CHAPTER 39Gelo and I rushed inside his room. A gray boxer was lying in the middle of his bed. His face turned red after seeing it. He grabbed it and threw it inside the laundry basket which was also in his room.“I’m sorry for that,” he said, scratching his back. He must not clean his room that often. His pens and papers were scattered on her table. His television wasn't perfectly aligned to the wall. And his bed wasn’t even made up.“Am I here to fix your room?”“No, Cath. Is my room that dirty and messy? I thought your room was worse when we cleaned it the last time.”I’m guilty. He’s telling the truth. But I was just stressed at that time and I don’t have the thought of cleaning my room just like what he’s doing most of the time.“Why can’t we stay outside? In your living room.”“That woman was there. She might disturb us again. Isn’t it weird an adult woman is lying around and will stop the two of us from being too sweet?”“It’s weird,” I said. “Mila’s always serious back in her
CHAPTER 40Mila ruined our moment. My perfect moment with Gelo. The blue lights from the corner of the room faded in, the audio from the television turned to be our background noise, and our skin kept our sanity. We lost it just when Mila entered, ruining the perfect moment.I don’t hate her before. In fact, I treated her like an ally. When she moved to Gelo’s house, she started ruining every moment that I have with Gelo. This wasn’t his actual home. She should not enter rooms without hesitation and open doors as if she wanted to catch us from doing something. I crossed my arms and spun my eyes.“What are you two doing?” She questioned us with her looks. Crazy thoughts must be piling up inside her mind.“We’re not doing something. We’re watching movies and you broke the moment.” I know that can be offensive, but there are other words that I could use to make it feel like an attack. I thought she’s gonna react to what I said. She kept her face, not affected by my words.“I’m sorry for
CHAPTER 41My brain could not comprehend what Mila said about the Alpha. He’s after the three of us. It sounded like a cat and mouse situation. In short, he’s going to kill us. Of course, he could easily do that with one snap. He is the strongest man in this town. Comparing me, I am just a half-blood wolf whom everyone can defeatI am nothing to him. It’s either I fight or I die. And I chose to fight and die rather than lose my life for nothing.These past few days whenever I attend my classes, the chairs and the students inside our classroom were decreasing. They were being transferred to the same class or same teacher but in a different section. And whenever I look at other classrooms, there was a surge of students. There are even students who are standing up just to catch up. Why are they avoiding me? Am I someone they should be scared of?It came to a point where there were only eleven of us in the class. The two of them were Gwen and Aki, and the others were the nerds who doesn’t
CHAPTER 42“Long time no see,” Chaz said. I came back to the training grounds, after a few weeks of not attending the training. I came earlier than I expected since there are no other students aside from me. “You’re thirty minutes early. You’re earlier than the sun. How come you walked alone too early in the morning?”I shrugged my shoulders and sat on the chair. “I need the time to meditate and think about what’s happening these past few days. My brothers were still asleep when I left. I wrote a note saying that I’ll be going here to practice. Angelo…” I sighed. “Too bad I did not wait for him. Is he attending these past few Saturdays?”Chaz placed his pointing fingers to his lips, making a cross sign. “Kaz is still sleeping. Lower your voice. He’s a beast who doesn’t like noise when he’s asleep. But to answer your question, Gelo does attend the training after he recovered. I asked about you. He did not say anything. A true friend indeed. I thought you quit, but I also realized you c
CHAPTER 43“Are you sure you’re going to face Skip for the duel?” Stacy asked while she was simulating punching the bark of the tree. Chaz told us to have a warm-up for half an hour. I guess the duel’s pretty extreme every year. Maybe I’m going to die later.I don’t about myself as well why I agreed to this. I can simply ignore or reject him. Backing out from a stronger opponent does not mean I’m afraid. It only means that I knew my capabilities. But I hate how he said those things. I hate how he challenged me. I thought we could be friends, but he’s making me feel that we’re rivals.“I don’t know. Maybe this is my demise.”Stacy chuckled. “To assure you, no one had died in duels before. Some got hurt pretty badly. I knew you can do well, but I’m still worried.” Though Stacy didn’t directly say that we were friends, I felt her worry for me. Girls could do that to other girls. Compassion for each other. “Break my best friend into pieces.”Stacy was a fierce woman when I first saw her.
