"You look like her." After all of the years imagining what I would want to say to my father, what he would say to me, all those moments of dreaming could have never prepared me for now. Observing every detail of him, studying his face, I try to find any link, any connection, between us. Though he holds the same green embers in his eyes, I've never expected to know him as more than a blurred face within my mind. Even to think of him as a name, but never an actual person, it made it easier to hate him. To not care for him. Yet here he is now in front of me.

Words escape and any possible response I could say is lost in my chest. 'Hey Dad, I know you abandoned me for almost eighteen years, but hey, since I'm a werewolf now, I guess it's time for a family reunion. Should I even mention all of those years that you missed, or should I get straight into saving your pack?' Probably not the best introduction.

The two of us stand frozen between the charms of pine greens and stillwater blues, rosewood red and a burning sun orange. Ancient trees casting shadows that shapeshift along the lush grass and dirt. Tears of sunlight kissing the ground and flowers sheltering themselves in the green below. My own personal slice of heaven, but a moment in hell.

"Funny, she used to say the same to me about you. Though, I could never see the resemblance before." Through the sarcasm that tries to emit with each word, a soft whimper follows behind. Damn it. Shaking my head, I force myself back towards the water. Picking up a small stone beside my foot, I skip it across the crystal lake.

One... two... three... I count the number of skips the smoothed rocked takes as ripples form in its trail. After a few more jumps, the weight of the stone allows it to be swallowed by the water below.

"I did what I had to. For your protection, for your mother's. There was no other choice to make," his voice remains steady as his words draw out.

I attempt to wait, knowing that anything I say in these next moments won't be what I truly want to say. My heart and my brain working against one another, being out of control of either. But eventually, like the stone that is now descended beneath the water, I sink.

"There's always another choice," my emotions consume me and any willpower is being pulled down with each second. The heaviness of my mind is drowning. "There is always another choice," I repeat, my voice more forceful now. "You didn't have the courage to look for one."

"If I had stayed, both of your lives would have been in danger."

"Look around," my arm rises up, gesturing to the forest around. "I am in danger right now. This great plan you forced on everyone has failed. I'm being hunted and had to leave behind everything I've ever known. But I made that choice. I made the choice to come here and help you. If you had ever wanted to stay, and wanted to truly protect us, you would have done it."

"I never wanted this for you, Serelia. I tried my best and if I had any other options..." His voice remains monotone, never once faltering as he remains in his place. "I never wanted you to be involved in this life. That's why I delayed your transformations, that's why I left. This isn't what I wanted for you or your mother."

"I saw you with her. You didn't seem to try so hard to keep her out of this life all those years ago. She would have never known about it if it weren't for you."

Aryce remains silent for a moment, only staring at me as I wait. "Your dreams... an ability so few ever have." He changes the subject. Well, there appears to be one connection between us. "I didn't know it was something you had gained until Caesar mentioned his visits with you. The last person I've known who had the sight was years ago, but before then, it had been decades. Perhaps that's why the incantation wore off before its normal time. It's not surprising, especially because of your mother. She has a rare gift so many Maleo's never possess—to believe in the unbelievable. She was special, and when I learned about her, I had to know her. To figure out why her. Instead, I fell in love..." He pauses once again, a quick gulp as his eyes break from my direction before bouncing back up as quickly. "I never wanted any harm to her. We had discussed leaving, going off somewhere far. She leaves Lupa Valley and I leave the pack, but those were plans from long ago."

"I'm guessing that those plans were changed because of you, weren't they?" I pick up another stone, skipping it across the waters and breaking its stillness once again.

"A few days before our departure, your mother had nearly been killed in an attack by a Lupi who refused to let me leave. I was going to lose her, one way or another, I made the choice that saved both of you."

"Well, it looks like that may happen anyway. Again, great plan."

"That isn't fair, Serelia. Please, know that," he steps closer, his arm reaching out for mine. His sentence breaks as I pull my arm away as he makes contact, taking another step away. A soft breath hushes from his lips. "Know that I tried, and that every day I have thought about you and this chance we have now."

"No!" All the anger and hurt I've been holding within bursts out without warning, exploding from my chest before I can think about what I'm saying. "Do you know what isn't fair? It's not fair that for every father's day, every birthday, every single moment I wished I had a dad, there was no one. It's not fair that I cried constantly because my father, a person that most kids need in their life, didn't want to be there for mine. I used to tell everyone you were dead. That seemed to be easier to cope with than the truth that you chose to leave us. For my whole life, I've lived with the belief that you left because you didn't love us, love me." I choke back a sob, my heart pounding in my chest. I can't find the words I want to say, yet words are all that seem to spill. "It isn't fair that after mom's accident, I had no one. That I had to learn to survive by myself, and now you literally want to throw me to the wolves. I've already lost you. I've lost mom. I've lost myself. And still I am here. But don't you dare to try to fight me about what is and isn't fair because trust me, I'll win." My final words batter out with venom, every ounce of pain he's put me through lacing with each sentence to ensure he knows what he's done to me.

