The doors were locked. The night was veiled in a velvet blanket of moon beams, and, stars were scattered over the horizon. Outside the rustic house, was darkness, desolate and demonically silent. Streetlights flashed, wearing down of old age. Aran watched from afar, he watched the lights in each room turn of one by one, engulfing him in darkness, he listened the yawns and the sighs, he felt the ground shudder as rain drops cascaded on the earth like bullets. Yet, Aran waited, silent, patient. This is what the male alpha did every night, and he wasn't going to stop; until today. Aran had time to think whilst in the wild, he had time to hunt, lead, and nurture his sister who was in critical need of medical help. The wolfblood was no longer afraid of the human world, he just didn't know how to conquer the tame wold, and that scared him to pieces. In fact, Aran couldn't disturb Jana who was asleep inside the house, he didn't want to wake he, as the steady heartbeat arithmetically glub glubbed nonstop whilst his turned tachycardic. Aran bowed his head- Jana had been so peaceful for months now, he couldn't cause more pain- yet Aran couldn't walk away. There was no turning back. Aran crept through the borders of the woods, hidden beneath shrubs and long vining grass. A sharp pain wedged into Aran's next and he let out a whimper, heat slid down his spinal cord and that's when he noticed. Aran was in wolf form. Aran craned his neck, and a shadowed figure loomed by, clutching a gun; Darkness ate him whole, and then Aran saw nothing.
The sun stretched into the sky, dabbing watercolour light and streams of endless warmth into the cold hazy morning. Jana awoke and sat up. Heavy sleep bags slumbered underneath her eyes, and she struggled to slip out of her bed nest like she'd normally do. TJ was already eating breakfast by the time she sat down with her new pack. Imara had excused herself half way through to take an important phone call, leaving Jana suspicious- the wild wolfblood always thought she was an equal in segolia, but it seems that everyone's got ulterior motives...
"If you want to eat that, you've got to put it in your mouth."
Jana came back into reality, and she looked over to TJ who was cheekily smirking at her, she laughed a little realising that her bacon sandwich was centimetres away from her lips, and it had been in that position since Imara left the room.
"That's what I intend doing." Jana casually retorted, rolling her eyes.
"Come on wild child, tell uncle TJ the problem." TJ said, his playful grin still stuck to his face, Jana heaved and put down her bacon sandwich in defeat, suddenly feeling not that hungry. TJ shifted his chair closer, and Jana watched him wait, ready to listen with all ears, and with all his heart yet she couldn't speak aloud. "It's me mum isn't it."
"What makes you say that?"
"Come on Jana, it's always my mum."
"Not always." Jana protested, but even Jana couldn't disagree. "Okay, maybe a bit- sometimes."
"You mean every time, she's got a radar big enough to monitor the whole of England, let alone Newcastle."
"I haven't got a problem with that."
"Then what?"
"Who is your mum speaking to right now?"
TJ stared at her in disbelief and shook his head. Jana frowned in confusion, folding her arms in annoyance. "What's so funny?" Jana demanded, feeling her fingertips tingle as the wolf felt free.
"You're a wolfblood, and you ask me a question about hearing. Figure it out for yourself."
Jana smiled a little, and without a word tuned in with her senses, feeling the world fall beneath her as every single thing intensified into a whirlwind of freedom. TJ laughed and joined Jana on her journey with the senses. "A male you say? 23? I see, no take him to quarantine he still may be a little feral, you know the wild bloods always got little too bite than bark. I won't be telling Jana don't worry, the less she knows the easier this whole procedure will be."
Jana snapped out of her senses and landed in the world of reality. Dread washed over her face, and her mind raced over every single idea to why she was involved. What was Imara hiding?
"Jana what have you done this time?" TJ gravely muttered raising an eyebrow at her. Jana shrugged and her eyes flickered from side to side, anger raging within. "Or maybe the question is what are you going to do about it?" TJ quickly said, noticing the wolf emerging within her and the wolfblood's growing turmoil.
