Yil

"Here..we..are..finally," Roy wheezed, covering the last distance to the top of the plateau. "Why the heck does he have to be so far from civilization and flat land?" he complained, wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead.

"Come on. It's not that bad, Roy," I laughed, elated to be on top of such a high landscape with the view of the magnificent pack below. It was breathtaking.

He grumbled a few incoherent words in response, communicating his disagreement, before he collapsed onto the soft grass under the large oak tree.

Chuckling at his demeanour, I inhaled the sweet-smelling breeze with relish and released my hair from the make-shift bun to flitter softly about my exposed shoulders. It was so peaceful here.

"It reminds you of home, doesn't it?" I sighed, acknowledging Kiba's advancing presence.

"I suppose," he replied, simply, taking a visual sweep of his surroundings in a disinterested manner.

Ever since that dreaded day, he had lost the luster in his eyes. Only content to exist as a vessel as opposed to truly living. He no doubt fought to curb the consuming desire to be with his mate. I had caught him on numerous occasions, standing outside Dina's room in the early hours of the morning. He would wait for only a few minutes with his eyes closed and his head rested against the door as he sought momentary comfort to the agonizing hurt that plagued his being due to their separation.

It was quite sad to watch him suffer and deteriorate everyday into a shell of himself but try as I might, I couldn't seem to cheer him up.

I wasn't the one he needed. Unfortunately, the one he needed refused to see him. In addition, Aryn wouldn't even allow it.

"I can climb on my own, Alpha. I've got this okay?" Star whined in an attempt to dissuade Aryn from his mission to keep guard behind her.

However, just as she uttered those words, her boot caught on a discarded twig. She stumbled, slightly, on the winding path that led up the plateau and if not for Aryn's timely hold on her waist, she was sure to have toppled down, towards where the horses were resting.

"You were saying?" he murmured against her ears in amusement and she coloured in embarrassment.

Their friendship reminded me so much of Zena and I's relation. In that they treated each other with utmost care and respect, an element that had been quite evident in the way Aryn talked so fondly of her. From our conversations, I had gathered that Star was a childhood friend who had been there for him in hard times and in all sincerity, I was glad that he had such a deep connection with her. She was such a sweet and caring individual who I didn't mind being close to Aryn.

It was more than could be said for Tina who I was happy to be rid of.

I moved towards the edge of the plateau to lend her a hand which she accepted. "Thank you so much," she smiled as I pulled her onto the crest of the highland.

"Your welcome," I sing-songed, drawn to the sunray illumination in her bright, red locks.

From the exterior one would regard Star as nothing but a being of frail essence and mannerism. Yet the repressed embers of power enclosed within her cinereous orbs lit up like the crown of scarlet atop her head, exhaling a subtle insense of authority.

Authority which I now recognised and of which she wasn't even aware of.

It was all rather confusing, almost laughable, that my mind had been plunged into a whirlwind of imaginative musings due to the trick of light that so happened to highlight her features. For the more I stared, the less I saw. She really was unique.

"Hunter better be in his cabin or I might scream his name at the top of my lungs in frustration," she rolled her shoulder blades to relieve any muscle tensions before she bent to tie her shoelaces.

"That's not a bad idea even now," I surveyed the view around us, starting from the horizon above to the grasslands below and felt giddy at the prospect of the echo of my voice travelling across the landscape.

"It does but Hunter is going to get super cranky if his peace happens to be disturbed," she looked up at me with a smile and laughed. "That's why I'll only do it if he's not here," she added, getting up as Aryn balanced on the plateau.

"What if I still want to try it out despite your warning?" I schemed with a smirk.

"Try what out?" Aryn asked when he neared us while Stars' eyes widened as she realised that I wasn't playing.

"I YIL McCARTHY CLAIM THIS UPLAND AS MINE!!" I shouted, the wind current carrying my voice far and beyond. The feeling was exhilarating.

Aryn and Kiba looked at me stunned, not quite understanding the motive behind my action. Roy's rambunctious laughter was the only disruption to the shell-shocked silence as he propped himself on his elbows and threw his head back in amusement.

