The wolf in the forest

Chapter six – My Mother.

I wake up and as I open my eyes I see the clock and it says 7am. I have only slept two hours, but I don't feel tiered at all. Guess its because I slept evening away yesterday. I get up and take a shower, thinking about the meeting today. I don't know which time she will be here, but today I'm not scared at least, I'm flooded with excitement and I feel like I can't wait any longer. I will see my mother today. In person. I’m just eager to see her now.

I find a nice dress and make myself as pretty as I can, I want her to see my at my best. If she is anything like Lilly, she must be the perfect mom, as Lilly has done so much to make me feel comfortable and for me to be safe. As I'm finished, I go downstairs and to my surprise, its like the whole house is alive today, people running all over. I guess they have something coming up, I think to myself while I walk to the dinning room. Today everyone is here eating and talking. Damon sees me the second I enter the room and stands up. He pulls out a chair out for me, next to him. It seems like the whole room just got quiet, when he did that. Leah turns to me and I can see she is about to laugh out loud. I don't really understand why the family thinks this is so funny. After looking confused for a moment, Leah tells me “My brother seems to like you a lot and he doesn't really like anybody. But with you, its like he suddenly remembers to have manners”. This statement does not explain anything in my head, so I just smile to Leah and says “Your brother is really sweet to me, but I haven't seen him with anybody else, so I wouldn't be able to tell”. They all laugh again and then they fall back to their conversation, leaving me just as confused. Are they telling me that he likes me?! I can't tell. I know I like to be around Damon, I hope he does like me.

As we sit at the dinning table, Lilly asks me how I'm feeling and she seems just as excited as I am and it makes me feel a lot more sure of myself. I don't eat a whole lot today, but I like being around here with these people. But in the back of my mind, is a flood of questions, I really need some kind of answers to.

When breakfast is done, there is about an hour until my mom and her travelers arrive, so I walk to the garden in the bag, for a walk- but suddenly I can hear someone yelling “They are here now”. And just like that I got really rattled and nervous. My heart is pounding like its fighting for life itself. I walk bag in to the house and towards the front door,I can hear the cars stopping in front of the big stairs to the house. I'm getting more and more nervous as I approach the door, she might be on the other side of the door now. I pull the door open and see a lot of people. I just stand there looking around, not knowing who is who, but I can't really move, as my brain has stopped working for a second. I look at the crowd of people and out comes this little lady with dark hair and bright green eyes – She looks exactly like me, I'm a little shook but she runs to me and just take me in her arms and start crying, making my heart feel like an explosion of emotions. Firstly because the heartbreak is about to end, but mostly for the happiness you feel being together. It feels a lot like a dream, a dream I've had for many, many years, something I never actually thought would happen because of my dad telling me, she was dead. She takes make face in her hands and look at me really close and then she looks deep in to my eyes “You are the most beautiful thing I ever laid my eyes on and I have been looking for you so many years now, I never thought I would you darling”. She hugs me again, I'm just standing there and my tears running down my face, I try to talk, but my voice just won't come out. I surely look really stupid and I can feel people looking at me waiting for me to answer. My mom keeps hugging me. A loud yell from Lilly and people are moving inside. Lilly tells my mom to go with me to to private living room, so we can talk. Before we go ind, an older man comes up to us and he introduces himself “Hello Oli, I'm Theodore and I'm your grandfather”. He is very tall with dark hair and bright green eyes like his daughter and me. He seems old and has a cold aura around him, but his voice sound calm and safe.

And just like that my voice comes back. “Hi” is all I can muster out. A little embarrassing if you ask me. I reach out my hand to him, but he gives a laugh and then pulls in to give me a big hug. “I haven't seen you since you were a little girl, so I'll give you a hug, so I can feel you are here with us now”. This is where I lost all control I had left and begin crying like a little girl. All my emotions are a mess. I feel sad, happy, confused, angry and nervous and I don't really know how to react to it all. Then it all goes black.

