Tides Of Fate

Chapter Twelve

"Oh, sorry. As I was saying before I got sidetracked, Billy and Joe were difficult to separate. So I picked up Joe's scent from Maria, he's the light brown one isn't he?"

"Yes." He sounded tense. He looked even more worried than happy.

"What's wrong?"

"It's been three months since I bit you. You are changing slowly, but your abilities are emerging solid. I thought they would develop slowly too."

I swallowed hard. "You say it as if it's a bad thing."

"When the real change happens…" His face creased in frustration. I could tell my complete change was something he wasn't looking forward to.

"I think it's time you told me the whole story. All of it, including Baku."

"I was made what I am to fight Baku after he was changed. The spirits that made him a werewolf wanted me to put a stop to him, to correct their mistake. He was going around killing and destroying villages on a whim. They saw I had a greater motivation than anyone else did to do it. He'd killed my family and my entire village, leaving me the lone survivor. He wanted me to suffer and I have for five hundred years. Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity for vengeance so I agreed to it." He chuckled. "Right after they changed me."

I sat there and listened. I could see the memories hurt him. It had been over five centuries but the pain seemed to be strongly dominant over him.

"The change was painful. I could hear and feel my bones break as they took a new form. Something I'm dreading for you to experience."

"I can handle it." I tried to sound brave.

He shook his head. "It's worse than your stomach pains. There is no way you'll be able to handle it. The worst part is the hunger, the hunger for blood and raw flesh. An animal satisfies it but a human, it's an incomparable pleasure and it makes us stronger than any other kind of blood."

His eyes lit up with desire. I swallowed the creepy fear lodged in my throat.

"There won't be a difference between animal and man. You'll see them all the same, as food. I killed a lot of people before I could finally control myself. That's when I started hunting down Baku." He looked like he was in some sort of daze.

I rubbed his arm, just to remind him he was in the present with me. "You changed Billy and Joe to help you."

He turned and looked at me. "How did you know that?"

I shrugged. "Dad explained some stuff."

He looked away and continued, "Baku had numbers on his side, and they were stronger since they fed on humans. I picked Billy and Joe because they were courageous and on the verge of death. I wasn't comfortable changing an unwilling person. I taught them to resist humans and feed on animals. That's when I knew I was stronger than they were. They needed to be as strong as Baku's men to fight. I had no other choice but to let them feed on humans."

I panicked and pulled my hand away. "That's wrong. Nothing can justify killing innocent people!"

"They hunted criminals and murderers, people the world would do better without!" Ash sounded defensive. I wanted to argue but fighting with him on this would not change the past.

"But they are okay now?"

He raked his hand through his hair. "Yes. They stopped feeding a century back; their conscious couldn't take it. We feed on animals' every day to keep our abilities on point. I hope you aren't going to start arguing on animal rights."

If that was meant to be a joke, it wasn't funny. "After the change, how is it?"

He huffed, rubbing his face with both his hands. I felt the urge to hug him, comfort him for…what…me, suffering pain that would make me wish I were dead?

Suddenly, I wanted him to hold me.

"The change only takes place on a full moon, so the venom can keep you alive till then. After the pain and the restructuring of the bones, all the senses become more acute. You see, hear and smell everything within a ten mile radius."

"You said you were stronger, how acute are your sense?"

"Thirty miles maximum, that's if I'm looking for something or someone."

I felt very pompous knowing the alpha was my boyfriend. "When does the hunger start?"

"After all the human blood inside the body is used up. We can still eat other foods like humans do but if we don't feed like the animals we are, we could die."

"What's happening to me now?"

"You're senses are sharper but not as sharp as the rest of us. And you have accelerated healing that's why your shoulder healed so fast." I touched my shoulder and rubbed at it remembering the fight it had caused. "Your diet has changed, and your emotions are ten times what they used to be. I don't know about the pain, we'll have to depend on Joe's expertise when it comes to that."

"What about the mind reading thing?"

"You are on the same wave length as the rest of us because you have my venom. We converse telepathically most of the time. You said you felt muted when you came to the woods?" I nodded. I couldn't find my voice; I was too busy digesting everything he'd told me so far. "That's because we blocked out everyone else apart from the four of us. We didn't want to chance Sabrina listening in on us just in case she was close by."

"Dad said we were in more danger now that we are around you guys. What did he mean?"

Ash's face creased in anger. "Baku enjoys making me suffer. The best way he could hurt all of us is if he killed you and your sisters."

I shivered; the thought of losing my sisters scared me. I couldn't lose anyone else. I wouldn't be able to take it. Ash drew me close and held me tight against him. I sat there frozen in his arms. All this had just become a major reality.

I heard Ash chuckle above me. "What's so funny?"

"The other guys can't read your mind. It annoys them that they can't pick through your brain and you can easily get into theirs."

I pulled away and looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'm the only one who can get into anyone's mind, human or not, one of the perks of being the Alpha and the creator. They, however, can only get into each other's minds and mine if they are allowed in."

"Wait, you've been invading my privacy!" I was annoyed, I didn't like anyone invading my personal space, and he had gone over board and done worse. He got into my mind!

He chuckled which annoyed me further. "I only did that a few times. When we first met, the day your dad came back into your life and on the porch. You opened the gate way when you tapped into your dad's mind."

"In the apartment, you saw what I saw?" I felt my chest tighten at the memory of my family's m******e.

"And on the porch today, we all saw it because it was coming from your dad's mind. Billy and Joe got shut out once the memories went into yours. But we could all feel the emotions you felt. I didn't know the pain was that bad." He placed his palm over the small bulge on my belly. "Watching you hurt like that, feeling the pain and fear you felt scared me more than I've ever been before."

"According to you, this is child's play compared to the one I'll feel when I completely change." There was an ache in my voice. I wasn't looking forward to that pain.

"That's what we are all not looking forward to. I'll have to separate you from your sisters until you get your hunger under control."

"For how long?"

"Weeks, months, it all depends on you."

"We've never been separated. I can't do that, not for months." The thought of being away from them for months was something I wasn't going to consider.

He sighed then ran the back of his hand down the side of my face. "Billy is already keeping a close eye on you; it's going to get worse. We also don't want to risk you killing them."

I could live with a few months separation, killing them was a chance I didn't want to take. I understood Billy's aggression better now. "Okay."

"You look pale and tired, you should rest."

"It's going to be difficult falling asleep after what you just told me." 

"Do you want to eat?"

"Do you have to ask?" I was eating twenty-four seven these days. It was amazing I hadn't gained any weight. "How come I'm not fat? Does a slim figure come in the wolf package?"