Chapter 70 - Yohan’s Past

>>Maya

Quiet nights

Cold weather.

Warm blanket and us.

It felt like pure happiness just being in Yohan’s arms. I felt a form of protection I had long forgotten since my parents died.

Yohan was warm, his touch was cozy, his embrace was lovely and his entire existence was homely.

Just being with him made me happy.

We were supposed to go to sleep since Yohan wanted to leave early for his pack house but instead we both took a shower and cuddled on the bed in our pj’s.

I was in his embrace and he had the blanket wrapped around us.

We were talking about completely random stuff and time continued to pass.

“Say Yohan.” My head was resting on his chest.

“Hmm?”

“I noticed you couldn’t sleep during the thunderstorm. Is it always like that?”

“Well, sort of.”

“Why? You don’t seem the type to be scared of something like that.”

He chuckled, “It’s not that I’m scared of it, I quite enjoy the weather actually, it’s just-” He paused, “There’s a bad memory attached to it.”

“A bad memory? What?” I was super curious about it. What could be so bad that it keeps him from sleeping?

He cleared his throat, “Remember when I told you I wasn’t much liked because of my curse?”

“Mhmm.”

“Well, untill the time I had my first shifting many people thought I’d never even turn into a wolf, that I’m flawed and since I was a ‘mistake’ I was treated pretty harshly.” He gulped, “You know, having a child with someone other than your mate is considered a taboo. It’s an iron clad rule among wolves so that’s why when I heard I was cursed because of me being a mistake I believed it.” He chuckled softly, “Sort of foolish if I think about it now. I mean I was never at fault to begin with but when I was younger there were many fingers being pointed at me, so I didn’t think otherwise.”

“I see. Your dad never clarified it either.”

He nodded, “Yea well, if he did he would have gotten in more trouble. I mean, an illegitimate child with a fae queen?” He smiled, “I wonder how that would have played it out.”

“I wonder too…” But I guess Adam would have gotten in serious trouble. Telling everyone it was a mistake was better.

“But well,before that time.” He took a deep breath, “There were a few times where attempts were made at my life but they were mostly things I could easily evade, they weren’t actually anything serious. Except that one time. The most traumatic one was during a thunderstorm.” He cleared his throat, “I was like ten, eleven maybe? I had spent a lot of time in the forest, it was the time I recently became friends with Roro and I really liked spending my time with him, because with him I was just me. I wasn’t some cursed child, some bastard, I was just a friend. That’s why he was important.”

“And you missed his wedding.”

“Yea… But I’ll apologize to him.”

“Yeah, you better.” I can’t go because him being from the lizard clan still frightens me.

“Well, the weather got really bad that day, thunder rumbled like crazy and there was so much lightning. In the evening it began to rain. Roro actually didn’t come to our world through the Dryad. He used a vampire’s portal from the dark continent.”

“Dark continent?”

“Yeah, in the magic realm. Roro found an undead’s tool and that’s how I was able to meet him for a few years before it expired.”

“Why didn’t he use the Dryad?”

“Because our forest didn’t have one.”

“Really? Then how did your dad go there?”

“I don’t know, I thought about it too. That’s definitely strange.”

“Can fae use the undead tool?”

“It’s actually specifically made for the undead and if a fae uses it they have to have very strong resistance to the dark magic. I guess Roro had it. The lizard clan is on the lowest hierarchy of light after all.”

“Oh… So couldn’t your aunt have used it?”

“Well, even if she can use it. It’s not like she knew where dad lived in this world. And she may have strong magical powers but dark tools would have an affect on her body since fae are light creatures.”

“Ah…” That makes sense.

“So well, to use that tool, you need to be in an area of large space. Usually Roro would go by himself but since it was raining that day and the weather was pretty harsh, I decided to go with him.”

“I see.” I shifted in his embrace.

“Everything was fine till the time I was just spending time with him. But I had no idea some other wolf was following me all along. We walked quite far to find an open plain where he could open the portal. It started raining pretty heavily and as soon as Roro left I turned to run back home. Usually the easiest way is to follow the trail of scent you leave behind but the rain washed that away, so I got lost. I remember it very clearly, I stood there wondering which direction to take back to go home when a big wolf came into sight. A sight of another werewolf is supposed to be comforting. He was an adult wolf so I was relieved for a moment and began to walk towards him until the time I saw his expression. He was growling at me, his whole aura seemed bad. I stopped in my path while he continued to glare at me.”

