settle scores
1467 Words
Bella pov
I didn't sleep well. How could I after the conversation I had with Asher and how it ended?
I laid there most of the night staring at the ceiling and listening to the quiet around me. Luna was restless again, pacing in my head without explanation, which didn't help.
By the time morning light came through the window I had made up my mind.
I was not leaving. For whatever reasons Asher wanted me gone, I'd stay around instead.
A knock at the door came before I could figure out how exactly I was going to make that happen.
Kiara entered a moment later carrying a breakfast tray.
She looked bright as always, like it was any other morning.
It looked like she hadn't heard that her brother was sending me away today.
"Good morning." She greeted,setting the tray on the bedside table and dropped onto the edge of the bed.
She still had that smile on her face, like nothing could ruin her mood.
“ You look like a mess. Haven't you slept?” She asked and I had to weigh her words to figure out if she knew Asher's plans. Because if she did, she didn't show it.
I sat up and looked at her.
“ I could not.” I answered truthfully. Something flickered in her eyes but it was gone before I could catch it.
“ I didn't know we had ghosts that haunt people at night here.” She joked, probably trying to lift my visibly sour mood.
"Kiara, I don't want to leave." I said, deciding to tackle the issue at hand.
The way her smile dropped told me that she knew everything and was just pretending not to.
Kiara was quiet for a moment.
"Bella…" She started but I called her off.
"I know what you are going to say." I cut in. "That it's for the best. That Asher knows what he is doing." I looked at her. "But something is wrong Kiara and you know it. And sending me away right now feels like exactly the wrong thing to do."
Kiara looked at her hands, not quite meeting my gaze, as if afraid of meeting my gaze.
"He won't change his mind." She said quietly. "You know how he is."
"I know." I confirmed. "That's why I need you."
She looked up.
“Me?” She let out a nervous laugh. “ What can I possibly help you with?”
"Talk to him." I said. "Please. Just try. You are the only person he actually listens to."
Kiara searched my face for a long moment. I could see her wrestling with it. The loyalty to her brother pulling one way and whatever she felt about me pulling the other.
"Please." I said again.
She exhaled slowly.
"Okay." Kiara said finally. "I will talk to Asher and try to convince him to let you stay for now." She agreed and something in my chest loosened.
"Thank you." I said.
She nodded then reached over and pushed a glass of milk from the tray toward me.
"Have something to drink first." She offered.
I picked it up without thinking and drank.
By the time I was almost done drinking, the room tilted.
I blinked and tried to shake my head to clear it but it didn't help.
I looked between the glass in my hand and Kiara. She was looking back at me.
"Why…" I started, looking at Kiara.
She was looking at me with an expression I had never seen on her face before.
It was something that looked painfully like guilt.
"I'm sorry Bella." She said quietly. "I promised Asher I would help him send you away even if it kills me." Her voice broke slightly on the last word.
The glass slipped from my fingers and the world went dark.
The last thing I remembered was Kiara rushing to my side and holding my head against herself.
****
When consciousness finally slipped back, I woke up gasping.
The ceiling above me was wrong and it took me a second to remember where I was or should I say, what happened last before I passed out.
A rather unfamiliar scent hit me…the smell of humans.
I could not trace even the faintest hint of wolf's scent in the air.
I looked around and realised that I was in some small apartment.
I had no idea how long I had been out.
As I tried putting fingers into everything surrounding me, it hit me.
The blood moon.
I scrambled off the bed and rushed to the window. My stomach dropped the moment I looked up.
The moon was already red and sitting low and heavy in the sky.
Luna slammed into me so hard I grabbed the window frame to steady myself. She had been quiet for so long but right now she was fully there and pulling hard in one direction.
We needed to go back.
I didn't stop to think about it. I grabbed nothing, left everything and went straight for the door.
Outside the night air hit me and I felt the blood moon immediately. Everything insíde sharpened. Smells, sounds, the feeling in my legs and Luna pushing from the inside out.
Once outside, I smelt a rather familiar scent. It was Asher's.
That realization slammed into me harder and I almost doubled.
Asher is the one who brought me here? But didn't he say Leon would send me away? So what changed?
Anyway, I didn't have time to ponder on that.
“We need to find him.” Luna whispered to me. I could feel her pushing hard for control, wanting nothing else but to rush back to her mate.
“ Follow his scent. It will lead us back to him.” She urged. I didn't have the time to argue with Luna this time. I didn't want to argue too because finding Asher was the only thing I was thinking about.
I pushed across houses, searching for a perfect place to shift.
When I reaches at the edge of the human settlement, I stopped.
I knew shifting was going to hurt. I hadn't shifted since before everything fell apart and my body had been through too much. Luna had been too far away for too long.
I let her through anyway and goddess , it hurt like hell.
Nothing about shifting was smooth, not like it was ever smooth even back then.
Maybe that's why everyone mocked me for being a weak omega. The weaker a wolf was, the more painful the shift would be.
My bones shifted wrong, muscles pulled and for a long horrible moment I couldn't tell which way was up. I bit down hard and pushed through it until Luna's paws were on the ground.
She lifted her nose and took one breath and found him immediately. There also felt like there was something else I could not pinpoint pulling me toward that direction.
Probably the mate bond.
I followed that inexplicable feeling and let Luna loose.
She raced and I stopped thinking and just went with her. The ground under her paws felt heavenly, the red moon above the trees and the wind seemed to coerce her to move faster.
She moved with urgency, like nothing else mattered except the direction we were running.
She was faster than I remembered I have to admit.
The blood moon was doing something to her, pouring strength into every stride. As expected of a sacred night among my kind.
I don't know how long I raced until the pack borders finally came to view.
I could not help but marvel how despite it being a blood moon night, I didn't get to come across any rogues.
It's like the moon Goddess was for once working in my favour.
I shifted back before we crossed the pack borders.
I landed hard and stayed on my knees for a moment catching my breath, my whole body shaking.
Then I got up and ran towards the gate.
The pack gates were ahead and standing just outside them was Kiara.
She has her arms wrapped around herself and staring out into the dark like she had been standing there waiting for a while. Did I forget to mention she was pacing around?
When Kiara saw me, something crossed her face that looked like relief mixed with guilt.
She walked toward me, a tired smile blooming on her lips.
"I knew you would come back." She declared, her voice breaking slightly. "Thank you for coming back Bella.” She added.
I looked at her and forgot all the words I had prepared for her throughout the race back here.
“ I will settle this score with you later. Now, take me where Asher is.”
- Writer
