AND THEN IT DAWNED ON ME

22 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, CONTINUED

"I'm not easy to kill." I didn't mean to sound like I was bragging.

"True." Heller allowed, "But you're just a young girl, you can't be much older than Adelina."

I've heard those lines before... Oh right! I turned to the Captain, "Manny! Is Manny okay? What about Randolf?"

The moment I asked, I regretted it. I suddenly understood why Heller had wondered if he dared to ask the Captain to report. Part of me was suddenly afraid to know.

The Captain looked grim, "They are both in the hall. Manstein might not be able to use his legs as before. Randolf is tending to him."

Oh. I felt my mouth turned down.

"Did something happen, Captain?" Heller asked.

The Captain nodded and bowed, "I regret to inform you that Manstein and Randolf had mistaken this young alpha as the enemy. They fired at her, chasing her away from our group, and later on, upon meeting her in the woods, they had abandoned her with the T&T."

Heller frowned, "Don't worry, Sam. I will not leave them unpunished."

Eh? I shook my head, "No, no, no... it was a misunderstanding. Those two are loyal and honest warriors. They were really very kind to me before all that."

"Are you certain?" Heller asked. He used to think I was the wise goddess! Now he didn't even look like he trusted my ability to discern an obvious misunderstanding.

The healer smiled, "The beauty of a maiden is the kindness of her heart."

Yes, I've heard that one before too. It was one of those old lycan quotes that old wolves like to quote at young girls to tell us how we ought to be. But the healer was saying it as a praise now - which made me suddenly wonder, could it be? Perhaps these words were not to guilt trip young girls, but to praise them.

It was kind of nice that kindness was still a good thing here in the Colored Mountains. Back home, Ben would've probably scolded me for being too kind. But I couldn't take credit that I didn't deserve.

"I'm not being kind." I said honestly, "I'm just telling the truth. They misunderstood and thought I was the enemy. It wasn't their fault."

And then, I remembered Mr Greene, and the mate of the mum with too many kids, and Burt... warrior wolves who couldn't use their legs as before could no longer be warriors, "Please help me take care of Manny. When I first arrived here earlier, he was the one who looked out for me on his own accord."

Heller nodded, but his mouth was still set in a grim line, "Very well. Since this is your request."

He winced and tried to sit up higher. The healer adjusted his pillow and gently lowered him instead. His mate made a whimpering sound, her lips wobbling as she held tightly to his hand. She was still crying, like the spring rains. Heller turned a little to her and smiled wanely, "Don't cry love."

He sighed, "You cry so easily."

He said that like it was a good thing too, but I guess everything always looked prettier after the spring rain.

Wow... I seriously need to know her wolf power - wth was with the poetic imagery popping up everywhere? I mean, with Mate, yes. But Mate was Mate ~ ❤️ This lady, I barely knew. I didn't even really feel all that strongly for - but the poetic lines just keeps popping up in my head. Never mind, her wolf power... where was her wolf?

And then I realized, actually, I blurted it out at Heller's mate, "You're not a real wolf, are you?"

There was a prolonged silence. I probably shouldn't have said that. I mean, now in hindsight, it was kind of obvious. None of the wolves called her Luna. She was referred to as Heller's mate, not Heller's Luna. I hadn't noticed because I was thrown off at the way the other wolves called Heller "Your Highness" instead of "Alpha."

Was Heller's mate a princess? She was rather magical, but now that I was looking at her, she was missing a wolf.

She wiped away her tears and nodded, "I'm a formling."

"Is that a kind of human?" I was still trying to place her.

Heller's mate shook her head, "Do you not have warlocks in the plains, young alpha?"

Eh? Warlock? Ding, ding, ding!

"Yes! We have a warlock!" I raised my hand like an overenthusiastic student. My instincts was humming again - now we were getting somewhere.

"I'm the child of a warlock." Heller's mate told me. She looked rather amused at my raised hand.

"You're a warlock?" I exclaimed with a gasp. My hand now slapping over my mouth.

"How rude." Adelina scolded.

Her mum shook her head, "No, its alright. I want to stay with Heller. He is my mate. So I will not take my fire."

Eh? Wait! STOP EVERYTHING! WHAT FIRE???

Suddenly, the bells in my head were going crazy! Ding ding ding! I found the answer! I just know this woman had the answer I needed. I just I needed to ask, but how should I ask? WHAT should I ask?

"Please help me!" I grabbed her hands in mine, "My friend is a human - I mean, I thought he was a human, but he is my little sister's mate, and I'm afraid he would turn into a warlock and stop being her mate!"

The moment the words left my mouth, my eyes started dripping wet. I touched it to check I wasn't crying blood like Heller was. I mean, maybe I was just slow to react to the poison? But no, it was real tears. This was when I realized how upset I was on Savy's behalf. I mean, I know Fount might come and take back his stone, or be mad, or whatever really, but I think the thing that was bugging me most was the fear that Savy would lose her soul mate.

"Young Alpha, your sister's mate is a formling?" Heller's mate asked gently. It was like a cloud floating so that the sun would shine through. Was River going to be so magical that he becomes a living poem too Omo?

"What's a formling?" I asked.