Chapter 44The first time that I hurt my brothers physically was when I was seven years old. Felix surprised me that time by wearing a scary mask so I punched him straight in his face. I never intended to hurt anyone physically, especially my brothers.My parents saw me as someone who can never kill an ant. I am the image of a precious daughter who wouldn’t distress them in school. Who would not be brought to the guidance officer because she assaulted someone or cheated on an exam? A perfect daughter. Then that perfect daughter punched her brother in his face because she got scared.I did not count how many sorry’s I said that time. I knew it was more than a hundred. The punch was hard enough to left a dark blue bruise below Felix’s eyes.But the most wonderful thing about that time was that they didn’t get any at me. They told me that it was okay and it was my brother’s fault. That he should’ve not surprised me at all. I don’t know how I managed to punch my brother like that. That ha
CHAPTER 45It felt like I was falling into nothing. While I was going down, the leaves were sucked upwards. This is a dream. A dream of falling into nothing. And it’s tiring because I can’t close my eyes inside this dream.I fought Skip into a duel. He hurt me a lot during the process since he’s winning. But I did not let myself lose this time. I was mad by all of the words he said. He drove me furiously for me to transform into someone I never thought I would’ve.I could’ve stopped myself and let myself lose that day. I didn’t.While he was bragging about how strong he is, and how he can be the next Alexander the Great or Samson, I used all of my force to pull him down. His body dropped to the ground then I raged into the fire. I did not know what happened next. What I can remember was that I was using my force to fight him. Then I lost consciousness.While dreaming, I glanced at where I was falling. I saw bricks and stones scattered on the ground. My fall would be painful in real li
PART THREE: THE SUN’S RISINGCHAPTER 46There are times the wanting the truth is similar to telling me that I crave ice cream for the day. And there are times when I don’t want to hear the truth though there’s an urge inside me to find it out. Similar to wanting ice cream while feeling ill.Truth hurts. Truth pains. Truth is unbelievable.The tears from my eyes marked my face with a wet line. It felt like lava burning my skin every second it stays on it. It’s too painful to listen to the truth. I can’t be that wicked alpha’s daughter. I chose to be human. I will always choose to be a normal one.“I don’t want to listen to that, Nana. Please tell me you’re lying,” I said as I held both of Nana’s raspy century-old hands, begging for a twist. I wanted a plot twist now just like how I crave it when reading the story. And most characters, just like me, rejects the twist at first.Nana shook her head. I wished she lied this time. I wished she did everything to twist the truth and make me fe
FINAL CHAPTERScreams of wolves, whispers of blood, and cries of battle filled in the dawn. My forces, my alliance, the good side of the war is about to win. I did not expect the amount of minions and troops that my father has. He has a lot, almost outnumbering us.I noticed they weren’t trained enough. Some of them were forced. One was a teenage guy whom Gelo spared a life because the guy explained he was scared of what the alpha might do to their family so he unleashes in the fight. However, some are straight-up evil. Just like the alpha, they believed that this is fun. A wholesome entertainment until I came upon and slit their throat with my slasher claws.I’m a bit tired. If this wasn’t a huge fight, I would’ve opted for a coffee break. I need that. Just like how I crave it when I’m reading a book at the very late hours of the night. But no, there’s no way I could until this ends.The alpha is gone. He’s missing. One of the troops, now dead, said the alpha’s family already fled o
Chapter 60As the sun falls into the horizon, the people, or should I say the werewolves, of the town of Dusk and Dawn starts to gather at our place. Tonight the alpha’s madness will end. Tonight, everything will be more normal and free. No more threats and darkness. Only good, light, and life.“We’ll become a victor,” Jay told me while he was in the process of wearing the protective gear Nana personally made for him and Mom. They were the only humans to fight. Heroes, I believe. “It felt like I’m going in a fantasy war with these yet I have a small knife instead of a sword.”“It’s sharp though,” I said, trying the knife on my skin. A little more pressure and it will cut my skin. Nana told them to their brains or the heart. This knife will surely pierce through those body parts. “I’m scared.”“On what aspect?”“To fail. I have planned this. I have committed to this. The scary news is that it is really gonna happen.”Jay faced me and touched my face using his palms. “Darkness won’t end
Chapter 59Gelo wasn’t talking or even showing up to me for days. I hate that it happens because I love talking to him. In this town, he is my favorite person to talk to. My best friend. My boyfriend. But I do understand why. His father died. Another person in his family died. And as far as I know, his greatest fear is losing a person who’s been a huge part of his life.I swear I wanted to talk to tell him I’ll be by his side no matter what happens. I’ve been through what he’d been through before. I lost three important people in my life. Then I found out how fucked up my life is. Being the daughter of the worst man on the planet.“It wasn’t your fault,” Gwen told me when she came over to visit. “You didn’t do anything. It’s just it is that bastard who kills almost anyone.”She wrapped me in her presence. I’ve been longing for this feeling. Gwen is the only female friend I have in this town. I don’t know if I can treat Stacy and other women the same. Gwen listens. It’s just we rarely
