Chapter 2: The Celes pack

The Celes family had already heard of the prophecy long ago. This was told to Maryn Celes when she was summoned by Frey. That one unfavorable day for Maryn, but the most fortunate day for that pure human girl. Not too long ago when the Celes pack was still with the Willows pack, Maryn was out and about on the shores of Yord picking up shells for a homemade mobile she’s making for her child Cora. The breeze coming from the ocean felt amazing on her skin, the warmth of the sand under her feet that contrasted the wind was the perfect weather, and the sound of the waves splashing one over the other. She was at her happiest state until she saw a body lying on the ground. She rushed to it, her maternal instincts were strong, she still felt the young girl’s pulse. ‘She’s still alive’ she whispers to herself, not thinking about what the law was, she carried the girl on her back careful enough not to let the shells spill out from her bag. 

Thazar Celes is a hard-working family man, he was chopping wood from the backside of the house. From afar he hears his wife breathing hard, he looks to his left to see his wife walking in a hunched position. Immediately he places the ax on the side and rushed to her, seeing the girl on her back made him a little hesitant but continued to go to her. He knew his wife needed him and whatever it is, he shall be with her; a vow he made as her forever mate.

“Let me take her from you” Maryn leans to her side to let Thazar take the girl from her, “where’d you find her?” He grunts as he heaves the girl higher in his arms.

“I found her on the beach, she’s got a weak pulse and I don’t think she’s from here.” They hurriedly walk into their home, placing the girl on their couch. Thazar goes to get the first aid his wife made. Maryn looks at the girl and takes in every detail; a large wound slashed on her stomach but not deep enough to kill her, bruises covering her arms and legs, and some patches of old burns on her hands.  She looks past her scars and sees how beautiful the girl is. Her hair was red as the roses, her skin was rough like layers of callouses were made to protect her, and her clothes we almost like theirs; jeans and a t-shirt that says “Sunshine Gardens Bakery.”

“What happened to you?” Maryn whispers. Her eyes slowly get flooded with tears as she feels the pain that the girl went through. Touching the girl’s wounds mirrored on her body, a power she felt cursed to have yet blessed to use. The girl was not any of their kind, she’s a pure human as she suspected.  The weight of her disobedience started to descend on her, shallow breaths take over, and small tremors on her hands. Suddenly a hand grabs her shoulder followed by arms wrapped around her.

“Honey, it’s going to be okay. She’ll be okay and us too.” Maryn closes her eyes and embraces her mate back. She pulls herself together and takes the first aid Thazar brought to her. They patch up the wounds of the girl along with an ointment they created to make wounds heal faster as if it was never there. They move the girl to the guest room hiding her from the Willows.  Staring at the girl from the doorway they both feel as if she was one of theirs but knowing the land’s law they had a decision to make; to keep her alive or surrender her to Frey.

Closing the guest room door, moving to their bedroom they speak in hushed voices.

“They cannot know about this. The kids can know about her, but we have to keep the Willows safe.” Her eyes glow yellow as her emotions overwhelm her. 

“Alright, I’ll do something about the Willows and you handle the kids, okay?” rubbing her arms up and down hoping to relieve some tension. She nods and smiles knowing this is how her husband comforts her emotionally and physically.

“What do we do when she wakes up? What do we tell her?” he asks.

“When she wakes up we’ll make sure she’s okay and won’t do anything to us.”

“Okay, we’ll tell the kids at dinner. Let’s hope they don’t cause such a ruckus” he chuckles. She smiles knowing her children would freak out. Her eldest Enoch would definitely be curious but cautious, her second eldest is going to freak out and scream. The middle child Cora would stare at the girl and most likely ask if she could teach her anything from the pure human realm, the second to the youngest son Larkin would absolutely make her answer all his questions and her youngest Emilio would not care at all.

“Good luck to us” she chuckles as they both prepare to make dinner for their family and tell them news that would change their lives.

“Kids! Back to human forms and come to dinner!” Thazar shouts from the backyard door. His kids love turning into their wolf forms, sometimes to practice fights but mostly to bully each other without physical repercussions. Wolves heal fast, they’re stronger and faster than the other creatures in Yord. Having these benefits doesn’t guarantee them to be the most powerful creatures there, after all, Frey and his siblings exist. 

One after the other they turn back into their human forms, running to their rooms getting cleaned up before their meal.  As soon as the table was set and they were all seated in their cozy cabin home Maryn begins the meal with small words of gratitude and began to dig in their food. Warm mashed potatoes, a bowl of salad, a hot plate of roasted chicken, and their all-time favorite banana bread. Gobbling up their food, laughing loudly at the experiments Larkin made Emilio do with glass, the sun, and burning a whole pile of leaves that made all of them run and get water.

“There weren’t any buckets left!” Larkin shouts.

“So what did you do? C’mon tell then what you did” Salma says in between laughs.

“I changed into my wolf form, drank the water, and ran back to the fire and blew some of it out.”

“And then?” Cora tries to keep her laugh but fails immeasurably.

“And then boogers came along with it!” Larkin hysterically laughs. Maryn and Thazar chuckle to their amusement. How nice it must be to keep this happy energy in the family. An ache starts to form in Maryn’s chest, she doesn’t want to lose all this, because she helped a pure human. Thazar holds and caresses her hand with his thumb, signaling her it’s time to tell them what has happened.

“Kids” her voice deep and solemn alerts all of them. Heads turn facing her, as she looks back at them.

“I have something to tell you. Now before you all can react I’d like you to understand what I did and why I did it.” Eyebrows furrow trying to guess what their mother had done.  She takes a deep breath, looks down, and continues.

“I helped a young girl I found lying on the beach today.” She looks up, looking at her children’s expecting faces.

“I brought her home to treat her. She’s in the guest bedroom-” she was interrupted by her eldest son whose eyes got a big feeling his home got invaded.

“Why!?”

“Please Enoch, let your mother finish speaking” Thazar scowls.

“Sorry, dad. Sorry mum” he apologetically says.

“The young girl in our home is a pure human. I respectfully ask all of you to give the girl time and space. Do not do anything reckless around her, alright?”

All her kids started speaking one over the other, questioning their mother’s actions.

“Ma are you serious?”

“Bringing a pure human home?!”

“Pure humans are real? I thought they were myths!”

“Can we see her? Can we?”

“Everyone calm down, when she wakes up, we’ll ask her. But for now, the girl is sleeping. I ask all of you to not disturb her until she wakes up.” Thazar’s low authoritative voice settles in the minds of his children. He trusts his children as much as he trusts his wife. To him, nothing will ever come first than family.

“Dad?” Salma’s small voice breaks the silence.

“Yes?”

“What about the law? It’s said that when we help pure humans we’ll be punished.”

“Yeah, what’s gonna happen to us?” Cora adds. From curiosity to being worried about their future, a grim feeling settles in their consciousness.

“We’ll figure it all out tomorrow, just think about all the new things she could teach us!”  Maryn says as she tries to liven up the mood of her family, suddenly smiles creep on their faces. Mischievous plans start to conjure in their fascinated minds. Her husband and children are her everything, if any punishment must come her and her family’s way she’ll make sure that they will be untouched.