"Like me," She answered, "We are warlocks who choose not to take our fires for whatever reason. I chose because warlocks and wolves were incompatible, and I could not bear to sacrifice our mating bond for the power."

She smiled at Heller, "I chose love."

So River could choose love too? Well, it's not like I was going to leave him with a choice. Its love, or my fist in his face.

"How do you take the fire?" I asked. More specifically, how do you NOT take it? "Tell it to me like I'm stupid. I know next to nothing about warlocks."

"Obviously." Adelina huffed.

"Well, warlocks have a blue fire. It purifies us, and a formling can burn away and step out anew. In our warlock state, we can harness and control our magical powers at will, but in exchange, we lose our humanity." Heller's mate explained.

"Wait, so you're human?" I asked.

"Aren't we all a little human?" She answered wryly, and I thought of flowers bobbing their heads in the spring breeze, and then she said, "Young Alpha, for your sister's mate to remain hers, he cannot take the blue fire. If he does, it would burn away his humanity, and he would be left master of his own powers."

It was funny the way she said it like it was a bad thing. I mean, if River could master his own powers, things would definitely work out better for him.

It was also funny because I've always thought being human was being sophisticated or smart, you know, as opposed to barbaric instinctive animal types. But Fount had sounded like an intellectual sort of man. So what did the fire burn away? The part that was the mating bond? What part was that? I tried to remember my own mating bond... the way it made me go gaga-googoo over Bell. The part that had infected my diary with little hand drawn hearts ~ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

"Warlocks cannot understand love." Heller's mate said.

Oh.

Then I don't think River would be River anymore. Because River was the kind of human whose beauty was in the kindness of his heart - even though he wasn't a maiden. And I kind of liked him that way - even though he always got into a lot of trouble for it.

And Bell's prophecy - brother of the warlock's fire - the blue fire. Okay. There was blue fire in Heller's castle. So we were talking about a literal blue fire. Would Fount's home have a blue fire too? How did one become brother of the warlock's fire?

I frowned. Dawn was soon approaching.

"How do you become brother of the warlock's fire?" I just asked point blank. I was running out of time.

"You want to become the Tyger?" Heller asked startled.

"Ah no. Someone else." I said, " Wait, what's a tyger?"

Did Bell want to become the Tyger?

"Tyger tyger burning bright, in the darkness of the night." Heller quoted.

I knew that song! It was quite the famous lycan lullaby!

"A wolf who finds the deepest darkness, would also find the brightest light." Heller explained, "You see, Sam, such a man's darkness is a curse that can only be purified by the blue flame."

And then I woke up!

Grrr…. I growled in frustration. I didn't even understand what Heller answered! Not fair! But it was too late, I was back, tucked between the lemony scent of my soft sheets a fluffy pillows and phew! What was that stench? I sat up and sniffed around. It was me! I looked down at the dark patch dried up on my pink tshirt. Ewww...

I got out of bed and pulled off my shirt. My alarm started ringing so I had to double back to turn it off. Okay, what should I do with this mess? Where could I hide it? You know what? A blue fire in the house might be convenient. I could just feed this mess to it and make it disappear.

Because I needed to get rid of the evidence. Should anyone smell this blood and something nastier than wolfbane mixture dried up on my shirt, they would freak. Like I would be grounded for the rest of my life kind of freak.

I took everything off and showered. Let's clean me up first. Then I got dressed into the uniform Ki had left out for me. What to do with this mess? I brought it out to the roof, but my patio was bare. It wasn't like I could stick it in the gutter, right? Right? Why was I so stupid suddenly? I was running late, and for some reason, my brain wouldn't cooperate, so I ended up bringing it back into the house and throwing it in the tub.

I turned on the hot water and added shampoo. Lets hope it soaked out.

Okay, here's the plan: I'll just go down for breakfast now. I purposely left my phone on the dresser, and I'll come up after breakfast because I forgot my phone... and I'll drain out the tub and throw the clothes into the wash. No problem.

Oh, better still, I put my phone in the bathroom counter. I'll accidentally leave my phone here, so I can come fetch it.

Satisfied with my genius arrangement, I went downstairs - completely forgetting to bring down my bag. Oh well. I shrugged it off. All the more reason to rush back upstairs to finish dealing with my mess before heading out for school.

Downstairs, my family was sitting around the table like every other day. Dad was frowning at his screen - even with the impending warlock attack, a good alpha would never slip behind in his email huh? Hahaha

"Good morning, goddess." Ki smiled and placed sausages and eggs in front of me.

"Good morning!" I grinned at Ki.

"You're in a good mood." Mum smiled, "All ready for the exam?"

Oh right. But today was English, so I nodded, "Yup!"

Not just the exam, I was ready for anything! I mean, I totally figured out how to keep River from turning into a warlock. Okay, River being River, he could just as well accidentally fall into the fire, but we'll deal with the details later. And Bell! It was too bad I couldn't get more information about the fire thing, but it didn't sound like something that could just happen. Not that I was worried about dying or anything, but it was comforting to know it's not like Bell could just touch the fire and turn into the Tyger, fulfill the prophecy, and end my life. That would just be too convenient.

"You look like the cats who's got the cream." Savy eyed me suspiciously.

I nodded, "Yup. I had a good dream."