Chapter Nine

Regan’s POV

Even though it had all happened right before me, I was having a hard time understanding what had just occurred.

“How could you, Regan?” I heard Nana voice her disappointment once more, her eyes shooting daggers at me and mirroring the disappointment in her tone.

Before I could even open my mouth to reply, both she and Lena had whisked away the unconscious she-wolf in haste.

As my study door banged loudly after them, I voiced out the thought that was running through my mind.

“What, in the name of the Moon Goddess just happened?” I asked aloud to no one in particular but still turned my confused gaze to meet Luke’s equally confused gaze.

His frown of confusion he was spotting was gradually clearing as something close to understanding began to take its place.

I turned back to look at the spot where she had once laid in pain and thought hard even as I slowly began to comprehend the situation.

For a moment, I had forgotten that she was not like the usual werewolves.

She certainly looked like one, and when I had caught sight of her as she had walked in earlier, she had looked healthy with not one sight of the bruises that were usually on her body there.

I had caught sight of her several times over the few weeks she had began to live in my pack and each time I had seen her, she had looked healthier, happy even.

Maybe that was why I had forgotten for a moment that she wasn’t a normal werewolf.

I had already been angry on receiving the news that I had lost a young wolf to an attack from Blackmoon pack.

That was why I had summoned her.

And having her walk in looking healthy and then suddenly start to tremble like the first time we met had made my wolf angrier for some reason.

I hadn’t meant to loose control and yell at her.

And I had certainly not meant to hurt her when I went to pull her to her feet.

I just hated the sight of her trembling in fear of me on the floor.

But I had underestimated the extent of my anger and overestimated the extent of her strength. Because the moment I had grabbed a hold of her and tried to pull her to her feet, I had heard the most sickening sound of her bone popping out of place accompanied by her shriek of pain.

I had let go in shock and stepped away.

However, by the time it dawned on me and I made a move towards her, the door to the study slammed open and Nana and Lena rushed inside.

I couldn’t even hear the angry words Nana had hurled at me because I was frozen in shock, watching as they tended to her before whisking her away quickly as soon as she lost consciousness.

I can only imagine how hat must have gone through their mind when they, no doubt, heard her scream of pain and came charging in.

A curse escaped my lips accompanied by a growl of anger as I made my way out of my study, slamming the doors open hard enough to almost break them and ignoring the werewolves I had left in my study, sure that Luke would take care of it.

Sure enough, as I made my way out of the pack house and to my house/cabin, following the scent of Nana and the other two females, he caught up with me.

“I don’t think it is a good idea to go there now”, he said. “Nana seemed very angry”, he advised.

“Well, I have to see for myself that I haven’t killed the poor Pup”, I all but growled.

“I understand that”, he said. “But with the mood you are in, I fear it might not be the right time to see her”, he tried to advise again.

“I do not care!” I all but snapped at him, all the while wondering why I was in such a mood.

I could feel my wolf at the surface prowling restlessly.

“Calm down, Rage”, I told him, not understanding the reason for his restlessness.

Rather than respond, he growled at me.

I ignored him as we approached the cabin and made our way inside, tracking their scent until it led me towards the door to Nana’s room.

As if hearing me, Lena suddenly came out and shut the door behind her, standing in front of it protectively and blocking our way in.

I glared at her even as she crossed her arms in front of her and looked away.

I could feel my wolf getting worked up at the sign of the disrespect.

“Move”, I said, trying to keep him at bay.

She immediately shook her head.

“I will not let you hurt her again, Regan”, she said and my wolf growled at the disrespect in her tone.

I moved away from her before my wolf made me do something I would regret.

I would never forgive myself if Rage made me hurt Lena. Not to mention that Nana and Luke would never forgive me either.

I paced a little to calm down before coming back to face her.

“Do not make me do something I will regret, Lena”, I warned her. “I do not like to repeat myself, but for you I would”, I told her. “For the very last time, Lena”, I paused for a moment to let her understand. “Move”, I ordered.

I could see her fight the instinct to obey me before finally yielding.

“Yes, Alpha”, she said, bowing her head and reluctantly stepping aside.

Before I could move past her to the door however, the door was pushed open as Nana stepped out, slamming the door shut behind her and resuming the position Lena had taken earlier.

I took a deep breath.

“You are not allowed to see her”, she said, glaring at me angrily. “Or would you command me too, Alpha?” she mocked and before I could control it, I growled loudly and snapped at her.

Luckily, Rage didn’t hurt her.

But I could see from the shocked faces af all three and fear that flashed in their eyes that they had never expected it.

Neither had I.

I didn’t know what was wrong with Rage.

I quickly stepped away from all three as they watched me speechless.

Before they could say anything, or worse, before Rage could make me do something drastic, I turned and stormed away.

