by Lewis, D. C.
Exhausted by everything that had recently befallen her, Kiera fell into a restless slumber, her dreams filled with running, woods, and fur.
Twenty-Four
Katrina watched her daughter go up the stairs to her room after her demonstration of the scent dream. Kiera had recovered much quicker than Katrina would have thought possible, though she shouldn’t have been surprised. Kiera had a strong spirit and was a fighter, Katrina’s true heir. Katrina was pleased with Kiera’s defiance even though at times it got tedious. It marked her as a true leader, one who believed in herself and would not be swayed, a true Alpha. Allowing herself a momentary grin and chance to appreciate what a strong offspring she had raised, she was finally able to let a certain concern go. It was going to work itself out.
Now then, there were more pressing concerns - locating Larissa Sinistari. She had apparently fled after her attack on Kiera. Pack members loyal to Katrina, who had gone to the park to remove the evidence of the brutal conflict, had followed Larissa’s scent back to the spot where she was parking the ugly van and spending the night. There was no other sign of her, which rankled Katrina no end. Picking up the phone, her fingers dialed the number on their own. The first ring had barely finished before a person on the other end answered.
“Yes my Lakaia?” a woman’s voice on the other end asked.
“Report,” Katrina said in a voice devoid of any of the humor she had recently exuded.
“We scouted the entire county and there has been no sign. A convenience store clerk reported seeing the van headed north out of town driven by a woman fitting Larissa’s description. But we can’t be entirely sure it was her, it could be a decoy. But I don’t believe that she is still here, we would have found her.”
“Expand the search. Cover the other counties, make sure she is not close. I do not want her within 500 miles of my daughter.”
“Yes, my Lakaia, as you wish.”
Something about the woman’s abrupt silence on the phone alerted Katrina that there was more to be said.
“What else?” she commanded.
The woman on the other end didn’t hesitate.
“Three others are also missing.”
Larissa’s lackeys had gone with her. This didn’t surprise Katrina, but she now wondered if they knew of or had any part in the attack on Kiera. Regardless, they would be dealt with in the same fashion and held accountable to the same degree as Larissa. This was one case where no quarter would be given to any involved. Larissa’s punishment would be legendary, and make other Lycoans fear to utter her name for the next one- hundred generations.
“Anything else?”
“No, Lakaia.”
Katrina hung up the phone. An Alpha didn’t have to bother with things like pleasantries and manners. Others followed her because she was the strongest, not the nicest. In her world, nice was a sign of weakness, and a weak Alpha would not rule long if at all.
Katrina had not fully decided on the exact nature of the punishment. While she thirsted for Larissa’s blood, to feel Larissa’s form go limp with her teeth sunk deep into her enemy’s body, part of Katrina believed that death was too good for her challenger. It was too quick, over too fast, she wanted Larissa to suffer and for all to bear witness to her humiliation. Katrina had a few ideas, things passed down from the Old Country when humans and Lycoans made the first tentative peace agreements. Something archaic seemed fitting. Now the only issue was to locate her quarry, no easy thing it seemed. At least Kiera was safe for the time being. However there was an upcoming issue that Katrina was going to have to put into great consideration, Kiera’s adamant desire to return to school.
The issue was Kiera’s safety. Being at a school eight hours away, pretty much left her on her own and unprotected. Any number of things could happen to her at the hands of Larissa. Fighting with Kiera about this would only force her to dig her heels in even more. Katrina supposed she could have someone watch over her but knew that Kiera would eventually figure that out and start to ask questions. Katrina didn’t want Kiera to think there was absolutely no more danger awaiting her, but at the same time, didn’t want her to constantly worry about what was lurking behind every shadow. It was a delicate balance.
Still, there was plenty of time for that, the summer not even half over. Right now the main focus was locating Larissa and her cohort. With them found, Kiera’s safety would be assured, since only someone with a Lycoan side would ever be able to harm her physically. Katrina was unconcerned about mere humans. But the Phelan kid did concern her, in another way. Kiera had an unhealthy attachment to him and he seemed determined to undermine her plans for Kiera, with his encouragement of Kiera’s education. Another issue for another time, but once Larissa was dealt with, Katrina promised herself to resolve this issue at her earliest convenience.
