CHOSEN

Chapter 5. Colony of freaks

The memory remains in my head, though it has been pushed aside because it holds no relevance to my current life. But my thoughts returned to it after I met the man before me.

There are many odd things I’ve only realized don’t happen anywhere else since I moved to this city. For instance, the howling of wolves that seems to be heard all the time, even though I’m not sure any wolves live in the forest surrounding the small town I’m from, nor do any townsfolk keep wolves. Dogs wouldn’t howl like that.

In my hometown-Raven City, people rarely get sick. They remain healthy, even into old age, and when they do fall ill, it’s only for a few days before they pass away.

Also, the adults there, especially the men, rarely speak. They make eye contact and seem to understand each other’s thoughts, almost like telepathy. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

The peak of my strange experiences came when some of my cousins and I explored the forest to play. We found two cabins side by side with a clearing in front of them. Though they appeared to have been abandoned for years, the dusty structures still stood solidly, showing no signs of damage.

Curiosity makes kids irrational. We broke the locks on both doors and went inside, without thinking that the place might have been abandoned because of some danger within.

Using flashlights, we explored rooms untouched by the sunlight streaming through the open door.

We found many inexplicable things. One room, apparently a storage room, had several crates full of old currency no longer in circulation. There was so much of it that we thought it couldn’t be real money. We closed the crates before checking out anything else.

In another room, a wooden cabinet was filled with various weapons like spears, swords, and axes. Another chest contained wooden swords and several bows. A basket of arrows sat beside them. There were enough weapons to arm a small army.

In the other cabin, we found a room with a large wooden table and ten chairs around it, the kind that might have been used for meetings. Another room held shelves lined with old records, journals, and ancient books.

While others were more interested in the cabins’ interiors, my oldest cousin Anna and I were drawn to the journals and dusty books. I didn’t want to touch the dust, so I let Anna pull some off the shelves and lay them on the table. She wiped them off haphazardly, and we sat down to read.

The first book I opened had a thick cover engraved with a crescent moon. It told the story of the Moon Goddess and her relationship with wolves, whom she saw as her children. An interesting fairy tale, I thought—until I realized that the wolves in question weren’t real animals, but werewolves.

At that same moment, the loud slam of a book closing startled me. I looked at Anna, who seemed nervous after closing a journal. She was reluctant to hand it over, and we spent a few seconds tugging it back and forth. Of course, I won; she wouldn’t let me cry.

I shot her a sideways glare as I opened the journal and started reading, soon getting absorbed in its contents. The journal listed the names of the town’s residents, generation after generation, since it had first been established as a small village.

Ravenguard Pack was formed from the remains of several packs that had been scattered after a war. I scratched my head. Packs? Were they animals?

I flipped through the pages without reading everything. The leaders of the packs were recorded, noting every time they were succeeded by someone from the same bloodline. The entries stopped with my late uncle, my mother’s brother, whose death I’ve never been told the reason for. It said that Uncle Jason was supposed to take over from my grandfather once he found his mate.

Wait, aren’t leaders these days chosen by voting? That’s what I thought.

“Guys! The sun’s going down. Head home before you get in trouble!”

My male friend’s shout brought us back to the present, and we realized how late it had gotten. My three male cousins immediately ran off, while Anna and I tried our best to tidy everything up.

Just before we left, Anna touched my shoulder.

“Essie,” she called.

I turned to the sixteen-year-old—she was seven years older than me—and she continued.

“Can we keep today’s discoveries a secret?” she asked hopefully.

I found it a little strange but nodded, thinking there was no harm in sharing a secret with my favorite cousin. She smiled in gratitude.

“But what about the others?” I asked.

“The boys won’t remember,” she replied. “They’re kind of dumb.”

I laughed, though it was kind of true.

We got busy with our own activities, and that incident was soon forgotten.

That memory only resurfaced at the beginning of college. I was living in a dorm, and as it turned out, my roommate came from a similarly strange place. The difference was that Eve was part of the weirdness. She even insisted that I wasn’t human, but a werewolf, just like her. For a while, I thought she was crazy, although some of her ramblings made sense.

She disappeared after meeting a man, a strange-looking figure whom she claimed was her mate. It was just a few months before graduation, and I truly regretted it. A month after she vanished, her family came to see me. Her parents looked exhausted and sad.

I promised I would call them if I found Eve, but to this day, there’s been no word from her.

***

“Ester?”

Silas’s voice snapped me out of my daydream. I smiled at him, feeling bad that he had caught me drifting off.

“You look pale, and this is the third time I’ve called you. Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded and glanced at Lucien who was sitting not far from me, looking concerned.

The starry sky did nothing to lift my spirits. I still felt guilty about the affair I’d had, but even though my mind was on that, my heart ached for Lucas. I must be losing my mind.

The roar of a motorcycle engine stopped in the parking lot across the street. I saw the rider with a perfect posture, dismount from the now-silent Harley Davidson and remove his helmet. The parking area was dim, but I knew who had arrived when the wind blew in my direction, brought my mate's scent. The man’s gaze locked on me as he set his helmet on the bike’s seat.

Lucas. I swallowed hard. I wanted him and, at the same time, wanted to avoid him.

Without breaking his gaze, he crossed the empty road. His face remained expressionless as he stepped into the café and unzipped his black leather jacket. He sat in the empty chair next to me, and with his gloved hand, took my hand and kissed my palm.

A pleasant electric sensation coursed through my hand as his lips touched it, making my heart race—just like the first time I had felt it when we met a few days ago.

Back then, he had only looked at me softly, stroked my cheek, said his name, and then left. Luckily, he had left before Dave showed up and saw the weird interaction between us.

“Whoa, Bro! She’s married!” Silas exclaimed when he saw what Lucas had done.

Without looking away, Lucas replied, “Calm down, Delta. She’s my mate.”

I saw the horror across Silas’s face as his jaw dropped to the floor.