Painful

Chapter 2

The leader of the group chasing Selene received a call.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Is she dead?”

“We thought so, and we chased her until the middle of the forest. The animals will kill her.”

“Good, no one should know about this. I can finally now have the whole Brown Group of Companies.”

“Yes, madam. Everything is yours now.”

“I’ll send the payment through the bank and leave the city already,” the woman said and ended the call. That’s the second wife of the Brown Group of Companies CEO, who died recently.

A little while, they received the money and hugged each other as they saw the large sum of it. They immediately leave the place.

- - - - -

“Lady Elina, the Alpha is worrying about you. Why did you go again with us for the patrolling?” one of the guards of Alpha Valen said. Elina looked at them and smiled. Her son, Valen, worries a lot about her whenever she wants to go with the patrolling team, but she doesn’t have many things to do at the pack anyway. Valen is the best Alpha his father teaches him to be.

“Don’t worry about him, and I am his mother. I can handle him.”

They patrolled the borders, and she’s been the Luna of this pack. The Red Moon Pack, her husband, did many things for this pack to be peaceful and beautiful, while her son continued doing that, but he did make the whole place of the Red Moon Pack fantastic. If a human ever came into their place, no one can ever think that a human is in a werewolf's place.

They’ll see paradise, as a whole new world. Valen made sure that the flowers bloomed, the houses look modern, and the surroundings itself is adapting to modernity around the world. The only difference is that it is in the middle of the forest.

She walked first, wandering around. Two guards are following her while the rest of the patrol team is looking around, checking. They want their place to be safe always, and they can’t let rogue wolves enter and make a mess. As she walks around, she notices something near.

“Lady Elina, that’s the end of our border,” she heard the guard say. She nodded as she knew that it was the end of their border, but she saw someone lying on the ground as she walked toward the end.

"Hello?"

The guards followed her as she sat down and looked at the woman lying on the ground. She gasped as she saw clearly that it was full of bruises and cuts that were bleeding. Fresh cuts, the woman moaned in pain.

"Pick her up," she commanded.

"But Lady, she's a human," the guard answered.

"I don't care, pick her up, and we will take care of her,"

She looked at the woman with eyes full of pity; who will do this to a woman in the right mind. People nowadays don't care about anyone anymore as long as they can do what they want to do, even if it means killing someone.

"But Lady Elina, Alpha Valen will be angry if we let a human enter our pack,"

She looked at the guard with angry eyes. Her forehead creased.

"I'll talk to him, so hurry, she needs to be seen by a doctor!" she commanded and started walking back to the main house of the pack. It's a thirty-minute walk; yes, that's how big the land of the Red Moon Pack is. It’s just the one side of the pack, yet it took them half an hour.

If they can only shift to their wolf form, they don't want to risk their existence as the woman can wake up at any moment. Luckily, her son is not in the main house at the moment. They told her that he had gone to the city because of his company. They may be wolves, but they are also human, and they enjoy ordinary human life.

She immediately followed the girl inside their infirmary, and she felt hopeless about what had happened to the girl. If she only had a daughter and this happened to her, she would move heavens to find the one who did it and surely kill it.

As she finally enters the room, their pack’s doctor is already done checking the girl, and the nurse is cleaning her wounds. She went to the girl’s side and looked at her. The girl looked lovely, elegant, beautiful, and mysterious. She caressed her face. She looked so peaceful sleeping; if they were just ordinary humans, she would set up her son for this girl.

She let the girl sleep, and she stayed there for a while watching the girl. She wants to know what happened, and she will take care of this girl until the day she is finally healed and can leave.

………

Selene opened her eyes, and bright light made its way through her eyes. She closed it for a second and looked at the other side. She looked around and saw that this was not a hospital. Where is she? She helped herself to sit down on the bed where she was lying when the door opened.

A woman entered, the woman was not looking at her at first, but then when she finally closed the door, the shock was evident in her eyes.

“You’re awake,” the woman said.

She nodded as she did not know what to say. She didn't even know the name of the woman talking to her. The woman walked to the side of her bed and pulled the tray with wheels. It was full of different fruits and foods. The woman smiled and pushed the tray towards her bed.

“Here, eat this so that you’ll regain your strength,”

She was hesitant to answer. She firms her lips, “Where am I? What happened?” she asked. She needs to know where she is.

The woman looked at her in the eyes, “You are in my place. I saw you in the forest yesterday night. You’re full of bruises and don’t have consciousness,” the woman answered as she sliced the apples.

“I also have you checked already by our family doctor. Once you can already, I’ll tour you around, we have a vast place, and you’ll surely love it here,” the woman added.

She does not know what to say; the woman looks rich and elegant, but she has never seen her in the City of Bloom. Is she not in the city anymore?

“I am Elina, by the way,” the woman introduced herself as she did not answer her.

“I am Selene. Thank you, Aunt Elina,” she mumbled. She knows the woman is older than her, and she can feel it, but her face says otherwise; she looks like in her mid-30s only.

Elina smiled at her, “No need to call me Aunt, Elina will do. I may be a lot older than you, but please do not make me feel old.”