"Speak to Imara obviously." Jana said, striding out of the dining room to the bottom of the staircase, even when Jana had been living with her new pack, she still couldn't navigate her way round: it was like a maze. TJ ran after her, slinging his bag over his shoulder as they headed towards the living room where his mother lurked inside.
"Hold your horses." TJ exclaimed, leaping in front of Jana, as a barrier to her and the door. "Why do you want to ask my mother?"
"Because we're meant to be equals, and I want answers."
"And you think MY mum is going to give YOU answers?"
"She'll give me something, and that's better than nothing."
"Or we could figure it out for ourselves, me Mateti Emilia and you doing it together as an adventure."
"And look where it got us last time- on the news with the world nearly finding out about the existence of wolfbloods."
TJ's complacent grin was wiped away, and he groaned. Jana swung open the door and barged through, TJ trailing behind. Imara swivelled round to see them both, ending a call hurriedly as a reassuring smile set on her lips like jelly. "Jana, a problem?"
"What aren't you telling me."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Er, yes you do."
"I can assure you I don't."
"Don't push me." Jana roared, lunging forwards.
"Er mum we heard your conversation earlier, so you are hiding something you know..." TJ informed quickly stepping between both female alphas her were staring gravely at each other.
"That's none of your concer-"
"It has every concern to me." Jana interjected bellowing. Imara sighed and hesitated a little before tking a step back. Jana was a little startled, not sure how to react as her boss remained calm, glaring at her and her son.
"I didn't want to tell you because it will upset you Jana, and just like with the Covaci case."
"Is it the wild pack?" Jana whispered, all traces of wolf disappeared, and Imara just nodded sympathetically. "What's happened?"
"We shot a wolf last night as we saw it roam free near the city. It was too weak to morph this morning, so we injected the wolf with adrelenine to cause act as a catalyst to transform back to human form, turns out it is a wolfblood from the wild."
"How can you be sure?"
"We took a DNA sample, and compared it to the DNA Kincaid had stored of all of your pack's DNA in order to make the wolfblood serum. No tame wolfblood would be as foolish to roam the streets at night."
Jana shuffled backwards, her face ashen grey as her throat became a backwash of sand particles. "But you only shot the wolf with tranquilising serum right?"
"No, he was way too close to the perimeter of this house to just use tranquiliser. We couldn't take the risk that the wolfblood would not be affected by tranquiliser shots." Imara's face was cold, and monotonous as Jana collapsed to the ground, TJ ran straight next to her and embraced her comfortingly.
"Though this wolfblood will be alright yeah? It's not dead." TJ exclaimed, staring at his mother for some kind of reassurance, some kind of hope yet all the warmth he got was from Jana as she glared at the ground in grave awe.
"Who was the wolfblood." Jana stated, waiting for a reply. Yet Imara didn't respond. Within a second Jana was off the ground, and pinned her boss against the wall, nearly knocking off the Latin lamp from the side table. Jana's eyes burned golden orbs, and Imara flinched, keeping her cool. "Tell me."
"You forget who you're talking to."
"No you forget, tell me who the wild wolfblood is."
"I mustn't."
"Why mum, why can't you tell us?" TJ pleaded, not bothering to break up the feud, instead TJ just stood there.
Imara glowered at them both with sunken eyes, and shook her head a little. "The wolf wolfblood hit his head, and has severe brain damage in the medial temporal lobe, and he could acquire retrograde amnesia. The trauma for you Jana, when you are still a cub, would be devastating. You wouldn't be able to live a normal life looking after the him, you'd see your duty as an helper when you are born to be an alpha."
Jana frowned, and everything sank in. 23, male, wild. Her eyes pricked and it felt like needles were injecting her with venom. Weakly, she looked over to Imara, and she didn't need to ask. "Aran." Jana whispered, and the room grew silent.