Chapter Six: Uncanny Reunion 2

JULIA

I didn’t know what kind of family reunion this was. I thought families were meant to be happy and hug each other when they met again after so long. After Zeke had been freed from whatever trap he was in. But this was a different story.

It was as if they didn’t even want him there. It was as if they were the ones who locked him up.

“Zeke,” I muttered as I took another step back.  He was definitely different from the Zeke I knew from the past few days. Abnormal heat emitted from his body like he had a fever. His body was tense and his jaw was clenched.

The man who just arrived, Mikael. He had the same copper-like skin as Zeke  but his hair was dark brown instead of light russet.

“What are you doing here?” Mikael calmly asked. He looked at Zeke from top to bottom and said, “I thought you would be skinnier, weaker, and tamed after years of imprisonment. But you look as if you never changed.”

So they were the ones who imprisoned him. But why would they do that? He is their own brother. I don’t know how a human like Zeke could have survived being imprisoned like that but the way they moved and spoke tells me they aren’t ordinary humans.

“Luckily,” Zeke snorted. “But look at you, who would have thought you’d become Alpha? You were once weak, fragile even. You never attended training and yet here you are.”

Mikael ignored what he said and looked at me.

“Father thought that I would be the best choice. Our other brothers are dead. Carl has no talent in leading a pack, and you—you know the reason why.”

“You are the only choice he had after imprisoning me,” Zeke grunted. “You are no Alpha, Mikael. You are just a stand-in because I was gone.”

“And I will continue to do so. You have no place here anymore, Zeke. Turn back or else I will have you killed.”

My eyes widened and immediately stepped in front of Zeke, using my body to shield him.

“What do you mean killed?!” I burst out, “you will not kill him nor touch a strand of his hair! How could you say that after you trapped him in that creepy cave?!”

Mikael raised his brow at me. “So you’re the one who released him? A mere human girl like you?”

“Stay away!” I shouted at him and grabbed Zeke’s wrist and turned to him. “Let’s go away, Zeke! You don’t need to be here if your family doesn’t want you!”

I pulled but he remained unfazed. Zeke looked down on me, his cheeks and ears turning read and bit his lower lips. My brows creased when he looked at me as if I was some meal he wanted to devour.

“Let’s—Let’s go!” I yelled at him and pulled him away. Finally, he followed me as we stepped out but we were only able to walk away a couple of meters when other people blocked our way. I stepped back when a person jumped right at my face.

I aggressively turned back at where the Mikael guy was and screamed at him “Tell your friends to stay back or else I won’t stay friendly!”

Mikael blankly stared at me and then looked up at Zeke’s face. Fear flashed in his eyes and he waved his arm to tell the others to back away. The other hesitantly followed his order and backed away. I finally managed to pull Zeke and got out of that horrible place.

I am never going to follow a cloaked boy again. Zeke might have told him to take us there but if he knew that it was dangerous then he shouldn’t have gone through with it.

The moment we got out of the dark forest and into an open field, my knees gave in and I fell into the ground. My hands were shaking and I never felt so scared before. I only acted brave because Zeke and I had to survive. Looking back at the situation, there was a chance that we could never have gotten out there alive.

“Julia,” Zeke called. His voice is low as if I was in some sort of trouble but the effect on me was surprisingly weird and affectionate instead. I must be going crazy because of what happened.

“Julia,” he called again and kneeled down beside me. I turned to him and felt relieved. He was the only one I had in this place and I wouldn’t know what to do if he was captured and imprisoned again.

“You have a weird family,” I blurted out. “I know that family is important but not—not people like them. They are not good people, Zeke.”

His eyes darkened and looked down. A bitter smile crept on to his lips as he shook his head.

“I am no better than them,” he muttered. “even worse.”

“You are different from them,” I protested. “You wouldn’t hurt me. You are kind to me.”

Zeke looked up at me with a small smile on his face. He lifted his palm at the top of my head and caressed it. My eyes automatically closed at his touch and the heavy thing on my chest was lifted up. Something about Zeke made me feel safe and secure whenever he was around. Maybe it’s because he helped me survive in the woods or maybe it was because I trust him with my life.

Nevertheless, he is someone important to me and I would never let anything hurt him again. Especially not his psycho family that imprisoned him as if he was some sort of beast.

“Should we head home?” Zeke asked me as stood up, offering his hand to me. I immediately grabbed it and stood up and winced.

“Are you alright?” he asked in a panic tone. I inhaled deep breaths, tryinhg to calm myself down.

“Let me check—”

“Don’t you dare move!” I shouted at him but immediately regretted it. “Just give me some time, my legs are numb and I don’t want to move them.”

Zeke sighed and shook his hair with his hand. The numbness started to go away after a few seconds and everything was back to normal.

“I’m fine now, what were you saying?” I asked him but then I heard rustling from behind us and turned but Zeke immediately stopped me from turning by holding my cheek.

“Don’t let them know,” he silently said, his expression serious. I slowly nodded and looked back to the front. “Let’s go now, Julia.”

Zeke took my arm as we made our way home. I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go home with someone following us but I trusted him enough to know what to do so I followed what he said. I just hope we’re still alive by the next sunrise.

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END