Darkness

Maureen's POV

I woke up with a start. Something woke me up or more like a person woke me up. I could smell Lance's scent in the air. I wondered for a while if he came into my room.

Since our talk Monday afternoon in the kitchen, he had been avoiding me like I had leprosy. At my most desperate moment, I kicked against his warning and went into his room. He was not in the room when I got there so I sat on his bed and waited for him.

I waited for a long time and when I started feeling sleepy, I laid my head on his pillow and fell asleep.

A loud growl woke me from my sleep. I woke up with fright so I started shaking from the impact. Lance did not look at me twice. He banged the door almost removing it from the hinges. Since that day for the whole week, I had not laid my eyes on him.

Sensing his scent in my room was the last thing I expected. I had always liked the way he smelled. He smelled like the forest after a heavy rain. Since he got his wolf, his smell has seemed more intense.

I looked around and found nothing amiss. I listened, yet I heard nothing. I laid back down took my other pillow to cuddle and sat back up straight, sleep leaving me immediately.

My pillow smelled as if Lance had lay there. I sniffed the part where the pillow was and found his smell very strong there. It was obvious he had been there.

Did Lance sleep in my room? How?. He knew I was a heavy sleeper, I rarely wake up when I sleep, except if someone woke me up. I quickly checked the time on the mini clock on my bedside table, it said it was just some minutes after four o'clock.

I knew that Lance always got up around four-thirty to get ready for training at five o'clock. I wondered if I had woken up when he closed the door.

Why was he avoiding me and then sneaking into my room to spend the night? I thought of calling Lucia to tell her what I thought had happened but then I would be waking her up so early in the morning.

I decided to wait till she came to visit that morning. At least then she can tell me her opinion face to face.

I hugged the pillow close to my chest. Lance's scent on the pillow relaxed me and soothing my hurting heart, I went straight to sleep.

I woke up refreshed and happy in days. I headed to the kitchen after having my bath. I was surprised to see my parents already in the kitchen. I have not seen them since the morning after Lance's eighteenth birthday when they left hurriedly in the morning mumbling about a pack giving a distress call.

My parents were the main reasons I always prayed to the moon goddess to never mate me with a high-ranked wolf. I would gladly accept a park warrior as my mate.

Our pack was in charge of keeping peace in our region, so our Alpha and Beta were in charge of keeping the peace. Anytime any pack sent a distress call, they had to drop everything and attend to it.

Each time they go, they leave the Luna and Gamma in charge of the pack. Sometimes I wonder why my mother could not just behave like the Luna and stay back once in a while.

'Good morning Mum, good morning Dad,' I greeted them and they responded 'When did you guys come back?'

'Last night. We didn't want to wake you up,' Mum said smiling at me.

'Ok. Have you seen Lance this morning, mum?'

'Yes, he left for training. I guess he should be back soon.'

I only nodded my head as if my mind was with her. I heard the front door open as we started eating the food the kitchen hands prepared.

That is one big minus against my mum. I have never seen her cook. She had said she hated cooking because it reminded her of her suffering before she met my dad.

'Good morning sir, good morning ma'am,' Dominus greeted my parents as he stepped into the kitchen.

'Dominus, how are you doing?' My mum greeted him smiling. Dad gave him a pat on the back when he got closer to him.

'I am fine,' Dominus answered and went straight to the refrigerator to get water. Dominus was not a stranger in our house. We were all raised like siblings. Dominus was an only child so he made up for being an only child by stylishly adopting Lance and me as siblings. Although he was very close to Lance, he treated me like an annoying little sister.

I liked getting on Dominus' nerves especially since I knew how much he liked my friend Lucia who had eyes only for my brother, Lance.

I looked at the doorway and was expecting

Lance to step in. I had barely raised my head when he came in. He looked me straight in the eye with a distant look.

I searched his eyes for the brother I used to know but he was not there. If it were the old Lance, he would have simply greeted our parents and come to greet me with a kiss on my head.

Lance was the first to break the eye contact. He walked to the refrigerator and took water out to drink without greeting our parents.

'Lancelot, are you ok son?' My dad asked seeming to pick up on Lance's mood.

'I am fine dad, just have a lot on my mind,' Lance answered after taking a long sip of the water.

'Mind preoccupied to the extent of not greeting your parents?' Mum asked dropping her fork on the plate with a loud sound.

Mum was the toughest of our parents, she didn't tolerate indiscipline or impropriety. We avoided making her angry because her stance was always Dad's stance on any behavior of indiscipline.

'I am sorry Mum. I just zoned out. My heart is so heavy,' Lance said with his head hanging on his chest.

His posture and words got to Mum immediately. Although she was the toughest on indiscipline, she was still the softest when it came to caring for what bothered her children.

I always wondered how loving and affectionate she would be if she were at home most of the time like the Luna.

'What is it, son?' Mum got up and held Lance to her bosom. For the first time in years, my brother cried. Dad stood up and wrapped his hands around his shoulder while he put his head on mum's chest.

'I guess I will see you guys later,' Dominus excused himself, getting that it was a family kind of discussion.

I watched as they embraced each other for a while then I decided to join them. I placed my hand on his back and he immediately went rigid and stopped crying.

'Don't touch me,' Lance shouted and removed his head from Mum's chest to glare at me.

'Lance I ...' I didn't even know what to say because I was short of words.

'I said remove your hand, damn it.' Lance glared at me and growled. I saw his eyes switch between his normal blue which was his eye color and gray which belonged to his wolf.

I stepped back from him with tears pouring uncontrollably from my eyes. I could hear Mum shouting at Lance to stop growling at his sister.

I ran from the kitchen with my heart beating like it was going to jump right out of my chest and fall on the ground to be trampled by Lance.

The hate I saw in Lance's eyes was the last straw for me. I ran into my room and jumped into bed crying as if I was dying. My heart was destroyed above repairs.

I was beginning to hate his wolf. If what Lucia said about it all having something to do with his wolf, then I was going to damn all consequences and face his wolf. With the resolve that I was going to face his wolf, I wiped my tears and waited.

I went back out after one hour to find the whole house empty. I asked the housekeeper about their whereabouts and she said my parents had gone to the Alpha's house but Lance said he was going for a run at the back of the house.

I went outside and followed the path into the forest knowing fully well that Lance would have gone that way.

I was there for thirty minutes before I saw the immaculate white wolf walking in the opposite direction.

'Hey Lance,' I shouted, the wolf turned his head and walked towards me. I was scared at first but then I thought if I was going to die then I had better say my piece.

'I don't care to know what your name is but I hate you. You hear me? I hate you with every of my being,' I cried harder as it came nearer.

Instead of pouncing on me, the wolf suddenly whimpered and lay on the ground in front of me in a submissive way. His eyes looked at me as if saying he was sorry.

I became confused. I thought it hated me so it turned my brother against me. But there it was looking at me with love in its eyes.

I crouched down and touched his head, rubbing it in a circle. It felt so good to touch his beautiful fur. I put my head on his back and hugged him close. It whimpered again as if saying sorry to me.

Suddenly I felt him go rigid. I drew back and looked into his eyes. It was going between gray and blue.

Just when I was thinking of what could be happening, he shifted back to Lance in his naked glory. I jumped back but I was not fast enough.

He grabbed me by the neck cutting off my air supply. 'I told you to stay away from me but you wouldn't listen what the hell is your problem?' Lance shouted in my face.

I clawed at his hands trying to save myself from him. I started seeing black dots as I started getting tired.

I heard someone shouting Lance's name but I wasn't sure as gradually the black dots grew larger and I had no option but to surrender to the darkness.