Gathering the neatly stacked pile of papers she was earlier perusing concerning the increasing price of gold, Katrina pondered selling off the stacks of gold bars at her shop as she walks back to her bedroom, her sanctuary.
Her room was vastly different from her daughter’s. While some would consider it “cold” and “uninviting,” Katrina saw it as simple. Having been born in a time with no electricity and indoor plumbing uncommon in most households, Katrina thought her room was more than adequate. Thinking back over the seemingly endless years of her past, she recalled being a little girl, living in a two-room shack that was surrounded by feet of snow in the dead of winter. Even as a Lycoan child, the winters were brutal and she remembered shivering herself to sleep, buried in piles of blankets, on the majority of those evenings. Her current living conditions would have been considered opulent at that time.
Katrina’s room was a testament to utilitarianism. Nothing decorated the bare walls, not one picture or other garnishment. The room was populated by simple furnishings. A large four- poster bed was made, not a single wrinkle in the linen encasing the mattress, with a military precision that was pleasing to look at. The alder wood of the frame was so dark that it appeared black. There were two other pieces of furniture in the room, of the same color, a nightstand that sat adjacent to the headboard, and a dresser that sat opposite it. The furniture seemed to blend perfectly into the darkly painted walls of Katrina's bedroom.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
Just as Kiera had observed about her own room when she first walked into it weeks ago, Katrina's room was also devoid of dust. The large mirror fastened to her dresser was streakless. The light-colored carpet, spotless, looked as if no one had trod over its fibery landscape though it was the same carpet that had been laid when the house was built twenty years ago.
Walking into her closet, her clothes arranged by style and color, hanging perfectly in the assigned spots, Katrina allowed herself a second to appreciate the uniformity and order. She took great pleasure in such things since they were a visible sign of control. Katrina liked being in control, as an Alpha it was paramount to retain control. Katrina felt like her control was slipping by the moment.
Deliberately touching a seemingly ordinary spot on the back wall of her closet released a hidden latch and a section of the wall swung out to reveal a large safe. Katrina punched in the secret code to access the metal chest. The safe held the fortunes of Katrina's life, some objects with monetary value while others carried sentimental value, in many ways the most valuable to Katrina. Stacks of money occupied the majority of the safe. Katrina had the twin to this safe at her shop in town, which held only more stacks of money and savings bonds. Katrina made a very conscious attempt to keep at least fifty percent of her assets liquid and within easy reach in case an emergency arose and she needed quick access to those funds. Furthermore, she didn't want the banks knowing exactly how much money she had. She lived in a small town and people gossiped, even about confidential matters.
Reaching inside the safe, she retrieved a box made of pine and stained a light color. She hadn't taken this out in some time and the anticipation made her feel like a
little girl again. Carefully placing the box on top of the safe, she untied the ancient leather strap holding the two halves together. The leather was so old that it was no longer supple, feeling more like a biological chain than the skin of a animal. Slowly opening the lid to reveal the item resting on a bed of red velvet, Katrina's hands shook as she reverently removed it from its cushiony resting place.
From the looks of it, it was ancient, showing wear and tear that only an object of antiquity would possess. It was a circular metal object the size of a quarter, the only thing marring the perfect circle was a small loop, for a chain, allowing the object to be worn around the neck. A light press down on the loop shows the true nature of the object as it splits in half revealing itself to be a locket.
Desiring to open it but knowing that now wasn't the time, Katrina placed it back into its resting place.
"Soon," she said to the box as she placed it back into the safe. "Soon."
