Chapter 3: Golden Mist

AMARA’s wrath was ablaze. Looking down at the head of her beloved warrior, Killian, her hot tears could not stop falling. Rage started to build up inside her heart, along with the harrowing, tormenting feeling of loss and despair.

The warrior wolves have shifted back to their human forms. She heard them laughing as nothing happened, mocking the death of his father and Killian, who did nothing but obey the Alpha. 

Amara could not find a way to accept the fact that these two important people in her life had to die for such an invalid reason. There was no way she would accept the horrible death of her father and Kilian. They were the only people she treasured and loved the most.

‘Why did they have to die?’ She asked herself repeatedly. However, Amara could not get the answer to it. 

She screamed her lungs out. The intense heat she was ignoring became so unbearable. She screamed so hard as if her body was burning on fire. Suddenly, her head and body have suffered in excruciating pain, something she never felt before. She gasped for air and closed her eyes firmly. Her breathing became ragged and heavy that made her fall on the floor.

"We have to kill Argus' child, Thomas. This bitch will seriously put us into trouble," Isaac suggested to his co-warrior. 

"Then kill her. I want to see her suffer first, but I agree, she must die and join her father in hell." Thomas laughed. 

Amara growled loudly. Her fingers were already scratching the wooden floor, digging deeper onto it as, little by little, her claws had started to grow. The veins on her hands and neck became more visible as the blood inside it continued to pump wildly. Her heart was pounding aggressively, and with each pound, she felt her bones turning broader and bigger until it finally ripped her clothes. She gritted her teeth as her mouth slowly changed its shape. Her fangs grew sharper and almost ready to bite flesh.

She arched her back. It was as if a devil had finally awakened inside her body and overpowered her. Amara howled in pain when her body started to shift for the very first time, minutes after turning seventeen, on the night of the full moon.

As she continued panting, her eyes opened by force. Those amber-colored pairs of eyes have turned to golden mist. At the same time, Amara's slim body has transformed into a vast and dangerous silver-colored wolf. 

That was the moment she lost her sanity. Rage and vengeance took over her emotion. Her golden mist eyes turned to the two warriors who killed her loved ones.

Amara never felt so powerful until that moment she completely shifted into a wolf. She snarled. Her gleaming fangs were out. With her saliva flowing from her mouth, she has one goal for that night, and that was to kill those warrior wolves.

***

IN her wolf form, Amara ran as far as she could to save herself from the Crimson moon pack that was hunting her after the death of the two warrior wolves. The rain was still pouring heavily, and the cold wind was aggressive, swaying the trees in the woods. She didn't stop. She didn't want to rest. The only thing she wanted to do was escape so the pack would not find her.

She knew she was tired. However, she still wanted to go farther from the pack's territory. Her four legs were all numb, her breathings weren't regular, and her entire body was wet and cold. Amara would've collapsed already if she was in her human form, but then her wolf form was persistent and way more robust and more uncontrollable than her average human body.

She didn't mind the darkness of the place. Despite the eerie noises she heard, the chilling night that continued to send shivers down her spine, and the emptiness she felt in her heart, she kept running until she reached the end of the woods. 

Amara found herself standing on the edge of a cliff. Tears pooled her golden mist eyes. She gazed up at the dark sky. The gleaming silver moon was still up there, shining as if it was mocking her and laughing at her unknown misery. 

Despite her current form, she couldn't escape from the searing pain that was eating her whole heart. Her sanity has lost from the moment she shifted. Her memories weren't intact in her mind but she felt a strong sting within her that was continuously tearing her into small pieces. 

She growled as she gritted her fangs. Still looking at the moon, all she could feel was wrath and pain for something she couldn't remember… yet. As the cold wind blew her wet fur and tears, she howled in despair, hoping that it would lessen her affliction. 

That night, Amara's wolf was restless. She continued running with all her strength until she finally reached the boundary of the werewolves' territory and made her way into the land where werewolves would not dare to enter.

***

 “CHILD, wake up! Why on earth are you sleeping in the woods? It’s dangerous here!” an unfamiliar voice of a woman had spoken that woke her from her deep sleep.

Amara could feel the throbbing pain in her head. A soft whimper escaped her mouth as she tried to move her weak body before opening her eyes slowly. Her vision was so blurry that it made her blink several times. When her eyes started to see clearly, the first thing she saw was the face of a woman who has gray-colored hair, wrinkles on the sides of her almond-shaped eyes, fair cheeks, and pale chapped lips. The older woman was gazing down at her and holding her in the arm.

Fear tormented Amara’s chest, and her heart became uneasy because of the presence of this older woman in front of her. She panicked and got up immediately, trying to move away from the stranger.

Based on her sweet foreign scent, Amara knew that the stranger was a human.

“Why are you sleeping here in the woods, young lady?” the woman asked worriedly, and then she looked down at her body. “And where are your clothes? What happened to you?”

