Chapter 79: Not My Business Anyway

[AWUOR]

"Be good to the Clarksons," Malika reminded Hawi for the hundredth time.

She knew how angry Hawi was and she knew that it would take a lot of power and restraint on Hawi's end, especially now that she was ready to face her horrors. It wasn't the kindest of times for the woman, but then it wasn't like she could stay on the ground for long.

Hawi was born to fight and that's what she was going to do, even though this time, she was going to be fighting, not just for her mother's justice, but she would fight for herself. She would fight for her peace and she would fight for what was rightfully hers.

Her Sicario crown, even though she hated that crown with all of her being.

"I will, Malika. I swear it," Hawi had said as she went through the portal, though she hadn't been expecting the Clarkson warriors to be in arms and ready to go to war.

'What the hell is going on?' Hawi asked herself when she saw that the weakest pack in the realm had picked up weapons.

For years, everyone had assumed the Clarksons were weak because they never engaged in fights. They were always minding their own businesses and keeping their peace. They never lusted for more than they couldn't handle and taught their children to be content.

They had been peaceful for years and centuries on end. But as Hawi stood there beside one of the houses in Clarkson, she was worried.

Why were they going to war?

"She wouldn't like this," Hawi heard Luna Clarkson say, and Alpha Clarkson just looked at his wife tiredly. He looked like he had thought of the options, and this right here was the only thing that they could work with.

"She has been gone for a week. If we don't find her, then we have an explosive protector in Sicario waiting to burn us down. You know the girl and everything she has gone through. You know very well why Malika brought her to this particular pack.

"If we can't even stand to defend our grandchild, what else is there for us? If we can't protect the only reminder of my Eniola, what else should I do as a father, Amara?

"What use am I to Eni when I couldn't even stop her from the very beginning?" Alpha Clarkson said to his wife, who Hawi had just learned had a name.

Luna Amara looked worried and rightfully so, because whatever situation they were in was challenging as hell. Hawi could hear them clearly and the longer she listened to them the more she had questions.

However, she also had a feeling that if she showed up and started asking questions, they would look at her as their own. She wasn't sure what she had heard was true, but Hawi was done acknowledging more bonds.

If she accepted the bond with the Clarksons and the fact that there were more secrets with them, she wouldn't be able to focus on her mission. When she had left Sicario, she had vowed to go back and burn them all. And she would.

"But Clark—"

She had done what she had to do to make herself feel like her pain was disappearing. She wouldn't be sorry for the pain she had inflicted on herself and if she had to do it again, Hawi would without a second thought.

"Wow, Luna Clarkson, you're also ready for war. I love a pack that values everyone. Don't mind me here, I'll tag along to war with you guys alright? I just need to get my—" Hawi began as she stretched her arm and called for her weapons.

It was something that Malika had taught her when they were in Olyana and she appreciated it. It was a trick that allowed her to go to war looking like a normal person and if it got to the point that she needed weapons, she could just call for them and they would be handed to her.

It was strange but right now, even though Hawi knew what was happening with the pack, she had to play dumb.

She couldn't let them think otherwise of her.

"Yup, good one," Hawi said as she got her spear and shield, and the guns she always had.

"Let's go, shall we?" Hawi said, cringing at the idea of war with a small pack like this.

If these people were truly her grandparents, then she finally understood why they had always stayed on the low. But that didn't explain why her father didn't acknowledge the Clarksons to the point that he had let the Clarksons give them another woman for Sicario.

It just didn't make any sense, unless someone was playing a game here but who? And what did they stand to benefit from all this?

"You— You're back, Alpha Awuor," Luna Amara said, and Hawi looked at her softly for a movement before she went back to the overexcited little shit that she had been practicing for the past ten minutes she had been back at Clarkson.

"Of course. My father lied about his death, so I have to work around making his death real this time. Enough about me, where are you guys headed anyway, and whose head are we chopping off today?"

"You," Luna Amara said.

"What?"

"We were going to war... For you."

"Well... Shiiiit."

*****

[A/N]

Why do you think Malika didn't say anything about Hawi's 'relationship' with the Clarksons? Or was this also a game?