"Yil, I was only joking when I said I would do that," Star gasped, trying to repress a growing smile.

"Please don't tell me you gave her that idea," Aryn groaned in feigned exasperation.

"Guys, I promise it's fun. Try it," I encouraged with an excited bounce.

Kiba avoided my gaze and stared off in the opposite direction. Aryn whistled, softly, before nudging Star towards me. Almost as a sacrificial lamb to the overzealous wolf that was me. Nevertheless, I wasn't deterred from my mission to get at least one of them to try it out.

"Just once, hmm?" I exhorted, pulling a reluctant Star closer to the edge.

"Hunter's going to have one hell of a fit," Roy sniggered, getting up to dust his clothes and looking in the direction of the lone cabin a few paces from where we stood.

"I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD Woohoo!" I hooted, nodding my head to encourage Star to follow my lead.

"AND SHE'S GOT ME CAPTIVE!" Star followed, clamping a hand on her mouth before she burst into a fit of giggles which I joined in.

"THAT'S RIGHT. I'M..THE..BOSS!" I enunciated each word with a hit on my chest in pure caveman fashion. The action caused Aryn to chuckle and even Kiba cracked a small but noticeable smile.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey," a young man materialised from nowhere and spoke in hurried tones as he rushed towards where we stood, his black overflowing cape jacket, fluttering wildly about him in the air. "How is my intellectual component supposed to function with all the ruckus you two are making?" He whispered, fiercely, placing long fingers by both sides of his temple.

"A-and I'm guessing that's Hunter," I mumbled with a slight cringe to Star who nodded, discreetly.

"Don't be such a killjoy, Hunter. The place needed some livening up anyway," Aryn pointed out, motioning to our serene environment which housed the lone modern-styled cabin, standing majestically in the middle.

"That concept of livening things up is precisely why I have alienated myself from society," he ground out, softly, with a hushed tone. "I simply cannot thrive in such a habitat so do keep your ebullience down at the pack where it belongs," he frowned, slowly gazing in my direction with translucent azuline orbs that shone with intelligence.

He wasn't what I was expecting at all. Especially considering the fact that he was the pack's druid.

My mind's holographic depiction of the characteristic white-beared old wolf with the stony glare and carved staff was thoroughly shattered. Only to be replaced by a strikingly handsome male in his late twenties with short brown hair and a toned build.

"Cuz!" Roy beamed, walking up to Hunter who facepalmed in annoyance. "Certainly not the welcome I was expecting but it's good to see you," he enveloped Hunter, who tried to evade his advances, in a man hug and ruffled his hair, affectionately.

"Oh and by the way, Hunter is Roy's cousin," Star whispered, disclosing the information in answer to Roy's behaviour.

"Do let my superior temple go, you loudmouth," Hunter wriggled out of Roy's embrace and backed away from him. "Now look what you've done to my cape," He complained, smoothing out the creases of his garment with a flat palm.

Someone was a neat freak.

"Oh! My bad for missing my own flesh and blood a little too much," Roy theateratically clutched his chest with a forlorn look before ruffling Hunter's hair again with an impish smirk. Thereby, irritating Hunter the more.

"Flesh and blood relates to direct progenitor lines of which I am not," Hunter groaned, flicking Roy's wrist away and running a finger, delicately, through his tresses. "Why are you even here anyway?" He questioned, impatiently.

"A matter concerning the regressing lychantropic gene," Aryn interrupted from where he stood, watching the whole exchange unfold.

"And you had to bring him along?" Hunter cried, motioning to Roy who flexed his muscles, repeatedly, in a self-absorbed manner.

I was starting to think the real reason why Hunter moved up here wasn't because of society but because of a certain individual.

"Of course I had to tag along. How else would our precious white-wolves be safe?" Roy bragged, puffing out his chest as Aryn rolled his eyes, no doubt regretting the decision to include Roy in the expedition.

Hunter's attention moved from the annoying Roy to Kiba and then to where I stood beside Star and after a few seconds of just quiet scrutiny, he turned slowly towards his cabin, motioning that we should follow him.

"A man of few words except his peace is disturbed?" I questioned, quite perplexed by his behaviour.

