Forever Is A Long Time

Chapter 8

“Who is she, Brandon?!” the woman kept shrieking, her arms flinging all over the place.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I muttered getting off of him and starting to head in the opposite direction of the ring, sliding out of it. I’m pretty sure Brandon heard me because what came out of his mouth next sort of stopped me in my tracks. 

“Don’t you ever call her that again, do you understand?” he said in a deep, calm voice. 

    It was laced with hate and that usually is the worst. I tried to picture his face in my head as I still had my back to them. I continued to head towards the exit, not even bothering to face either of them. I didn’t have time nor did I make time for drama. I already had enough of that with everyone here, I did not need more. As I stepped outside, the smell of bread baking hit me, making my stomach growl. 

Well, guess you’re still hungry, Alexa pipped in out of nowhere. 

Yes, that is kind of obvious Alexa, I replied sarcastically as I got closer to the house.

I’m just saying, since blondie seems to be a great meal option…, she added in a matter-of-fact tone. 

I let out a sigh as the thought did seem appealing. Only catch is I don’t eat blondes just because they’re being stupid and naïve.

I think I will let her live, this time...

As I got closer to the house, I could hear footsteps approaching. 

“You didn’t say you had a girlfriend…” I stated, without even looking behind me. 

His scent now lingered around me. Confirming my instincts. 

“She’s not my girlfriend. She never was...” he said, slightly out of breath. I wanted to laugh but just smirked.

“Does she know that?” I asked, no longer able to hide my amusement.

“I keep telling her but she doesn’t seem to get it,” he said, now walking next to me.

We were about to reach the kitchen door when he stepped in front of me, almost causing me to bump into him. 

“Um, there better be a good reason for you keeping me away from food right now,” I stated as I crossed my arms and looked at him impatiently.

“Ok, ok, hear me out,” he said as he saw my hangry expression. “She really is not my girlfriend and I’m sorry she called you names. That was so uncalled for. She had no right to do that and---.” He got cut off as my lips crashed into his, after reaching out and pulling his face to mine. Deep down I knew he was saying the truth. That and I was hungry. After a few seconds I pulled away, his eyes still closed. I smirked. 

“Now that we have established that she is a liar, can we eat now?” I asked, pecking him on the lips once before waltzing into the kitchen. I got hit with the intoxicating fumes of freshly baked bread. My mouth immediately salivated. As if under the influence, a soft, kind voice took me out of my trance.

“Your majesty, would you like something to eat?”

    I turned to my right to find a petite, elderly woman, with soft peppered hair, put up in a bun. Her eyes, a light gray. Her skin, frail and fair. 

“I would love something to eat,” I replied with a light smile. How could I not smile at her. She reminded me of my human grandmother who had died centuries ago. She too would always make sure I eat something. “And please, call me Athena,” I added shortly, taking a seat at the small dining table in the corner of the kitchen. 

    She let out a light chuckle, “Alright Ms. Athena,” she said, smiling at me and walked away towards the counter. Just as I was about to pull my phone out, Brandon walks through the door.

“Good morning Teresa, it smells amazing as always,” he said with a sheepish grin on his face, taking a seat across from me. 

“Good morning Brandon,” she replied, her back still to us as she prepared our meals. “The usual, I presume?” Even though her back was to us, I could tell she was smiling.

“The usual, please,” Brandon replied, his eyes not leaving mine.

“Took you long enough.” A smile played on the corner of my mouth.

“Yeah well, I had to recuperate from that kiss, that’s all,” he calmly added. Placing his hands behind his head as he leaned back into the wall next to us. 

    Before I could come back with a clever statement, Teresa placed our plates in front of us. My stomach immediately reacted to seeing the amazing eggs benedict with country fried potatoes, freshly baked toast and a couple of orange slices on the side. 

“Please enjoy, Ms. Athena,” she sweetly added then started to turn away. I reached out, touching her forearm, causing her to turn around. 

“Thank you Teresa, I will enjoy every bite,” I smiled up at her. She smiled back, her eyes full of tenderness, then bowed her head at me which was usually a sign of respect amongst the Lukoi.

I looked over at Brandon, who was looking at me intently. 

“What?” I asked, as I reached for my fork and started to stuff my face. God I was hungry.

“Nothing,” he added with a chuckle as he too started to eat.

    After breakfast, we made our way to Nathan’s office where Paul and Vinny were also present. Both standing next to their Alpha. Who seemed a bit retracted after the fiasco earlier. As soon as they saw me, their faces lit up but then composed themselves, bowing their heads. 

“Cut that s**t out guys, you know I hate formalities,” I said, rolling my eyes then grinning at them. Both then rushed over to me, Paul picking me up like a rag doll.

“Oh wow Athena, you haven’t changed at all!” he exclaimed as he put me back down, only to get bear hugged by Vinny. 

“It’s true, you look exactly the same,” Vinny chimed in as he let me go. “It’s good to see you again,” he said with a smile. 

    Taking a good look at them, signs of aging were visible since the last time I had seen them. Little gray hairs here and there. Werewolves don’t age fast but in the span of 30 years, there was always some visible aging. 

“It’s good to see you too. Both of you.” I smiled at them. “I wish it was under better circumstances but we are at war…” I added more seriously now, then looked over at Nathan who was leaning against his desk, his face neutral, his arms folded across his chest.

    Paul and Vinny also looked over at him, waiting for a response. As if sensing the obvious awkwardness, Nathan cleared his throat and went to sit in his desk chair looking at all of us with what I call, his business face.

“What else did you want to know?” he asked, his eyes now on me.

I looked back at him with a neutral face and then walked over to his left, only to then lean into the wall. 

“I want to know everything. How well do they fight? Any patterns? What are their strengths. What are their weaknesses? Everything.” Nathan’s facial expression didn’t change at all while I answered his question. A pause followed. Was it that bad?

“Well, you know about the witch. You know about the numbers. As for their strategy. They usually like to attack at night. It’s only been three times but enough said. Their fighting is not great. We are known for our combat skills amongst the northern packs. So we do have the upper hand there but the way they attack is almost as if there is something off about them. It’s...not normal.” Nathan’s mind seemed to have wandered as his eyes then seemed far away.

“When you say not normal, what exactly do you mean?” I asked, intrigued. Not a lot of things made Nathan nervous. 

He sighed for a second, “They seem to be almost rabid. Even when we are in wolf form, we are capable of thinking human. These wolves don’t seem...human.”

    The room seemed to be silent for the longest time. I cleared my throat, breaking the silence.

“You’re telling me, you think this witch is controlling these wolves during the attacks?” I chuckled slightly as I said it out loud. Looking around the room, everyone seemed concerned. Nathan for one was never the worry type, especially not Vinny and Paul. 

“Athena, the wolves, they don’t go down easy. They are easy to attack but they get back up. Almost as if the only way to win is to kill. You know we are not barbarians,” Paul added. 

    I nodded my head at him. Crossing my arms, I tried thinking of a similar spell I had once heard of from the witch that turned me ages ago. Never again had I heard of anything similar, until now. But why now?

“Has the witch made herself known yet?” I asked calmly, still in thought.

“Yeah, she calls herself Amethyst,” Vinny replied, with a mocking voice.

    My stomach suddenly sank as I heard the name. My eyes immediately met Brandon’s, who stood across the room from me. His eyes showed concern even though his face didn’t.

“Athena?” Nathan asked. My face must have looked off if he was asking me if I was “okay”.

Composing myself, I cleared my throat. “Amethyst is my great grandmother...the one who turned me.”