She smiled at Elina and picked up a slice of apple. Elina was feeding her while telling stories about when she was young, she also told her that she wanted to have a daughter, but she didn’t get lucky. They were happily talking when the door opened brutally.

A man with a dark and angry face entered, “Who let someone like her step foot in our place?!” the man shouted angrily like he was about to burst out a fire in his mouth.

Selene didn’t manage to talk as Elina stood up and placed her hands on the shoulders of the man.

“Son, calm down. I am the one who brought her here. Let her stay here for a while, okay?”

Did she hear it right? What did Elina say? Son? Oh my, she looked at the man, who had calmed down a bit already. He looks handsome with his defined jaw and long eyelashes with those eyes that she can’t explain its color. With those perfect eyebrows and pointed nose, and his body built, every woman will turn their head when this man passes by.

“But mom, we can’t let someone like her stay here!” the man answered, controlling his voice, but it was still full of anger or irritation.

“Just let our people know that she will stay here for a while, and they know what to do, okay?” Elina mumbled.

The man couldn’t say anything anymore. He looked like he did not want to argue with his mom. He sighed and nodded. The man looked at her, and she immediately shifted her gaze to the other side of the room. She felt the man’s stare, but a few seconds later she heard its footsteps leaving already.

Elina went to her and held her arm. She looked at Elina and smiled lightly. Elina smiled back at her and fixed her hair, putting it at the back of her ears. Wow, she’s definitely a mother, she thought. Her mother also used to do this to her back then when she was still alive.

“I am so sorry for my son’s rudeness,” Elina calmly said and sat down at the side of her bed.

“It’s okay. I guess he doesn’t want any visitors here in your place?”

“No, it’s just that….” Elina couldn’t continue what she was about to say.

She didn’t mind it anymore and finished the fruits that were sliced for her. She looked around and saw that there was a tv. She wondered if that was working, and she remembered what happened that night. Jasper came to her mind; she knew he would look for her, oh my.

“Did I have my cellphone with me when you saw me?” she asked Elina, who was looking at the window of her room.

Elina looked at her, “No, you do not have any belongings. That’s why I didn’t even know your name.” She nodded at what she said. Elina saw that she was staring at the tv.

“Do you want to open it?”

She nodded at her question. There might be news. Elina opened it and gave her the remote. She switched channels until she found the news channel. Her name was there. ‘Selene Brown was found dead in the forest.'

She gasped, what the heck? She’s alive, and now she’s being broadcast as being dead.

The reporter then looked around and stopped when the camera pointed at a woman with oversized shades. It’s her stepmother! She’s wearing an all-black outfit as she walks gracefully, going to the reporters. One reporter asked how she felt about the news. Her stepmother then removed her shades.

Puffy eyes were evident, “I am sad, deeply sad. I lost my husband, and now I lost his daughter. I do not know how to live without them, but I must be strong. I have a company to keep in order to keep their hardships. I hope that they will be at peace and be together again. It’s just that it’s so sudden that Selene left me and followed her dad already.” Her stepmom said while wiping the tears flowing down her face.

She scoffed. What the heck is she saying? She is angry, and now they think she’s dead, the company will surely be in her hands. Selene can’t accept that. She must do something.

“You are Selene Brown,” Elina said.

She was not asking, telling. She then looked at Elina. How did she know? Elina pointed to the tv, and her portrait was there. Wow, people are mourning her death. She just nodded. She did not know what to say.

“You know Selene, I can help you. If you want? Just tell me what we need to do. It looks like she is not your mother because no mother would say that kind of words,” Elina mumbled and looked at her. She sighed.

“She is my stepmom, she doesn’t like me since the beginning, and I felt the same way towards her. She just wants my father’s money, and she wants to own half of it,” she started telling Elina.

She felt comfortable having someone to talk to. She didn’t have any friends because she always thought they would just use her, and she didn’t want that. Only Jasper became her friend, her older brother. And her best friend, Cecille, but she’s in another country.

Being the daughter and heiress of one of the most known companies in the City of Bloom, she never had a quiet life. People chase her wanting to be with her, but she keeps herself away from them. Elina was listening to whatever she said, and she told her everything from the day her mother died to the day her father remarried and why she was beaten and was found in the middle of the forest.

Elina’s tears fell. She couldn't contain them. She’s a mother, and all she wants is the safety of her children. She can’t believe Selene suffered that kind of life but still chooses to be strong and live every day. Elina pulled Selene into a tight hug and then held her hands and looked intently into her eyes.

“I will help you, okay? You will regain everything that belongs to you, my son, and he owns one of the companies in the City of Bloom. It will be a big help. For now, stay here with me and let me have a daughter for a while, okay?”

Selene nodded at Elina and hugged her again, “Thank you, Aunt Elina. I really needed this hug, thank you,” she whispered.

When the sun was about to set, Elina toured Selene around the place. Selene, though she’s in another world, there are a lot of people there, she asked Elina about it, and she said that they are their people. She was confused at first about why they needed that number of people, but she didn’t mind it anymore. She was so engrossed looking around. She knows that yesterday was painful, and she’s so lucky that Elina found her because she could see paradise. She’s lost in the beauty of this paradise.