Chapter 3 - Unexpected Friends

Zelena.

After a moment, I had nothing left. I stopped screaming and took a deep breath. I kept my eyes closed and continued to take slow, deep and soothing breaths.

“Do you feel better now?” a soft feminine voice said with a giggle. I sat up and shielded my eyes from the sun. As I looked up, I found one of the people I wanted to see least of all right now. I huffed and flopped back down on the grass. She chuckled and sat down next to me.

“Your pack lands are beautiful, you should feel very proud” she said as she fiddled with the petals of a purple flower. I didn’t respond, just pretended that she wasn’t there. I know I’m being childish, first with my unwillingness to talk too or even hear out Lunaya, and second with my reaction to Gunner defending her. I can blame it on pregnancy hormones maybe. I don’t

even know if she-wolves suffer from raging hormones like humans do.

“Your Alpha must be overjoyed with having an heir” she continued, fishing for something that would get me to respond.

“I never had a child of my own. Though with watching how much Lunaya has suffered, perhaps I’m a little relieved for that” she chuckled awkwardly. I need to put her out of her misery,

“Look Alyse, if you’ve come to bat for Lunaya, you can save your breath. I’m not interested in hearing anymore, okay” I said exasperatedly and turned onto my side, with my back now to Alyse.

“To be blunt with you Luna, you’ve barely heard anything yet. Definitely not enough to form a proper opinion. Why won't you hear her out?” she quipped back. I felt her lay down at my side, not too close, but close enough to make it awkward.

“Why should I? She abandoned me. I was raised by a hunter that hated me. He beat me daily, tortured me, starved me, made sure that every day of my life was a living hell”.

“Yes, but you were alive. Lunaya has lived the last seventeen years with half of her heart dead. She lost everything the day you were taken. She lost her home, her pack, her Mate, her family. She has nightmares every night, reliving the moment over and over and over again. Imagine the kind of toll that would have on a person. Reliving the worst day of your life every night when you fall asleep”. Alyse paused for a moment as I absorbed what she had said. I didn’t really think of it from her perspective. I've been wrapped up in my own thoughts and feels I had wondered why she held so much hatred for hunters. If that’s not a good reason, then I don’t know what is.

“But she still gave up” I said softly. I rolled onto my back and looked up at the sky.

“Oh child, she didn’t give up. After I found her, I thought she was going to die, and she was very close to it. But the All Mother still had use of her, so she brought her back” Alyse said fondly. I stayed quiet and let her continue,

“Even before she was fully healed, she began the search. She looked at each and every body of her fallen packmates. Each face she looked upon, and each time that she didn’t find her family, another piece of her heart died. Together we buried and burned what we could. She had to see her entire pack, including her Alpha, buried or cremated. She held the weight of that responsibility over herself. After she realised that you weren’t on the pack lands, I followed her to a wooden hut somewhere out in the mountains. It was there that we waited, for weeks we waited. But no one came, and again, I saw more of her die. After that, she began to hunt the hunters”

“She what?” I interrupted as I flew upright. Did I hear that right? Alyse sat up and gazed at me with sad eyes.

“The hunted became the hunter. Lunaya believed that it was her duty, her responsibility, to kill all those that were there that day. I don’t think that she would have told you this part of the past, but I think it is important that you know. The things she did in the name of retribution, what she had to become in order to enact her revenge. She was a beast. She was merciless and brutal” Alyse spoke with so much sadness and regret laced through her voice. I could tell this was not a story she liked telling. I could also feel how regretful her past actions make her feel now.

“And you? You stayed with her, you helped her?” I cut in,

“I did. For years she tracked down and killed entire hunter clans, in numbers well into the hundreds. And I stuck by her the whole time. She was unlike anyone I had ever encountered before. Her grief and anger were controlling her, but underneath all that darkness, there was love and loyalty. She may have become a monster to do what needed to be done. But she did it for honourable reasons. She did it for her family, for her pack. She did it for you”. Alyse is giving all of the credit to Lunaya, but she is downplaying the fact that she stayed. She didn’t just stay with her, she helped her. She must have a lot of love for Lunaya in order to do that.