He told me everything with all the details he could remember, “As a child I got scared, something told me I should run the other way but in my mind I had doubt and thought that maybe he was a good person and I could talk to him. I didn’t get to say anything when he pounced on me. I barely dodged him and then started running like crazy. It wasn’t much use since he was a wolf and I was a child who was far from his first shifting. He caught up to me in no time.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“That’s what I thought was going to happen. He had me pinned on the ground with his claws buried in my arms. At that time there was so much fear swelling inside of me that I didn’t even notice that his claws were pretty deep in my skin and I was bleeding. I was so scared that I forgot to even scream, I just stared at him wide-eyed while he took out his fangs and got ready to rip my throat out. It was raining like crazy, the lightning was striking every few minutes and in the dark cold and wet place I could see his face very clearly because of it getting illuminated by the lightning. My mind went completely blank then, there was nothing in there not even the thought that I’m going to die or anything. I just blankly stared at him.”

“Because of the fear?”

“Yeah and just then out of nowhere the wolf on me was knocked off by another wolf.”

“Another wolf? Who?”

“I have no idea but whoever it was, but he was clearly there to save me. I only remember that my saviour had a scar on his forehead. He threw the other wolf with so much force it knocked him out for a few seconds. Then he turned his head to me and mind-linked with me. He told me to run back home. He pretty much yelled at me and his voice rang in my head. I still hadn’t realized I was injured, I just stood up with a dizzy mind and ran. I ran like crazy only to end up falling in a pitfall trap.”

“A pitfall trap?”

“It’s usually put there for animals, many wolves like eating rabbits but still, it’s big enough for a child to fall in it. The holes are pretty deep and I fell in one. It was almost filled with water, when I fell in, the water was already up to my shoulders.”

“Oh God.” Even though it was a story of his distant past, my heart was still speeding up.

“I really didn’t think I could get more scared but this time my mind didn’t go blank, I knew I would drown if I stayed so I tried getting out but the walls were too slippery, moreover, my arms were losing strength constantly because I was losing blood. When I noticed my wounded arms, they began to hurt. There was so much fear, so much panic, terror and agitation that I was going crazy. I couldn’t get out on my own, I had no idea what had happened to the wolf who attacked me or to the other one. I could only think of yelling for help but I was scared of the other wolf finding me too.”

I gulped while he continued, “But there was no other choice, I at least knew I was near the pack so I decided to scream for help. I screamed on the top of my lungs, I screamed and screamed but it was like no could hear me, even I couldn’t hear myself when the thunder rumbled. The sound of rain was numbing everything and it had washed all the scents, so even if someone was looking for me they would never find me in time.”

“So no one came?”

“Not to help me no.” He paused and gulped, “The water reached my chin when a head appeared above the hole. It was another wolf, one I had never seen before, she stared at me and I begged her to get me out of there, I showed her my bleeding arms, tears were streaming down my face but you know what she said?”

“...” I shook my head.

“She said I deserved it. She flashed me a nasty smile and left me there dumb founded.” I felt a shiver in his body, “I couldn’t believe it. Did she really leave me there?” I clenched my hand over Yohan’s, “The water level kept rising and it was up my lips in no time. Only when I started choking on it I came back to reality, I tiptoed, faced upwards and made my last attempts at screaming for help. The only thing I heard was the rain, thunder and the wild rustling of the trees.”

“Oh God…” I felt goosebumps and my skin stood up.

“A little while and then I was submerged in water, I held my breath but for how long could I do it? It was getting hard by the second, my lungs burning and there came a point where I started getting dizzy, I could no longer hold it in so I released the air but then water came rushing it. I realized, I was going to die now and no one was going to help me out. Still, in my very last attempt I held my arm out.” He sighed very softly, “But slowly I was losing consciousness, it was so cold, so, so cold, the place was dark, so dark I couldn’t see anything or maybe I could no longer see since I was losing my consciousness.” I noticed Yohan’s voice was shaking, “And there was no one to comfort me in death, I was all alone.” His voice turned into a whisper, “All alone, forsaken and cold, and just like that everything went dark.”

