Rebirth of the last flame

chapter twelve: Lycan blood in my veins

What happened that night was unforgivable and Makumi would forever carry the mental and emotional scars it had inflicted on her.

Just the very thought of what the man had done to her her brought out her wolf for only the briefest of moment.

Seeing this, Dakota placed his hand on hers to calm the girl down, thinking she was about to go feral once more, but she managed to calm herself down, taking in a deep breath.

"you're alright...breath" Dakota kept his grip on her shoulder firm until she had fully relaxed. Intrigued by her story, he urged her to go on by asking more questions. she made mention of living with her grandmother before...

"And your grandmother?"

"she was a good woman, bless her soul. but she was still a Hogllin and having to raise a hybrid like myself, with no guide or assistance was especially hard. I hated myself for being such a burden to her..." there was a brief pause before she continued.

"I know she loved me and wanted to help, but there was only so much she could do for me. The first time it happened, I went ballistic. luckily enough, her home was a bit further away from other people and after injecting me with a few sedatives, I was bound by chains, deep in her basement to avoid me running off and risk being exposed...for the rest of my days, this was how I lived, in constant fear of being discovered. but it didn't really mean a thing seeing as I had already been ostracized by the people. I didn't blame them though, all of a sudden, out of the blues, I was living within the walls. Gran did come up with excuses for me, but the people were still wary. but I didn't even care or make attempts to befriend any of them. even if I didn't have Lycan blood in me, I would have haunted them down myself" Makumi confessed to him.

The Hogllins were anything but peaceful and meek creatures as portrayed in the stories. some of them were ruthless and nosy hypocrites who bullied those amongst them that they felt were weaker.

Some were greedy and others fraudulent, from the elders and even amongst the youngsters, each and everyone of them deserved to be haunted. This had been makumi's view from years living with them.

Although there were a few good ones amongst them, but the amount of rotten eggs in the bunch made it hard to tell them apart. she was just grateful to be finally out of there, but she did wish her grandmother didn't have to succumb to the cold hands of death.

Makumi's story was indeed a pitiful and painful one. she remembered being chained up in a dark and cold basement underground, unable to do anything as the pain consumed her body. Subconsciously her right hand went to rub her left wrist, gently rubbing on it as though she could still feel the rusted and cold chains eating up her flesh. She knew her grandmother meant well, but, she just wished things could have been done differently.

"I'm sorry for causing harm and damage to you , Dakota...I shouldn't even be here...I promise to be out of here before the sun sets..." Makumi apologized to him, her eyes spoke of untold pain as she wondered if she would ever be able to control it.

Despite speaking of leaving, she knew she had nowhere else to go, Dakota knew this as well and knowing what he knew now, he came to a final conclusion that he would take her other him. Letting her go was as good as feeding her to the wolves, literally. she was both prey and hunter. If she didn't die at the jaws of other beast, surely she would met her end at the hands of the humans who were less than kind to Lycan's, especially rouges, Makumi would be killed on the spot without hesitation.

" I just wish things could have been better...I don't even know who I am or... what I am..."

"I am very sure your parents loved you Makumi.." Dakota's hands that rest on her shoulder retracted as be spoke. His voice was deep and masculine making every word that left his lips sound reassuring as they carried a sense of maturity with them.

"And about you leaving...no need,you can stay here...stay as long as you need too" Dakota couldn't just let her leave now.

Makumi couldn't believe her ears, did he really mean that? she could really stay?

"really?a..are you...sure...what if I loose control again..."

She was still sceptical and having her doubts about being around people now. With her grandmother gone,there was no one to help her keep her wolf in check...

Dakota shifted to come sit closer to her and placed his hand on her head, like a father would do to his child when he was trying to encourage them.

Makumi's heart seems to flutter as his scent which was carried by the breeze when he lifted his hand attacked her nostrils the moment he did that.

"Do you know why your wolf is so wild?" He asked to which she shook her head. In this moment she was trying really hard to pay attention to his words, but at the same time trying to decipher what his scent was. Lavender? no, Vanilla? no, wild flowers mixed with sweet honey? no.

"Why?" her voice came out as a kind of muffled mumble.

