As he made his way towards the staircase however, a sizzling flash of lightning revealed a female figure, standing outside in his yard. Raul only caught a glimpse of it, but, a subsequent flash helped him make out her exact position, and her outfit. The stranger was cloaked in red. She stood but a few paces away from his doorstep. Red… it was the color that graced Helena’s eyes and hair. The exact, bright shade of the dress she had worn, on the day that she abandoned his birthplace. Could it be that she had come back to Paxton? Had she reconsidered her decision? A beacon of hope lit within the Alpha. His heart skipped a beat, as he swung his front door open. A few drops of gentle rain dropped on his forehead, as he stepped outside. The woman in question did have red hair, but, she was somewhat thinner and taller than Helena. Alas, Raul’s dream of reuniting with the witch was just a fantasy.
“Good evening,” she addressed him in a mellow tone, as her fair face lit up with a polite smile. “My name is Donna Lockhart. I am looking for my aunt, Helena. The locals suggested I come here. They said you are very close to her.”
“Your aunt?” Raul exclaimed, as his mouth fell open and his eyes opened wide in disbelief. “Helena never mentioned any relatives.”
“She did have a brother,” Donna informed him, as her smile disappeared. “His name was Darryl. They were not on good terms, because of my aunt’s…” she faltered, “…life choices.”
“Whatever,” Raul waved his hand in front of his face. “Helena’s not here. She left this town, about five months ago.”
“Oh,” a gasp of surprise left her lips, as a boom of thunder caused the ground to rumble and vibrate beneath their feet. Still suspicious of her, the Alpha folded his arms across his chest, as the rain hardened, drenching his skin. Trying to find a resemblance between them, he began to study the lines of her face: high cheekbones, thin lips, a bridged nose, almond-shaped, light-brown eyes. Their shape and her hair color did look like Helena’s; her cloak was an unmistakable sign that she was also a witch. Still, the fact that she had never said even a word about any relatives whatsoever was enough to shape his opinion. There was no way that he could trust this stranger.
“Good luck finding your aunt,” he grumbled, feeling the cold driving through his bones, as he unfurled his arms.
“Wait!” She cried, as he turned around. “Can you help me find her?”
“I don’t know where she is,” Raul maintained, throwing a glance down at her over his right shoulder, as the vapors from his breath clouded his vision.
“Can I please spend the night here?” Donna requested, leaning forward. “I have nowhere else to…”
“You’re a witch, right?” He interrupted, firmness creeping into his voice, as it picked up volume. His question put her in a difficult position. Donna dropped her gaze from him, as if she was ashamed of what she was. But, this simple reaction only confirmed his suspicions. “Only one witch is allowed in my home,” Raul continued, as he raised his index finger in the air. “And I don’t see her here. Goodnight.”
Without much more thought, he turned his back to her. He didn’t care whether Donna was telling the truth or not. For him, it didn’t matter whether she was actually Helena’s niece. He wouldn’t trust a witch anywhere near his infant daughter. Nevertheless, this unexpected visit in the middle of the night had an effect on him. Recollecting previous conversations with her, only reminded him of how much he missed her, thereby convincing him that he had to start searching for her. She had been away too long.
Chapter Seven
The following day, Raul’s cabin was filled with happy sounds, along with hearty laughter. Kate, Julia and Melissa were visiting, all of them in great spirits, and equally eager to hold baby Helena in their arms. His heart rejoiced. This was one of the first real family moments: countless more would come. As much as he enjoyed it though, Raul had other plans for that day. The quest to find Helena had to commence, and it could only be done by instructing the pack. Therefore, he called an emergency meeting at Joe’s diner, on that cold, winter morning. He wouldn’t bother explaining the reason to every single member by himself. Doing so would take too much time; unfortunately, time was a luxury Raul could not afford. Therefore, he notified his brothers to meet with him first, and then went outside.
Once again, the drizzle moistened the skin on his hands and his face, as he patiently waited for them. Looking through his kitchen window, he spotted his sister, cradling his daughter in her arms, as she gazed down into her eyes. The question that popped into his mind intensified his desire to locate the witch.
“Would any of our happiness even be possible had we not had her?”
The negative answer came very fast indeed.
