The Indifferent Luna 1 - Austan wolf
CHAPTER 24

Rieka ran through the whole length of the forest for days none stop, at first I thought she was still in search of the witches but soon I found out that she was taking over the forest, marking it as her territory. It was an unclaimed land after all, and we were now officially rogues so having our own territory wasn’t so bad.

Rieka is nothing like I had envisioned, she hardly spoke to me, hardly said anything at all, even her emotions were kept in check and I couldn’t feel what she was thinking like she could feel mine, almost as if she didn’t think. I don’t know if it was her rage or if there was really nothing she had to say.

Well, I had things to say, I wanted to tell her what all those years of waiting for her was like but she never seem inclined to listen. Maybe because she already knew, if she was locked up in this same dark place in which I have now been staying for God knows how long, she would have been able to see all that happened.

My hurt, my pain, the loneliness, the rejection, the betrayal, everything, she would have been able to feel all that I felt as I did hers. Maybe this was why she was always angry, maybe everything we went through together made her this angry, or was it just because she didn’t have a say?

I don’t know, I only know how she was feeling, it was anger it’s been days if not weeks since we shifted for the first time and she hadn’t let me shift back to my human form. We have been patrolling this forest like predators with Rieka making it her duty to sink her teeth into every living thing that we crossed paths with.

I started to wonder, is it just the witches she is angry at or the whole world, at least I know now that I had no grudge left for the moon goddess, I used to blame her for my misfortune in the past, but now I know better, the ones who messed up my life was not her, but the people around me, the selfish people who surrounded my pathetic life.

The forest that was now our territory used to be a beautiful place. When I had first shifted, it had been full of life, the sky was always bright and clear, easy to see and admire, the whole land full of fresh green leaves and grasses, every living thing alive and cohabiting perfectly. Rieka changed that in a matter of days, the forest that we now inhabited was dead silent and covered in a thick eerie fog, one that I wouldn’t like to venture into if I wasn’t one with the sole cause of it.

You could no longer see the sun or the moon, not to talk of the sky. The fog covered the forest day and night as it screamed of the horror that she had created. Nothing, not even a crawling animal made the mistake of walking on its ground, as its grounds were now filled with skeletons, bones of the living creature that once roamed the beautiful land. Scavengers were the only scurrying animals now but even they didn’t go scot-free when she saw them. Like a canvas, she had truly painted the land into a perfect winter hollow.

From the fairly large hole at the bottom of the large dead tree that Rieka had made our home, we heard everything that happened within the vast territory of the forest, Rieka always took on a lying position which she seem to enjoy, lying down lazily inside the tree with her head outside just in position to hear every sound in the forest, the moment a living creature as much as walks past or stumbles into our territory, she jumps to her feet and hunts it down, only returning us home when it was dead.

it was repulsing, watching her murder those innocent creatures over and over, most times I lost consciousness, only to wake up to see her staring at the carcass before running off to wash the blood off her fur in her favorite river.

“We can’t keep doing this.”

I said to her, as I have many times, the forest was truly a hollow place now, no sound of a single living creature can be heard and I knew it was only a matter of time before she decide to expand her territory because that was exactly what she had been doing these past days.

I couldn’t just keep on watching, I don’t care about her blood lust, I wasn’t a killer, and seeing her murder these animals without remorse is enough to know that no human or wolf who crossed her path would be spared. She was angry about something and she was going to settle the scores with whosoever or whatsoever crossed her path.

“You can’t keep killing them.”

“So should I just let us die of starvation instead?” she asked licking her bloody paws,

She had just mauled a poor deer and had torn it apart bathing our red fur in its blood

“We both know that this has nothing to do with hunger. All you do is tear them to shreds and leave their carcass for vultures.” I argued painfully.

“That is what they deserve, that is what all those who hurt us deserve.”

“These innocent animals didn’t hurt you, they’ve done nothing to us.”

“Oh! so I should wait until they attack us and bring us to the point of death as you did?” she accused and I was stunned.

She knew, she really did know but she thinks it’s my fault?

“I didn’t know that they would do that. How was I supposed to know that Layla or even Eric would ....”

“It doesn’t matter, they targeted us because you acted weak.”

“What? I acted weak?” Now I’m angry, “tell me how! Tell me how I acted weak! Tell me what you would have done differently if you were in my shoes!”

“I would have killed that Layla girl the first time I met her, I would have known that she wouldn’t give up easily, I would have torn her throat apart the moment I saw her swearing to that oath or the moment she stood beside our mate in that hospital. You had all the opportunity to prevent what happened but all you did was cry!”

“Ha!” I gasped, as sadness washed over me, I can’t believe it, the reason she never talks was because she hated me? She thinks this is my fault? How was any of this my fault?

“Then why didn’t you break out of your prison and do all those things then Rieka, since you are so strong and powerful!” I replied matching her venomous words with my own.

Never in my wildest dream did I think she would blame me. Eric was the one who played us for a fool, she wasn’t even there. I had to fight them all alone, face them alone.

“Oh, I would. I would bring my wrath on them all. I would bring the justice I deserve on all who hurt me, you just watch Silveen, I would show you how different I am compared to you.” Rieka replied and I shuddered in fear at her words. I knew she meant every word, she was going to destroy the world and I would not be able to do anything but watch. she was a scary wolf.

I tried to push myself to the surface to take over, but I couldn’t she was holding on strongly probably fueling her strength with her rage.

“You are weak!” she said to me with venom and cut the link.

I felt anger boil in me, but nothing could match what Rieka felt. I hated her. I hated her for blaming me.

Why was I so unlucky, of all the wolves to be paired with I had to be paired with a murderer and I had to do nothing but watch her perpetrate it.

I knew she might not hear me but she would feel the hatred I had for her and that was enough for me.