Bound by the Moon

Chapter 11

~Erik~

We got out of the swing doors to her office and the evening breeze engulfed me causing a slight chatter of my teeth.

Even the weather appeared promising.

I smiled.

I glanced over at Elena and saw she was smiling back at me.

In that moment, all felt right with the world again.

The buzzing sound of her phone intruded the moment and I watched her lips turn downward as she recognized whoever the caller was.

I had never seen a heartfelt smile disappear so fast and it was just as I tried to ask what the plan was that evening, seeing as we had spent the last twenty-four hours together.

Without any words to me, but an uncomfortable and awkward smile, Elena turned and walked in the opposite direction while the phone moved to her ear.

I froze.

My wolf kicked to follow her.

I tried to watch her, to understand what could have happened. I wasn’t sure if she would appreciate me following her or she needed the space she took all of a sudden.

I was thrown into a whirlwind of confusion and worry as I couldn’t properly assess the situation and the reaction she required of me.

Since the very first time I met Elena in the thick of the border, I had never seen that many helpless emotions display in her face, even when I held her by the neck.

Ugh, I can’t believe you tried to kill her.

Don’t put that on me. She’s a human and I was already wounded by one.

And so?

Really?

I shrugged my head. No wasn’t the time for selfish thoughts.

I looked again to find where Elena had turned into. My super sense picked up and began to sniff her out.

She couldn’t have gone that far. I thought to myself as I wasn’t picking anything up.

And I knew what she smelt like all too well - caramel, fruity and sweet, a scent that had now become one I silently craved to be close to.

Focus.

I finally see her silhouette at the far end of a street. Her shoulders are bent, her hand still to her ears.

Whatever that call was, it wasn’t one she thought she would be having or she was okay to be on. I see her pick up her pace, ready to break out in a run and I do the same instantly.

Somehow, I could feel her frustration from where I stood and I was desperate to get closer…

…to soothe her.

~Elena~

I never knew my mother.

Not even for one second. I never had the opportunity to be held my her warm loving arms. She died in childbirth, whilst giving birth to me. So I was told.

I knew love from my father till I knew it no more. I couldn’t recognize the stranger he had become. One would have attributed his hate towards me due to the fact my mother died while bringing me to this world but there was once an inseparable bond. Everything changed when he married someone else. I could never have a problem with my father loving and wanting someone else. Besides, I never even had a relationship with my mother to feel any form of betrayal to that fact so it was all fine by me.

However, the new woman he asked me to call mother hated me. She hated everything about me, my entire existence. I do not know what I ever did to her.

She became the instigator. She turned my fathers heart away from me. Whatever she declared was ye and amen.

My father no longer gazed upon me with love. He no longer listened to whatever I had to say. She threw my step sister in his face while she pushed me further away from his heart. She would create problems and lay them on my fragile little head. I would be blamed for things I had no knowledge about. She would set me up, curse me and say unimaginable things about me to my dad and he never for once stopped her.

I grew up fending for myself, loving and protecting myself. I understood betrayal from one’s family at such a young age. I grew older and I began to see the world in a view I created for myself. All I wanted to do was withstand injustice and that was how I picked a calling for myself. I couldn’t believe it when that became the next weapon in my stepmother’s arsenal.

“Kick this disappointment out, my husband. Disown her! She wants to bring shame to our family name. Why would anyone be leading a fight against a law that has been passed?” She would instigate, her tongue oozing our more venom that a secreting snake.

“It is you who is bringing shame!” I spat back more frequently.

“Elena, shut up! Where did you learn such rubbish behavior? Is it the school fees I’m paying? They’re teaching you to revel against your parents and the government? Or for God’s sake, where did I go wrong?”

“Lord know what would have happened if you weren’t here. Imagine. Supporting equal rights to werewolves. Or maybe she’s one of them.”

“Dad…”

“Don’t call me that if you wouldn’t respect it.”

“Fine. But if your wife is going to keep yelling at me like that, I’ll hang up. It’s a phone call, I don’t have to listen to all of those insults every single time this topic comes up.”

“You are going to quit that advocacy job and return home. That is, if you ever want to call me father again. I went the extra mile and forwarded an offer letter to your mail…”

I sighed.

Not this again.

“…it’s for the logistics position in my company and you can resume first thing on Monday. I have left some directions to the staff on your behalf.”

“Dad, I’m not doing this. Not tonight.”

I was hurt.

My soul ached. It cried out to any force in the universe who could help.

I felt like a wounded wolf, who sees death grapple for its soul, so it howls to the moon one last time.

“Elena! Make your decision. Me or your dog protecting job?”

“Don’t call it that! And don’t let us do this. We can talk about…”

“There’s nothing left to talk about. Make your choice immediately! And think very well about this as this is my final straw.”

“Daddy, are you seriously doing this?”

Deafening silence.

“Goodbye dad.”

My heart sank to my belly as I bawled my eyes out in the middle of the street. I took to my heels instantly, facing the only place I could now regard as home.

The walls of my chest clenched even tighter each time I replayed the entire conversation. I couldn’t believe my dad had done that to me. Suddenly, it was hard for me to breathe.

I had never wished for death more than in that moment.

But somehow, my feet carried me home.