I mean you'd think I wouldn't be bothered considering the fact that I had to deal with Measer Fern for the majority of my life. However, I was half-hoping that he'd be much more receptive than Measer Fern.

Guess an important requirement for being a druid was the quiet, mystical aurora they all embodied.

"Kind of," Star replied, climbing the outdoor stairs ahead of me. "He's probably just surprised that Alpha Aryn actually managed to get not just one white-wolf but two," she added as a possible explanation for his behaviour once we had reached the first floor of the cabin.

It's inside was one of simplistic elegance and style. The round walled, architecturally crafted library was embellished with warm hues, further highlighted by the bright sun rays that filtered through the spider-webbed glass panels above. A rotary, lighted crystal orb, propped on the statue of a wolf arching its back with its nuzzle raised in a howl, harboured the swirling, chaotic energies of light and dark. Their essence crackled and raved within the restrictive containment, casting lighted glows upon the books, arranged neatly in shelves, and the hanged paintings beautifying a mini-gallery.

The moonglade illustration was particularly enchanting.

"It's been aeons since the last white-wolves were seen and by some mystery you managed to find them," Hunter murmured, glancing momentarily towards Kiba and I before walking up to a bookshelf.

"Well, I didn't exactly find them.." Aryn chuckled, shrugging his jacket off and draping it by the back of a chair. "...more like they found me,"

"Care to elaborate?" Hunter drawled, his voice coming out from a space within the bookshelf where he had, undoubtedly, crawled through.

"I happen to be mated to a white-wolf who couldn't spend a single day without me and so portalled right back into my pack," he stated, sending a cheeky wink my way.

I blew an equally cheeky air-kiss in return. He was surprised at the gesture and turning my back to him in triumph, I took an interest in Hunter's vast collection of literary readings.

"And who would that mate be? The male or female?" Hunter backed out of his crawling space, gently, and facing the audience he left behind, he added. "What?"

If looks could kill, then Hunter would have been long gone for Aryn harboured a countenance of great displeasure and annoyance at his question. Kiba looked repulsed to say the least. Roy and I tried hard to hide our amusement and Star was so engrossed in an odd-looking apparatus that she hadn't even heard the conversation.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny," Aryn deadpanned, dryly, with an elongated fang.

"Easy there now Alpha," Hunter placated, setting down a few hardbacks onto a glass table in the middle of the room. "That was a reasonable question, no?" Aryn and Kiba's look of utmost resentment communicated, saliently, the fact that they didn't think so. "O-okay, I'm guessing then that you're his mate?" He turned away from their murderous gazes, swiftly, and looked at me.

"Yes. I'm Yil and that's Kiba, my pack member," I introduced myself with a smile and motioned to Kiba as well.

"Hmm, this ritual won't be much of an inconvenience then," he mused, turning back towards the table before I could ask him to elaborate more on his statement.

Luckily, Aryn voiced out my question almost immediately. "What ritual?"

Hunter didn't give an answer, instead he broke into a series of soft chants before grabbing a nearby staff, carved in the shape of a celtic totem, and walked into another compartment of the room.

"I hate it when he goes quiet and mystical on me," Aryn grumbled.

"Welcome to my world," I chuckled, fascinated by the artistic outline of an ancient volume which had been kept in a dimly lit box-shaped glass shelf. "Measer Fern is much worse," I added, absentmindedly, as I itched to feel the paperback in my hand. I was drawn to it.

"Well, I really don't have any patience for all this today," he dismissed, walking towards the room Hunter had disappeared into and motioning Roy along.

Number one rule for dealing with a druid was to never force them for information. It never yielded anything good, anyway.

"The mechanism behind this propelling unit is a work of art," Star breathed in awe from her crouched position near the apparatus. Her fingers caressed its body with light feather movements and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ears, she continued her observation.

Kiba moved, soundlessly, to where she was and squatted beside her. He too regarded the apparatus with interest.

"It's magnificent isn't it?" Star took his hand, gently, and placed it on the machine with a welcoming smile.