I wake up with a pounding headache on the couch with my mom next to me. She is holding her hand on my head and saying words I don't understand, but its making my headache go away, so I just keep still until she stops. She looks into my eyes ant stroke my hair with her hand and it feels so good. “I'm sorry you had to go through so much all alone,I will never let that happen again. From this day, you will always have your family. So while you were past out, I put a spell on you so you can draw power from us, if this should happen again. Then you have more strength, you need it honey”.

“Thank you”, I answer and look at her closely. “I'm sorry,I'm probably not what you expected”. I can feel all my insecurities at this moment, I feel like I have failed her some how or maybe I'm a disappointment. She comes from a strong witch family and I am anything but strong, just a weakling compared to them.

“oh honey, You are so much more than I ever dreamed of- don't let your fathers voice be in your head. You are perfect to me and besides, you will get stronger and wiser, don't worry my love, I will always love you and you couldn't disappoint me even if you tried”. These words are like a piece of a puzzle I didn't have, when I grew up – its like waking up in a dream and now I'm getting a little scared its all gonna stop, when I wake up. My tears once again start running down my face, but this time I don't feel like the life is draining out of me. I compose myself a little as I sit up. I give my mom a big hug. “Thank you. I've been dreaming of this moment since i can remember.

I have been so nervous,since I heard you were here, meeting you for real is much better than I could have imagined”. She answers with a nod and a sweet smile. To me she is already amazing, the way she makes me feel and the warmth she gives. Although she is very lovely and caring, I think she can be though too. She just gives of this vibe that she is comfortable in her skin and with her surroundings but in a way confident way. The opposite of me. I’m very insecure and move like I'm sorry to disturb everyone around me.

Suddenly there is a knock at the door and Lilly comes in.”I'm sorry for cutting your one on one time, but I would like to introduce my father as well. His name is Piero and has been a great friend to your grandfather since childhood”. In comes both my grandfather Theodore and Piero. I stand up and reach out my hand. Same reaction as from my grandfather. He laugh and pulls me in to give a big hug. “ No little one, you're like my family too, shaking my hand would never do”. He looks a lot like Lilly. The same hair, although its all grey and he has the most caring eyes like Lilly. His voice is deep, but still soft and his tone could indicate that he likes to joke a little too. I already like him.

We all sit down in the couches and talk. First just a little small talk about how I doing at Lilly's home and how I feel about it here and the some silence. Its like nobody wants to start telling me has happened in the past. Lilly is the one to break the silence and take the first step.

“I know there are many things you want to know right now, but I think its best if we start by telling you what actually happened to your mom and dad. I think that's a good start. I think I'll let you mom take it from here” Lilly's voice is soft and I can feel they all are a bit conscious about the affect this has on me. They are watching my very move.

Emma starts by putting her hand on my bag “I think,that's a good plan. Your father and I met while I was still in school and I didn't know anything about him. He lived away from his family and I was really impressed by his independence and his confident nature. I was working at this little cafe were he would come in and sit with his homework from school. Your father has an education in economics, so he started helping me with math, I'm really not good at that.

This is how my relations with your father started. I didn't know he was a wolf nor did I know which family he came from. We dated for about 1 year, before I took him home to the family. I had my powers bound when I was a little girl, like you, but for a different reason. I couldn't control them and was pretty scared. That means I couldn't feel or read him like a witch would. But the family knew the second they saw him. At that time he was kind and gentle, he was like another man, than he is today. This day was the day we really got close, especially because of the things, we had in common. Lucas was so understanding about me binding my powers and he wanted to help me learn to control my emotions and powers. My family was so happy, they never thought I would want to try and learn again, so they were really excited about him being able to open my mind to practice being a witch. I was so in love with him, I didn't even think about being cautious about it and as time went by I grew to trust him more than I could.

We got married the year after and got pregnant with William just after. That was one of the most happiest time in my life. My family was as close to Lucas as I and we were all in the believing that his family didn't want to be in contact with Lucas, because that's what he had told us, but the lies he had told slowly came out in the open after I gave birth to Liam.