There's a moment of guilt in his eyes, a brief pause where you can truly see the look of hurt on his face. His eyes take a fleeting glance down, clouded with the same misery I saw in my mother when I saw her last. But just as a moment only lasts for so long, his whole demeanor shifts from a gutted father to a soldier. "I know this is difficult for you. Regardless, your training must begin soon. There are many who are counting on you, Serelia. Despite how you feel about me, I need you to fight, to learn who you truly are here."

"I'm not a soldier. Two of your wolves got hurt trying to protect me," just as my father, all my emotion has abandoned me, rendering me numb. "How am I supposed to live with myself if one of them dies? If any one of your wolves dies for me because you all see me as some sort of leader. I'm barely able to grasp the fact that you all, that everything I thought were simply fairy tales, are real. Let alone accept that I am one. I'm not a leader. I never will be. The question is, how many of your people are you willing to sacrifice this war? The pack, my mother... me."

"Where your story began is not what defines you, Serelia. Your blood, what you choose in your life, that's what makes you who you are. Being raised as a Maleo does not make you any less of a Lupi. You might not believe you are a leader, and right now I won't be able to convince you otherwise, but here you will learn balance. You will experience what it means to be a Lupi and then you shall see that you are more than you think you are. As for sacrifice," he pauses as a breath hitches in his throat. "I would sacrifice myself before I ever let anything happen to you, Serelia."

My jaw clenches as he waits in silence. Seventeen years of abandonment and the pain that came with it heats within me hotter than any fire. I attempt to bite my lip to refrain myself from saying anything else, but unlike Aryce, I'm not as skilled at holding back my emotion. "If it comes down to it, save yourself." My voice is dry and the words can barely flow through without breaking with how much darkness fills them. "You already sacrificed me the day you decided to leave me. If you chose not to care about me then, I don't expect you to now."

Finally finding enough strength, I walk away. Don't look back. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? When you set off a bomb, simply move on without thinking twice, without ever looking back. That's what I am, a ticking bomb. One that just exploded, leaving nothing but pandemonium and havoc in my wake. Yet I am the one still standing, barely.

Making my way back to the center for camp, I hunt to find Caesar or at least any news on him. Finding my way back onto the training grounds, I scan the area to see plenty of Lupi scrambling at the different stations. A mix of limbs swinging back and forth, sharpened blades being gripped and wielded, skin glittering with sweat. Vitality and hunger pouring off each one of them.

I wonder what would happen if Maleos ever learned the truth of this world. Their world. My world, as it seems. To them, magic is something people see in a paid show, yet they always have more fun trying to unveil how each trick was pulled off. But here, there is no veil.

Verena called the Lupi warriors— protectors. What if there is something larger that they are protecting the human world from? Something more than this being they destined me to fight. What if there is something out there that's worse?

I know of one thing— the day my mother was dragged away nearly three years ago. My eyes glance down to the ring sitting upon my finger. My only connection to her while I'm here.

Pulling my attention back onto the Lupi training, I begin to notice those tattoo markings that I saw on Caesar from before. This time I'm able to see the mark so much clearer. How the black ink is painted on their skin, most of them on different parts of their bodies. But always the same mark. Arched and twisted lines trace along their skin, curving along to form a shape similar to an eye.

Spotting Verena coming out from one of the structures, I saunter my way to her anticipating any news on Caesar. As I reach about halfway to her, an unease begins to sway within me as I notice the serious look etched on her face.

Serelia. A light whisper fills my head. A female's voice, so soft I almost don't hear it. Then it becomes the only sound I hear. Freezing in place, I examine my surroundings to make out where the voice is coming from. You may have the forest within your eyes, but you will never be a true Lupi, Serelia Lone.

There.

As her final words echo inside of my mind, I spot a figure in a small clearing between the trees. A female figure crouches down, the shadows concealing her identity. Nothing recognizable to determine. The only thing I know is that she is watching me, and as she does, a hanging sense of trepidation weighs over me.

Though I'm unable to see her eyes, we stare at one another, glaring until one of us backs down from a silent fight. Not attacks, no movement— nothing. Our time will come. Then, just like that, without ever seeing her face, I know exactly who this is. Get your affairs in order. Soon enough, your story shall end with your blood spilling amongst your pack.

A compulsion itches me to fight, to push forward and confront her here and now; however, it is without a doubt she would kill me before I could ever even reach ten feet of her. She knows this and it fuels her heart, one that radiates with pure darkness, silently taunting me to give into my urges and fight a battle I know I will lose. Go. You have to go. My impulse emits a strength drawing me forward. Just one step...

***

Until then,

-Xxx