NIGHT BLOOD

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

~flashback continued~

I watched as the taillights disappeared behind the early morning fog. I stood there for some time holding the white and red paper rose holding it close to my chest before my mother stuck her head out the large pack doors to call me inside.

“Latavia honey, why are you still outside?”

“I just wanted to see the boys leave, I’ll come inside soon I promise. I think I’m going to watch the sunrise first.”

“Okay sweetie, it’s a bit brisk out here so please don’t be too long. I’ll be making some soup inside and we could bake cookies later.” She said, holding herself tightly and looking around at the distasteful cool weather rolling in.

“Sounds great mom. I’ll be inside shortly.”

And with that I watched the sun rise that cleared the fog away.

Living deep within the mountains had its perks, we watched the leaf’s change colors, smelt the crisp air as the weather changed and enjoyed the luxurious lake house. My brothers and I fell through the ice one winter when we were younger but that is a different story. What seemed like months since my brother’s departure was only a matter of a day and a half. They chose to drive since Raven moon was a secluded pack, they had no main roads leading through the forest, only a small village a couple of miles out of their pack boards where they’d leave the cars. The rest would be on foot.

I found my mom in her office with her fingers tangled in her hair as she stared down at numerous papers with her elbows resting on the desk. Without my father there to comfort her she seemed extremely stressed and slightly tense as if she was just waiting.

“Hey why don’t we go watch a movie or a show and after I’ll help you go through everything. I think you need a mental break from all of this Luna stuff.” I said as I stretched my arms gesturing to the piled-up papers everywhere in their office.

“I think I can do a break.” She stated with a gracious smile

Latavia and her mother went into the theater room and binged watched “The Alphas House” making sure to catch up on everything that was going on within the other packs. Little Latavia also liked seeing all the available alphas out there. An intriguing story really caught her attention about a set of twins just a little older than herself.

“Due to unfortunate circumstances the Alpha and Luna lost one of their sons at a young age leaving them with only twins. During a venture between pack lands one of the triplets were abducted by rogues and has not been seen to this day.” Announced the bleach blonde she wolf

Through the course of two days Latavia followed her mother and learned the ropes of what it takes to be an Alpha and Luna. Her mother moved with ease around the grand pack house, her steps made it look like she was floating. She moved with simplicity and speed with her long gowns barely sweeping the floor, moving with elegance and grace. Although Latavia was young, she still had a tough time keeping up with her mother. After her teachings and playing with children they were finally allowed to sit down in her parents’ office.

“Latavia, could you bring me those papers on your father’s desk please, I need to look through them.” She asked while pointing to a small crinkly stack that was perfectly laid out with a sticky note on top.

Before sitting back on the luxurious mini grey sofa her mother uttered while looking through a few different stacks of papers.

“One more thing honey, a mother and her son has joined our pack as refugees. I want you to do me a favor and go over the son’s file. He is a young boy who is incredibly special, he cannot be no older than 6 years old. There are a few things about the mother in there as well, but it should explain why they are trying to hide.”

Do you really need me to read it now?? I was about to sit down and look through “Keeping Up with The Packs.” Young Latavia expressed while setting her mother’s papers on the top corner of her desk

“Yes, my little snow princess, I need all the help I could get right now, and you promised to help out after playing with the children. It’s not difficult like calculating what’s going on in your father’s businesses, I just need you to go through it, make a few notes and give them a quick call to make sure that they have settled in alright. Afterall you might marry an Alpha and become a Luna yourself you never know so it’s always good to know about your pack and have good manners.” She said giving a wink

“Fine I’ll go over the file.” She said plopping on the couch

CONTENTS OF FILE

Nicolas Brown is the son of a Mercenary named Benny Brown. Nicolas was the result of an affair. His mother ranking in at D/5; based on potential being displayed Brown will become an A/0. To continue research Nicolas will be placed with his father and continue high intensity training as a soldier. His item by choice of Colonel Brown is a high-quality Damascus katana with embedded fragments of silver throughout the blade while being laced with wolfsbane.

Name: Nicolas Brown

DOB: Unknown

Age: approximately 8 years old

Ranking: TBD

Log one: Based on results shown Nicolas shows little to no effect when administered small doses of wolfsbane. We will continue micro dosing over the course of this week to build resistance.

Log two: Beginning of second week age 3, boy shows exciting potential. Begins to show signs of weakness and fatigue when administered 1ml of wolfsbane. Recovery time is under an hour and a half, silver has no effect on the child. Still does not respond to verbal commands

Log three-five: No response to verbal commands and does not speak. Increasing dosage to 1ml every two days for the next 2 weeks. Boy shows signs of fatigue, slight fever, night sweats and slight pain. First 5 days were rugged, but results show solid evidence.