Chapter 58“Mom.” I smiled at my mother who died months ago. “Dad.” And to my father who died with her the same night. “I’m sorry if I broke your rule of consulting you out before having a boyfriend. But I have one.”I expected them to throw killer grin at me. I expected them to shout at me for breaking their rule. In the neighborhood I lived in, it is normal for teenagers my age to date a whole set of men. My parents were different. They won’t let me unless I tell them. Maybe my brothers were the only exception, or maybe I am the exception to this neighborhood’s culture.I opened the door so Gelo could enter. He wore his wide and happy smile as he greets my parents on a very nice day. We all sat on the couch, everyone has their own teacup of the hibiscus tea my parents like to bring whenever they’re on a vacation from different states.We all chattered even though I couldn’t understand anything. We were just… talking. Nonstop. My parents seemed so happy to finally meet Angelo. It all
CHAPTER 57This could have been my perfect date with my boyfriend, who happens to be my only best friend in this town. I thought that the place Gelo picked is a safe one. It happens that the alpha is going to be here, ruining my fucking date.He grinned like he wins a reality television show where the father caught his daughter dating someone he doesn’t want to. Why does he always think he’s winning? Why does he’s always the one with power? Is it because he is the leader of the werewolf pack in this town? Or because he is a man?Just because he’s a man, it doesn’t mean he can claim everything he wants.He can never take me away from the family that took care of me. He already killed my brother, Mom, and Dad.After all, he never became a father to me.“What are you doing here?” I asked. Galo rushed behind me. He touched and caressed my hand which somehow calmed my system. The man in front of us is the one who ruined lives in this one. The antagonist of everyone’s story and I don’t nee
CHAPTER 56Gelo asked me on a date! I feel like a normal teenager asked by her long-time crush to go on a date. I never knew what a date feels like. I badly wanted to experience the right person.A perfect date in my head is when a person waits for you outside your house with his fancy car and a bouquet of roses and chocolates in his hand. That’s romantic, even in books.But reality struck me. After fixing myself on my spring-themed dress, I got down to face Angelo. He didn’t bring any bouquet of roses, just a stem on his hand and neither he has a car as well. But that’s love. Neither person or date is perfect. The world was just cruel to provide that for us.I do love Angelo, that’s the only thing that matters for now.“You’re going on a date?” Mom asked me. She pretends to be the evil stepmother who will do anything so the princess could not go on a date. “You’re not even asking me and telling me everything.”“I swear I forgot. Ever since I came here, Angelo’s been the person who we
CHAPTER 55“Chaz! Chaz!” I rushed to Chaz’s house the next day. He should know what we are planning and I know he’s going to join us. He’s one of those I knew who was wronged by the alpha so badly.Chaz didn’t answer. I was so excited to enter his house without knocking. Gladly, it wasn’t locked.The house smelled plain. I saw Chaz making out with Kaz in their living room. Holy shit! My innocent eyes! “Oh, Catherine. Can’t you knock for once?” Chaz said. “You came to bother us.” He stood up from the sofa, as well as Kaz. They only have their boxers on their bodies. I faced my back to them and waited to wear their clothes. “I’m gonna sue you next time. You can face us now.”“I’m sorry. I was just too excited to see you. I forgot that the last time I got here, you were doing the same with Kaz. I promise not to do it again.”“Don’t promise things you can’t accomplish, kid. So what’s with your commotion on ruining my morning sex with the love of my life?”I told him the story. What he ne
CHAPTER 54Their jaws dropped. They didn’t expect what I’ve said. But that’s the very best thing that I know that could benefit everyone. Not just me but every family who lost someone because of the alpha.“The alpha killed Mom, Dad, and Felix. He killed more people from what we knew. He manipulates people. He’s using his power.”“But you’re not a killer, Catherine!” That’s the first time Jay shouted at me. “Do not let your instrusive thoughts to ruin you. You can’t become this kind of person. I know you’re not like that.”“Cath, as much as I want to kill that man. As much as I want to give him waht he deserves, I don’t want my only daughter to become a killer. You can’t hold a knife and just kill somebody. Please.”“I talked to him last night.”Spoons clattered on plates when I said that. Gelo almost choke himself as well. Maybe telling them the truth will make them understand my point more. I have to tell them this now. I know the alpha. He won’t stop getting what he wants until he
CHAPTER 53I shouldn’t feel bad about what I did to my father, but why I am crying on my way back home? It was midnight and it was cold, so I could feel the tears warming up my face. I never longed for a father, even before. My past Mom and Dad were there. I never feel any complications in our relationship. I felt full. I felt loved.But when I saw him when he touch him. I felt a pang inside my chest. This man is my father. And this man killed the ones I loved. It wasn’t because I want us to be a complete family. We can’t be like that. My heart aches because the truth is my father is a killer. And I have to live with that truth until the day that I die. It wasn’t a history to tell. It’s a carved mark on my identity.Although there wasn’t any noise on my way, I don’t feel that everything is silent and quiet. My mind was attacking me with all of my thoughts. What are Mom and Alpha living better? What if they got to each other? What if the mess didn’t happen? What if Mom, Dad, and Felix