"Yeah, it is indeed a work of art," he replied, immersing himself into the world of machinery. A world that still managed to spark a little bit of light in his eyes.

Convinced that they were both occupied, I turned to the glass shelf and opened it, carefully. Grasping its content, I placed the volume on a lectern and flipped the pages opened to where a scarlet thread lay, undisturbed.

The calligraphic lettered title, Oceanic Tears, introduced the retelling of old tales of the past. Only this time with the inclusion of supernatural creatures other than the lycanthrope race. It was quite hard to believe that there was a time when lycans, white-wolves, vampires, sorcerers, ogres, fairies and the like, lived in territories not far from each other. Each territory was ruled by its own individual hierarchical tenets and between the creatures there existed a system of mutual respect as well as trade.

It was written that the different creatures were sometimes mated to individuals outside their unique gene pool. One of such memorable pairings was between the Alpha of the Crescent pack, Cynewulf Belasco, and a sorceress by the name of Esméralda Ayres. They were described to be the perfect match. Whereas, Cynewulf was as calm as the seas, clothed in luxurious ebony skin with a crown of curly locks, encapsulating his sagacious essence. Esméralda was the fiery tempest to his calm waters. A strong formidable character as white as snow with scarlet-hued lips that commanded the attention of many. Dark luscious tresses tumbled down the length of her slender back to meet voluptuous curves that oozed off a compelling feminine essence. She was fire and he was ice.

They would go on to rule for many years as the top clan among lycans and other supernatural creatures alike. Even at a point, attempting to unify the sorcerer clans with the lycanthrope race. However all the balance among the clans was not to last for very long as the ambition, that grew steadily in their hearts, got the better of them. The book's account charges Esméralda with the role of triggering the fateful events that led to the eventual destruction of white-wolves.

My fingers shook, slightly, as I psyched myself up to turn the page. Finally, I was going to learn the truth behind the separation era but there was a part of me that preferred to dwell in the depths of blissful ignorance. It advised me to close the book and move away. While another stronger part of me demanded to know. Needed to know.

So with a deep inhale, I flipped the page, slowly, and opened up the pandora box.

It was written that as a sorceress of higher rank and considerable power, Esméralda realised that the white-wolves could grant Cynewulf and her even much more power to assume total control over every creature, supernatural and human. She wanted to be revered as a god. It was a plan which she confided in Cynewulf and for which she was rebuked. He couldn't comprehend committing such to one of his own. However, being the opinionated, feisty woman that she was, Esméralda decided on her own counsel and rallied a small help of trusted sorcerers, vampires and the like to experiment her plan.

Young children and adolescent white wolves were reported missing with little to no traces. The ever-peaceful but relatively smaller white-wolf clan were distraught and with the assistance of other clans they sought to solve the mystery behind their missing clan members. Unbeknownst to them, Esméralda and her cronies had set an underground chamber where they brutally tortured and trained white-wolves as obedient killing machines. Ullyon, they found, had magical properties that aided in the subduing and hypnotisation of white-wolves.

Zombie elementalist, they were called and a terror they became unto other packs which they attacked under the instruction of Esméralda. Cynewulf saw all that was happening and was resolute in putting a stop to it but seeing the immense power that Esméralda had amassed for their pack, it was written that:

Absolute power corrupted his heart absolutely. Consequently, it darkened like the hue of his mate's tresses just as the sword in his calloused hands, glistened like the scarlet in her lips. His calm seas had been overthrown by the tempest that was she and in it they both dwelled. Mister and Mistress of Evil.

White-wolves became endangered not only to Esméralda but now to lycans and other supernatural creatures alike. They sought the source of Esméraldas' power and in true survival of the fittest fashion, they fought on coveted resources that only white wolves could provide, elemental magic. Creatures of other gene pools turned against their own white-wolf mates in the blink of an eye. White-wolves were enslaved, tortured and subdued. In cases where they presented too much of a threat because of sheer valour and will power, they were killed to avoid a revolution.