Before closing the safe, she grabbed a stack of money, crisp one hundred dollar bills totaling one hundred thousand. She knew that Kiera would be wanting a replacement for her junked prized possession, and rather than have a teenager nag her for the next few weeks, Katrina had earlier decided to nip the problem in the bud and take Kiera car shopping. In all honesty, Katrina didn't mind buying things for her daughter, for she had plenty of money. But was sometimes frugal, much to her daughter's annoyance. The frugality wasn't for the reasons Kiera believed. Katrina wasn't cheap, but she did want her daughter to appreciate things.
It had taken Katrina literally hundreds of years to get where she was, having spent quite a few years living in the shack she was reminiscing about earlier. Kiera learning to be persistent and to fight for what she wanted would be a valuable skill to learn and possess as Alpha, because even though you were leader, it didn't always mean you got your way. Kiera wouldn't let go of a desire once it had taken hold of her. She could nag someone for months in order to get what she wanted. Katrina knew from firsthand experience just how determined her daughter could be. With this in mind, she reopened the safe and grabbed another stack of money.
Twenty-Five
The morning dawned with the sun peeking over the trees, casting its golden rays over the water, making its surface look like a sea of diamonds. Although, barely six a.m., the heat of the day was already starting to become oppressive. The humidity was so high that it felt like the world was covered in a water-laden blanket.
Kiera had fallen asleep after her excursion to the woods the prior afternoon and had slept through the night, if rather restlessly. Dreams assaulted her once more. The same old dream of running through the woods, the one she had had so many nights previously. She now realized that this was her Lycoan side attempting to persuade her to let it free, tempting her while she was asleep and not in full faculty of herself. It was getting smarter. Of all the dreams prior, she felt herself in this one actually having a desire to run through the woods, to reenact the scene of her dreams. It had gotten a taste of freedom and wanted more. Who could blame it?
Her dreams were also plagued by the flashbacks of the attack days prior. Things that she didn't even remember presented themselves in her dreams and once they took root, she could recall them in extreme detail when she woke. She actually felt more tired now than she did yesterday.
Wiping the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes, Kiera decided to spend the day on the water. Throwing on her blue bathing suit, she tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen. The house was comfortingly quiet. Apparently Katrina had already left to go to work. Kiera was pleased, for it meant that there wouldn't be a continuance of last night's conversation this morning.
Rummaging through the refrigerator, looking for some of the leftover grilled chicken from last night in hopes of filling the large hole in the pit of her stomach, Kiera did have to admit that even though her mother's home was ostentatious, she loved being so close to the water.
Quickly wolfing down a breakfast, Kiera headed out the back door. The grass was glistening with dew and her feet were completely soaked by the time she made it to the pier. Smiling to herself, she remarked "What a perfect way to start the day" to no one in particular but was answered by the caw of a passing seagull.
The pier had been destroyed in a hurricane six years ago when the water rose fifteen feet. Debris had washed down from upriver and slammed into the pier, destroying the deck and uprooting a majority of its pilings. While most people would have seen this as a major inconvenience, Katrina had seen it as an opportunity.
Even though she rarely used the pier, this gave her a chance to rebuild it to her specifications. As with everything else Katrina did, it was over the top, showing her power and ability as the Alpha female and the richest person in town. It jutted almost one-hundred feet out into the water, and was ten feet wide. One could literally drive a car down it with no problem. At the end of the pier was a deck the size of a small apartment. On the deck's right side was a semi-enclosed boathouse, which was Kiera's destination. The pier had full power and plumbing. A small bathroom complete with sink, shower, and toilet was nestled in the back of the boathouse.
Clicking on the light switch, Kiera noticed that a few of the bulbs had burned out.
"Mother must not have been down here in a long time," she thought.
Sitting there in the harness, exactly as she had left it a season earlier, sat her WaveRunner. The blue and white Yamaha was a little more than three years old but regular maintenance and storage out of the sun made it look just as it did on the showroom floor. After each and every use, Kiera took the time to flush out the jet pumps with fresh water and to grab a sponge and soap and wash it, making sure there were no salt deposits anywhere on the exterior. Kiera was always careful with her things. It was just a natural extension of who she was.
