The Queen of the Wolves

Bucket of water

Christian’s eyes opened when loud music started bursting downstairs. He groaned and sat up. “ Era! Stop the music. I’m sleeping.” He shouted at the top of his voice. But the volume didn’t decrease even an inch. Christian huffed, ruffled his hair, and shutting his eyes, groaned again. “ I was working all night, Era. Can you please lower the volume at least?” He shouted again. He didn’t hear his sister’s reply, nor there was any change in the volume of the music. Heaving a sigh, The Beta decided to get out of bed. But his feet entered a bucket of water, rather than touching the floor. Furrowing his brows, he stared at the bucket. “ Era! Did you keep a bucket of water in my room? When I get you, I’ll shave your head! I’m serious.” He shouted, then his eyes fell on the paper, which was unfolded. His eyes widened as he remembered the night. He had read the letter, again and again, thinking of giving it to Theidta. Did Era read the letter? The future Beta was infuriated. He wanted some answers. He folded the paper, kept it in its place, and took the bucket of water in his hand. Walking down the stairs, he shouted, “ Mom? Dad? Where is my pathetic sister? Did she come to my room?” “No, dear. She has been hiding in her room ever since The Loaks visited yesterday.” His mother replied. “ The Loaks? You mean Kenneth’s parents visited yesterday? But why?” He asked, scrunching his brows. “ Well.. They had come to ask for her hand. For… Kenneth.” Mr.Delgado answered. “WHAT?!” Christian snapped. “Does Kenneth know about this?” “ No. It turns out he didn’t. So, Era is upset since that happened.” Mrs. Delgado said, heaving a silent sigh. Christian didn’t know who could put a bucket of water in his room if not Era. “ If Era didn’t do it, then who did?” He whispered to himself. “ Honey, stop muttering to yourself. You know nothing works out if you are stressed out. Tell your parents, and we will try to help you. Right, Henry?” Mrs. Delgado nudged her husband, who was too busy staring at his phone and eating his peanut butter, and banana sandwich. “Henry!” Mrs. Delgado gritted her teeth and whispered. Henry looked up at his wife, with confusion written all over his face. “What?” He asked, dumbfoundedly. Mrs. Delgado shut her eyes and breathed in to prevent herself from shouting at The Beta of the pack. “Mom, Did anyone come to visit me or come into my room to wake me up?” Christian hoped for an answer but he didn’t even imagine that the answer would shake him to his core. “ Yeah. Theidta came. But you were sleeping, so, she left.” Mrs. Delgado buttered the bread with the knife and took a small bite out of it. “ Why?” She asked, chewing the bread. But Christian was so frozen in his place that neither he could speak nor he could run away from there and hide in his bedroom all day. Mrs. Delgado was afraid that her son was getting a heart attack or was in shock as she caught him staring at her with wide, haunted, ghostly eyes. “ Are you okay, Christian?” Mrs. Delgado worried. “Yeah. I’m fine.” Her son turned and left the kitchen, his worried mother, and a clueless father. When Christian was out of sight, and hearing range, Mrs. Delgado turned to her husband and glared a hole right through the center of his forehead until he got uncomfortable and HAD to look up. “ What?” He questioned. “ Can’t you meddle a little bit in your family matters? “ She narrowed her eyes at The Beta. “ What do you want me to do, Mary? Kids are very confused these days. Didn’t you see how Kenneth reacted when Rollick and Annabeth meddled in his matter? If we do something, we are wrong, and if we don’t do something, we are still wrong. I don’t think we should even listen to the children anymore.” Henry shrugged and went back to staring at his phone. Mary Delgado kept the toast on the plate and stomped out of the kitchen, not heeding her husband’s calls.

Christian burst into his room. Taking the paper, he read it once again. To make sure this was the same letter he had written years ago. “No. If she was in my room, then she had read this. And if so, if so… no no no no no.” Christian tugged at his hair, groaning. Staring at the paper, he regretted that he ever wrote this. It was all Kenneth’s fault. He was the one who told him to write a letter just like he did, to deal with his feelings. And now, Theidta knows. “ What were you doing reading this paper all night, you i***t?” He screamed at his reflection and threw the letter on the floor. He was going to leave his room but he hadn’t even brushed yet. So, he hurried to the washroom to freshen up, so that he could go to Theidta’s house as soon as possible. He needs to beg her to forgive him. That is the only thing that came to his mind. He also has to apologize for having feelings. When he came out of the washroom, the letter caught his gaze again. Theidta had already read it, so what’s the use of throwing it away, now? He should have thrown it away when they dug up the time capsule. So, Christian picked the letter up, and staring at it heaved a sigh. Maybe he wanted her to know. Because it was time. Time to pursue her. They will be eighteen soon, and Kenneth was right. She won’t be single forever. He has to take the risk. After he changed his clothes, he folded the paper and put it inside the pocket of his jeans. “Come on, Future Beta, Take a leap of faith.” He muttered to himself, staring at the mirror.