The Great war, which preceded the separation era ravaged across the land, destructively. Humans were not safe from this affair as well. As they served subservient roles, only a little higher than the position of most white-wolves. It was believed that Esméralda also had the power to absorb a white-wolf of their talent and with each day she grew stronger and much more terrifying. Gorey illustrations depicted the horrifying realities of ancient white-wolves. All creatures, save for the fairies, were not exempted from having a hand in the combined torture and mistreatment of white-wolves for their own gain.

Only when a stray tear escaped my eyes to rest as an insignificant dot on the parched paper did I realise that I was crying. I never imagined that they went through so much suffering.

Fixating on the tear stain decorating the century old paper in an effort to calm the rage that threatened to burst out of my being, my eyes followed the neat depiction of a family tree and I felt my heart stop at the revelation.

Alpha Cynewulf and Lunar Esméralda Belasco (alt. Vazquez). The great rulers of Crescent Pack (now Black Moon).....

A slight movement to my left jolted me from my reading and I slammed the book, hurriedly, in reflex motion. "Don't ever sneak up on me," I growled, defensively, to the presence that was still hidden from my sight. Wiping my tears, quickly, I turned and noticed that it was Hunter.

"Don't touch my things without permission and I'll respect your wishes next time," he replied, coolly, taking the book from my hand. "Besides, I didn't even sneak up on..." he started but trailed off once he took note of the book that I had been reading.

He sighed, deeply, his stance relaxing somewhat. "I should burn this book," he mused, tracing its ancient design.

"Why? So that you'll hide the atrocities of your ancestors!" I snarled, taking a predatory step towards him. He stayed rooted to the spot, calmly, as I neared him. "You bastards make me sick!" I spat, spitefully, wanting to cry and pound his face in at the same time.

Kiba was immediately alerted to my change of mood and I heard him shuffle to where I was. He placed a hand on my arm to calm me down and I hissed, menacingly, at him. "Just leave me be," I warned.

"What did you do to upset her?" Kiba demanded in a grave tone as Star stopped her observation to move closer to where we stood. Aryn and Roy also came in from the other compartment at the same time.

"Hunter, there you are. I was sure you went into that room but we couldn't seem to find you," Roy complained before stopping dead in his tracks once he registered the tense atmosphere in the room.

"Hey Yil, what's wrong?" Aryn took in my tense demeanour and quickly moved towards me but before he got closer, I put up an air shield between us.

"Don't come closer," I instructed, fighting the destructive feelings that burned, brightly, within me. If only Zena was here. In addition, with each urge to cause severe destruction came the painful sting of my bracelet and the intense heat that struck my core.

The pain I harboured was all too much for me and I needed an outlet.

"But what's wrong?" He placed his palms on the shield in concern, wanting to console me. "Talk to me," he pleaded.

"The truth which she seeked, she has found and all has been revealed," Hunter explained to the confused look of everyone in the room as he placed the paperback in a leather case. "It is required of the ritual that you mark her as that would connect not only you but the whole pack to her power source. Thereby, reversing the effects of the regressing lychantrope gene. However, I doubt she would be willing to do that now and with good reason," he added, looking at the book, sadly.

I couldn't discern whether he was sad because now a lot of regressing lycantropes would die if I decided not to get marked or because of the pain that his kind had caused my ancestors in time past. I couldn't care less.

"By hell, I have good reasons not to. I wasn't created for your own selfish gains, you know? You are despicable creatures, the whole lot of you!" I interjected, my voice cracking and going hoarse from the strain within me. My control on the shield wavered as I clutched my stomach when an abrupt pain striked my abdomen.

Kiba rushed to my side despite my warnings and putting my arm around his neck, he steadied me to my feet. "Strike me if you need to but that won't deter me from rendering assistance," he stated, gruffly to my half-hearted attempt to wave him off.

"Stay away from my mate, Kiba," Aryn growled, walking towards me but I countered his threat with one of my own.

"I really don't want you near me Aryn!" I warned, his facial features overcome by hurt and dejection. "I have half the mind to hurt you and devastatingly so," I bared my fangs as the shade of my eyes darkened. The ferality in me was reawakening with more aggression than I'd ever felt before.

"Alpha," Star placed a delicate hand on his arm to stop him from advancing towards me.

