? I didn’t want to, but the way she was looking at me with complete admiration and concern I don’t think I could bring myself to lie to her. “I left my pack,” I blurted out.
“You left your pack too? Why?” January asked me.
‘Too?’ what did they mean too? Did they run away from their pack as well? I thought they belonged to the Silverstar pack.
“Which pack?” June asked me.
“Greenrock,” I replied without hesitation.
“Why?” January asked curiously.
I reminded myself not to let my mind wonder to the memories of my old pack. I didn’t want to tell them, but June already knew I wasn’t a shifter and she seemed so excited to see me, so I decided to tell them my entire story.
After sharing my miserable story with them, I couldn’t stop the tears from overflowing. I didn’t want them to see me crying, so I sat down and looked out at the waves breaking in the ocean and coming to the shore.
“You did the right thing,” January told me. She sat down beside me to my left and gave me a warm smile.
“The Greenrock pack has lost its biggest asset,” June said sitting to my right. This girl really only speaks in riddles. She made it seem like she knew me better than myself.
“Do you belong to this pack?” I asked them in curiosity.
“No,” they replied together.
“Did you leave your pack?” I asked them. Both sisters answered a yes. “Why?”
“We belong to the famous Waterwave pack,” January said loudly, looking disgusted. “I’m sure you have heard about that pack?”
Yes I’ve heard about that pack. It was a hot topic a few months ago in my old pack. Everyone felt bad for that pack, but no pack was ready to fight for them. Apparently, someone in their pack had destroyed the pack’s moon temple and ever since then, the pack has been cursed. Their Alpha was killed and rogues took over the pack. That was what I heard from the rumours.
The Waterwave pack was at least 200 miles away from the Greenrock pack. If I had started my journey from the southern side I might have come across that pack eventually, because I wanted to get at least 500 miles away from Greenrock territory.
I nodded at January who was looking at me with harsh eyes. I’d definitely heard of their pack.
“We ran from that hellhole.” She laughed humourlessly.
“What have you heard about the pack?” June questioned me.
“That someone destroyed your pack’s moon temple,” I told her.
“That someone was our Alpha’s son.” January growled. She was starting to shake with anger and I felt it was only minutes before she shifted.
“January, don’t. Not now,” June commanded her and her voice appeared to hold a deep power in it.
“Are you…? Umm… your voice had a certain tone in it,” I said to June curiously.
“Our dad was the beta.” June told me sadly. “The Alpha, Killain, had three sons. When he decided to handover the Alpha position to his eldest son Macon, it was approved by all except Igor, his second son. Filled with rage, he joined hands with Glen, a rogue, to kill the Alpha. During the ceremony, when Alpha was about to hand over the title, Igor attacked and killed him, then destroyed the moon temple. The pack tried to fight back, but it was no use. Glen’s rouges were stronger than us. Those who survived were put in the prison. Most of our fighters were killed. Macon had to do the right thing….. Umm… he co-couldn’t take it. He killed himself.” She was sobbing now.
She took a deep breath and looked me dead in the eye and said, “Macon put a knife in his own throat.” I gasped. I remember seeing my mom the same way; her lifeless body next to the pieces of my dad’s body, the knife deep in her throat by her own hand.
I couldn’t stop the tears. It was difficult for me to see my mom and dad like that. I had woken several nights screaming and yelping, after replying the scene over and over again in my dreams. My adoptive mother would come and sleep with me on those nights. Those were the days when my adoptive mother had loved me.
I looked to January to see her sitting and staring out at the ocean, tears flowing relentlessly from her eyes to the sand below.
June sniffed and continued with the sad story of her pack, “After all those deaths, the pack members who survived were taken to a dungeon. Men, women, children, old or young, none were spared. We were kept in that prison. Luna, Igor’s own mother, and Keith, the youngest son of the Alpha too were thrown into the cells.”
“We were made to work like slaves,” January said, sniffing on her tears. “Igor was never like that. He used to love his family, his pack. Nobody thought he would ever become like this; a demon.”
“The dungeon in which he kept us as prisoners had no source of light in it, it was completely dark. Day and night were all same to us. We were rarely given food. Many members couldn’t survive this.” Now I understood why they were so thin. “Every day a woman in the pack was selected by him, he didn’t care whether she had a mate or not, she was taken away then thrown back in after he was done with her,” January paused. I looked to June to see her that crying and wheezing loudly now. I hugged her and let her sob into my shoulders.
January continued after a moment, “I used to consider him as a brother.” She wiped her tears roughly with her hands and looked at me. I noticed that her eyes were black now. She looked to June crying into my shoulders and her eyes softened for a minute, before they turned dark again with her fury. “The guy whom I considered my brother wanted to use my sister,” she told me through gritted teeth. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, by now even June had somehow controlled herself and her tears had lessened.
“Dad and mom couldn’t take it,” January told me, so much hurt and pain in her voice. “When he came to take June, dad and Keith shifted and started attacking him. Mom took me and June with her, and somehow we escaped the dungeon. When we were running away in the forest when mom felt dad’s pain and she went back, making us promise to never come back. We ran away, but don’t know what happened to our parents. Our mind link was broken.”
I thought what I was going through was bad, but my problems were nothing compared to theirs. This was much worst. I thought I had the worst life in this world, but what they had gone through was something I would wish on no one. Looking at them, I seriously admired them for being so strong after what they had been through.
“Ever since then we have been running around in different pack territories. If a pack wolf suspects our presence, we leave their territory immediately,” June explained. That would enlightened me to why June had been so protective when she had seen me. She got up and stretched her arms, January and I following soon after.
“So Templar, it’s obvious you have no place to stay, so where are you going now?” January asked.