Page 31

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E line and Ismena walked the footpath that leads back to their home, carrying the small nylon bag of the things they bought.

The voices of children playing filled the air, the ones in their animal forms were barking, howling, and growling. It is a scene full of life, Ismena reveled in it.

"This place is the Heart of Naturiah like you said right?" Ismena asked, allowing her eyes to swallow her environment.

"Mmh. The border that separated the werewolf clan and the mountain lion clan met somewhere around here. So, any changeling can put down roots here, it doesn't matter your clan, no one cares. Here, is a mixture of all sorts of changelings."

"Aah, I understand."

"Yeah. As you already found out, our Alpha King lives here. His tower is not far from this side of town."

"Can you tell me about him? The Alpha King?" Unconsciously, her leg kicked a stone away from her path, "Which clan is he from?"

"The Alpha King? Obviously, he is from the werewolf clan. They're the ruling clan now. His father, the late Alpha King, is a strong werewolf mated to his mother who's from my clan...the mountain lion clan. "

"Yes, he told me all about that. And the war his grandparents fought for the throne of Naturiah."

"Wow. I'm surprised he told you. Our Alpha King is very tight-lipped about things like that."

"Well, we were taking a walk six days ago, so..." Ismena lifted her shoulder and let it fall.

They continued walking, Eline smiled and waved at every little child that beamed at her as they passed.

With time, Ismena did the same because the children always extended their smiles to her.

She has come to get used to the friendliness of these children, their innocent gestures always tug at her heartstrings.

"Our Alpha King is unique, you know. Most of us refer to him as god because of how extraordinary he is." Eline continued, "He is the only changeling in Naturiah to have two beastly forms inside him in thousands of years.."

"Two beastly forms? I don't understand."

"So many changelings over the years have found their mates in the most unusual form.

I've seen a snake-shifter mated to a rat.

" A smile touched her lips, "Trust me, that is very unusual, but then again, what matters is the joyous fact that you found your mate.

But then again, their offspring must take on one DNA. Either a rat or a snake."

"Aah, I think I understand. So, even if a mountain lion mates a werewolf, each of their children are born either being a mountain lion or a werewolf?"

"Exactly. The first child might be a wolf, the second child might be a cougar, and stuffs like that."

Ismena's brows knitted, "A cougar? That is another word for mountain lion, right? "

"Yes. So, that is the way it goes. The Alpha King's sister is a werewolf."

Ismena doesn't know he has a sister. "Really? What about his sister? I've not heard of her before."

Eline's smile faltered, "She's...uhm...she's not around here for now, also we aren't allowed to discuss her."

"Oh..." Ismena cocked her head to the side, baffled.

But she let it go, "What about the Alpha King?

I think he's a werewolf too because the night he brought me here, we ran all the way here.

He...he shifted into a larger form that closely resembles a wolf, covered in furs but it wasn't a complete wolf.

He was still in two legs and..." She trailed off, not knowing the way to explain it better.

But Eline understood, "That is called a half-shift. He didn't become a wolf completely, instead, he allowed the wolf to come very close to the surface, enough for his features to change a bit, but not enough for the wolf to take over completely."

"Mmm... So, he's a werewolf?"

"I told you that he's extraordinary. He has two beastly forms. The first of its kind in a long time." She swiveled her head and her eyes met Ismena's, "He's a werewolf and a mountain lion."

Ismena blinked. Twice. Her eyes widened. "Two? Both of them?"

Eline nodded, "Our seers prophesied of his greatness even before he was born."

Hell, no wonder so much power and strength clung to him, Ismena thought in awe. The man is not one changeling but two. A shiver worked its way down her spine .

Suddenly, it finally makes sense, the thing with his eyes taking on three different colors. Blue, brownish-yellow, and green. "Woah! No wonder his eyes...!"

"Yeah." Eline nodded, "You have to be able to differentiate all these because you're a human and he isn't really a fan of your species. The male has blue eyes, amber is the wolf, and green is the cougar."

"Okay. Noted." Ismena commits that to memory, but something baffled her. "Why are you telling me all this? As you said, I am human, and I know your Specie does not trust mine...does not trust me. From what I detected, you all do not just reveal things to anybody."

Eline smiled, coming in front of a four-year-old blonde girl whose mother held her hand and she was waving at her with the other. Eline stopped in front of her, bent to the knee, and kissed the little girl's forehead. "How are you today, Anny?"

"I'm fine, Eliny." The little girl pipped in the tiniest voice before she turned and beamed at Ismena, "How are you, humany?"

"Humany?" Ismena asked Eline.

The other woman smiled, "She doesn't know your name, and you're human."

"Aaah." Ismena bent to the waist and kissed the girl's forehead like Eline did, "My name is Ismena, Anny."

"How are you, Ismm..." the girl seems to be having a hard time pronouncing it.

Ismena shortened the name for the child, the way her family calls her. "Ena is fine. And you?" Her hand caressing the girl's soft curls.

"I'm fine, Enny. Byeeeee." She waved at them as her mother gently tugged her forward .

They returned the wave. Ismena was smiling, "All these children are adorable. I've never really been around children, you know. It's only Valentina, my little sister, and I growing up."

"Oh, you have a sister? How old is she?" Eline asked as they continued walking.

"She's almost seventeen. Just finished high school. She always wanted to be a nurse. I told her that I'll be there when she becomes one." She swallowed tightly, "Guess, I wouldn't be there after all."

Eline was silent. Then, "You asked why I'm telling you all about the Alpha King even though humans cannot be trusted?

