Chapter 29 - Finding the truth.

ALARIC COULD FEEL SOMETHING change in the air when it seemed as though Lena had finished with her little ritual. He really didn’t like bringing her here, and he hated bringing Rebecca along, but it seemed as if both girls looked better as they made their way back home.

Rebecca was excited as she talked to Lena about every single step she did to put her family to rest and it irked Alaric that his little sister was so interested in all the magic stuff. Yeah, okay, fine, so all little girls probably dreamed of having magical powers in their lives, but she was a wolf. As soon as she found her wolf, she would lose her interest in magic. He was sure of it.

Until then he had to keep what he was doing for Lena as quiet as possible. Some of his pack were happy that he seemed to be looking after the woman who was meant to be his mate, but there was still the small group who wasn’t happy about any of it. He rolled his eyes as he thought about it. That damn group was never happy about anything! He had no idea why the hell he still wasted his energy on trying to figure them out.

He was the damn Alpha of their pack. They just had to accept whatever the hell he chose and that was that! Life in the pack house hadn’t been the same since the night his parents were killed. If people could accept him as the alpha so easily, then they could accept whatever he thought was best for them. He frowned, thinking about it. He actually really hated people. They were too high maintenance.

During the war he could run around in his wolf form ninety percent of the time. It was easier. He would never admit it out loud, but war was easier. He didn’t have to think about people’s feelings. They all knew what they were there to do and just got on with the job. Running the pack was damn hard. He had to think about their damn feelings!

“Yeah.” He sighed thinking to himself as the two girls walked back to Lena’s room and Max required his attention. “Running around in wolf form was just easier.” He shook his head as Max rambled on about something.

LENA FELT SO MUCH BETTER after being allowed to bury her people properly. For a second there she could have sworn Alaric felt bad for what happened, but she knew that wasn’t the case. His hatred ran so damn deep! She could see it in his eyes each time he looked at her.

She hated herself for wishing he would just take her into his arms and kiss her! She hated herself for dreaming of how he could tell her he loved her, but most of all, she hated herself for dreaming that he could love her and that his pack could accept her as one of their own. Why was she being punished to love the one person in the world that hated her and her kind more than anything else in the world?

“Are your people happy now?” Rebecca’s voice interrupted her thoughts as the little girl smiled at her and Lena nodded.

“Yes, it is very important for us to be buried properly. Our bodies are returned to the earth and the magic is returned to our ancestors so they can give it to someone new.” Lena explained, realizing that there would never be anybody new. Her heart that had felt lighter just a minute ago dropped. There would never be anyone in their coven again.

Alaric might take her to her home every once in a while, so she could fix her magic, but she would never again see one of their festivals. She would never again smell old Mrs. Patricks’ famous berry pie or see the incredible flowers, Mr. Patricks made for his wife. All throughout the war, she just thought about protecting those who were still alive. She never actually thought about those who were gone.

“Are you okay, Lena?” Rebecca’s voice interrupted her thoughts and again, and Lena felt the tear running down her cheek that she hadn’t even noticed before as she nodded.

“I’m sad for my people, but I will be okay.” She tried to comfort Rebecca, but from the little she had learned about the little girl, she could tell that she knew better. They sat down on the bed in her room and pulled out their books again. They had half an hour before dinner time and really wanted to finish the piece they were reading before Alaric interrupted them.

Lena found out that Rebecca and Alaric’s mom was going through a really tough decision. She had to choose between the love of her life and her coven. Almost like Lena had to choose between her magic and a life with the people who killed her kind. The only light at the end of the tunnel for her at the moment was the possibility that there might still be more blood witches out in the world. She prayed to the goddess that they weren’t all killed.

If she was lucky, the war was only against her coven and the others were left to live their lives in peace, but deep down, she knew her hopes were going to be dashed completely. The war was built on hatred. Hatred makes people do horrible things. Shaking her head, she cleared her thoughts and continued to read. The guard came to fetch Rebecca for dinner and Max brought Lena her food to eat in her room. She was grateful that she didn’t have to join the pack for meals anymore.

Something had changed in the atmosphere recently, but she didn’t trust any of them. She realized she would probably never trust them completely. It was a sad state of affairs when she thought about it. All her life she was taught to respect life and others. That made her wonder how involved her parents really were with the outside world. The war started on the day she was supposed to learn certain things. Would she have heard that her parents weren’t who they said they were?

Shaking her head, she sighed. She couldn’t believe what Alaric tried to tell her. Her people were kind. Her parents were kind people. They would never have done these things. She pulled the book out from under her pillow and started to read what Rebecca’s mother wrote. The more she read, the more she started to feel uneasy. Rebecca and Alaric’s mother were telling a story of people who were nothing like the people Lena knew them to be.

“Maybe it was just her coven.” Lena tried to convince herself, but something deep inside her told her that it was not. Her parents and her coven had lied to her all her life. They weren’t good people! They were cruel and into magic that didn’t heal! Blood magic wasn’t of the earth. It was dark magic. Lena stuffed the book back underneath her pillow when she heard her door being unlocked.

She had been wondering if there were any books in Rebecca’s library about blood magic. Not spells, but something to do with the history of it all. Unfortunately, her guest was the Wolf Max, who had come to collect her plate.

“He loves you, you know?” It was the first time Max had said anything to her that didn’t have to do with food! Lena frowned and Max sighed. “He loves you. He doesn’t want to and it is complicated because of the bond, but if he didn’t, he would have killed you that first day.” Max shrugged as if his words would suddenly change everything. “I just thought I would tell you.” He left and Lena heard the door lock. Why on earth did he say that?

What the hell did it matter in any case? They all knew that this so-called love was only because of some damn mystical pre-determined destiny that was chosen for the two of them. It wasn’t because they actually got to know each other and fell in love. That was when Lena started to develop an enormous headache. How did you go against the flow of your destiny? Wasn’t that the number one thing they were taught when they just started out at school?

Each person had a destiny and no matter what you did … Yeah, that meant that freedom really was an illusion and no matter what you chose, you would always end up wherever destiny meant for you to go. That sucked! She pulled a face as she thought about it. What was the use of having freedom then? It was too much to wrap her mind around and she closed her eyes hoping when she woke up that the headache would be gone.

For once, her dreams weren’t filled with nightmares of her people dying and she had a good night’s rest. It had to be because her people were finally put to rest. She was up early the next morning and had already taken her bath when Rebecca and the omega arrived. Lena needed to find out if there were books on blood witches in Rebecca’s library. She needed more information from a source whose judgement hadn’t been clouded by only one part of someone.

She knew if she could read about the history of the witches from somewhere she might be able to get the information she was looking for.