The mad woman

Victor and William decided to wait near the mortuary for the result of the checkup on Aaron's body and take him to Victor's Pack. William will help Victor with everything he can, while Aiden and I drove to the nearest still-opened supermarket to buy everything we need. We, on the contrary, decided to leave the Pack in the early morning while everyone will be still sleeping, and go to my father's hut to find all the answers.

However, when we went out of the car and were about to enter the supermarket, a strange-looking woman covered in a wide range of old shawls caught my hand, making me stop. Her mad-looking gray eyes were looking at me as if I were her greatest enemy. Suddenly, her chapped light-pink lips moved, revealing a hoarse, sick voice.

"You… the Wolf Princess… must go with me… He left something for you," she whispered and pulled me closer in her direction, but a strong male hand caught her hand and stopped, then squeezed, making her crawl in pain.

"Leave her alone or…," the woman immediately straightened up and looked over the man near me in shock, then her eyes narrowed, and she bowed her body down so fast that her long crooked nose almost touched the ground.

"Alpha Aiden, sorry for the misunderstandings," she whispered with her still hoarse and sick voice, then straightened up, wrapping herself in her gray old shawls. "Is this girl, Letty Black, the daughter of the Alpha of the Black Forest, James Black?"

"Indeed. So what is your interest?" Aiden put a hand on my waist and pulled me to himself, wrapping me in a protective cocoon of his hands. I didn't say even a word. That strange woman with her mad-like eyes and hoarse, sick voice made me scared. And there's no need of hiding that since my boyfriend can read my mind easily as an open book.

{Well, there are some pros and cons to this…}

Aiden looked at me after hearing my thoughts, then looked at the woman back. He frowned and wrapped me tighter, leaving me almost no chance for breath.

"Easy, Aiden, easy," I pleased, and he loosened the grip over me. I noticed his eyes changed amber, but I can't say when, when this woman grabbed my hand or a few seconds ago when she mentioned my father.

"Alpha James left some of his dear belongings to me and asked me to give them to his daughter when she'll find herself. As long as I can see, she already figured out what she was looking for when she first went to the archive."

And I suddenly remembered where I saw that woman before. There in the archive a few days ago, I asked her to give me everything she had about "The Black Family." And yes, I barely knew then who I am. But… why did my father leave his belongings to this mad-looking woman? Were they so close that he trusted her?

"Why would he leave his belongings to you?" Aiden repeated the question he heard inside my mind. His grip was still over my waist, and he didn't even care to lose it, just enough for me to breathe without any difficulties. That incident at the party made him a little overprotective, but the problem is I don't know how to say that.

"My father was the original werewolf as well as the Alpha James. After they all were burned in the Pack, Alpha James got to know that we survived and took care of me and my mother. He was visiting us very often, telling stories and giving money we need for the life. Right before his death, he came and left some of his things, asking me to give them to his daughter, when her memories will be back." The mad-looking woman cowered in gray shawls looked over me and Aiden, then grabbed my hand again, "Hurry up young lady, don't you want to have your father's things?"

"So you're the original werewolf?" Aiden suddenly asked, looking over her with no emotions on his face. He seemed to already know the answer, as there was no surprise either in his voice or question. Can this woman be the third still existing original werewolf? Or she's not, but is that really possible?

"You already know the answer, my dear Alpha Aiden," the woman grinned her old but still white teeth and pulled me to herself. Aiden suddenly kissed my forehead, then loosen the grip, and put his hand in his pockets.

"You have half an hour," he said, then went inside the supermarket without no more words. I rolled my eyes in shock and even opened my mouth to say anything against that, but the woman already led me to the archive. We went there after four minutes of walking away from the shop, she led me to the back room where she was looking for the documents and pulled me into a chair. Then, without wasting any more minutes, she put a dusty backpack in my hands, making me sneeze.

"So much dust. You don't seem to be the one who prefers clean to dust," I said and opened the backpack, looking over the things in there. There was an old book with a black cover, a photo album, some other documents, and a wrapped in a pink paper gift. I looked up at the woman, but she said no word to me as if waiting for my questions.

But did I have any questions for her? Maybe I did, but currently, my mind was busy guessing what was inside the gift. The woman sighed, as if understanding I'm not going to ask her anything, then cleared her throat and started her speech with her hoarse, sick voice.

"My mother was a human, so I'm not the original werewolf, unfortunately, or luckily. If I were the original werewolf, who knew if I will be alive?" It was something in her voice that made me feel like she was blaming my father for killing all the original werewolves. I arched an eyebrow.

"Are you…?"

"Blaming your father for burning the original werewolves for some purpose? Those things he left for you, will answer all your questions," she said then looked at the watch hanging on the wall behind my back, "Time to get back to the supermarket, or Alpha Aiden will come here."

"You don't want him to come here?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Do we need extra attention?" she grinned her teeth, then grabbed my hand and led me back. I barely managed to not lose the backpack she had just given me, and in a few minutes, we saw Aiden talking on his phone near the car. He looked over at the lady, said nothing, just hugged me, and looked at the backpack in my hand.

"What's there?" his blue eyes looked at me, but I pouted my lips and crossed my hands over my chest.

"What's wrong between you and that…?" I looked around seeing no old-looking mad woman around as if she vanished in the air, "mad woman…?"

"That's a long story," he rolled his eyes and kissed my cheek, "She's really mad. And I really had to doubt your father would have any deals with her…"

"But he had," I said and sighed, looking around, "Let's get to a calmer and safer place where we can talk."

"Let's drive back to the Pack. William and Victor will be late," he said and opened a car door for me.

When we drove to the Pack, it was already late. However, many lanterns and garlands were hanging on the roofs, trees, and even between the houses, lightening the atmosphere around. There were only a few houses where the light inside the windows was still seen. Others were already in a night of deep sleep or maybe doing something else for which they don't need light.

Aiden drove to the garage, we went out, he took all the things he bought in the supermarket while I took my father's backpack, and we went to his house. He opened the door and let me in first, then went inside himself and put the products on the kitchen table.

The first room that you can see when entering the house was a comfortable small wooden kitchen, with a kitchen set, table, oven, fridge, microwave, and even coffee machine. I put the backpack on the chair near the table and looked around. The room and all the furniture were made from wood, but some things were changing the atmosphere completely, so the house looked really modern.

And the first that I noticed, except for the very modern electronics, was a big window with light green curtains revealing a view of the whole Moonflower Pack. It was also a light-green carpet on the floor under the kitchen table and a few paintings on the walls. I looked at Aiden and smiled, seeing him smiling back.

"Such a very nice-looking house!" I said, then bent down and unzipped the backpack the mad woman gave me, then took out an old book with the black cover and showed it to Aiden. Suddenly, his eyes widened, turned amber in half of a second, and he stared at the book with the black cover like a ghost.