Chapter 7

Xavier's pov

She was white. I was losing my mind and I don't know why.

 I knew my inner wolf, Ozed had something to do with this. At least he knew something about it.

About who this girl was, why he didn't sit right with her, and more importantly why she was on the verge of dying.

“What do we do about this, she's freaking 

white” I said.

“I had no idea you'd know who she is talk more of being crazy” Rune responded.

The irony of the whole event unfolding here made me want to go wild and release all the rage in me.

I demanded a woman to calm my nerves and look at what the universe throws to my face.

The woman who set my nerves on fire from the very start.

I have never felt this way for a lady in the past century. My humanity felt sorry for the crazy young lady as she lay in bed. 

Naked.

I gulped so loud and I guess Rune noticed. I just had a few minutes with her at the bar although I pretended not to care yet those few minutes with her were able to burn out all the cares I had in the world.

Her heartbeat joined in the rhythmic beating of mine and rune. I could hear her pulse too. 

Everything within me wanted to have her.  Everything except my inner wolf.

“I think she's coming around,” I said as I brushed a lock of her hair to the side and traced my fingers over her face.

“Okay, cover her up, I need her covered while I figure out what to do,”  Rune said.

Nothing about that statement was supposed to trigger anything.

But it did.

I stared at Rune in the deafening silence. 

The faint breathing coming from her nostrils reminded him of the current situation he was in

I responded in the affirmative and threw some sheets over her.

“What then are you going to do, Rune?” I asked.

I realized the tone my voice carried and withdrew.

Too late. 

 “What's up with you? Do you know her?” he muttered, looking at me skeptically. 

“She's breathing and her convulsions seem to be over, nothing that severe that I can't handle. Here goes nothing,” he continued.

Waving his hands in a circular motion, he chanted.

"Solea evigoro, somnus abiuro!" (Sunrise, I awaken, sleep, begone!)

Whatever Rune was doing, it was emitting a bright light. 

The once-dark room was now bright enough to blind anyone who looked in boldly. The light went down a few minutes later. 

Her heartbeat was getting steady and normal and her breathing too was not left out.

Then She opened her eyes. The radiance they emitted made me lost again.

“Where am I, and who are you?” she asked. 

I gave out a deep sigh of relief. 

She was awake, and the consequences of my actions and lifestyle were catching up with me.

“I owe no one any apologies, especially not her,” I defended myself to my conscience.

“I'll pay her and this should go over smoothly, even though this is a very bad scene,” I whispered to Rune. 

“Oh hell nah…this…this is what you're going with, and you could not even go the normal way,” she uttered, obviously fuming.  

Not that it could change anything anyway. Not even her perception of me at this point.

She ran to me for comfort of some sort, the worst I could do was not give her any and the best thing I did was not throw her into heavy depression.

“I can explain…” Rune said. Always ready to defend me.

“Well this is self-explanatory, no more,” she said as she turned towards the door.

I knew what was going to happen if she got to that door. I tried hard not to think of it but I knew it would be bad.

For my pack, my name, and most importantly my heart.

My response to her turning and leaving was strange and the first.

Several ladies had walked through that door, and none of them made my heart thump the way it did.

Yet this one who had barely been with him for three hours had this hold on me. All this while, my inner wolf has been fighting to let her go. 

Letting her go was a huge debate and he lost. I sprinted towards the door. 

Her reaction to that display of my werewolf power made me feel powerless.

“Kneel cower! ” my inner wolf, Ozed howled. 

I tried to be calm, to be gentle even though I knew it wouldn't be enough to get the desired effect.

Not being fazed by my speed is one thing, but intimidation is another.

“You do not want things to get nasty from this point, I'd advise you to behave and listen,”  I said, baring my teeth.

“I could rip you to pieces down to your bones and not a drop of blood will be wasted, again, I suggest, you keep quiet and do as you're told,” I said even though I knew it was just a mere threat. 

Like this was not enough drama, I noticed her taking little glimpses of my lower body and to my surprise, I was almost naked.

I did not attempt to hide it or cover it up. I allowed her to watch her fill.

 She got tired or overwhelmed and looked at Rune.

