WOLVES OF THE CRESCENT

Tick-tock, tick-tock. 

Noah found himself repeating the rhythm of the watch hanging atop the little girl’s head. He couldn’t bring himself to look straight into her violet eyes. He could already feel his cheeks heat from the embarrassment. 

The little girl avoided looking at him as well, but rather than embarrassment, she was flustered and confused.

 Where is this place? How did she get here? The pretty nurse has already told her but, her young mind found a hard time grasping the information all at once. She was one day at the Crescents and now she was on the other side of the continent.

Ophelia could still see the smoke and ash blurring her vision. In the corner of her eyes, she could swear she saw her little brother, Luke, getting dragged away by the strangers with crests on their arms. The hallucination sent chills down her spine.

“So,” 

She snapped out of her daze, part of her was thankful for that. She turned to look at the red-eyed boy, and she surprisingly felt at ease. She wanted to say that even her wolf felt the same but, she has never had that sensation yet. 

“Are you feeling better?” Noah said, working too hard to make up the simple sentence. 

Ophelia blinked a couple of times as he registered the question, taking her time to figure out her state. She couldn’t say for sure. She felt so broken inside and yet her eyes were dried up. Her body was tired and yet she felt comfortable watching Noah’s scarlet eyes shimmer like rubies. The contradiction was making her go crazy. She doubted Noah would understand what she felt and the last thing she wanted, was to be labeled a crazy girl. Not that she could blame him for thinking that way either. 

Ophelia nodded, lying. Her heart was heavy with all the burdens weighing her down, and her body drained of every ounce of energy.

Noah smiled brightly, catching her off guard. 

“I’m glad that you are!” he exclaimed. “You were badly hurt when I found you. Thank goodness I found you at the right time!”

Ophelia forced a small smile, her head dropping once more. Noah was getting flustered at the dying conversation. 

“I-” he stuttered. “I want to know your name!” 

Noah instantly regretted the words that came out of his mouth. He narrowed his eyes in frustration as he looked away in regret. 

Ophelia jumped as she turned to look at him, she could see the frustration and how he was trying hard to maintain the conversation - she was thankful for it. 

“Ophelia,” she said quietly, her voice strange to her ears after staying quiet all this time. “Ophelia Gregor.” 

“I’m Noah Bernard!” Noah exclaimed enthusiastically. A sense of accomplishment washed over him as he finally got the name of the mysterious lake girl. Though it was not Ella as he guessed, he wasn’t bothered. 

“Gregor…” he muttered, the name instantly struck him. “The Crescents?”

“Actually,” Noah continued when Ophelia never replied, grabbing Ophelia’s attention as he fumbled with his hand. “I spent the time guessing what your name would be because I was too curious while you were sleeping.”

“And did you get it right?” Ophelia asked, avoiding yet another awkward silence. 

“Ah-” Noah stuttered, he was not expecting a response. “No, unfortunately.” 

“What did you guess it was?” Ophelia asked, tilting her head. “My name, I mean.” 

Noah hesitated, feeling the heat travel to his cheeks. “You wouldn’t want to know.”

“But I want to,” Ophelia replied instantly. A glow surfaced on her once lifeless violet eyes, Noah noticed it. 

“Ella,” he said without thought, gazing back at her. He found the shimmer in her eyes interesting. Before, her eyes felt like two dull crystals, worn out by the years. 

“Ella,” Ophelia tested the name on her lips, she liked the way it sounded to her ears. 

“My name is difficult,” she added. “You can keep calling me Ella if you want.” 

“R-Really!” 

Ophelia nodded. She felt too exhausted to argue or share the same joy the boy was feeling. She couldn’t even begin to think why Noah was so happy to see her. He barely knew her name. Nevertheless, breaking his heart didn’t seem right to her, even a child can figure out that much.

“Alright,” Noah said, thinking hard about something. 

“Why were you running that night?” he said. 

Ophelia flinched, the ease that once settled in her nerves, was yanked away in a blink. She took a shaky breath as she tried to shudder away the memories, but it was too late. The memories were already replaying before her eyes as if they were happening right then and there. 

Noah once again regretted opening his big mouth, he wanted to smack himself across the face but he doubted that would help. 

“S-Sorry.” 

It was all he could say as he dropped his head in guilt. Ophelia shook her head slowly while still feeling her heart twist in her chest. She just wanted this all to end. This unknown phase. This place she didn’t know, the strangers around her, the past she couldn’t handle. All of it. 

