Hailey’s P. O. V
Finding out Ari was a werewolf too had been the best thing to happen to me in months. Finding out we were sisters… well, half-sisters? Best thing since Keily started being horrible to me, which was about ten years ago. Maybe eleven. I’d lost track.
When Ari first mentioned her father – our father – and how horribly he’d treated her and her mom, my heart ached for her. But as she mentioned how happy he’d be to hear of her death, a look crossed her face. It was dark and menacing. Like it would make her ecstatic if she could to crush that happiness into nothingness and watch him suffer. Yes, he’d done terrible things to her and if it were me, I’d want to make him pay for it too.
But this was much different.
The look in her eyes begged for pure, undiluted rage to be unleashed on their target. But it seemed to be held in check by something – a cold and calculating patience.
This was a whole new side of Ari, one that I’d never guessed would exist. It scared me.
The look passed quickly. So quickly that I’d almost managed to convince myself that my newfound half-sister didn’t appear to be a vengeful mastermind.
Almost.
As she told me the horrors of her past, I felt both furious at Clark and sorrowful for her. I wasn’t even aware of when I started crying till I sobbed, causing her to look at me.
Sitting there and hugging her, doing my best to comfort her, my wariness of that look faded away. Of course she’d hate anyone who was cruel enough to mar her like that, to permanently brand her as a ‘worthless mutt’ and torture her for no reason.
It wasn’t the same. My mom didn’t restrain or beat me or outright insult me, but she discriminated against me for something I couldn’t control. Even Keily treated me similarly despite the fact that she didn’t really know how different we were. So I empathised with Ari. I understood and admired her strength to carry on.
And I loved her. I loved my little sister and I let her know it.
When I felt her return the hug, I felt closer to her than I’d ever felt to any family member since I was little. After staying like that for a while, I’d managed to calm down. I didn’t really know why I was crying in the first place but it didn’t feel awkward or wrong when my head cleared a bit.
“It’s okay to cry. It’s alright to scream.” I told her upon noticing her stillness. Then I pulled away.
There was no evidence of tears on her face. Her eyes weren’t bloodshot or watery and her cheeks weren’t tearstained. You’d think she wasn’t fazed if you didn’t read her expression carefully. Her smile was the most genuine I’d seen on her since I met her. I knew she wasn’t ready to really show grief after what was probably a lifetime of holding back her pain. It was okay, we’d get there eventually.
“I’m a mess.” I laughed as I imagined what my face probably looked like, eyes puffy and cheeks red.
I got up and made my way to the bathroom to fix my face. Before reaching the door, I faintly heard her whisper, “Thank you.”
Looking back, I smiled before opening the door. I shook my head at my reflection in the mirror, having been right about my appearance – my eyes were puffy and bloodshot and most of my face was a deep pink.
I hated how easily I let my tears escape. Every damn time. It was probably the reason Keily picked on me consistently. Every time she saw my tears, her taunts became more vicious. I wished I had the strength to hide my pain from the people responsible for it – to at least pretend their words and actions didn’t get to me. But I always let it show and in that way, I envied Ari, even though bottling up her emotions wasn’t healthy.
I splashed water on my face a few times before wiping it with a nearby towel. When I deemed myself good enough to leave the bathroom, I came back to find the spot where Ari had been vacant. She’d most likely gone somewhere in the house to do something. Or she probably felt a bit awkward after what happened but either one was alright. These things took time.
I decided to explore the library a little. When Trevor had taken Keily and I up here, I’d been too busy keeping an eye on her, making sure she didn’t steal or break anything, to actually appreciate the house. I’d looked at the other guest rooms besides the one I currently occupied and had liked them a lot, but preferred the view of the front of the house from the room I’d chosen.
I scanned the titles of the fiction shelves. They were all dusty and quite outdated, the most recent having been published around eighteen years ago. The same was the case with the books in all the other shelves. I remembered Ari mentioning that her mom hadn’t lived in this house since Ari was born, probably before that, but I’d assumed someone came by to maintain the house regularly while it was devoid of occupants.
‘She’d also mentioned not knowing anything about her mom’s wealth.’ Opelene reminded me
‘That’s true. I wondered what could’ve happened for Ari’s mom to end up with that dreadful Lightwood pack when she came from all this.’ I replied, looking around the library.
She made a vague ‘I don’t know’ sound and retreated into silent contemplation. On one of the tables in the library, I found a list of what I assumed were pack names next to a large map of the States and a laptop.
