8

Ian

“Have you guys lied to me my whole life?” I asked my father in horror.

“Mare and I protected you, Ian,” my father said with embarrassment. “We were waiting for the moment when the seal retaining your power would break so we could converse with you and properly instruct you on your powers.”

I laughed in disbelief.

I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under my feet and the earth had shaken.

“Was it necessary to wait until that point instead of telling me something as basic as my origin?” I asked angrily. “You witnessed the nightmares that haunted me as I tried to remember everything before I was abandoned; you saw me have those horrible headaches and the discomfort I felt knowing why I was left hurt. You supported me in a false search for my past, but now I see that maybe you had the therapist stimulate a rejection reaction and discourage me from searching any further. Right?”

My father pursed his lips and I cursed through my teeth because I had made a correct deduction.

It was disappointing in more ways than one.

“You have to believe me when I tell you that Mare and I did everything with the intention of taking care of you because you are important to us,” my father said sincerely. “Bad people poisoned you because they believed you were the Omega of the prophecy because of your birth date; you were born during a star shower, an astronomical event that precedes the astronomical event the prophecy talks about. Mare and I were not willing to let anything bad happen to you, Ian. We would not forgive ourselves for that. If the fact that you were ignorant of the subject spared you from being harmed by the killers of your birth parents, then to us it was a blessing.”

“This is unheard of,” I said angrily and a couple of tears streamed down my face.

“I'm sorry to have to tell you this this way, Ian,” my father said painfully and I wiped my face. “Everything got complicated and your mother—”

My father began to cry loudly.

The man was going through a lot.

The love of his life was at a terminal point in his illness and now I was confronting him with the truth. The problem was, even if I was extremely empathetic, the situation affected the way I saw things.

“Don't use Mom's illness as an excuse,” I said in annoyance and my father denied.

“You have to believe me when I tell you that Mare and I did everything with the intention of taking care of you because you are important to us,” my father said sincerely. “Bad people poisoned you because they believed you were the Omega of the prophecy because of your birth date; you were born during a star shower, an astronomical event that precedes the astronomical event the prophecy talks about. Mare and I were not willing to let anything bad happen to you, Ian. We would not forgive ourselves for that. If the fact that you were ignorant of the subject spared you from being harmed by the killers of your birth parents, then to us it was a blessing.”

“This is unheard of,” I said angrily and a couple of tears streamed down my face.

“I'm sorry to have to tell you this this way, Ian,” my father said painfully and I wiped my face. “Everything got complicated and your mother—”

My father began to cry loudly.

The man was going through a lot.

The love of his life was at a terminal point in his illness and now I was confronting him with the truth. The problem was, even if I was extremely empathetic, the situation affected the way I saw things.

“Don't use Mom's illness as an excuse,” I said in annoyance and my father denied.

“I'm not using it as an excuse,” my father said gently and Archer squeezed my hand. “We made a difficult decision to protect you, Ian, and even though you feel hurt now and may hate us, we're not going to regret it. The situation is much more complex than that. Your biological parents were killed in a cruel way for political interests inside and outside the reservation. We didn't want all that to drag you down, so we did what was best for your mental health.”

His firmness finished unsettling me.

“My mental health is about to fracture from everything I have to process now,” I said angrily, not holding back my annoyance. “You, my parents, deceived me, kept me in the shadows, and you expect me to believe that I can trust what you say right now. it's unconscionable!”

“Don't be so hard on your father, Ian,” Archer whispered next to me. “He really feels bad.”

I looked at Archer painfully.

His words might have been comforting, but they made me feel that much more miserable.

My life should be my life, and even though I had made peace with that, the truth changed everything. 

“I'm sorry, but my pain is worth it too,” I said in annoyance. “I don't know what to believe; I feel like I just went down the rabbit hole and I'm Alice right now. I need a moment alone.”

With that, I went straight to the bathroom to take a breather because I didn't want to explode in a worse way than I had.

I loved my parents.

I took a deep breath and let the tears I was holding back flow out of my eyes quickly.

At that moment, I felt a whimper in my head and suddenly saw some wolves running down the river, chasing me.

I gasped, not understanding what just happened and two seconds later Archer came into the bathroom.

“What did you see?” asked Archer immediately.

My father entered the bathroom seconds later and looked at me with concern.

“Some wolves were chasing me,” I said, confused. “I don't understand what's going on; how do you know I saw something? What's happening to me?”