Dosage has moved to every other day due to significant improvement. Blood samples indicate a resistance buildup to wolfsbane.

Log thirty-seven:

At the age of 4 he has high resistance to wolfsbane, silver cuffs have no effect. His father has chosen a sword for the boys’ combat weapon. Mother seems concerned about the boy’s safety with father.

END OF FILE

“Huh, that was really interesting. I’m going to give them a call and see if they would like to have dinner with us if that alright with you.”

“Yeah, sweetheart I don’t see an issue with them coming over.”

~Later that day~

*The doorbell to the pack house rings and young Latavia runs to open it to 8-year-old Nicolas and his very exhausted mother Christa. *

Ms. Christa was a very skittish woman like something was always around the corner ready to grab her. An average sized kind of on the skinner side women. She had deep green eyes with dark bags that showed all her stress and worry. She had thin hands and looked very frail, timid, that was what she was around my mother. Alone with her son you could hear her cursing the world and why did she have to fall in love with such a terrible man and become pregnant.

Nicolas was a small cute little boy with few light freckles on his cheeks and shiny black hair, his eyes were golden brown. He was standing next to his mother looking down, twiddling his thumbs waiting patiently. I greeted them both, but he didn’t look up.

“Oh, honey don’t bother, he ignores everyone.” Stated Christa with a hint of annoyance in her voice

I tapped on his shoulder lightly and he slowly looked up. I waved hello and said “Hello, my name is Latavia Grey and welcome to the Night Blood pack.” He just gave me a very confused look and tilted his head. I couldn’t stifle the giggle I had which earned me an even more confused look from Nicolas. I tried again and I saw him focusing extremely hard on my mouth as I spoke. I stopped and pointed to him then my ear and finally myself as I mouthed slowly.

“Can you hear me?” which earned me a thumbs down

“Ms. Christa, I think your son is deaf. If you would like I could set you guys an appointment with the pack doctor tomorrow for him to be evaluated. For now, I would be more than happy to help him learn how to communicate better. I even have a sign language book in the library he can have.”

“Go right ahead sweetie, you could take him with you if you’d like to. I can’t promise that he’ll listen.” She said with a sigh

A day or so had passed since we had dinner with Ms. Christa and little Nico. On the fourth day I got a couple strange texts from my father and brothers.

“Hey, my little spark princess, tell your mom that the boys and I love her dearly and can’t wait to meet again. Let her know that she is the best mom and mate anyone could ever ask for. As for you my little firecracker, remember to stay grounded.” -Dad

“Of course, dad I can’t wait to see you guys’ next weekend.”

“Hey baby L! We all just wanted to say we love more than life itself; we couldn’t be prouder to be your brothers and, in all honesty, enjoyed all our play fights we had. You’ve been the best little sister a group of boys could ask for. Oh, and a little word of advice from all of us for the future, make sure to be free, let your personality set ablaze. Remember that you don’t have to always be on guard with everyone and give them the cold shoulder, just remain cautious and relax, flowing like the river. But most importantly stay true to who you are. You'll be like a nice breeze of fresh air to your pack. We are always with you no matter what. Well, that is all we have for you little sis, we love you so much, but we must bid you a farewell for now. Until we meet again.” - Jaden, Kaden and Chase

“Make sure to always be strong for your pack Latavia, your brothers and I are counting on you.”-Dad

“I love you guys all too, but you’re being kind of silly. I’ll see you next weekend, I have a big surprise for you.”

That was it, that was the last text that I got.

That night my mother let out a heart wrenching scream as if she had lost one of her children. I could hear her wails from the other side of the packhouse, each sob was heartbreaking and only tore me apart more being so close comforting her. Whatever she had seen or experienced was not good, but I could feel the emptiness that fell upon us. My mother stayed in the position I found her in for a long time just repeating the same line over and over. She was on the office floor with her hands clenched to her chest leaning forward staring at the floor rocking herself slightly as she repeated.

“It’s not real, that can’t happen. I should have told him.”

2 days later we got the news from one of the Lycan members that managed to escape. That is when a young girl brought the rings of our Alphas. She could not have been no older than I was. Her father, a messenger for King Liam volunteered to be an escort, unfortunately he brought his daughter along leaving her as the only one to escape. But now I genuinely understood what my father meant as I held the four rings in front of me.

~END OF FLASHBACK~