TASHA "Come on, let's dance!" Sadie persisted in her request, but I declined her offer for the nth time. I ended up going to the ball with Rendall as my date, but, knowing that my mother would not speak to me kept me from being excessively ecstatic about the situation. When I told her about the ball, she did not say a word. She remained silent, letting me do things on my own. "Tasha, you wore that outfit during our prom night, don't you have another pair of clothes to wear?" Annica inquired before she and the other members of her circle shared a peal of laughter. "I can't believe you won as the prom queen with that piece of trash." I didn't say anything. Rendall's hand clasped with mine and and he holds on to it with a light grip. I looked at him and he was smiling from ear to ear as if he was trying to make me feel better after what I heard. "She's still the most beautiful girl in this venue," he said without breaking our eye contact. With those simple words, he made me feel as
TASHA I spent the night at Sadie's place because I felt the need to lean on to someone. Sadie followed me when I went out of the hall after hearing the truth from Rendall's mouth. I couldn't stay at that place after what he said and and I couldn't return to our home because I couldn't bring myself to look my mother in the eye. I was still unable to comprehend the fact that her instinct had been correct the whole time. "Tash, Rendall's calling," Sadie uttered and she showed me the screen of her phone. I wrapped my arms around my knees before looking away. "Hello?" she answered. "She's not with me, I'm sorry." "Rendall, I hope that you can understand that I don't want to talk to you either, not after what you did to Tasha." "You're seriously asking me about the thing that you can do to make her talk to you after what you did?!" "She put her faith in you, and in return you betrayed her and tore her heart out, dumbass! Take care of your own issues and never call me again!" she exclaim
TASHA He pulled off his car somewhere in the midst of the woods. I looked around and there was nothing else to see but numerous humongous trees. I opened the car's window to let the fresh air in and the earthy breeze annihilated my sense of smell. The canopies offered a tantalizing look into the cloudy sky which turned the shades of greenery even darker and it was a sight to behold. Crickets were chirping and birds are humming—as if they were creating their own symphonies. "Where are we?" I asked. He threw me a glance but didn't bother to answer me. He went out of his car first and I did the same thing. "I said, where are—" a loud growl from afar cut me off. A deep sense of uneasiness held me rigid on my place. I could hear the slow, dragging beat of my heart thinking of what could happen next. I looked across to Rendall, but he didn't appear to be concerned by anything. All of a sudden, remnants of what I remembered from Raiah's story filled my head. Rendall was attacked by their
TASHA Rendall's grandfather called his presence and he left me with Ava, Griego's sister. We had a conversation and she told me that even with her family's status, she chose to be one of the skilled hunters of their pack. Her tenacity astounded me. At a young age, she's determined to ensure the safety of their pack. I also learned that Griego was Raiah's mate. "I hope you won't mind me asking but how does it feel to not be able to shift in your wolf form? You piqued my interest because aside from being wolfless, you're the first half-breed Luna I have ever known," she asked. "Ever since I was a kid, our father taught us how to shift to a wolf and back to our human form. Shifting used a lot of our body's energy and I couldn't count the times that it depleted me to my core." "Everything felt normal at first because my mom kept the truth from me but no truths can be hidden forever," I started. "Everything happened in a squint of an eye. I was a mere mortal who's trying to survive a
RENDALL"You brought the half-breed in our pack. You're jeopardizing our safety just to be with her," my grandfather said. His attention shifted to the scenery that could be seen from the outside. "You refuse to listen to me and keep your ears shut regardless of how many times I try to warn you about her. What is it about her that you want to fight for that nonsense emotion? If only I had known that you would grow up like this, I wouldn't have agreed to place you as an Alpha of this pack." He turned around to face me, and his eyes were two angry black points fixed on my direction. My heart was flooded with sadness after learning of his dissatisfaction. "I love her, grandpa," I stated despite the building of an unwanted emotion inside me. I knelt in front of him. "Let me prove to you that I can serve my responsibilities on our pack while being with her. You don't have to force me to make a decision between loving her more or being more responsible because I can do both of those things
TASHA Rendall told me that I would spend the night on his quarter when I finished cleaning myself. I dissented, but he guaranteed me that he wouldn't stay there and would sleep in the guest room instead. Since the warriors of the pack guard the Alpha's quarter, it would be much safer for me to stay there. I don't have the foggiest idea why he's being extra protective when I made it clear that I won't be able to forgive him after what he did. He opened the door for me, and when I entered his space, one can undoubtedly say that this room was planned particularly for somebody with a lot higher status than everybody else. Most parts of it were made of wood aside from the stone fireplace which stood at the center of his room. I could smell the wood burning from it. From the tremendous glass window, I could see the Betas of their pack having a great time while they were around the bonfire that they made and the Omegas minding their own life as well. I could see the dim, moonlit trees of
TASHA I woke up to the sound of clanking metals. When I opened my eyes, Rendall was the first person that I saw. He was in the act of placing a tray on the bedside table. I laid my back on the bed's headboard and saw that he had brought me breakfast. "Good morning. Did you rest well?" he asked. I simply nodded my head as a response. "I'm going to the warrior's camp to inspect their training. We conduct this event annually to see who qualifies to become the new members of our combatant. This is also the third type of opportunity for an Omega to raise their status in our pack. The first one is if a majority of a family shares a blood relationship with a Beta and the other one is if they are bounded to the pack by bite." "Why do I feel like you're telling me those things for a reason?" I asked. He glanced at me and handed me the plate he was holding, which I accepted. "Because whether you like it or not, a werewolf's blood is running in your veins. Even if you're only a half-breed,
TASHA We had our lunch inside the camp. Ava burst out laughing after seeing the reaction I had when the warriors inside the camp killed a wild boar. That was exactly what she had in mind when she told me that it was bloody inside the warrior's camp. She stated that as part of the competition, the head trainer would let a wild boar loose, and the warriors' task was to capture it and then kill it. This is their way of showing gratitude for everything they learned from the camp. "Here." Ava sat next me after she offered me a slice of dragon fruit. After expressing my gratitude to her, I turned my attention back to Rendall. He was spending his time with some baby pups of the pack. "Majority of those pups belong to an Omega family, some from Beta, but our Alpha does not care about their position within the pack. He strives to be as fair as possible to all of us, which distinguishes him from the Alphas that came before him in his family." "If he could hear your countless compliments ab