Deigning to ask her about that later, I moved on to other sections of the library, looking for something interesting to read, perhaps something on werewolves to get started on my learning. I wanted to help speed my learning up as much as possible to take some of the burden off Ari, so that I could be of more help to executing her revenge plan.
I heard my cell ring and took it out of my pocket. One of the many selfies Keily had taken with my phone without permission stared back at me. Exasperated, I pressed ignore, letting the call join the growing count of missed calls from her and my mom.
‘You should tell them you’re alright. They might be worried.’ Opelene advised.
I scoffed, ‘They barely notice my presence at home. They probably only realised I’m not there because Keily wants me to take her turn in throwing the trash out again.’
She was fond of making me take the trash out when it was her turn then proceeding to refuse to help me on my turn. She always laughed when I threatened to tell mom, knowing that she’d take her side on the matter, per usual. I had no idea why I still agreed to help her after the first few times she pulled that trick. Maybe I’d hoped she’d return my kindness with something other than a sneer or harsh insult. Either way, I was through with being nice.
‘You should at least text one of them.’ She insisted.
I rolled my eyes, ‘Fine! The next time one of them calls, I’ll tell them I’m alright. Happy?’
‘Immensely.’ She replied before retreating into silence, allowing me to continue my search.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“You won’t find anything.”
Startled, I turned around to find Ari leaning on the frame of the library door. She descended the three steps and made her way to me.
“I’ve searched all over this room. There aren’t any books on Supernaturals besides the cheesy fiction novels over there.” She said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder, towards the fantasy and paranormal corner of the fiction shelf.
“Oh.” I sighed then my phone rang.
I was going to press ignore again when Opelene spoke, ‘Hailey. You agreed to pick the call.’
I didn’t want to. I probably knew what was to come if I picked Keily’s call – a long string of curses and insults, followed by sharp orders to do something that she was most likely could do by herself but was too lazy to handle.
“You should pick it. It’s been ringing nonstop since you got here and is starting to annoy my wolf. You can just tell her you’re fine and to stop calling you then hang up before she can get a word in.” Ari, now at the table with the map and laptop, suggested while studying the list in her hand.
Sighing, I pressed answer and put the phone to my ear, “What do you want, Keily? Stop calling me, I’m fine.” I growled, annoyed.
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to?! Like I’d be worried about you. Where the f*ck are you, bitch?!” She shrieked in my ear, giving me an instant headache.
“Do not talk to me like that. What do you want?” I replied, heart beating fast, face probably red, angry enough to want to throttle her.
“I want you to get your stupid ass home and make something for me and the guys to eat. They’ll be here in a few minutes and this is the first time since that whore, Ari, arrived that I’ll be seeing Greg without her around. I want to make him forget about my little… outburst in her tacky kitchen and giving him better food than some disgusting cookies and sandwiches will help. When I’m done, she’ll know not to mess with my man.” Only she would be able to insult someone so many times in four sentences.
Hearing this, Ari rolled her eyes and moved her index finger in small circles on the side of her head then mouthed the word ‘crazy’, making me laugh.
“You think this is funny, bitch?!” Keily asked, blowing up again.
Still laughing, I replied, “No, I think this is hilarious. I think the fact that you’re trying to impress Greg with food when you can’t cook to save your life is hilarious. I find the fact that you think Ari gives a shit about you and Greg’s non-existent love complication hilarious. I think you believing that I’d help you with anything anymore is hilarious. Stop calling me.”
Then I hung up.
Smiling, I high fived Ari, “That felt good.”
She laughed, “I’m sure it did. C’mon, let’s get to work.”
She retrieved two thick books, a notebook and a pen handing me the last two. We sat at the free table opposite the one with the map and laptop.
“This,” she said, holding up one of the books so I could see the cover that read ‘Werewolf Hierarchy and Traditions’, “is a book that’s studied by every pup of every Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and royal werewolf. Normally, packs have special classes to teach these pups. I was included in those classes till Clark found out and had me removed. I stole this copy on my last day of class and hid it. If you’d been there, you would have studied it too. I actually forgot I had it till today when I checked in a hidden part of the bag I left with.”
She put the book down and picked the other one up, showing me the cover that read ‘Packs, Alliances and Rogues’
“This is the last published book of packs and alliances before the information was digitalized two years ago. This was only studied by the pups of the high ranks. Only the high ranks have access to the information from these books on the WolfNet. It’s updated every six months and has information on the rank, numbers, alliances and location of every pack, plus the general location of the few rogue packs that were found.”
