A History Untold, A Story To Remember
1504 Words
What do I remember? Elise thought as hard as she could for even a moment when it wasn't just her and her brothers.
'Nothing.' She said hopelessly 'I don't remember any of it, not mother, not father, not even a sound or smell before it was just us.'
Alex frowned, perplexed that she couldn't remember any of it. She had to have been at least six at that point, why couldn't she remember them? 'Okaay,' he said slowly, trying to work out what half truths would be safe to share or not. 'Well mother wasn't supposed to marry her mate, she had a chosen mate already. It was a Clan thing, about strengthening our gifts and fulfilling a propecy. However she met father and fell in love, she ran away with him a long long way from the Clan.'
'So she was a rogue?' Elise tried to keep up, but it didn't make sense, if their Clan rejected them then surely they would smell of smoke.
'No!' Alex's word came out like a whip cracking in the air, offended on his mother's behalf. 'No,' he echoed, deliberately softening his tone as he saw Elise flinch. He hated that she was scared of him as all he had ever done was be strong to protect her, keep her safe and hidden. 'Look it's complicated, but no she wasn't a rogue. Father and her were happy, everything was good, but the Clan were angry about what could have been, they tracked them for years until they found her. When they found her she would not reject her mate and come home to them so they attacked father. There were lots of them, they ripped him to shreds'
Alex spoke in clipped tones, trying not to remember the blood or screams that haunted him every night and he spent every day blocking out. Although he couldn't tell Elise the truth, he would tell her about this, if only to make her understand some of the danger they faced.
Mother was powerful, an Alpha. She commanded us to take you, protect you and hide. She battled them and made sure there was no one left to send message back to the Clan, but they had seriously injured her, they must have had a toxin somehow, she got sicker and sicker and died.'
Alex paused for a second, his eyes blank as they saw the past, heard his mother's whimpers and whines as she writhed in agony in her final days. Remembered the insistence with which she made him promise, a promise he would stake his life on.
'Before she died though she warned us that the Clan would not stop looking, that they would enact a revenge and that we needed to ensure we moved far away and most importantly kept you safe from it all. She knew you looked like her, and there was a chance your fur would give away our heritage when you were old enough to turn, or even that someone may recognise you. You look even more like her now than you did then,' His voice softened at that. He felt good about what he had chosen to share, not the terrifying truths he'd kept from her, but at least she knew parts of her history, the parts that were safe to tell her. 'I don't want to talk about it much more, but Nate gives me updates if the Clan is around the area and keeps an extra eye out if they are nearby. You must stay in, at least for the next week, and even then make sure you stay close to us and do not shift in front of anyone ever. Our lives may depend on it. Now leave me to my thoughts.'
Elise could see her brother was exhausted, this was probably the most he had spoken in a month. Alex wasn't a talker at the best of times, and talking about something he had hidden from her all her life must have been emotionally quite tiring. Although she had more questions, she reached other and gave her brother a quick kiss on the cheek which he seemed surprised at, then went to her room. There was a lot to process. She knew that their parents had died while they were young of course, but not how or why. Her mother an Alpha! Women rarely were Alpha's and she must have been important within the Clan for them to track her. She wondered which Clan was looking for them, it would likely be one of the old ones to have that much reach across the territories. Maybe the infamous Blackfoots of the North? They were known for brutal s*******r of anyone who got in their way, violently attacking even strong covens who challenged them. It was known that you couldn't go into their territory without getting their blessing and ignorance of the boundaries was not an excuse they tolerated.
Elise was grateful she had devoured the books in the library on the Clan histories. As her brothers didn't tell her much, she felt reading was a way of getting closer to her kin and understanding her wolf. Over and over she read how tight the bond was between human and wolf, but honestly she and her wolf sometimes felt like strangers tied into the same body. Her wolf had no interest in friends, was aloof and proud, snapping at her for trying to make friends much like her brothers did. She vanished for long periods and Elise would wonder where she went, but her wolf would refuse to tell her. That close kinship described in the books seemed impossible to imagine. Occasionally when Elise read though she could hear her wolf make comments on the Clans and bloodlines. She was a snob and unimpressed with the newer forged lines of wolf packs built in the last fifty years. Nothing, but century old packs would get anything, but contempt from her.
She had felt Aura her wolf quiver with anticipation when reading tales of the Blackfoot Clans brutality. What Elise saw as cruelty, Aura often saw as strength. The Blackfoot Clan was old too, too many centuries old to count.
Or perhaps the Lone Gray Clan from the West? They kept themselves to themselves mainly, and weren't keen on outsiders. None of their secrets were in the books, all that was known really about them was that they left no survivors to tell tales, they had been there for centuries and didn't seem inclined to join the countless fights between packs to increase territories, but were notorious for defending their territory and exacting revenge on the families of their attackers. Hmmm another contender then really?
Northwest was a mix of territories, constantly changing hands, but the Lioness clan had probably been there for longest. They were unusual in that only women were in positions of power, few men were allowed to stay for long as the pack was all women. They mated and raised the children within the packs if they couldnt convince the fathers to take the male children earlier, but male children with no father to take them were strongly encouraged to leave at 16 and those who stayed were the lowliest, even omega seemed a cut above what their role appeared to be.
Women would rarely leave the pack, leaving through death or very scarcely, if they didn't wish to reject their mate or male children. The Lionesses didn't seem angry with the ones who left though, more like they pitied it, as a sign of weakness and sometimes women would return to the pack after their mate died or their child found a pack of their own, always returning to a lower position though as the Lioness Clan made no secret of their dislike of weakness. Possibly her mother could have left them for her father? It would explain the lack of smell as they were never rejected by their old Clan, but some how not claimed either.
However the Lionesses didn't hunt those who left, it was an honor to be part of their pack and there were always bloodlines willing to join. The other Clans were often joyous if their Beta sired a pup with a Lioness as it was a mark of respect of the Clan's strength that they would want to carry their genes to the next generation. In the event of a male child it was rumoured that having the Lioness genes would strengthen the pack, although the books didn't suggest how.
Elise was tired, the night's exhertion had taken it out of her, so she planned to refresh her memory of the other Clans by reading tomorrow, and maybe tease some more information from Max now Alex had revealed some secrets. But now was time to sleep, her head hit her pillow ready to sink into a deep slumber, but it was not to be.
'Well it was good to finally meet you Elise' Nates voice drawled in her mind.
- Writer