At that moment we heard the doorbell my mother rang when she wanted something, so my father looked at me in pain. I shook my head before washing my face, and he went to attend to my mother.

“I think you need to get out of here,” Archer said. “I'll take you somewhere where you'll be okay.”

I nodded out of inertia and followed him.

It didn't take me long to figure out that we were heading back to the reservation, so I clenched my hands tightly.

“I'll take you to your father's old bachelor cabin,” Archer said and I frowned. “To the cabin that Alpha Quill used before he got married.”

I shook my head because I didn't know how to interpret it all.

“Is it my dream cabin?” I asked and Archer frowned, then nodded. “What's going on?”

“We are men bewitched to contain beasts that were the creation of the goddess,” Archer said. “Those beasts have their own thinking, just as they have powers they don't always share with their vessels.”

I became more confused.

“Aren't you a werewolf?” I asked, not quite understanding what he was saying.

“We are,” Archer said. “We are men who have the ability to transform into wolves; however, these wolves are beasts contained within our human bodies. The beasts give us powers and advantages that an ordinary human never has; they are an isolated 'entity.' We share the same vision and values, but wolves can have their own decisions. At some point you will meet your beast.”

My mouth dropped open in disbelief.

I had been in such denial of reality that it exploded in my face.

I wasn't capable of understanding what a werewolf was until Archer had the decency to explain the complexity of it to me. Thinking about the fact that I was a werewolf felt out of place.

“I don't think I may be able to understand the implications of what you just told me,” I said in disbelief.

“I will guide you through your entire awakening,” Archer said with a comforting smile. “My mission is to help you have a smooth transition without it being traumatic for everyone.”

“I'm just a mission for you." I asked curiously.

Archer looked at me seriously and denied.

“You're so much more than that, Ian.”

The way he said that sentence shook me completely, so I kept silent.

I realized that Archer had brought me to a different place than his grandfather's house, which I was grateful for because I didn't feel like dealing with the old man.

The thought that I could turn into a wolf terrified me.

“We got to my house,” Archer said. “I'll grab a few things from here and take you to Alpha Quill's cabin.”

The Reservation had the largest expanse of forest on the planet; it was a place that hid many secrets of nature and now I understand exactly what they were. The place was beautiful by day, but at night it had a bit of a spooky vibe and maybe that's why I felt like someone else was watching me.

Archer got out with a backpack, got into the van and drove about five kilometers until he came to a small esplanade.

“From here we have to walk to the cabin,” Archer said and I nodded.

We walked for about twenty minutes until we entered a denser part of the forest and suddenly, I saw the cabin of my dreams. It was identical to how I always used to see it when I dreamed as a teenager.

I stopped due to the shock.

“Are you okay?” asked Archer with concern.

“I always dreamed of this place,” I said in disbelief. “The cabin is very familiar to me; I know the way to the river and it feels completely real.”

Archer nodded.

“I think your beast somehow projected memories of you and molded them into your subconscious to show you things and powers,” Archer said. “It's likely that those dreams were an avenue to make the transition to your memories easier.”

“I don't feel anyone inside me,” I said earnestly.

“You'll do it bit by bit; there's no pressure,” Archer said.

“You'll tell me everything I need to know without you lying to me?”

“Yes, I will always be honest with you, Ian,” Archer said earnestly.

“That's good to hear because I'm giving you a vote of confidence; don't make me regret it.”

Archer nodded and we walked into the cabin.

The place was just as it was in my dreams.

“Is there someone who makes sure this place is preserved?” I asked curiously and walked over to a picture that was framed on a wall.

The picture was that of a blond boy smiling.

It was clear that it was a picture of me.

“Yes, Mrs. Gloryn, Alpha Quill's mother, is the one who watches over keeping the property standing,” Archer said. “Her family is one of the most ancestral on the Reservation, and they led this herd for centuries. They were the main providers until your father died.”

Hearing that was sad.

“The lady can't seem to get over the loss of her son,” I said carefully. “I don't want—”

“Gloryn is one of the most incredible women I've ever met in my life,” Archer said. “She's not going to take you as a replacement, but she's going to love you just as much, if not more, than she loved her son because you'll give her hope.”

I touched the photo wistfully as I had no memory about the moment it was taken; what I didn't expect was for the frame to fall hard to the floor and reveal a safe.

Archer and I looked surprised.