"I advise that you take heed of her words, Alpha," Hunter corroborated my words, softly. "Not only is she hurt emotionally but she's experiencing her first awakening,"

His words were lost completely on me as the pain in my abdomen had begun to rise in intensity. I wish I had registered the severity of his words but mind-linking Kiba on my decision to get back to the pack, he supported and escorted me out of the chaotic library.

"What exactly did she find out, brainiac? Now's certainly not the time for riddles and puzzles," Roy's question sounded so far away as I tried to control the wave of nausea that attacked me as we walked downhill towards the horses.

"She'll ride with me," Kiba stated, plainly, when it became apparent that I couldn't ride alone. I could sense the resistance emanating from Aryn's being but looking to me for any indication of reduced aggression and finding none, he mounted his horse, wordlessly.

Seated, securely behind Kiba, we all rode back towards the pack house. The sun was now hidden behind thick clouds that blocked its comforting rays. The atmosphere had gotten much chiller and I snuggled closer to Kiba in search of warmth. The gloom and hurt within me brewed steadily to spill out, inhibited, down my cheeks as I wept, bitterly, against Kiba's broad back.

Princess please talk to me, he implored down the mind-link but he received no answer in return.

All I could do was continue to cry as the brutal illustrations and descriptions kept swirling around my psyche to torture me.

I didn't know. I was ignorant of their sufferings for never would I have come here in the first place. Never would I have welcomed him into my heart. Never, never, never, never.....

I chanted on and on, almost running mad from the repetition.

"Whoa easy Midnight," Aryn's voice was my saving grace from the internal maze of torture that I was lost in.

"I'm guessing it's one of the displaced rouges. The Night Prowlers are a stubborn bunch, I'll give them that," Roy tutted, pulling out a pistol from the back of his jeans.

My eyes were drawn to the hooded presence crouched on the dusty road before us. He had, undoubtedly, just ran in front of Midnight and had gotten kicked by the horse in self defense. Now, he was cornered on both sides by Roy and Aryn who were atop their horses with weapons drawn.

"The question is not who he is but how he even got into the pack," Aryn growled, cocking his gun. "Show yourself," he demanded from the lone figure who's head was bent in concentration, probably thinking of a way out.

Just as the figure was about to run, Aryn shot a bullet, aimed at his leg but sensing its direction, he performed a timely backflip and landed on an area, out of Aryn's range. He had the opportunity to run deeper into the woods but grasping his chest, tightly, he dropped to his knees.

"Bastard thinks he's smart," Aryn chuckled, darkly, dismounting from Midnight and walking menacingly towards the hunched figure. Kicking him square in the chest, the figure fell, splayed unto the sandy roads but rose up swiftly albeit with some noticeable difficulties.

"I don't think he's a rogue Alpha. He's too weak to even fight," Star advised, voicing out my exact same sentiments.

"He's a rogue alright," Aryn countered, cornering the hooded figure. "I'll say it one last time, show yourself," he ordered, cocking his gun once again.

I peered at the figure from behind Kiba's broad back and sensed the fatigue that racked his whole being. His predicament mirrored my feelings in their totality. All of a sudden, Kiba stiffened and fixating more on the hooded presence, I understood why. The blossom, vanilla infused scent with a dash of cedar wood wafted over to me and warmed my insides. It was a scent, I could detect even if I was unconscious.

It was a scent I had longed to smell for the longest time and by some miracle it was here.

Aryn was getting infuriated with the presence's quietness and before he could administer the final shot, at close range, to the individual's head, I deflected the bullet with a gust of wind. Jumping down from the horse before Kiba, I rushed towards Aryn and formed a human protective shield in front of the hooded figure.

"Don't shoot, he's a pack member!" I screamed, frantically much to Aryn's confusion.

"Yil?" The figure called out hesitantly and my breath seized for a moment.

I was so hurt and delirious with longing that I'd even imagined him here.

"Is it really you?" He asked again and I turned slowly towards him with tears in my eyes.

Removing the hood from his head to reveal blonde locks and a handsome face that I had memorized over the years, I smiled brightly amidst my tears.

"Rae,"
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