The story was shaking me up too.

“When I woke up, I noticed I was in dad’s arms. My head was resting next to his chest and I could hear it beating so loud, like he was beyond terrified. I lazily looked at him, his expressions,” He paused and smiled, “He looked like the life had been sucked out of him. He was drenched and shivering but his grip on me was tight, he had me wrapped in blankets and was sitting in front of the fireplace, trying his best to keep me warm. He didn’t care about himself, how badly his own body was cold. That day I truly realized that he cherished me.”

Yohan looked at me, “I know to other people he’s a villain but to me he was a great father.”

“Whenever there’s a thunderstorm I always think about that day. There were questions I didn’t have answers to, why was he after me? Why did he want to kill me? Who was that person who saved me? And most of all how terrifying a thunderstorm and rain can be, all the desperate cries, all the bad happening, just washed away like there was nothing to begin with. All my questions were answered, the ones left will soon be too.”

“Well,” I turned and wrapped my arms around him, “It’s long gone.”

“Yeah.” He hugged back.

When I was hugging him another question popped in my mind, “Yohan?”

“Hmm?”

“I remember you said something about a banshee.”

“Ah… That’s right.” He remembered, “I wonder what that deal was though. Maybe dad will answer that too”

“Yeah, because I really think it wasn’t for you.”

“Now I think about it there were attempts at my life by wolves from other packs and it all died down only after my shifting. I guess, I now know why they were after my life.’

“Because of your dad?”

“Well, that’s the only explanation. He took someone precious from them and they wanted to do the same. It wasn’t until I shifted that those whisperings and taunts stopped. A white wolf is a symbol of fear after all. When I first shifted my size was as big as a full grown mature adult wolf, it scared everyone. People changed their behaviour towards me but I couldn’t get along with many of them because of what had already been done but you know none of them were serious, just minor attempts since I was always near the pack. I only left there for college.”

“You had no friends?”

“I did, but very few. Like a handful.”

“Well, quality matters more. Were you physically abused too?”

“No,” He shook his head, “Because dad was the Alpha I was never physically bullied. He never would have tolerated it.”

“Dad came running like crazy to me whenever something happened.” His grip around me tightened. It must be hard doing this all, “It’s so strange. He was a great father, there’s no doubt about that. He cared for me so much that I didn’t mind mother’s behavior towards me.” He sighed, “He was a workaholic but still if I ever got sick, which I rarely did since I was strong, he took the day off and spent his time with me and made sure I was okay.”

Such ironic fates.

What is like a world to my love is the most cruel existence to me.

“You really love him, don’t you?” I asked him.

“Of course I do.”

“You don’t have to go.” I told him, “Going to him won’t change anything.” I looked at him, “You made this decision for me but even if you confront him and bring him to justice that won’t bring back my parents.”

He smiled at me and then kissed my forehead, ‘It’s okay. I may have made the decision because of you but dad has some serious offences. He not only killed your parents, he’s the cause of so many deaths and the misery of so many families.” He paused, “And well, let’s not forget.” He paused again, “He was the cause of so much misery to my mom too.”

“Yea.”

“I was thinking, “ He smiled, “I think, I want to meet mom now. Properly.”

“That’s nice.” I told him. As long as Esra holds her end of the bargain I don’t mind.

“I’ll meet her when I come back from the pack house.”

“Then come and pick me up after you meet her. Okay?”

“Sure.”

“Promise?” I got my hand and showed him my pinky.

He snickered, “You want a pinky promise?”

“Yea! Pinky promise is sacred.”

“Really now? Isn’t it childish?” Even though he said that he intertwined his pinky with mine and I have to say I never noticed how big it was compared to mine.

“No, you know a pinky promise means that if you break your promise you will have to cut off your pinky.”

“This suddenly got dark.:

I snickered, “So promise?” I moved my pinky with his.

“Promise.”

Note: To open a portal with the undead magic tool, you have to strongly think about a place where you have to go and the portal opens to the nearest open place.

Banshee : A banshee is a spirit in the form of a wailing woman whose appearance is an omen that one member of a family will die.