What will I do?

Chapter 3

What will I do?

Weeks after that kiss, Megan approached her father in his study. 

Oliver, Megan's father and one of the Betas following Lucas, who was Jake's father and the Alpha of their pack, — had just returned home after a long time. The moment he returned, he had busied himself with his estate work. This would help him update on what has been going on while he was away and what he needed to put in place before leaving again. Megan had given him three days to settle in. In those three days, she also did her best to build up her courage. 

“Come in.” A deep, distracted voice called out from inside the study after Megan's soft, dainty knocks.

Megan slowly pushed the heavy wooden door inward as she observed the inside of the study. 

Oliver, at 6'4 (ca. 2 m), was one of the tallest humans and one of the biggest wolves in the Blue-Mist wolf pack. He was rivaled only by Lucas, the pack's true Alpha. For years, Megan, who was the last born with four other siblings, would come to this study, sit down and watch her father work in silence. It was the only way to get him to spend time with her whenever he returned home. Oliver was always busy and had made several promises he couldn't fulfill because he always forgot. 

As Megan entered the study, her heart ached. She had already made up her mind and just needed him to say yes, then she would be gone. 

Will I ever see him like this again? When will I set my eyes on him again? Will he be angry with me when he discovers that I have deceived him? 

Guilt gripped Megan and she nearly stepped back. She wanted to change her mind and just walk away when Oliver looked up from his paperwork and raised his left eyebrow at her. 

“Hmm? Are you here to just spectate?” He scoffed then rolled his eyes. 

Oliver has been back for a few days now and his daughter was just coming to see him. She wasn't even looking like she was happy that he had come home. Oliver was not pleased, but at the same time, he didn't have it in him to be angry with her. 

Megan broke into an uneasy smile and shook her head. She had almost run back just now. What was she thinking? How will she face Ryan after giving him hope? 

“No, Dad. You are not that cute anymore. You are old.” She scoffed back, having an identical furrowed face, just like him.

 

Megan stepped into the room with heavy legs and closed the door. The moment the door clicked, she started feeling choked as her anxiety surged to a new level. 

Oliver noticed her discomfort and dropped the pen in his hand. 

“What is wrong? Are you not feeling well?” He asked as he pushed his chair backward, about to stand up. 

“No!, No? Dad, I am fine. I am just a bit winded. I ran all the way here when I heard that you had returned.” Megan lied.

Truly, she had started out to this place when she heard that her father had returned from his visit to the Alpha's house, but she didn't run at all. She took her time to walk down while planning her opening speech en route. She had practiced this speech for days now, but it still felt like it wasn't convincing enough. 

Oliver visibly relaxed and dragged his chair in again. His focus returned to the document in front of him, and his face carried a deadpan look. “Since I am too old and don't look cute anymore, you too are old and have outgrown presents.” He shrugged nonchalantly. 

Megan's right hand raced to her mouth. It tried to stop the tell-tale gasp from escaping, but it was too late. The gasps filled the room, and Oliver chuckled under his breath in satisfaction. 

“Bang!” 

Megan's two hands hit the desk as she leaned in and gave her father a deep stare. “What is it? What did you get this time?” She asked excitedly. 

Oliver studied the sparks dancing in her eyes. He was sure he would see her wolf tail wagging if only she had one. 

“What did I get? From where?” Oliver started feigning confusion. 

“Daaaad!” Megan called out pleadingly. She reached out and used her fingers to brush back his well combed hair. 

“You are the most handsome Daddy and the strongest wolf I have ever seen.” She said in a singsong voice while batting her eyes at him…

Megan's pack is one of the biggest wolf packs in the supernatural realm of Blue Moon. Blue Moon is one of the three realms on the continent called Eplica. The other realms are the human realm where the Moon is golden and white depending on the season and the Red Moon realm where the Moon is, well, —Red.

The three realms have been living in relative peace after a war that nearly got both the wolves on Blue Moon and the vampires on Red Moon eradicated 10,000 years ago. The supernatural creatures ruled the continent, turning the human realm into their hunting grounds, until technology outwitted wizardry and made a joke of their unfathomable strengths. 

A truce was made. 

The humans would stay in their realm and the supernaturals would stay in theirs too. 

Humans need the supernatural for experiments to improve their health and satisfy their curiosities. Vampires require blood, any type of blood, to remain strong. It just happens that human blood is the sweetest and most nutritious. Werewolves can live without the two, but the two others needed them. 

According to the path, everyone will stay on their turf, with only diplomats allowed to live outside their realms. A free zone was created where all creatures could meet, live together, trade, do whatever they like except mass killing of another race. Anybody or group of people, from any of the realms, found guilty of this crime would bring irrevocable disaster to their families. 

After this path was made, Spies were sent out from each realm to monitor what others were doing. For centuries, Oliver's family and others like him have been tasked with this responsibility. One of his sons must learn from him and inherit his position, just like Jake is expected to inherit Lucas' position as the Alpha of the pack. 

