The Thirst For Revenge

Her family's home was just like she remembered it and she looked around with a mixture of awe and sorrow.

Soft blue and gold colours surrounded her and everything had a worn and lived-in feel to it, something she had missed while living with Rigel, who enjoyed new and impersonal designs.

Helena thought back to when Rigel had presented as her mate and how eager she had been to pack up and run away from her people and family.

Looking back, she had been selfish and self-absorbed, too caught up in her fantasies of a new life, to see how her avoidance and eagerness to leave had affected her sweet Father and hotheaded Brother.

Charon hated Rigel the moment they met and had been against her leaving with him but Helena had fought back, seeing her older brother as an enemy she chose to ignore.

Now, she knew better and will not make the same mistake twice.

She walked into the large kitchen that her Father took much pride in and was greeted with the sight of him standing in front of the stove and stressing over something in the pan.

He turned around with furrowed eyebrows and frowned when he caught sight of Helena standing by the kitchen door.

"I thought I told you not to bother her, Charon" he reprimanded his son.

The younger male shrugged, carelessly as he made his way over to the small round table by the large windows, that gave a view of the woods, and took a seat in one of the three chairs.

"You were upset so I decided to do something about it," he said in explanation and yawned loudly, bringing an end to his participation in the conversation.

"It's all right, dad," she assured her gentle giant of a Father, with a small smile, "it was just a bad dream."

"If you say so," he replied, doubtfully.

Whatever he was preparing began to burn, smoke rising from it and he turned to attend to it with a whispered curse.

Helena joined her brother at the table, staring out the window and into the trees that she and Charon had played in as children. It was a nostalgic sight that made her tear up and she laughed when Charon eyed her, warily, and pulled herself together.

"Can one of you please set the table?" He asked as he plated their food.

Charon sighed loudly and made to stand but paused when Helena held out her glowing hand and summoned what they needed.

Helena felt breathless as the items arranged themselves on the table, a feeling of exhaustion washing over her as if she had been running.

She huffed when she was done, the glow of her hand-dying down and frowned.

In her past life, when she had first begun to use her magic to fight, she had learned it was like a muscle. It needed to be trained and if left unused for too long, caused slight discomfort when put to use.

It seemed like she would have to train her magic all over again, a task that could take weeks or even months to complete.

Helena wanted to go after Rigel and kill him, and she had hoped to do it as soon as possible, but with her magic in its infant state, and no army to attack him, she had no way of getting things done.

"Fuck," she swore under her breath and lifted her head to be greeted by her shocked-looking Brother. She frowned in confusion and turned around to see her Father staring at her like she was a stranger and it dawned on her.

She had just used the magic she despised, calmly and casually.

"I-, It was an..."

"It's fine, Helena," her Father assured her, quickly as he placed their plates down in front of them. "We're just a bit surprised to see you using it, nothing else."

"When did you start using your... magic?" Charon asked, carefully.

She shrugged and played with the food on her plate, cracking her brain for something believable to say. "Some time ago," she said, vaguely and shovelled a forkful of food into her mouth to avoid talking.

Charon narrowed his eyes at her and Helena stubbornly refused to make eye contact with him.

"She had a dream about mum, last night." He revealed to their Father.

"Charon!" She yelled in protest.

"Oh, Helena, why didn't you say anything?" Her father asked as he placed his large, calloused hand on the nape of her neck and rubbed, gently.

It was an action that parents did to their young pups to show affection, or calm them when they were distressed or sad and while she had Charon were twenty and twenty-three years old, respectively, he still did it to them.

"Did you have it in response to using your magic?" Charon interrogated and Helena fought the urge to curse at him.

"Your mother loved both you and your gift," added the older alpha before she could respond. "And if she were here today, she would have been overjoyed to see you using it."

The young woman stared up at her Father who had a sad and longing look in his eyes as he recalled his mate.

"I know," she whispered and looked away from him, the guilt of causing her family pain, too much to handle.

It was her fault her Mother died.

"It wasn't your fault mum died," Charon said to her like he could hear the thoughts in her head.

Her brother was a single-minded eater, like their Mother had been, who consumed his meals with an enviable focus so when he picked up his fork and began eating, it put an end to the conversation, something she was thankful for.

She had to be more careful from now on to not act too out of character and raise suspicion. It would be impossible to explain the situation to them and not come off as crazy, and she was too ashamed to reveal that she had been the cause of their deaths.

Breakfast went by quietly with her father throwing her concerned looks, Helena ignoring it and Charon oblivious to everything around him.

"I would love for us to spend the day together," her Father announced when Charon got up from his seat and made to leave.

The younger man frowned. "I have work to do so maybe later in the evening." He turned and tried to walk away but was stopped by the older man grabbing ahold of his forearm.

Their Father slowly stood up and pulled a reluctant Charon closer. "It's Saturday and I want to spend time with my children while they are still young."

Charon scoffed and rolled his eyes, "you're the Alpha, dad, there's no such thing as time off, and we aren't children anymore."

"You are my children and I want to spend time with you," he insisted, ignoring the growing sneer on his son's face and turning to Helena. "Would you like that, dear?"

Helena nodded with a smile that widened when Charon growled and stomped away, muttering about 'laziness' and 'time wastage'.

"Kids." She said to him with a dramatic roll of her eyes and he burst into giddy chuckles that made her feel warm inside.

She missed feeling happy, so much.

Later that evening, after a day of trying to lure a grumpy Charon out of his room, they settled down in the living room to watch some TV.

The couch facing the wide screen was a small one for three adults; two of whom were large werewolves, but they made it work.

Charon had insisted on watching a bit of the evening news before they could watch their movie, so Helena and her dad gorged themselves on the snacks as he surfed the channels.

He landed on his favourite station and settled down with a content look as the news anchor talked, the volume low because Helena was not watching.

Her father was on his phone so she was forced to stare at the TV and try to understand what was happening.

Video footage of some kind of hunting club popped up and she froze when she caught sight of Rigel among a group of other Alphas.

"Turn the volume up," she instructed Charon as she leaned forward.

He increased the volume and the fluid voice of the man on the screen filled the room.

"... establishing ties with old and powerful packs, is a must for any new pack hoping to survive the rocky beginning. The Felt Hunting Club is a perfect way for young alphas like Donovan Creel, Rigel Howcraft and Tobias Lentiyn to get into the graces of these already established Alphas and maybe even form an alliance with them."

Helena's magic roared inside of her, an untamed fury that demanded revenge for all the man she was seeing had done.

"Are you alright?" Her father asked and she turned to him with a smile.

"Yeah. I just remembered something that made me upset."

He looked doubtful but did not pry and she turned back to stare at the screen.

She was going to get her revenge, there was no doubt about it.

And while it might not happen as soon as she would have liked, someday, she will make him pay for everything he had done.