“She killed for me?” I asked, somewhat confused at how this is considered a good thing,

“Of course she did. Hasn't your Mate, your pack members, your friends, haven’t they all killed for you too?”

“That’s different, it was during a battle. Lunaya chose to kill those humans”.

“It’s not that different. They killed to protect you. She killed to protect your memory. In her mind you were dead. We had no other reason to think any differently. Everywhere we went, all the places we searched and hunted, we found no signs that any of you were alive” she said with conviction,

“How is that possible? It's not like I was hidden. I was right here, living, going to school and all that crap. I couldn’t have been that hard to find”

“Zelena, did you ever see any of the other hunters? Did the one that raised you ever have anyone come to your house, or did he take you to meet with anyone else?”

I thought about it. Hank was a hunter, so he had to have had some kind of contact with his brother or the other hunters. Right? But as much as I wracked my brain, I can’t remember ever meeting another person. Hank had us completely cut off from the rest of the world. The only other time I had human contact was at school. But I was Zelena Baxter. He used his last name as my own. I suppose it’s pretty strange that he kept my first name. Wait that is my name, isn’t it? Is that why she couldn’t find me.

“My name, Zelena, is that even my name?” I'm not sure I could handle any more changes. My whole life I have been Zelena. What if that is a lie too? Alyse smiled at me and reached forward to touch my hand.

“Zelena is the name your mother gave you. She told me once that you wore a small gold bracelet with your name engraved on it. It never came off. When you were taken, you were still wearing the bracelet. I guess the hunter didn’t see fit to change you name”. Alyse smiled softly and squeezed my hand.

“Or he didn’t care enough” I grunted. Alyse let go and sat up straight, pulling her shoulders back.

“Sweet girl, I am so sorry for how you were raised. The things that you had to go through at the hands of the hunter, your suffering, all of it. But you must know, that was not your mother's fault. She would have done everything in her power to keep you safe. She would have torn that man apart if she knew about it” Alyse said with her voice now taking a firmer tone. I wiped a stray tear from my cheek. It still hurts to think about my past. Even with the returned memories of Selene added to them. But somehow Alyse’s apology felt good. As much as I want to disagree, as much as I want to hold onto this blame, I know Lunaya couldn’t have done anything to help me. Like they keep telling me, she thought I was dead.

“I know” I whispered quietly. Alyse shifted closer and gently placed her arm over my shoulder. I rested my head on her shoulder and we sat quietly, just watching the flowers dance with the breeze. I’ve been really tough on Lunaya. On my mother. But I think it has more to do with my own sadness. She was out there, somewhere in the world, all this time. The part that hurts, the part that I'm mad about, it’s that I could have been with her. We could have been a family. It’s not her fault, but it is easier to be angry and blame her for not being there, than it is to accept the truth. I miss her. Even though I never knew she existed. I miss the life we could have had.

After a while I heard heavy footsteps coming our way. I turned to see Tobias looking down at us.

“Come on little one, you need to eat now” he said gruffly and extended his hand for me. I hadn’t realised how hungry I had become. My mind was preoccupied. But now at the mention of food, my mouth salivated, and my stomach twitched with hunger. I looked at Alyse who smiled back at me,

“Go on. I'll be around if you ever want to talk” she cooed gently. I wrapped my arms around her neck and pulled her into me for a tight hug.

“Thank you” I whispered into her ear. She squeezed me back and ran her hand over my head and down my hair.

“Any time” she answered me before letting go. I grabbed Tobias’s hand and he pulled me to my feet. I groaned loudly as my numb legs protested under my slowly increasing weight. I rubbed my hands down my thighs and tried to squeeze them back to life. Tobias wasted no time in wrapping his arms around me and lifting me to his chest. With one massive arm supporting my legs, and the other holding my back. I cradled my belly and let him carry me. I've given up on trying to protest when he or Gunner decide to carry me. It's a lost cause trying to argue with my protective Alpha’s, best to just sit back and enjoy it the best I can.