The Seasons

Chapter 52

Winter slipped into the building, and initially, he thought he had imagined the people going in as he found nothing there. There was broken and mouldy furniture, broken glass scattered on the floor, doors hanging on by their hinges; the walls were broken and covered in graffiti.

But as he continued walking down the hall to what used to be some factory, he heard hushed whispers. He scowled when he realised he had just gone in a massive circle and saw the graffiti of a p***s on the wall again, as he had seen when he had first walked in. He frowned but continued walking, and he tensed as he rounded the corner; the man with glowing green eyes appeared before him, a small smile on his face.

Winter froze but then returned the smile as he stared at the man. He was wearing a maroon suit, an odd choice of clothing when they were in an abandoned building, but he said nothing. His long dark hair was tied in a ponytail, and his green eyes seemed to glow faintly. So, it hadn’t been a hallucination.

“You must be one of the recruits. We explained how this building was designed to confuse those lost. Come, I'll show you the way,” he said, turning on his heel, and Winter silently followed after the man. They seemed to walk for over ten minutes; they went down three flights of stairs before they got to their destination.

A small room appeared to be the most well-kept, with painted white walls and black wooden flooring. There were no windows, and the only piece of furniture was a small podium at the front. Winter watched as the man gave him one last slight smile before he walked out of the door to the east of the wall.

He looked around in confusion, and he could smell the entia present. There were werewolves, mainly betas and other omegas like him; he smelt some vampires, the one-off magic welder and sprites. But he knew there had to be more, but their scents were overpowered.

Someone tried to move closer to the podium and, in doing so, pushed Winter into someone. He whirled around to see a woman standing there, and before he could apologise, she stared at him with wide eyes.

“You’re an omega, too?” she whispered.

Winter froze as he stared at her; her hair was messily chopped short, with pretty brown eyes, and she was dressed in a beige sweater and dark pants. He couldn’t help but look at the collar around her neck; it was a light purple and strapped tight to her neck, so tight he could see it digging into her skin, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“Yes,” he ended up saying.

“Me too; I was so scared of being here alone; nice to see that I’m not. I’m Marcella; what’s your name?”

“Winter,” he replied.

“Is your hair naturally so colourless, or did you dye it?”

“It’s natural. I’m an albino.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at him with interest. “I’ve never heard of a wolf being an albino.”

“Well, now you have, and you've seen them with your own eyes,” he said, spreading his arms in front of him with a small smile.

The two continued to talk for the next ten minutes as they waited for someone to take the stage; who? He wasn’t sure. It turned out Marcella was twenty-six, and she also didn’t have a mate. The woman she loved had been a beta, and naturally, she had married another beta, leaving Marcella alone. But she was so much stronger than Winter. She had wished her the best, but somewhere deep inside, Winter had been glad that Citrus had been killed, as he hadn’t had a chance to fall for the man where he would surely have been left alone.

When the door to the east opened and in came the man who had helped him, the room quietened. He took to the podium with a woman beside him, and as he talked, the horrid realisation dawned on Winter. This was, in fact, the group they were looking for. The ones going around and killing Entia, which they claimed had been for the greater good.

And he now had a first-seat view of everything they were planning.

~*~