Grabbing the control for the boat lift, Kiera swung the harness holding her WaveRunner so that it hovered above the warm water. She could hear waves lapping against the dock as a boat did a high-speed drive-by. Her excitement to get onto the water and spend a few hours forgetting the past forty-eight hours was threatening to overcome her.
Hitting the lower switch, the winch protested at being used after having been stationary for almost a year. The screeching of turning gears announced Kiera's victory over its sedentary state and her watercraft began its slow descent to the water's surface. Kiera had forgotten just how slow the winch was and combined with the low tide, getting the WaveRunner in the water took more than twenty minutes - an eternity for an impatient teenaged girl.
Scrambling down the ladder, Kiera unhooked the cables that held the harness in place and pulled a rope out of the front storage compartment of her blue and white water steed and tied it to a piling. Making sure it was secured well and in no danger of floating off, Kiera went back up the ladder to raise the lift and grab a life jacket.
The sun had leached the neon colors from her life jacket, the bright blues and yellows looking sickly, shadows of their former glory. Kiera gave serious thought to not wearing the thing but wanted to avoid a run in with the local game warden. This is supposed to be a day to forget about her problems, not create new ones.
Going back down the ladder rungs two at a time, Kiera's had butterflies in her stomach from the excitement. It had been so long since she has done this, she had forgotten how much she enjoyed it.
Straddling the powerful machine, she plugged in the key and made sure the cord was attached to her life jacket. If she fell off, the key would detach from the ignition and kill the engine which insured the watercraft wouldn't continue to fly down the waterway without its driver. Hitting the start button, she was rewarded with the sound of the engine turning over and starting, the jet pumps singing a song of power and freedom.
Untying herself from the pier and putting the rope back in the forward compartment from which she earlier retrieved it, she slowly drifted with the current as she saw to those last minute details. Making sure the hatch was latched tight, Kiera gently pressed the throttle
on the right hand grip. The WaveRunner jerked forward, racing to go, like a young horse with the benefit of youth.
Rearranging her position and gripping with her knees, she depressed the throttle all the way. The take-off could only be described as violent, the tiny engine utilizing all one-hundred fifty horsepower to propel the small vessel forward at a breakneck speed. Kiera’s face was split by a wide grin.
Racing down the waterway, Kiera was surrounded on both sides by sand dunes, reaching fifty feet towards the sky. There was no chance of Larissa being able to follow her even if she were still in the area.
Looking at the speedometer, she watched it increase in increments of five - 50,55,60,65,70 miles an hour popped up on the digital screen before she looked away. The wind blowing through her hair, pushed her blonde ponytail looking to a gravity-defying straight line behind her, and also took with it all her thoughts and worries for the present time. She had left them at the pier as soon as she took off, her mind completely focused on having fun.
The wake from her watercraft as it cut through the still water crashed harmlessly up against the dunes. Her vision blurred by tears, she berated herself for forgetting the all-important sunglasses, designed more to keep from being blinded by the oncoming rush of wind than for the sun.
Slowing down, Kiera once again floated with the current as she wiped the water from her eyes. The morning was starting to pick up and more boats began to make their appearance. Commercial fisherman who made their living with blood, sweat, and tears were hammering out an existence through hard work, subjected to the whims of Mother Nature. It was a hard life with no guarantee of income. Multigenerational crews owned and manned the boats that traveled up and down the coast, searching for the ever-elusive seafood. Weather-beaten men and women, they were married to the sea, a relationship in intensity similar to what Kiera experienced with the moon, a bonding that surpassed words. These were some of the hardest working people Kiera had ever seen. They spent long hours, sometimes days at a time, all in the hopes that nets would be laden with fish, yet many times coming up with nothing at all. It was a tough life yet Kiera had noticed that these people always seemed happy and glad to be out on the water, as if it were something they were born for. Whether it is because they had embraced their destiny, or were actually lucky enough to find their calling in life, Kiera didn't know, but was thankful that she would never have to experience those trials and tribulations. She admitted that there were some benefits to being the daughter of the Alpha female.
