BLOOD WOLF: VOLUME ONE

Chapter Sixteen

Bella woke up in a cold sweat. She had received a visit from the moon goddess while she dreamt. No longer feeling tired she climbed out of bed. Making her way to the double doors that led to the balcony.

Bella was standing on the balcony talking to Xavia. 'Xavia why didn't you tell me?' she asked. Xavia laid down inside their mind whimpering. She hadn't known or she would have told Bella before hand. So she told her 'I didn't know. I thought we would have gone into heat in a day or two.' Bella knew that Xavia wouldn't lie to her so she simply responded 'Okay, so why didn't you tell me about my supposed abilities?' adding 'Which I haven't noticed yet.'

Xavia explained 'I didn't want to stress you out. I assumed you were going through enough what with finding our mate and all. Besides they should have appeared by now.' Bella sighed heavily before saying 'Well they haven't. So as Selene said I need to find them.' Xavia agreed telling her 'Mother always knows what she is talking about. We need to work on getting ready for the war. She did tell us we only have two years left.'

They were still talking when Bella heard something behind her. She turned her head to find Hanson walking toward them. "Are you alright?" he asked her as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Bella heard Xavia cry inside their mind as she said "Not really but I will be. I have no choice." Hanson was confused so he asked "What's wrong is it something I did last night?" Bella smiled remembering the night before. She answered saying "Not at all. Last night was amazing."

Hanson noticed sadness in her eyes so he asked "Then what is it Kitten?" Bella didn't know how to tell him that they may never have children. She was afraid that he wouldn't want her anymore. She and Xavia both knew that it would come out eventually though. So they took a deep breath and responded saying "The moon goddess visited me in my dream. She told me that I have special abilities and I need to find them within myself. She said I had to learn to control them before the war in two years."

Bella turned in his arms so that she could lay her head on his chest. She noticed that he looked confused and was waiting for her to continue. Which in fact he was confused. Nothing she had told him so far should be that upsetting. After all they already knew about the coming war. Her abilities, whatever they are, should only be a perk.

She continued saying "We are upset because Selene told us that we will not have a pup until after the war. She said a pup would prevent us from focusing on the war. We asked " What if we die or lose the war?" and she said that we would never have a pup." By this time Bella was in tears and Xavia was crying and whimpering inside their mind. Even though she knew this would probably happen, she still held out hope that she might be able to have a pup this time. It obviously just was never going to happen.

In all the times she had fought a war for the sake of her species. Xavia had always had to give her life for the survival of every other wolf. She did not see this war being any different. Which made her both heart broken and extremely angry at her mother. Xavia pushed to the back of their mind closing herself off from Bella. She would not involve herself in this war. She was done.

Bella immediately felt Xavia's wall come up. It only made her cry harder because she had never felt so empty. Hanson picked Bella up carrying her back to bed. He laid there holding her close as he told her he loved her no matter what. She continued sobbing for the rest of the night.

When morning arrived Hanson received a mind link from Joey saying 'You need to come to the office. Lizzy is waiting with the files we asked for. I might have asked her to look into Bella's father and his pack as well. I hope you don't mind.' Hanson immediately said 'On my way.' then closed the link. He carefully climbed out of bed. Making sure not to wake Bella, then got dressed.

He walked in to his office ten minutes later. Lizzy was sitting in the chair across from his desk. She instantly stood up bowing as she said " Good morning Alpha." Hanson acknowledged her and made his way behind his desk where Joey was standing. After saying good morning to Joey he asked for the files.

Lizzy excused herself saying she had another case to work on. Then Hanson and Joey went through the files.

As Hanson read the file on the Shadow Mountain pack, which was very detailed, he noticed that Alpha Daniels had died in a rogue attack five years ago. Now his son was Alpha of one of the strongest packs in North America. He told Joey "Well it looks like Shadow Mountain is the second strongest pack in North America. They have over Five hundred members with the majority of them being trained. Apparently they begin training at age four. The only ones not trained are infants and toddlers age three and under."

Joey was stunned Their pack was the strongest and even they didn't start training until they were ten. He shook it off then told Hanson "Well her father's pack is The Black Forest pack. They are among the weakest packs. The only thing keeping them safe is their allies. Apparently Alpha, and I use that term lightly, Branton is to worried about what he has and wants to care about his pack. He transports the majority of their resources to his allies in exchange for protection for the pack. It says here that they don't train their women and the men only get minimum training."

They spent the next two hours going over the files. Finding out everything they could about the two packs before heading to lunch. As they entered the dining room Hanson found Bella sitting at the table eating with Heather and a few other women. She was behaving as if everything was alright. Though, he could still see the sadness in her eyes. Hanson knew nothing was okay.