Just, what was she supposed to do now? 

She was all alone, with no pack to return to, no family, no one. Not even her wolf. 

Ophelia bit down on her lips to swallow her tears, she wasn’t about to cry here. 

‘Grab yourself together, Ophelia,’ she said to herself. ‘We will figure it out one way or the other.’

A long minute passed and Noah was silent, he decided to keep his mouth shut than make this worse for her. He could see the sadness returning to her eyes, the bright shimmer was slowly being stripped off. All because he couldn’t hold back his tongue. Ophelia on the other hand couldn’t bring herself to change the flow of the situation. 

The silence was broken by the door of the infirmary sliding open. Ophelia jumped by reflex, retreating as far back in the bed as she could while hugging her knees close to her chest.  A tall man walked in, he was almost the same height as the door, his hair a light brown struck with white at its roots, his eyes as light as the color of honey. A middle-aged woman walked after him, her hair and eyes had a similar dark shade of brown. She was attractive as a middle-aged woman should be, she had a gentle smile on her face.

“Noah,” the woman said breathly. 

“Mother!” Noah exclaimed, jumping off the chair to his mother’s embrace. 

She held him to her bosom and placed a kiss on his forehead and retreated as she ruffled her hair. Her attention was now on Ophelia. 

“You are awake now,” the woman said. “You had us all worried, dear child. Sleeping for a whole day like that.”

Ophelia didn’t understand why that woman would ever feel worried about her but she wasn’t upset. The woman had a gentle aura to her. Ophelia couldn’t help but feel at ease. However, she couldn’t say the same to the man who stood next to her with his brows frowning.

Was he angry at her? But why? She didn’t even do anything! She didn’t even know him!

Noah’s mother followed Ophelia’s stare, a faint chuckle escaped her lips as she gently smacked the man on his arm. 

“That’s not how you look at a child!” she exclaimed. “No wonder the kids avoid you!”

“Please be at ease, dear child,” she added. “My name is Valarie, I’m the Luna of the Moonglade pack. This my husband, Bernard, the alpha.” 

‘No wonder he had a scary vibe to him,’ Ophelia thought. 

Her stomach twisted as the stare from the Alpha never ceased. He was staring right at her soul, she avoided his eyes. It felt like he was studying her from head to toe. Ophelia knew that white hair was rare and almost exclusive to her pack, that was what her mother always said to her. However, she never thought that other packs would react like this. 

“You are from-”

Valarie poked her husband in the rips before he continued his words, she glared at him with a fake smile. ‘She is just a child cut the politics,’ her eyes said.

Bernard sighed in defeat, approving his mistake. “What’s your name child?” the alpha asked.

“Ophelia Gregor,” she replied quietly. 

Bernard was almost certain of the answer beforehand, however, now it was a fact. She is the daughter of Lord Gregor, Crescent’s Alpha. He closed his eyes and nodded. “You are more than welcomed to stay under my rein till you are fully recovered,” he said. “As long as you remain here, your safety is my responsibility.” 

Ophelia felt her shoulder fall with ease. Perhaps the alpha wasn’t as scary as she thought he would be. 

“Thank you, My Lord,” Ophelia replied. 

Bernard nodded before leaving the infirmary, and his wife followed after waving goodbye to Ophelia. Nurse Sarah was waiting for them on the other side of the door. 

“How did it go, My Lady?” Sarah asked. 

“It’s true, right Dear?” Valarie asked, turning to look at her husband. 

Bernard was silent for a long moment before he nodded.

“She is a Royal family member of the Crescent pack,” he said. “I could recognize that silver hair and violet eyes anywhere.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Valarie asked. “They must be looking for her, and she’s a princess at that. But, what made her come this far north?”

“Maybe she got lost?” Sarah suggested.

“There were burn marks all over her right?” Bernard asked. “If she got lost why would she be burned like that? Something doesn’t add up.”

The three of them fell silent and went deep in their thoughts.

“First thing is first,” the alpha broke the silence. “We send word to her pack that we found their princess hurt. She’ll be escorted back as soon as she recovered. It’s not Moonglade's problem to find what happened to the princess, as long as her parents are alive.”

Valarie felt the doubt in her husband’s tone.

“Sarah can you give us a minute?” she said. 

Sarah bowed and left. 

“Are you fearing something, dear?”

Bernard let out a deep breath. “Let’s hope that my wolf is wrong.”

“But he is never wrong.”

“That’s what I fear, Valarie,” he repeated. “That’s what I fear.”