6

Her Family

As the two of them were standing behind the pub, eyes locked, Colin was the first one to look away. She could hear his heavy breathing as if he had been holding his breath the entire time. And to her surprise, Elinor found out that she has been doing the same.

She lowered her gaze onto his broad shoulder, realizing she had to breathe or else she might faint.

A strong wind blew past them, her cloak danced and her hair exploded. Her hair clip has now become loose, so she gathered her hair in her fist, and while doing so, she caught him looking at her, again.

For some reason, the way he looks at her makes her feel like she’s the most beautiful person to ever exist. Or maybe, she was just imagining things, maybe she’s insane for thinking that. Maybe not.

She never thinks of herself as beautiful. But Colin apparently changed that.

Another wind stirs the place, this time, a violent one. Elinor turned her head to see Bonnie at the far side of the open area, walking towards them.

“Eli! I think it is best that we head back to your house now. Looks like it will rain any moment.” She heard her say.

She tilted her head back and peered at the sky. Thick grey clouds cover the once blue skies. She turned her head to look at Colin who is still standing in front of her.

She was about to say her parting words when she felt her hair clip snap.

“My pearls!” she yelled as she watched her hair clip roll down the tilted cobblestone. However, Colin was quick to bend down to pick it up and then hand it to her.

“Thank you,” Elinor uttered, still clutching strands of her hair in one hand.

“May I escort you back to your house?” Colin asked, which surprised Elinor.

“You may,” she replied almost instantly.

The clouds over their heads looked like it was about to give in any moment now, so they did not waste any more time. Her house was a thirty-minute walk from where they are. In times such as these, they had to use their ability as werewolves to their advantage.

The three of them shift into their werewolf form. Luckily for Elinor, she is able to turn into all fours as she turned sixteen the last year.

Werewolves like them can only shape-shift into a wolf form once they reach the age of sixteen.

She and Bonnie went first, while Colin closely followed behind them.

They reached her house just in time as the heavy rain poured down like someone had slit the sky open.

They shifted back into their human form. She saw Colin’s face again and for some reason, she still could not wrap her head around the fact that he is interested in her.

I ought to have asked him why. Elinor said to herself. She took a mental note of that thought.

The wooden door before them opened and revealed her mother whose face was filled with worry lit up with relief when she saw it was them on the porch.

“Oh, thank heavens you’re here. I was worried that you’ll get soaked.” Her mother exclaimed. assessing Elinor’s clothes. Glinda’s curious eyes suddenly went past Elinor’s shoulders where Colin was standing. Her face gleamed with recognition, an inviting smile started to form on her mother’s lips.

“Come, get yourselves inside,” was Glinda’s invite.

They went inside. Bonnie went in first, and Elinor held the door open for Colin but he insisted that she go first by taking the door’s handle from her grip. Elinor offered a smile and both of them went inside.

Elinor’s steps went full stop when she realized her mother was not alone. Sitting on their one-seated chaise was Colin’s mother, Tatiana, elegantly holding up a Scottish teacup. She looked as surprised as Elinor, only that Tatiana was surprised to see Colin standing beside her.

“My Colin, I didn’t know you were acquainted with Eli.” Tatiana gasped, putting down her teacup. She looked over to Glinda.

“I believe it’s his first time here.” Her mother replied.

Tatiana’s eyebrows raised, and her eyes went back and forth between Colin and Elinor. “Really?” She mumbles, sipping her tea ever so slowly, her bow-shaped lips, Elinor noticed, were stifling a smile.

Elinor felt the sudden heat forming on her cheeks, so she hurriedly offered Bonnie and Colin a seat and went to the kitchen.

Their cabin is huge, but there is not enough division between their living area and the kitchen. Elinor could still see them from the kitchen aisle as she prepared tea for Bonnie and Colin.

And she hates that she couldn’t seem to get her eyes off of Colin who looked very distinguished in just his white undershirt and black waistcoat. She watched as Colin took off his tailcoat and folded it neatly to his lap.

She had to slap herself mentally and forced her gaze on the tea she was stirring. It had been swirling for some time when she was quietly observing Colin.

Also, she can feel Bonnie watching her from time to time. She can already imagine what her friend was going to say once they were alone. In fact, she can already feel her smirking on the inside.

This feeling Elinor had is new. She couldn’t find words to describe it. There’s something thrilling about it, but at the same time, she feels like she has to be cautious of something.

This feeling she has in her system feels… strangely familiar yet foreign at the same time. Like the recurring dream, she had for years but couldn’t exactly remember it.

She glanced at Colin again only to find him already looking in her direction. She felt her breath has been snatched from her lungs.