His sister Fiona, came to our home, looking for Lucas. I'm sure you can imagine how we all felt betrayed by his lies. Fiona told us Lucas had disowned the rest of the family, because he thought they were not good enough for the life he wanted. She also told me I should be careful with my powers around him. He probably just wanted to use me. This was really hard for me to hear and I did not believe her at first. I was so confused, sad and maybe in denial, I only wanted to talk to your father and hear what he had to say. I couldn't in my mind believe he would build a life with me, just to trick me. I think, in my mind I was blaming her for being someone who wanted to ruin his life.

When I talked to your father, he just brushed it of and said she wanted to ruin all things for him and that was why he didn't want his family around us. And I believed him so easily and put it to the back of my mind. I even kept on defending him against my family. I didn't want to hear their warnings – I was to in love and blinded by him. But because your father knew the family was suspicious about him, he wanted us to move away and we did, for the piece of our unit. We lived there alone in the woods almost a year, when I got pregnant with you. That's when things got really complicated,because we had to move back to my family, I couldn't go through it all alone and my pregnancy with you was difficult and I needed help. Lucas started to disappear more and more and begin to keep a lot of secrets. At first,I was thinking he had another woman, which is why I didn't tell anybody, I was ashamed he didn't want me anymore. Maybe I had done something wrong or I was not what he wanted.

But my dad, your grandfather noticed Lucas being gone and felt me being preoccupied and not present. So I guess he did his own detective work and fund out Lucas was in contact with a witch named Alexa. Grandfather did try talk to to lucas about it, but Lucas just lied again and told Theo that it was all a misunderstand, he was only seeking a witch because he wanted to protect you kids from his family. Surely my father didn't believe him, but acted liked everything was fine and kept an eye on Lucas.

When you were born, it was a big day for my coven. You have great powers from the moon, because you were born on a full moon and with a wolf. This means you are a favorite of the moon Goddess. That's a big deal in our world. Legends tell great stories of witches born with a wolf on the full moon and that only happen quite rare.

Lucas got weird after your birth, sometimes he would disappear again and when he came back he was overly nice, like he was faking, that made my father tighten the security on our land. He still remembered what Fiona had told him.

I was in dreamland with you and your brothers. William really waited for you like you were a present to him from God and from the moment you were born, he did not want to leave your side. He adored you just as much as me. And you were all about Liam, always smiling and almost shinning when he was around you . We didn't spend a lot of time with your dad the next two years, because he had a new job in the city. But we had the best two years together. After your 2. birthday your father and I began fighting a lot, because of this witch Alexa. I thought he was having an affair with her and things got really bad. He moved out into the city and I was really heartbroken. For a little while all was going good and we thought things would work out for the better”. My mom is quiet and the tears start running down her beautiful face. The sadness I can feel from her is like stabbings in my heart, I can feel her pain, like it is mine. But she keeps going.

“But one night I heard some noise outside my window and got out of bed to check what the noise was and my house was attacked by wolves. You and your brothers were taken and I was left almost dead. My mother found in a pool of blood, hanging on to life by my last breath. She saved my because of her powers, but it cost her, her own life. My mother died because practicing magic has a price always. You pay what you give to nature and to keep a balance. My powers didn't work on the wolves because of the witch Alexa, Lucas had help her made this possible. I'm sure she uses your power through binding you, which is why you feel weak all the time”. Again my mom goes silent, but this time her face has this mad evil in her eyes. What a strong woman to go through all that. And then it hits me. “My grandmother lost her life saving my mom” the words come out, even though I wasn't planning on it. My mom takes my hand “Any mom would give their life for her children, without thinking. I would have given my life, just to give you a better life. This is not what I wanted for you nor your brothers”.

I didn't see this coming. I know there were secrets, but I could not have imagined this. The things mom said about my father, it doesn't make sense. I can't see him being nice and understanding. He is brutal and mean, he is only able of thinking about him and only him. I'm not sure I can break moms heart again and tell her how I was nothing but a cleaning lady to him and that my brothers are being abused as well.