Every year, just as summer is about to end, Oliver would return home to spend some time with his family while someone else would take over his beat. 

This period is when all wolf packs go hunting, preparing for Winter.

Winter is also when the Blue Moon realm is most vulnerable to humans and vampires, and even other wolf packs' attacks. So, the strongest men outside were required to come back home to help protect the realm and the packs. 

Every August, when Oliver returns for the Winter, he would always bring something from either the human realm or the Vampire realm for Megan. There is hardly anything in the human realm that isn't in the wolf realm, but some things are unique to each realm. Things like cuisine and Art. What Megan loved to get from the human realm was their books. Unlike the books on Blue Moon, the human books are filled with wide imaginations. From reading their stories, one could see that over the centuries, the ordinary person has completely forgotten or never heard of the existence of werewolves and vampires. It is reflected in their fantasy stories. Megan found reading these blasphemies they call novels and storybooks. 

Megan also loved their music. Soulful and empathetic. Then there are the movies. Especially the Romance-based ones. Among the wolves, the Moon mother already selected mates for each wolf. All you have to do is meet your mate and your happy family is set for life…or not. There are wolves who will never meet their mates, but it is believed that they never got to meet their mates not because the Moon mother didn't create one for them, but because their fates were jinxed either because of the death of one of them or distance. This is why when a mateless wolf gets to a certain age and he or she is convinced that their mate is not within their park, they are allowed to cross over to other parks with the permission of their park's Alpha. 

Humans are not like this. They have no predestined mate. They have to fall in love and out of love several times to get a mate. Then, they can divorce the mate if things don't work out. Wolf couples might separate, but they never divorce. Once you are recognized as a couple among the wolves, you will be a couple for life. 

On his last visit, Megan had given her father a list of books to get for her, and she was now hoping that the thing he got for her would be either everything on that list or at least some of the books. 

“You know what to do to get what you want.” He scolded her gently. 

Megan's eyes shone at his words. She hurried round the large desk and jumped into Oliver's hands. Oliver was ready for the embrace and didn't hesitate to catch her frame in his large arms as he felt his bones relax. He held on to Megan tightly as the girl showered him with kisses. 

“I love you, Dad. Welcome back home.” Megan beamed after kissing Every part of his face, including his lips. 

Even though wolves will not go as far as french kissing their kids, a kiss on the lips is considered a show of affection and love among nuclear family members. Since they are hardly in wolf form where they can get as much skin-ship as they want, — this level of skin-ship in human form is what they use in making up for that. 

After his precious daughter finished giving him a dose of her love, Oliver held on to her for a long time. Father and daughter were silent and very content, breathing in each other's scent and recommitting it to memory.

Listening to her father's heart beat, Megan's will wavered again. But when she thought of how her father was actively looking for a good mate for her, she resolved her heart to carry on with her plans. 

Since the mate Moon mother gave me doesn't want me, I will rather go with who wants me and not some wolf my father paid into taking me. Megan thought to herself. 

“Dad.” Megan began with her right hand's fingers, crossed where he couldn't see them. 

“Hmm.”

“I want to leave the pack after Winter.” 

Oliver's body stiffened. He was unable to say he didn't know what his daughter had been going through these past several months. It's been more than a year since her mate rejected his precious daughter. In these months, he had tried to get another wolf for her, but someone had maliciously spread the rumor that she wasn't a proper wolf. 

Therefore, no matter how big the dowry he presented, he was always rejected. Oliver couldn't blame the other wolves who rejected his daughter. He was sure that if he was in their shoes, he would definitely do the same. 

Megan was a wolf without a wolf's form. Despite everything they have tried, Megan was unable to transform into a proper wolf. Unlike other wolves who completely turn during the full moon, Megan would remain in her physical form with just her feet and her hands growing out with wolf claws while her eyes turn blue. No other part of her body changes. Even her face retains its human look. If not that Oliver trusted his late wife, Emmy, he would have doubted that Megan was his. 

When Megan was eight, Her grandfather and members of the pack, had concluded that she was a bastard. To keep his daughter, who is a clone of his late wife, Oliver had reluctantly agreed to let the pack's shaman perform an ancient ritual on her. This ritual is a 'No-way-back' kind of ritual. If during the ritual, the child turned out to be a bastard or half human or half vampire, the child would be instantly killed by the Moon mother. 

Megan survived, and everyone was forced to shut their mouths and mind their businesses. 

As Megan grew older, Oliver watched as the mockery and bullying among her peers increased. He had wanted to take her away for a long time, but it was against pack rules. A wolf can only leave his or her pack after they turn 21 and yet couldn't find a mate. They can only go to a pack their pack leader approves of. 

Megan would be 21 by Spring, so Oliver wasn't shocked when she said she wanted to leave the pack. But where would she go? The situation would be the same everywhere. The only place Megan can go and not have any problems was the human world. But there was no way their pack leader would agree to this. 

What should I do? Oliver mused in bitterness.