By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 4

“You should know better by now Lukas. I am never going to challenge my own brother under any circumstances.. I may not be connected to the pack by blood or even you by blood but I never considered myself to be a non-achiever or someone who is not going to be placed in the pack because I am not capable. There is something in me I know it. I have a purpose in life Lukas and now you do as well. Just you have to accept it as who you are,” said Rhea as she sat down below his feet at the armchair where he was still sitting.

Lukas looked up at her and thought about what she said.

“You have to understand Lukas, you have to understand that you are responsible for your pack. So now get your sorry ass up and go out there and take care of Nina. She has lost her child just now Lukas. She is a grieving mother. She needs her Alpha,” said Rhea as she slapped his thigh.

Lukas looked at her with his eyes watering up and he was on the verge of sobbing, breaking down.

Rhea looked at him whimpering and understood that she had to console him somehow, she had to do something so that the Alpha would not be weak. The bond of the pack and the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack was the strongest of the entire land which was the reason that no one normally tried taking them over because that link was unbreakable. Now if Lukas cried then his pain which he was feeling at the moment would flow through every single wolf of the pack. That was not going to be feasible or advantageous for any one of them.

Rhea stood up and sat down on his lap snuggling in and caught hold of him just like she used to do when she was bullied and sought refuge in his arms. But his time it was the other way round.

She started speaking softly in his ears,” Your hug is stronger than anything I've ever known, as if holding me wasn't quite enough, you have to feel every ounce that I am press into every ounce that is you. In that moment of feeling you so close I am awake somehow, more alive than I have been in so very long. For there are times I am as a butterfly who yearns for the cocoon, to be safe within walls, protected. That's what I feel. It helps. So if it would be okay, if it's what you want too, wrap those arms around me every chance the universe is kind enough to bring. For in this world, this is our gold, our food and pure rain... it is the love that makes everything else possible.

After a long time Lukas opened in his eyes, still wrapped in Rhea’s arms, not the other way round. He felt much better, as if a weight had been taken off from his head.

“I don’t know what I would do without you Rhea,” said Lukas as he smelled in the damp earth and cinnamon from her hair and skin. It was different from the other wolves. She had been much weaker as a child since she had been only half a wolf but then Lukas started teaching her the tricks of the trade. He recalled how one day she had come back home crying, her eyes red and puffy, her hair disheveled and her cheeks were streaked with mud, clothes were torn here and there. Their mother was not home and father was out with the pack hunting. Lukas was doing some chores that his father had given him in the backyard when he saw Rhea running inside the house in such a state.

Lukas dropped everything that was in his hand and ran inside the house. Rhea was sobbing like anything and it was clear that she had been hurt badly. Her elbows and knees had scraped which meant that she had been pushed on the ground multiple times. He did not know what to do and suddenly he felt so helpless. Lukas picked up the small girl in his arms from the floor who was clutching her broken and torn doll like it was her lifeline. He caught hold of her and placed her head on his shoulder and let her cry. He started softly singing a lullaby for her and she finally calmed down after a minute.

She had been beaten up by other kids, and they had called her a freak and she had tried to defend herself and showed her fried Nancy, her doll but they had laughed her up. Torn up the doll, broken up and then beat her, thrown her on the ground. Lukas grit his teeth when he heard what they had done to his sister. Rhea was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life when Dad had brought her back home from the forest after the hunt one night.

He had taken her to the bath, cleaned her wounds very carefully, gave her a lolli to suck upon while he decided what he was supposed to do with these kids for beating her up.

“Rhea, you know that you a brave girl, right?” he asked the girl of six whose face was still red from sobbing. She only nodded and looked at him with wide eyes.

“So brave girls do cry, but do you know what they are supposed to do?” prompted Lukas as she again nodded saying no.

“Well Rhea, they are supposed to stand up again, much stronger than before and then make a pledge that they are going to take a stand against those who hurt them and make them pay for it,” said Lukas as he looked up at her and then continued,” You can do that right? You told me you are a brave girl.”