I could hear her heartbeat clearly beating faster than it was a few minutes ago.

Turning to Rune, my companion, I  said “You revived her, surely there's something you can do to make her forget about this horrible experience,”

Yes, I was out of options And I had to settle for something. I can't kill her, and wiping off her memory seemed less painful. 

Rune was about to say something. He already got a few words out until her voice overthrew him and left him shocked.

“I don't think that's a…”

“You don't scare me!” she let out and her eye color changed. 

She was a wolf too and  I found myself in awe of her. I needed to know who she was.

“Now, if you don't mind, get the fuck out of my way!” she added.

She had no mate, no scent, no mark, and no one would have believed she was a werewolf but from a different pack. 

I felt defeated, and I was to make her mine even though I was cursed by the moon goddess. There was something about her that I couldn't quite lay my hands on. 

“Let her go,” I ordered. 

She walked out that door with a part of me. A huge part of me.

“You're not getting away just like that,” I said to myself. 

“Rune,” I hollered turning to him, “Get me all you can lay your hands on about her.”

Rune's pov

“It's been a while since I used my magic, and that's not even the elephant In the room. Why are you so invested in her,” I asked Xavier who was pacing back and forth the room. 

I've never seen Xavier so disturbed over anything, he's had a hard life I know.

We've been friends, he knows and feels that but would rather die than admit it.

I waited for a response but all I got was the sound of his heavy breathing, like he was suffocating. 

And that was before this girl appeared.

“All right, fine. I'll need space for what I am about to do, a clear line from here,” I said pointing to where I stood. 

Drawing a small, glowing line on the ground with my finger, I traced the path in which the mystery girl walked out.

"Vestigia lumina, sequor te!" (Tracks of light, I follow thee!)

 "I illuminate the path, revealing the trail of she who has come before."

Cracks of light like bolts of lightning appeared on the floor as they moved fast to the dark.

I turned to Xavier “I'll leave now. If anything goes wrong with my body, wake me up.”

I said as I lay on the ground and my astral form followed her. 

The light led on down the left path. 

I followed relentlessly for forty-five minutes and yet no sign of her. 

Everything seemed to be quiet till I realized my spell had a flaw.

The nocturnal animals could sense me if not see me. I was a bit rusty and I couldn't stop now to fix my spell.

 The silence and occasional chirps from the crickets kept distracting me. 

I should have thought about this before jumping in to stalk a woman for Xavier.

He's done more for me, and this was nothing compared to what he's done.

He gave me freedom, family, and a friend. I'll see this to the very end.

I floated faster and across the dark forest. 

I found her at last, and it seemed like she found me as she became conscious of her environment as soon as I stepped within a twenty-mile radius.

I was watching and following her every step of the way. 

I too thought she sensed danger but it became clear that I was the danger when she swiped hard towards the direction of my astral form.

The spell had stopped, no trailing lights, I had to follow from a distance lest she decided to change her course.

It must have worked as she turned back several times and gave up eventually.

“I must be tripping. It's either that or I must be seriously hungry,” she said out loud.

 I followed her for another fifteen minutes till she got to a grocery store. 

She waved to the cashier and headed straight on.

My astral form possessed the cashier when I realized he might know basic information about her.

And he sure did. 

Her name is Lyra Octavia, he was uncertain about her age, and his wild guess was twenty-five. She stays or used to stay with her mother who lives down the street.

I might have made a mistake and dug too deep and saw the fantasies he had with Lyra. 

I pondered on helping him move on or let him be delusional.

His delusion might cost him his life as long as Xavier is involved. 

The former was a better idea, helping him move on. 

It took me some time to do that since I was in my astral form but I knew her house.

I heard crashing and cursing. The view was not a palatable one. 

A woman was attacking her and kicking her out

“Get the fuck off my property, you're trespassing!”

“I have no daughter, get the fuck off my property!”

Lyra showed no expression nor did she utter a word. She walked up to the door and saw her mother making a call. 

“Mother please, we don't have to do this, not again.” Lyra said in a low tone.

Why will a mother be kicking her daughter out?

“I have no daughter,” her mother repeated.