She put the book down next to the other one and looked at them, “Every werewolf is supposed to have access to the WolfNet even if they’re not born of high ranks, so that they can be updated on news and general events. Lone wolves like you and I have to go through nearby packs to get our personal usernames and passwords to access it. I never received mine from the Lightwood pack and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to use it without alerting them of my existence.”
“Then, what do we do?” I asked.
“We study what we have and take it from there. We may have to go to find a pack close to the city.” She looked thoughtful; something else was running through her mind.
“Alright,” I said, clapping my hands together and pulling the book on pack hierarchy and traditions towards me, “let’s get to work.” I knew she probably wouldn’t talk about whatever she was thinking about till she was ready so it’d be best to move on with what we’d agreed on.
I opened the thick book and began to read, taking notes on what I thought would be important.
So far, it encompassed a list of the different ranks and their descriptions – Alpha, Luna, Beta, Gammas, Deltas, Trackers, Doctors, Battle Generals, Warriors, Hunters (who were no longer required in a pack), Household Managers, ordinary members and Omegas.
Alphas were the equivalent of the kings of the pack. They were the leaders whose duties included maintaining order in the pack and ensuring their prosperity. They normally began training for the role from the age of five and formerly only came into power once they’d found their mate, a rule that was abolished a decade and a half ago. Now, they were allowed to lead from the age of eighteen or earlier in some cases like if the former Alpha and Beta had died or were too old. Alphas were generically the biggest wolf in the pack. They were meant to be kind and thoughtful towards their pack despite their trademark short tempers and were normally kept in check by their mates. Originally, there were no Alpha Females till about five years ago. Where an Alpha Male’s mate was called a Luna (for moon), an Alpha Female’s was called a Sol (for sun). The concept of a she-wolf being an Alpha was still widely rejected by werewolf society.
If Alphas were the kings of the pack, Lunas were the queens. They were normally the mate of the Alpha but lately, there were more Lunas that weren’t the real mates of the Alphas due to their original mates being rejected. Probably due to pride. This caused the pack to fall into chaos and distrust as the Luna also acted as the mothers of the packs that held everyone together. Their touch was supposed to calm the rage of the Alphas so not having the real mate of the Alphas as Lunas also affected the behaviours of the Leaders. Though underappreciated, it seemed to me that they played a huge role in the pack’s structure and balance. I wondered if the Luna of the Lightwood pack was Clark’s real mate.
Betas were the second in command in the bureaucracy of the pack – third if you counted the Luna. Most of the business and meetings were spearheaded by the Betas. They were basically the Alphas’ personal assistants. Anything they couldn’t handle was passed onto the Alphas. Most Betas were normally male but females took over if there were no men in her generation and she was unmated. Both the main Beta and their mates were allowed to take on the duties of the Beta.
Gammas and Deltas were the third and fourth in command – or fourth and fifth, again, if you counted the Lunas. They basically had the same duties as the Beta but not as much authority. Most packs only had an Alpha, Luna and Beta. Gammas and Deltas were only required by large packs because the workload would be too much for the Beta and Alpha.
Trackers were the werewolves in the pack with the best senses, specifically smell. Their role was for tracking individuals – lost pups, runaways, spies that had run off with information, rogues and other things that generally needed tracking. I guess they were the ones the Alpha sent after Ari when she left.
Doctors were basically that, doctors. They were once called healers and were normally females. In a pack, there were usually more than one but weren’t required so much due to the enhanced healing of werewolves.
Battle Generals were in charge of planning the formations and strategies for pack wars. They normally led the Warriors, who fought for the packs in armies. Lately, they weren’t needed as much because territorial battles and rogues weren’t really a problem anymore.
Household Managers were in charge of listing and locating everything the pack needed for sustenance and they usually worked with Hunters, who hunted the game for food with their faster wolves and Omegas, who were the runts of the packs and were in charge of cleaning and taking care of the place. All members were supposed to be treated with respect and care but obviously, that wasn’t the case.
After some time, I’d read about an eighth of the book. I noticed she had been reading the whole time without taking any notes and had gone much farther than I had.
“Aren’t you going to jot anything down? That’s a big book.” It was thicker than the one I was reading.
“Photographic memory.” She mumbled without looking up, looking raptly attentive to every detail.
“You have a photographic memory? That’s so cool.” Every time I was with her, she managed to greatly impress me with something completely new. First, it was her killer style and ability to handle Keily the day we met. Then, it was her extensive first aid knowledge when she saved Keily. After that, it was her house and baking skills when we came over for Keily and Trevor to apologise. Now, it was her survival spirit and reading speed.
Out of my peripheral vision, I saw her smile lightly.