“But they are so big, bigger than me. They are mean to me Lukas,” Rhea said as she started crying once again. Big fat tears started running down on her cheeks.

“Yes they are Rhea. But they are mean not because you are smaller, they are mean because they are scared, scared of something else. They do not know how to prove their point or their strength otherwise. But you are essentially strong from inside sweetie. You have such a big heart. You need to now know that and believe it within yourself that you are far stronger than them. Once you believe it Rhea, then I shall start training you to fight the biggest of them,” said Lukas as Rhea nodded at him with wide eyes. She believed him and she knew that he would stand by what he was saying.

And he did. Within a month of that day after that pathetic incident Rhea knew how to break someone’s nose, how to punch, protect, beat up and attack and then beat without mercy. She was a born fighter. Lukas was pleased at her progress and then one day he accompanied her to the place where the other wolf kids were playing. He stood at a distance while Rhea went up to the biggest boy amongst them and called him.

Then she challenged him for a fight. The kids were at first stunned at her audacity and then they started laughing at her. Rhea did not move from there for even a single inch and she whispered something to the boy which made him go absolute red in the face.

Lukas perked up his ears for a bit and could hear only the boy grunting and then shouting at the other kids to make space for them to fight. Once the circle was formed Rhea stood there with a calm look on her face, as if she was Zen. Lukas knew what she was doing and why she was doing.

As the boy tried to pick her up and throw her on the ground just like he had done last time, Rhea simply side-stepped him. Then she kicked him with his knee on his nose, as he dropped clutching his nose she caught hold of his hand and then twisted it around so hard that Lukas could hear the bone snap. The boy screamed in pain. He was so loud that the parents who were nearby came running. Lukas jumped in front of them nodding his head, saying no.

Rhea then simply caught hold of his neck from back and then got him in the elbow grip making him choke. The boy was already with a bloodied nose and he tapped her hand saying that he had lost. She loosened her grip and walked out of their circle with her head high and proud. Lukas could see that the boy who had fallen down was coming back at her with renewed vigour. He just rolled his eyes. Rhea turned back and made a double kick the soft part beneath his ear and one on his groin. The boy fell down this time, for good.

The parents of the injured cub came and started screaming and cursing her but she was calm. Lukas picked her up in his arms and gave the parents a scathing look and said,” You are failures as parents and your cub is nothing but an oversized mutt. Next time he is not going to be the one injured. You both will be.”

It did not matter that he was a boy of eleven but the aura and strength he held in himself was enough to quieten them down.

“What did you tell him before starting?” asked Lukas as he carried his sister back home.

“I told that I knew that he was just a scared little boy and it was alright if he wanted to get out of this, surrender,” said Rhea as she smiled at Lukas.

“I am proud of you my baby assassin,” said Lukas as they walked home together.

This time his sister was there for him just like he had been there for her.

“You are correct, my baby assassin. I need to be there for my pack,” said Lukas as Rhea whooped up in joy and the armchair creaked ominously.

“We both have become too heavy for this one,” said Lukas as he caught hold of Rhea.

“Yeah, that is the understatement of the year,” was her reply.

“Do you think that he is going to be proud of me Rhea? I mean, Dad?” asked Lukas, confusion clouding his beautiful green eyes.

“There is no thinking in this Brother, he is proud of you. That is a fact and you gotta start believing in it yourself. He is probably looking down at us smiling at the moment thinking how dope we are,” said Rhea as she slid down from his lap.

“This was not supposed to happen, was it? We were not supposed to lose both our parents in such a way,” said Lukas as he followed her suit.

“The Fates have a plan for us, which we are not supposed to know at birth. If we did then we would never have been able to live life in the way that we do. We have to stop thinking that what could have happened and now we have to start living how we are supposed to live. This is not rocket science Lukas. You need to have faith and you will start seeing things and knowing stuff which we are supposed to know. You have to get this part straight, you are probably the only wolf in the world who is an Alpha of the strongest wolf blood line, blessed by Aurora and half sorcerer. You are destined for greatness Lukas. Just find it,” said Rhea as Lukas straightened his shoulders.