Chapter 10: Oaks and Howls[ll]

~ Two weeks later ~

*Bellatrix*

"In total, there are thirty nine mails since the last time we checked." Karen said, raising her head from the laptop to look at me.

I shook my head and stood up, dusting my hands from cleaning the kitchen cabinet. "I told you not to check it, I'm taking a break from work for a while. I mean as long as we are here, we should try to live a normal life"

We had arrived Howls yesterday after securing an house to stay. It was rented out to us at a cheap price so I didn't mind the cleaning that had to be done to make it feel a little like home. Not like I couldn't afford a better one, but so far at the rate the number of humans moving to Howls kept increasing, this was the only vacant house we could find. Not like I really cared, we weren't going to be staying for long anyway.

Karen raised her eyebrows at my earlier reply to her. "Our lives can never be normal Sis, we both know that."

She was right but instead of agreeing with her, I only shrugged. "We could try..."

I wasn't saying this because I really wanted to quit wolf hunting, but I had decided that I didn't want Karen involved in it any longer. She had to attend school and she deserved a better life that didn't involve cleaning up dead Lycan bodies or negotiating with murderous intended people who are known as my clients, not like I was any different.

Our conversation is cut short by the sound of the knock on the door. I glanced at Karen. "Are you expecting someone?"

"No... Nobody knows we moved here. Might be the neighbours." She said.

I nodded and walked to the door to open it, because the door hole wasn't large enough for me to see through, I couldn't make out who was at the door so I had to open it.

"Leila!" I gasped on sighting her holding up two polythene bags of whatever was inside.

"Hi, human friend." She grinned at me.

"How did you know I moved here?" I asked her as I ushered her in.

"Words travel fast here in Howls, Bellatrix."

"Who is she?" Karen asked, scrunching her nose up as she stared at Leila.

"Oh, my name is Leila and I am the sister to Alpha Alec of the winter pack... And you must be Bellatrix's sister?"

Karen kept her nose scrunched and faced me. "So you have a Lycan friend?"

I sighed. "She is not that bad..."

"Well, I don't like her." Karen retorted and grabbed the laptop before storming inside.

"Is it me she doesn't like, or my kind in general?" Leila asked me with a skeptical look as she plopped down on the carpeted floor.

"Can we skip that and talk about something else? Like you telling me what are in those bags." I grinned as I changed the topic. I wasn't about to tell Leila about my sister's and my dislike of the Lycan world.

Thankfully Leila did not press further as she seemed to have understood that the said discussion was not one I wanted to have, so she grinned back instead and replied me as she emptied the content of the bags. "Well, I brought Pizza and wine."

"Pizza and wine? That's a weird combination." I exclaimed in amusement.

"Well, it isn't an alcoholic wine and besides you would never know how it would taste until you try..."

And so for the most part of the day, I spent it chugging down pizza and wine while I listened to Leila tell me different hilarious stories. Later on, Karen came out and even though she still had a scowl on her face and scooted far away from Leila as much as she could, she eventually joined in our little pizza party and to be honest, I had never had this much fun in my life.

The day went by so fast and soon it was evening. We had stopped listening to Leila's stories and were now laying lazily on the floor as we watched a Netflix movie on my laptop. "Are you not gonna go now, Alpha's sister." Karen suddenly asked, slamming the laptop close.

"Karen!" I snapped at her indifferently. If she was like this to Leila, how was she going to cope in school? Or how was she going to take it if I told I was mated to Alec by some moon goddess or something.

"What? Can I not tell her to leave? She has intruded enough on our privacy."

"I'm staying the night." Leila said calmly as if she had not been rudely spoken to by my sister.

Both Karen and I turned to her. "You are staying the night?" We both exclaimed earning a chuckle from her.

"Yea, or am I not welcomed?"

"No, you aren't." My sister said, the same time I muttered. "I guess you are."

There was an awkward silence for a while be for Leila sat up and held Karen's stare. "You are resuming Oaks tomorrow? How are you gonna cope with a whole lotta Lycans if you can't stand one beside you." She finally spoke up.

"How do you know she is resuming Oaks?" I raised my brows suspiciously at her.

"Well, My brother might have done a little digging about you when you ran away and I might have stolen an information or two."

I gulped and glanced at Karen who was just staring at us with wide eyes. "Why would the alpha of the winter pack dig information about you, Trix? What are you not telling me?" She questioned.

"Actually...." I started to speak but Leila cut me off.

"Your sister is my brother's second chance mate."

"Leila shut up!" I yelled as she spoke.

Karen gasped. "Is she saying the truth? What the hell is all these Trix?"

"Calm down Kay.. I will explain it all to you."

"Explain? Explain what? If she is really saying the truth, were you ever going to tell me?!"

I sighed, rubbing my hair frantically. "Look, I know this is all hitting you so fast, but I really never planned on it either Okay?.. This is not my doing but that of a scheming moon goddess somewhere that cannot be stopped." I said trying to calm my sister down.

"Do not speak foul words about the moon goddess." Leila chipped in and I almost felt like slapping her. She was only making matters worse.

"Leila can you shut the hell up for now!"

"Okay, okay I'm sorry." She muttered. I rolled my eyes and glanced at Karen again.

"Kay?"

She chuckled dryly and then stood up. "Since revealing secrets has become the topic of our discussion. Why don't you tell your new Lycan friend why we are here in the first place."

I stood up instantly, glaring at Karen furiously. "Do not even go there Kay!" I gritted out.

My sister only chuckled again, ignoring my warning and continued to speak. "You should tell her, that we are here to find out the really truth behind our parent's murder that occurred years ago in this territory and was tagged as a rogue attack, even though we all know it wasn't. Oh and also inform her that —"

I didn't allow her to finish her sentence before I cut her off with a yell. "Just stop right there Karen Lana Fallon!."

She shut up immediately because she understood that anytime I used her full name then my rage had finally gotten to its peak.

"You know what?" I started as I grabbed my phone off the table and tucked it into my pocket. "I'm gonna leave now and let you come back to your senses to see how irrational you have just behaved. If you can't understand that this is not the work of my hand but can only get angry and throw out words that shouldn't have been spoken then I guess you need some time, don't you?"

"Trix —"

"You've been the only family I could boldly say I had after we left foster care and I never kept secrets for you, but just this one time that I did because I knew how hurt you would be if you found out and you decide to react like a child! I didn't write a petition to become mated to an Alpha or whatever.. And looking back this started when you insisted I took that job even though I was strongly against it. But you didn't think of that, and so I'm gonna leave and when you are calm enough to listen and let us speak like adults, you can give me a call"

I picked up my jacket from the chair and also Leila's car keys. "I'm taking your car Leila."

"What the —" She got up, but I pushed her gently back to the chair.

"You can stay back and listen to my sister tell you everything else, now that you know I am not the girl you thought I was." Even though I was sure Karen would never tell her about the work I did. She might tell her everything else but certainly not that I hunted Lycans — evil scheming Lycans not just any Lycan. But I wouldn't say that aloud.

"I already knew when I saw you that you were only pretending." She said.

I smirked and waved her keys in her face. "Good for you then Lycan friend.."

"We still have a lot to talk about Bellatrix."

"I am not in the mood to talk Leila, I really do have to go." I didn't let her reply me before I walked out, slamming the door shut.

***