Christian knocked on Theidta’s door and hoped for her to open it. The door opened, and Christian flashed a grin as wide as his face allowed him to. “Good morning, Mrs.Anvil. How are you doing today?” “ Good morning, Christian. I’m doing alright. What about you, dear? Come inside.” Mrs. Anvil stepped aside for the future beta to enter the house. “ Oh no no. I am on my way to school. I have come to pick Theidta up. Is she ready yet?” He asked. Mrs. Anvil furrowed her brows, and said, “ You were supposed to pick her up? But she went to your house. She was up early today, and told us that you three had something to work on.” “OH! That! I forgot.” Christian let out a nervous chuckle, which made Mrs. Anvil narrow her eyes. “ If she isn’t at your house, then she lied to me. That girl! How dare she..” Christian took out his phone, pretending that he got a text, then looked up at Mrs. Anvil, and chuckled. “She is at our house, Mrs. Anvil. Don’t worry. My sister texted me.” The Future Beta smiled through the rushing ache in his heart. “ Oh? You sure?” She asked, her eyes glinting with worry and subsiding anger. “ Yes, Mrs. Anvil, You need not worry. I’ll just pick them up, and then go to attend the classes. Thank you so much. See you later.” Christian kept on stepping backward while speaking with Theidta’s mother. “ Won’t you come inside? Have some tea at least.” Mrs. Anvil prodded him. “ No, Mrs. Anvil. As Theidta said, we have this… important.. Thing... Work to do. I’ll come later to visit you. Bye.” Christian turned and left Theidta’s house. He ran straight to the tree house, where there was no sign of Theidta. Then, he went to the pond, but still no sign of Theidta. The future Beta was clueless for the first time. For the first time, he didn’t know where his best friend was, and he didn’t like the feeling. Then, he remembered the place, where she went to exercise on her own because she had no classes that included fighting or strength that are compulsory for other werewolves to attend. So, the future Beta inhaled gallons of air and started running. And didn’t stop, until and unless he reached the place. He was shocked after seeing what was going on there. He had never come to the place where Theidta practices. So, he didn’t know if she still practices alone or with someone else. Theidta laughed at something her fighting partner had said. Christian didn’t want to interrupt their practice, so he stood behind a tree and watched. Theidta was practicing with a boy, that Christian hadn’t met before. Theidta was tackling him very well, even Era didn’t know of these tricks. And the boy was doing good, too. Who has been teaching them? He took a mental note to ask her about her trainer once all of this mess is over. If the person who teaches is better than the teacher who trains them at school, then the future Alpha and Beta need to train with their trainer too. Theidta laughed again. Christian loved her laugh. Furrowed brows, squinted eyes, and always scrunched her nose a little whenever she laughed. But he didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t the one who made her laugh. A strange boy was making her laugh. Why? And How? Christian was going to speak up his mind and shout at the two but what he witnessed next, was so unexpected, and real, that he had to stop himself from breaking the boy’s neck, and burning the woods into the ground. The boy who was practicing with Theidta, knelt down in front of her, which made Theidta stop kicking midair, and stare at him. She slowly lowered her leg and stared at her partner. “ Will you…go out with me, Theidta? I have started to fall for you. I know this might not be an appropriate place for me to ask you this question, nor the time because you seem a little upset. But….. I won’t have the courage again to ask you. So… Will you?” The boy looked up at her with hope and passion. His eyes glinted with so much light that they seemed to have stolen all the light from the Sun itself. And Christian felt like someone had brought that bucket of water, that was still in his room, and poured all its contents over him. He felt the cold water splashing on his head and felt his heart quicken its beat. His mind reeled back to when Kenneth had told him that this might happen.That Theidta won’t stay single forever. He knew there are boys who liked her. Of course, there were other people who were in love with her. She was gorgeous, intelligent, and had a sense of humor. She could mesmerize anyone with her hazel-green eyes. Those green orbs spill ancient magic, which can trap even a lion in its cage. Theidta has been asked out before. A lot. And by really cool boys who were definitely her type. But she didn’t want to invest any time in relationships. Maybe because her mother had strictly prevented her or because she just wanted to focus on her future. OR maybe both. Because Theidta had always been focusing on her studies even though she was always late to classes. Her focus was set only on three things: to spend time with her friends, and family, to make the most out of life, and to become a Veterinarian. It was easy for her to heal the animals. She had always had some type of connection with them. Like she can speak with the animals. She could whisper the words of healing, and they would magically listen to her.

Christian was still frozen in his place, he wanted to believe that she won’t be answering him any soon but Theidta never left anyone hanging. She never accepted anyone’s proposal before. But that didn’t stop Christian to hold his heart and wait for her reply. And what Theidta did next was expected and unexpected at the same time.