"Because you aren't letting it be free. We wolves are free spirited, we dont like being caged up or subjected to one place,that's why whenever your wolf is out,it controls you instead of you controlling it...do you understand?" he pulled his hand back a d Makumi's senses returned back to her. what was she doing? why was his scent suddenly important to her?

Makumi might have had Lycan blood coursing through her veins, but she still had alot to learn about them and Dakota was more than happy to take her under his wing...or paw.

Now that she'd told him about her lineage, he had answers to his questions of his, yet and of these answers only brought up a few answers.

He was finally able to understand how she had adapted to his training plans, he had intentionally made them grueling so she would quit, but she never did rather still, she exceeded his expectations.

"but how do I control it,I've never really been a wolf..."

"You have me, I'll guide you...trust me, it'll be fun" he flashed Makumi a sweet smile as he placed his hand on hers giving it a gentle squeeze.

Dakota's hands felt coarse from all the training, but also warm. Letting her thoughts wander off, Makumi felt her cheeks burn up from the contact as she looked at his hands "Makumi..."

"Mm.." she looked up to meet curious blue eyes watching her with so much seriousness it made her shrink in her place. Had she done something wrong? She wondered.

"When you left home where exactly did you intend to go..." He asked as he retrieved his hand back to his side. Somehow she wished he didn't....

Makumi let his question sink into her mind before smiling.

"When I was younger...my grandmother would tell me stories about a meadow... Emerald meadow" Taking a pause, she chuckled, recalling the stories her grandmother told her.

"Granny sui told of how there was a meadow where sweet honey flowed like a stream of water, it was a place where one could be whatever they wanted to be ,free to be you...a place of magic and wonder where the sweetest dreams came true...haha I know it sounds like a bedtime story, but I figured there had to be some truth behind it, right? I mean this is a world where anything could exist, no matter how ridiculous, take me for example." Makumi smiled bitterly.

"You're not ridiculous, but, what if it didn't exist?? Then what?"

"Hm...." .After giving it some thought she said

"jump off the side of the nearest cliff I find" she deadpanned. "It wouldn't make the difference if I were dead anyways. That's what everyone wanted right from the moment they had met me, the mysterious orphaned girl who lived isolated from everyone with her poor old grandmother...I bet they've thought me dead already, because once grandmother was buried, I left"

Dakota frowned at her words, if only she could see how special she was.

"If you really hungered for death, you would have let Logan get you, but the fact that you're still fighting to survive makes you a strong wolf..."

Remembering those weeks begin hunted by Logan, Makumi recollected how she just kept running till her feet turned sore.

"Last night,before I fell..down the water fall..."

There was a momentary pause in her words as she tried to recall her memories before everything went blank.

"...you called me Ava. Who"s Ava?" The name was the last thing she had heard as it echoed within her and for some reason, it just stuck to her.

Dakota had a grave look on his face as he remained silent as though he were in deep thoughts. She was right, in the heat of the moment, he had called out a name that was dear to him.

"she was my mate..."

He stated gravely, Ava was his wife and a huge part of him which he unfortunately lost in the most horrible of ways. Maybe seeing Makumi fall off the edge triggered those memories of his.

Makumi was not expecting that. She felt bad for bringing it up, because right now, Dakota looked as though someone had just given him the worst news ever.

"A...are these her clothes?" Off course she wondered whose clothes she'd been wearing and also wondered where Dakota had gotten them from. Her first thought was that he was a shameless man who peeked at women and stole their attire, but she threw that thought out the window. if he really were a pervert he would have probably made a move on her months ago, but he never did. So with that thought out of the way, she could only imagine what he was doing with women's clothing, but never could she have guessed that Dakota had actually been married before.

The man nodded and Makumi made an "o" shape with her mouth. She wondered where this Ava was as she had never seen her and Dakota never made mention of another person living here with him.

"Where is she?"

"-sigh- dead..." He said. The fire in his eyes dimmed. This was a particularly sour topic for Dakota.

"Oh...I..i'm sorry to hear that..how did she die?"

Makumi knew it was wrong to pry into another person's matter. Dakota did not wish to speak on it so he turned his face away.

"...it's okay if you don't want to talk about it really..."she quickly added to which he shook his head

"it's fine...at the time of the battles between our clan and the wolves from the east,it was an ambush so there really wasn't enough time to prepare..." If she wanted to know of his past, he will tell her about it.