“Archon…Archon”
Valencia’s mind was reeling. She held to the tree for support and leaned onto it. She was afraid that she was losing her mind. There had never been a day when she had been unsure of herself, but now, when her mind was beginning to play tricks on her, now she was beginning to doubt herself.
“Archon…archon”
The voices grew louder, persistent. It was her pack members, trying to get her attention. She took a moment to take a few deep breaths and calm herself. There was no way she could let them see her like this; afraid and confused.
She clenched her hand into a fist and punched the tree, the tiny jolt of pain momentarily making her forget everything else. It helped because when her pack had arrived, she looked her usual self.
Her gamma, Nathan had just reached her followed by the other members, Julie and Clark who were close on his heels.
“Yes?”
Valencia asked them w
It was past sunset and the horizon was streaked with orange and red. Valencia changed into her human self before she walked in front of the garage. The garage was just on the outskirts of her empire’s border so she had no trouble approaching it in her white silvery wolf form. She hid behind a canopy of large trees and looked at the entrance. The large shutter was half open and she could see the rubber tires piled upon each other in one corner and a few tools scattered around on the ground. There was no sign of a human around. After ensuring that she wasn’t being watched, she slipped inside the garage. It was dark inside and the only source of light was the small slits of windows on the upper side of the walls that were tinted with soot. However, she had no problem seeing around due to her werewolf eyes that picked on every little thing right from the oil and grease splattered floor to the cans of screws and nails. The garage looked small from th
It was well past dark and there were only a few customers in Rugor’s place. Dominic hadn’t wanted to take the girl all the way to that place but Valencia had opined that it was the farthest from human activity and probably would make Jenny feel better.Thus, Dominic had brought a car because Jenny had been too weak to transform into her wolf again. Thus, the three found themselves huddled at a far corner table of the diner.Rugor, the ever-enthusiastic owner of the shabby place was more than excited to see the archon again. After the incident of last time, he had feared that they would never return again. However, seeing both her and alpha Castro made him feel happy.Determined to make up for the goof-up of last time, he made all the other customers leave and ensured that nobody except him would serve them.Jenny was eating heartily while Valencia and Dominic just watched her, trying to find a good opening to talk to each other. They could hav
Dominic turned around and asked her in a sharp intake of breath, “What?” His question made Valencia look at him in surprise. Jenny almost tried to fuse with the wall behind her and it was Valencia who patted her hand again to let her know that it was fine. Jenny shook her head, “Sorry, I’ve been jumpy lately.” Dominic neared the table and began hearing her intently. The cogs in his mind were working overtime. He tried to smile at her, “I’m sorry, but that name sounds familiar to me.” The girl just shrugged her shoulders, “Yeah, I never knew about it but it was the opioid chamber of the backstreets, well unofficial one. I never knew it myself until one day when I read something about it in the newspaper.” Valencia raised her eyebrows, “So…your boyfriend was doing drugs and told you that he had received some scholarship?” “Yeah. I should have been worried the first time he received such a massive amount of money. I blindly believed him.”
“Sorry?” Dominic wasn’t sure if he had heard her right. “I think I was clear enough the first time,” Valencia replied pointedly. Dominic just shrugged and spoke off-handedly, “Heard that in a movie. I used it correctly, didn't I? I made the poor girl feel okay and that’s what matters. But, coming to the main point, I really want to know what you made of this.” The archon was looking outside the window and had a faraway look in her eyes. Somehow her gut feeling told her that Dominic had skirted the question but she didn't bore him down. He was correct, they had enough on their plate already. As such she tied her hair that was escaping her ponytail before beginning to speak, “I think somehow that this man she kept talking about is more mysterious than it seems. We may need to visit the Vestibule and get a good look at him for ourselves.” Dominic nodded his head, “Yes, but what about Danny? He is a rogue too, we cannot let him roam
Valencia had heard his words so she looked at him and asked, “What is the problem?” The alpha took one good look at the photo again but said nothing. He had to ensure that what he felt was correct before he blurted unnecessary things in front of his archon. Though she was her friend, there was a limit up to which she would tolerate him. Thus, he only shook his head and said offhandedly, “I just remembered something about Mark that I hadn’t told you earlier.” Valencia had begun to feel the need to sleep but hearing Mark’s name swept off all the drowsiness from her eyes. “What about him?” she asked pointedly. Now that he had spoken about Mark, he had to say something to make her believe that it had been the very topic he had wanted to talk about. Scratching the back of his head, he asked, “Did I tell you that Brandon had been asked to steal my watch and implicate me?” The archon shrugged her shoulders, “Maybe.”
The archon let it slide. She was in no mood to fight with him, not with the growing issues they had at hand. Dominic cleared his throat and spoke, “I already told Bob to keep an eye on the Vestibule and keep us informed on what goes on there. But, I do agree that we should go and visit on our own.” The archon rubbed her hands in excitement, “Now, you are talking” Her eyes twinkled with excitement as she devised all the things she could do that mainly included ripping apart some throats and taking the whole damn place down. Dominic took the hoodie she had handed him and wore it, the smell of the archon sticking to it. It hit his nose and he swayed for a moment. It was intoxicating, she was intoxicating. The archon immediately got up from her seat and shot out her hands, “Are you okay?” His hands gripped the railing hard, “Yes, I guess I need to go sleep too.” Right at that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Domin
The sun was blazing hot and she would have begun to sweat if not for the trees all around her that provided ample shadow. She looked at her wristwatch and it was just 1:30 pm. Feeling that she still had half an hour ahead of her, she decided to stroll her way through the woods. Gerald’s place wasn’t very far away from her own so there was no real need for her to change into her werewolf form. She checked her phone again hoping to hear from Dominic about the Vestibule but there was nothing from him. Sighing she pushed the phone back into her pocket and after 15 minutes saw herself outside her distant cousin’s front door. Based on the short communication she had had with Olivia, they had stopped moving around and decided to stay back in their home to let the kids feel safe and secure. Valencia couldn't agree more. The little kids had been just tossed around from one place to other since their birth so it was good that they were finally home.
Olivia had expected that to happen but knew that she should never stop trying. Sometimes she thought that they should really take her to the healers but then nobody had dealt with a kid in a very long time. After the setback Sarah had received, she didn't want anyone messing with her health accidentally.Adding to that was the fact that Sarah didn't want to meet any strangers or leave her family. Being around unknown people would make her feel anxious and that wasn't how Olivia wanted her little girl to feel. She had decided to let Sarah take her time for a month or so post which she would take her to a healer if there were no signs of improvement.As such, she got up and kissed her daughter’s forehead and added, “I have prepared your favorite apple pie, would you like to eat it now?”Again, Sarah merely shook her head signifying a no as an answer.Her mother tried to be positive that at least her daughter was responding to her questions