I could hear Luke calling out to me through our mind link and shut him out as I hurried out of the house and towards the woods behind it.

I could already feel Rage clawing his way out and broke into a sprint before he could come out fully.

When he did, he let out an angry roar and began to run.

I let him take control for now, glad to allow him get rid of whatever was wrong with him.

I don’t know how long or how far we ran, but by the time Rage finally came to a stop at a clearing and laid down, I could feel that the anger had left him.

“Better?” I asked him as he panted.

“Yes”, he finally responded after being quiet for a while.

Rage didn’t say much.

He never did.

Ever since I had first shifted at the age of twelve -which was quite early for a werewolf- Rage had only ever come out when I was furious.

I had first met Rage when I first shifted after the massacre of my pack.

We never really spoke much but we were very much in tune and I never brought him out unless necessary.

For lack of a better way to describe him, Rage was terrifying. With his midnight black fur and crimson red eyes, he had earned his name and his reputation as the most dangerous and deadly wolf in the East.

And up until that day, he had never tried to come out without me bringing him.

“What is wrong?” I asked him, glad that he was much calmer. “You almost hurt Nana”, I all but scolded him.

“I do not know”, he said and I waited for him to say more but he didn’t.

I knew not to push Rage.

He was the reason people trembled in fear when they saw me.

Nana had once said that the Moon Goddess had given him to me in order to avenge our fallen pack members and protect the pack.

I let us lie there in silence for a while, until it started to get dark.

“We have to go back”, I told him.

He gave a grunt in agreement and stood to start walking back in the direction of our pack.

“I want to see her”, he suddenly said, surprising me completely.

He never initiated conversations.

“Who?” I asked, partly confused and partly knowing who he was referring to.

“Her”, he simply said before breaking out into a run.

I didn’t have to ask again to know exactly who he was talking about.

Because even I wanted to see her too.

To at least see for myself that I hadn’t killed her.

As we caught sight of the pack house and began to slow down, I saw Luke standing in front of the woods with clothes in his hands, obviously waiting for me.

As Rage let go and I shifted back, I grabbed the clothes from him and pulled them on without a word.

Afterwards, I made my way to the pack house rather than my cabin.

Luke followed silently behind me as we came to my study and I was reminded of the recent events on noticing the absence of my desk.

As if reading my mind, Luke spoke.

“A new one will be brought at dawn”, he informed me as I made my way to sit at my chair behind where my desk should have been.

When I still offered no response, he spoke again.

“Nana is worried about you”, he said. “Lena too”, he told me and when I still said nothing, he asked. “Do you at least want to talk about it?”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I shook my head. “No”.

He nodded and made to leave the study.

I removed the block on our mind link and spoke through there instead.

“Something is wrong with Rage”, I told him. “We don’t know what it is so it would be best for Nana and Lena to keep their distance from me for a while”, I said. “I would never forgive myself if I hurt them”.

He turned back to look at me and rather than mind link back, he spoke.

“You could never hurt them”, he said with so much conviction. “Rage would not either”, he said. “And you should know better than to expect Nana to stay away simply because you are afraid you would hurt her”, he told me with a smile before turning and walking out of the study.

He was right.

Nana would never listen to me.

But it was different this time. I had never come that close to hurting her before and I wasn’t willing to take that risk.

Nana would have to listen for once.

Remembering Rage’s request, I made my way out of the pack house and to my house.

Rather than go in through the door, I went around the house to where her window was located and climbed in quietly.

Her room was small and filled with her scent though I could catch hints of Nana and Lena’s scents as well.

I moved quietly to where she laid on the bed, glad that she was alone at the moment.

Though sweaty, she didn’t look to be in much pain and I felt relief from watching her sleeping soundly.

Just to confirm that I hadn’t killed her, I moved closer to where she laid and crouched down to get a better view of her face.

For some reason, I began to trace the lines of her face and notice every little freckle.

I stayed that way for a while until she suddenly began to wake up. I straightened from my crouched position as her eyes blinked open severally before settling on me.

“You’re here”, she said, her voice coming out in barely a whisper.

I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable with her eyes on me.

But I knew there was something I had to tell her.

“I did not mean to hurt you”, I said, unable to meet her eyes. “It was never my intention”, I said, hoping that would suffice as an apology as I waited for her response.

It was not what I would have imagined.

“I know”, I heard her breathe and snapped my gaze up to meet hers.

For the first time ever, she held my gaze steadily and did not look away.

She gave me a soft smile that made Rage let out a growl of satisfaction before her eyes fluttered close.

Not ready to think or begin to understand everything that had happened throughout the day, I hastily made my way out of her room and back the way I came, to my study.

All the while, I ignored the pounding in my chest and blamed it all on whatever Rage was going through.