Chapter 5: Empress - Mei

An empress? I can’t be an empress, but then again, my mother’s snake was indeed gold, and she did possess the gift of healing, but I’m not gold so she must be wrong. Even if I was, I can’t possibly be an empress. I was born in a wolf pack and I’m not strong enough to be an empress. I can barely even be a Delta.

“Forgive me, Setia, but I think you’ve made a mistake,” I say softly.

“Why would you say that?” She asks curiously.

“You said the gold snake is her descendent, but my snake isn’t gold.”

“Mei’s right, her snake is black and gold,” Chris says, backing me up.

Setia looks like a dear caught in headlights as she slowly sits back. She seems… unnerved? “Are you certain about this?” She quietly asks.

I thought irshiusts could detect the truth, shouldn’t she know we’re being honest?

“Positive. I’ve seen her snake myself, as has half the pack. They can all confirm it. Even my mark is black and gold,” Chris says with a hint of pride in his voice. He always sounds like that when he speaks about his mark.

Setia reaches out moving his collar aside looking at the two small scales with a black and gold shift in the junction of his neck and shoulder, and I can see the confusion all over her face. She went from so happy and confident, to somewhat rattled.

“Mei, what is your last name?” She asks.

“Liu, why?”

“And your mother’s name?”

I take in a deep breath. I didn’t fight as hard to remember my own name over the years, but I did my best to remember my parents’ names. Their names were all I had left of them; I couldn’t just let them slip away.

“Xiuying. My mother’s name was Xiuying,” I tell her with a shaky breath while Chris rubs my back.

Setia exhales sharply like she was punched in the gut. “And your father?”

“Huizhong. My father was a mutolupus,” I inform her.

Her head whips to me so fast I thought it might snap, “A mutolupus? Are you certain?” She asks in a rush.

Again, can she not feel my honesty?

“I’m completely certain. I’d seen his wolf many times.”

Setia gets up and starts pacing the living room, her brows furrowed in confusion. I look up at Chris but he merely shrugs, just as confused as I am.

“Mei, have you ever had a blood test?” She asks.

“Yes, when I came to the pack.”

“Do you know what the report said? Is there a chance I could see it?” She quickly asks.

“Our head doctor couldn’t identify her blood type because he’d never seen nagata blood before. But he did find it odd that even though her father was a mutolupus, she had no mutolupus DNA,” Chris tells her.

Setia stops pacing and stares at me, her gold eyes burning into my very soul.

“Is something wrong?” I ask her.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I know for a fact your mother was a daughter of Jing,” she says with clear certainty.

“How do you know?” I ask curiously.

“Because I knew your mother. Last I saw her was before she ever conceived you,” she says gently, but with a deep frown on her face.

More shock hits me.

How is that possible? The very irshiust training me now was the same one my mother knew so many years ago? Is that a coincidence or fate? I don’t have to look at Chris to know he is reeling from the shock as well.

“But I knew her well enough to know she would never abandon her child. Never. She was a pure-hearted woman, but she was fierce; an incredible fighter worthy of her gifts,” Setia says adamantly.

“My mother didn’t abandon me. I watched my mother be killed by the Alpha of our pack,” I choke out the words as images of that night flash in my head.

I swear all the colour drained from Setia’s face, “…What did you just say?” She whispers.

Now I think she’s the one in shock.

I try to remember the night she was killed, but all I have are broken pieces of a picture I can’t put together. I remember the Alpha with glowing bright brown eyes and the smell of iron. I remember my father crying and shifting into his wolf and putting me on his back as we fled our home. He said we weren’t safe; he said I wasn’t safe, but we weren’t safe here either.

“We lived in my father’s pack. When the Alpha killed my mother, my father fled with me all the way to the United States. He was seeking a new pack for us when he came across Albus Mons, but they attacked and killed him while he fought to protect me,” I say as my body starts to shake, and I can feel the tears spilling from my eyes.

I lost the two most important people in my world so close together and both in horrific ways. It’s not fair.

“Sh, it’s okay, I’m right here,” Chris consoles me as he pulls me into his chest, while I feel Axel comforting me through our bond. I quietly sob against Chris; the loss of my parents hitting me hard. It was so long ago, but some days it feels as though it was just yesterday.

While my father was looking for a pack to take us in we stumbled onto Albus Mons territory. They thought my father was a cur – a packless wolf – which I suppose he was and so they attacked him. I watched him bleed to death with a sad and guilty look on his face; I’ll never forget it. He told me to run. Told me no matter what, don’t let them know what I am. I tried to run, but I was scared and didn’t know where I was and was quickly caught.

From that moment on I was a slave. A beaten, abused slave whose very life hung on the precipice waiting for someone to push it over the edge. My life went from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.

“What was the name of this pack?” Setia asks, pulling me from my painful memories.

“Tian,” Chris answers for me. “Please, no more questions right now, this is too much for her. Give her a chance to breathe,” he implores. If she wasn’t a member of the Delegation he wouldn’t bother with formalities, he’d just kick her out.

“Of course, I understand. I’ll give you two a minute, I have to go speak to my sisters anyway. I’m deeply and truly sorry for your loss, Mei,” she says, and I hear her leave the suite.

We stay in silence for I don’t know how long. Chris gently rubs my back to soothe me until my sobs eventually ease off. Now my nose is all stuffy, my eyes feel like I haven’t blinked in a year, and I have a headache. Why does crying feel so terrible?

“Feel a bit better?” He asks as he kisses my cheek. I nod but don’t pull away from him. “I know that was a lot to take in, and I’m still reeling myself. Setia seemed confused as well, but I’m sure whatever is going on, she’ll find out and explain soon,” he says in a soothing tone.

I breathe in his candy scent and let it relax me. “I can’t believe she knew my mother.”

“Isn’t that a good thing though? I know you have so few memories of her, maybe getting to share Setia’s memories of her will help you connect with her.”

“That would be nice. I would like to know more about what kind of a person she was,” I say wistfully.

“If she was anything like you then she was a magnificent woman,” he tells me, making me smile. He always knows what to say.

“It just doesn’t make any sense. I have the gift of healing, so why is my snake form so different?” I ask as I look up at him.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon.” He pecks my lips and I gladly peck him back.

My life seems to be one rollercoaster ride after another. Maybe I should have started training first, the history lesson seems to have exhausted me more than sparring would have.