Elinor was quick to look down. She gets the tray to put the teacups and the thistle in and slowly walks towards the living area, breathing deeply to calm herself, hoping the dark yellow hue of their lamp would make her flushed cheeks unnoticeable.

All her life in this house, there was not a time where she felt very conscious of her every movement.

Until this particular day, when a young man, who obviously likes her, is sitting on one of their chaises, casually smiling from time to time at the conversation of their mothers.

It dawned on Elinor how intrigued she was by him.

And even though she felt very conscious of herself at the moment for the first time in the house she grew up in, there was a part inside her that hopes for the rain to last a little longer.

So that Colin will stay around for a while.

~·~·~·~

A series of knocks came from his bedroom door. He knows it’s coming. Colin had been expecting it since his mother saw him at Elinor’s house earlier.

He didn’t bother to get up from his seat and get the door. He already knew that his mother would just burst through it.

The sound of an opening door followed the knocks, and someone entered his room.

“Colin, love, can we talk to you?”

We? Colin’s head snapped from being bent over to his table. He saw not just his mother, but his father as well, arms linked as they walked their way toward his table.

“What is it?” he asks. He assessed the look on his parent’s faces, and he instantly understood that the things they were about to discuss is not just about his presence earlier in Elinor’s home, Colin deemed it to be more important than that.

“Let us go to your father’s study.” said her mother.

Colin quickly obliged. He stood up from his table, dropping the magnifying glass he’s been holding. Earlier, before his parents went knocking at his door, he was studying the map of the mortal’s world, finding the store that Bonnie mentioned where one can buy the newest book that she requested from him in return for setting him up with Elinor.

He followed his parents to his father’s study. He shut the door as they entered the dark-lit room. Lightning struck outside as he settled himself on the seat fronting his parents.

“Your father thinks it’s time for you to know the truth not known to many,” his mother said to him.

He remained quiet. You see, Colin is way smarter than he seemed. And Colin, he is confident that he knew every truth about his family, including its deepest darkest secret.

As the only son of Conrad and Tatiana, he is to inherit their family’s wealth and rule the pack as an Alpha one day. Colin took it as a responsibility to figure out his family’s secret in order for him to keep it under the surface.

Now, as he sits quietly, waiting for his father to spill whatever he was going to spill, Colin tries to guess what it is.

He was confident that he already knew what was going to be said, but as it turned out, Colin was completely wrong to think that they were going to discuss family matters and not about Elinor.

“There’s something important we want to discuss with you about Elinor. I see that you have grown interested in her. Well, it’s no doubt that you do, son. Elinor is an attractive young woman.” His mother started.

Colin’s body is suddenly tense. His mind is racing to a possible end of this conversation.

Are they against the idea of him making advancement towards Elinor? Is he about to hear something about her that would make him avoid her starting tomorrow? Colin doesn’t know and he is about to arrive at his wit’s end.

“She is. She is the only lady who looks past my scar as if it wasn’t there.” He said.

His parents shared a meaningful look with each other before they looked at him again.

“Son, you ought to know that Elinor is Gregor’s daughter,” his father said.

Colin’s whole body freezes at the mention of a familiar name. His breath got caught in his throat. He had heard the name countless times, and he had heard about him just as much. His father, to this day, grieved the death of his long-time friend from time to time.

Gregor Wildes. He was a family friend. Unfortunately, Colin was too young when Gregor was still alive. He could only recall fragments of his face. His eyes widened when he remembered the color of Gregor’s hair. It was the same color as Elinor’s.

“Then that means… Glinda was not her real mother. Does Elinor know?” Colin inquired, his heart feeling bad for Elinor.

“No, nobody knows aside from your father and me, and now, you.” was his mother’s quick reply.

“And it should stay that way,” she added in a serious tone.

“She’s a Were-witch, Colin. Gregor’s wife is a witch.”

Colin didn’t know what to say. His mind stopped working for a minute. When the realization finally dawned on him, he couldn’t make much sense of it.

If Elinor’s mother is a witch, then that only meant Gregor broke the rule made between werewolves and witches ages ago.

“What?” Was the only word that escapes his mouth.

Colin’s mind wondered how did Gregor meet his wife when it was long prohibited for them to cross the line that separates them from witches? Above all questions, he wanted to know why. Why did he break the rule that was made for everyone’s sake?

His father’s chest expanded as he took a long breath.

“You were once dead, Colin. Elinor’s mother brought you back to life.”

To say that Colin’s world stopped at that moment was an understatement. If Colin was able to voice out one word just a second ago, now he couldn’t seem to find his voice. He was shocked to the bone.