" She took a deep breath, "Well, the truth is that I'm rooting for you and the King.

He has suffered so damn much, it changed him and his perspective of life.

You are his lifemate. He is alone...always alone.

Surrounded by people but very much alone. It's so sad."

"Suffered? What happened to him?"

The silence that followed was deafening. They cut through another path that leads to their home.

Eline contemplated how much to say, and how much not to say. Not that she knows all the details—no one knows that but only the Alpha King and the other males involved.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I wouldn't like to put you in trouble with your Alpha King for saying things you shouldn't." Ismena said at last when she didn't say anything for too long.

They walked in silence after that, enjoying the soft breeze that followed the coming of the evening air .

"I don't see lots of cars here. In fact, I can't remember seeing many rides since I came here. I wonder how y'all get around..." Ismena confided, looking around the empty roads and sideways.

Eline chuckled. "We are changelings, Ismena, we get around just fine. We shift forms and let the beast free if we're in a hurry. Most of us are much faster than modern cars, you know."

Ismena admitted that to be true, her mind going back to that very night they were in danger...the night she took a ride on Wolfariane's back. "Well, that is understandable."

"I might not be able to tell you how the Alpha King suffered—maybe, not today—but I can tell you some other things. There are people called Wolfhunters." Eline's eyes flashed as she spat the name.

"Who are they?" Ismena asked curiously.

"They are humans, and they are monsters. They treat us like animals but they are worst than the deadliest animal in the wild." She took a shaky breath and forced herself to stay calm. "They hunt us to annihilate our kind."

"That is..." Ismena tried to find words to qualify it. "That is horrible."

"Other changelings they kill on sight, but werewolves.

.." She paused, pain flashed in her eyes, "They don't kill wolves instead they take them to their laboratory for.

..experiments. Mind-numbing, heart-stopping, excruciating experiments that have killed so many werewolves in the last decades and drove the others mad. "

Ismena's heart reached out to all of them. "Why the experiments? Why werewolves?" She asked in a soft voice.

"Nobody knows for sure, but most of us think it's because they believe werewolves to be the strongest of all changelings.

They want to know all our weaknesses and strength so that they can exploit them.

Also, I heard that they are trying to build weapons with our DNA.

Living weapons they can use to command the earth and all its inhabitants. "

"Really? How exactly do they plan to do that?"

"There are rumors that they try to breed our wolf-males with females to get them pregnant, then they plan to take the children away to train them as weapons to do as they please and follow only their commands.

Those children, they plan to experiment on them with so many DNA combinations with the hope of creating something.

..stronger, more powerful, breathing machines, they can use to annihilate us all. "

"That's very awful!" Ismena gasped, horrified. No wonder these changelings hate humans.

"It is." Anger flashed in the woman's eyes, "They have been at it for decades. They have machines and all kinds of drugs they use in capturing and caging our wolf-males, then kidnap human females and even our females to the lab to breed them with the males."

"Have they ever succeeded?" Ismena asked, already dreading the answer. "Have they ever managed to make those children?"

Eline shook her head, "No, they haven't.

They think they have us all figured out, bastards don't know that they don't." A cynical smile touched her lips, "A male changeling's seed can only take root in a mate's body.

If she is not a mate or a potential mate, she can NEVER get pregnant by any changeling. "

"Woah. Really?"

"Yes. So, they haven't been able to succeed.

Potential mates are very rare, none of the human females are that.

Not that all those girls come out of that experience alive.

.." She trailed off, remembering the particular rumor about the Alpha King and some other wolf-males killing their human females' victims .

"As for us, changeling females, our body is very picky. We can only get pregnant by our mates only because that is the only person our body is compatible with...the only person our body will release an egg for. No other changeling or human can achieve that. We don't even menstruate."

"Really?" Ismena asked incredulously.

Eline nodded, "Yes. Once you find your mate, your body starts ovulating. Sometimes, it doesn't start unless you get intimate with your mate, then it triggers it too. We can only carry our mate's child, but those monsters don't know that."

"I'm glad they don't know it. Bastards." Ismena raged.

Eline hesitated, "Well, there's an exception too. It's a rumor I heard but I don't know how true it is. I heard that relatives can also...well...breed us."

"Really? Your relative? Like your sibling or something like that?" She shrieked, disbelievingly.

The other woman shrugged, "I don't know how true it is because no changeling in his or her right mind will ever want to test that theory, but I'm thinking it to be true because our bodies are all about compatibilities.

That's what makes a Mate—if your body is perfectly compatible with another person's, be it human or changeling.

A relative's body is definitely compatible with yours because you both are related. "

Ismena understands the logic. She was happy about everything she learned today. "Thank you so much for telling me all these."

"I trust you." She said simply, "The heavens have to trust you too, to make you highly compatible with our Alpha King. Never use the knowledge you learned today against us, Ismena."

"I will never do anything of that sort." She stated matter-of-factly. Why will she do something like that ?

"Good. As I said, the Alpha King has suffered, much more than most of the changeling males I know who has lived and died...and he's barely thirty-four years old." She shook her head, "I want him to be happy. We all want him to be happy again."

She stopped and faced Ismena, "The light went out of his eyes eighteen years ago, after he lived through hell, lost his mother and father...and then, his sister."

Her heart has gone out for Wolfariane. No wonder the man wears a frown like a second skin. This is so tragic. "His sister is dead?"

Eline blinked back tears, "Some situations are worst than death... Sometimes, death is a blessing..."

Through the rest of the walk home, Ismena wondered what she meant by that...?