As if that became Amara’s cue to check on herself, she looked at her body and realized that she’s naked. Her forehead immediately creased. Her mouth was left half-open, but she couldn’t utter anything. She was bewildered. That was one thing for sure.

Amara’s eyes started to roam around. All she could see were tall trees—vines brushing the green grasses, fallen leaves on the moist soil, the pleasant lake in front of them, and the sun rays reflecting on its water. The sound of birds and crickets chirping altogether and the bees stinging from somewhere filled her ears too.

The forest seemed unfamiliar to her. It was not like the typical forest within the Crimson pack territory, the place where she lives. She could not even smell any scent of werewolves in the area, which she finds odd. The only scents she could smell are those from grasses, the mist of fog, the smell of the cold water in the lake, and lastly, the sweet scent of human blood.

“Where am I?” she asked, her voice was shaking in fear. She then looked at the older woman again, who was still gazing worriedly at her. “W-what did you do to me?”

“Oh no, please, calm down! I didn’t do anything to harm you. I was looking for some woods I could use at home and then I saw you sleeping near the lake. I was just here to help you.”

“But you’re a human!” Amara almost yelled, frightened and confused by the situation.

The older woman looked at her; the confusion was written all over her face.

“O-of course, hon. Shouldn’t I be a human?”

Amara tried to stand up. She couldn’t handle the throbbing pain in her head. The more she tries to understand what was happening, the more pain is attacking her head. It was the first time it ever happened to her. She never had a migraine until waking up in this unfamiliar forest.

“W-wait! Don’t tell me you’re going home naked?”

Amara knew that the human was following her. She tried to run to get away from her. However, the pain hitting her head was more potent than her will to escape. She stopped for a while and leaned her back against a tall tree.

“If you walk on the highway naked, I assure you that you will be in trouble. I’m not saying this to generalize men in Drysdale, but some of them were just born perverts, you know.”

“W-what?” Amara glanced back at the human who was carefully watching her from a distance.

“I said some men were just born perverts, and if one of them sees you walking naked on the highway, you’ll be in big trouble...”

“No, not that one!” Amara walked towards her and gripped her arms firmly. “Where are we?”

In just a second, the older woman feared her. She’s gripping her as if she was about to break her bones. Amara couldn’t control the rage building up within her. Her whole body felt heavy and weak when she woke up but then, strength awakened in her upon hearing the human’s statement.

“Tell me, where am I?” she shouted angrily.

“Y-You... Your eyes...” The woman stuttered in fear as her eyes widened. “Y-You’re not... W-what are you?”

“I asked you, where am I?!” she repeated the question.

“D-Drysdale!”

“No!” she growled loudly.

Amara could not even control herself anymore. She felt her nails digging deeper into the human’s skin. Anger and the familiar heat started to consume her. Her heart was pounding loudly out of rage. It was the first time she ever felt that, and she couldn’t understand why until she saw her eyes reflecting from the woman’s eyes.

It was a pair of golden mist eyes...

Shocked by what she saw, Amara released the older woman and stepped back. She shook her head as she continued to look at the woman.

“Y-you’re not a human,” the woman concluded with her entire body shaking. “The color of your eyes suddenly changed...”

Amara closed her eyes firmly. She breathed heavily and tried to calm down. When her rage started to subside and her breathing went back to normal, she opened her eyes again and met the older woman’s gaze.

“Unbelievable...” said the older woman. “Your eye color turned back to amber.”

That gave her a sigh of relief; however, her mind was still haywire. Amara was still puzzled as to why she ended up sleeping in this forest in Drysdale. The human territory was way too far from the werewolves’ region as they were isolated.

“My father must be looking—”

Amara was not able to finish her words when the memories of what happened last night started to replay in her head; the tragic memories of how the warrior wolves attacked and decapitated her father right in front of her—his blood all over the four corners of their home, how Killian Montreal, the love of her life, saved her from being killed... and how she shifted to a full wolf for the first time after turning seventeen on the night of the full moon.

She finally remembered everything. Those tragic memories hit her head like wild waves.

She felt her heart stopped beating, and her lungs had multiple lumps that she couldn’t breathe. Her whole body started trembling as the memories started to get clearer.

Amara wanted to open her mouth and shout, but it seemed like all her gathered strength from earlier had escaped in an instance.

They killed her father...

They killed Killian...

Hot tears pooled down her eyes as the excruciating memories of the tragedy that happened last night hammered her world, shattering it into pieces. It was, indeed, a fatal pain, like a silver bullet getting through her bones and was slowly killing her. A soft whimper escaped her lips.

“No...” She cried as she remembered how she embraced her father’s head for the last time at that very moment and how Killian was beheaded the next minute despite his loyalty to the pack. “No...”

“Y-young la—”

“NO!” Amara screamed in despair.

She remembered everything. She remembered how the people she loved and trusted the most died. She remembered how the warriors took their lives.

They were gone. The two people who showed her love and kindness were gone!

With her body shaking in hatred and sorrow, Amara fell to the ground.