“Good morning. What’s the big emergency?” Dean asked, the soles of his boots splashing drops of water all around him, as he strode towards his older brother.
“Helena,” Raul retorted, averting his gaze from the window. “I’m starting to worry about her.”
“I’m not really,” Ray interjected his opinion, as he followed right behind Dean. “She’s a tough old gal. She can take care of herself.”
“Yeah, but no one’s heard from her in months,” Raul uttered, moving around his truck. “Plus, we need her here.”
“She doesn’t want to be found,” Dean argued in an emphatic tone, as he opened the passenger door. “I respect that.”
“So do I,” Raul said, sitting down in the driver’s seat. “Look, I just want to know where she’s been hiding all this time. If she doesn’t want to come back, well that’s fine by me.”
A snort of derision filled his ears, just when he turned the key in the ignition. Ray had leaned back, covering his mouth, as he closed his eyes.
“Something you want to say, Jr.?” Raul inquired with a touch of annoyance in his tone.
“Oh, man,” he gave a short chuckle, lightly shaking his head. “You’re so full of crap, you know that? I mean, come on, man. Do you really expect us to believe that, if we ever find Helena, you won’t pressure her into coming back?”
“I will,” Raul admitted, running his hand through his hair, as he drove off. “I just won’t insist too much.”
“Let’s find her first,” Dean suggested, his tone calm. “I could understand why she needed to leave. I couldn’t understand the way she left. It felt…”
“…cold,” Raul finished his brother’s sentence, pressing his foot hard down on the accelerator. “Way too cold. We deserved a ‘goodbye’. Helena didn’t give us any. But I’m not mad at her about that. Maybe she thought it’d be too hard. I’m more upset about her disappearance. She could have reached out to us, tell us what she’s been up to. She hasn’t, though. She hasn’t even talked to Kate, and she’s supposed to be Helena’s protégée.”
“I hear you, brother,” Dean sighed, lying back in his seat. “I couldn’t agree more. Can you at least answer me one question, though?”
“Sure.”
“Where the hell are we going to start looking?” Dean wondered aloud, his voice riddled with curiosity, as he turned to his brother.
“Oh, I have a few ideas,” Raul replied, his tone steady, not at all affected by Dean’s ignorance, as he turned right and into the parking lot of the diner. He hadn’t lied. The Alpha did not – and could not – know for sure where Helena had gone, but, he had to appear confident. His brothers’ faith would be shaken at the first sign of uncertainty. He needed both of them in the most vital quest of their lives.
As usual, the pack was being loud. Roaring laughter could be heard from outside. Yet, as soon as Martin Jackson, one of the pack’s scouts noticed his Alpha, he banged his left palm against the glass façade. In an instant, every sound of merriment ceased. A smile of contentment formed on Raul’s face. By no means was he a disciplinarian, but he did demand their respect. He didn’t want to scream at them to get their attention. Pushing the glass door open, he walked into the diner, in the hope that this meeting would be the first step to discovering Helena’s whereabouts.
> “Good Morning, boys,” The Alpha addressed the pack in a businesslike tone. “Have you guessed the purpose of this meeting yet, or should I tell you?”
“Good morning, boss.” Jimmy Greer spoke, rising from his seat. “It doesn’t take Einstein to figure it out. It’s got to be the witch.”
“Correct.” Raul gave an appraising nod, stopping in front of the table closest to the entrance. “You don’t need me to remind you what Helena’s done for us in the past. She must be found. Does any one of you have a clue as to where she might be? Don’t give me any rumors. I want facts.” He went on, putting his hands on his waist, as he swept the hall. Still, every pack member kept staring at one another. None of them could even look at him, let alone provide any useful information; no surprises there. He had to ask though he knew a positive answer would be a long shot. “Helena used to live in the forest, but neither I nor my brothers know exactly where she lived. I need you guys to find it. You can tear the woods apart if you have to, but find me the witch’s home. Report back to me when you have discovered her place. You should also know there’s another witch in town. According to her, she’s Helena’s niece, but I’m not sure about that. She’s wearing a red cloak. Be careful out there. Do you have any questions?”
“No, sir,” Jimmy responded, before dragging his gaze away from Raul. “You heard our Alpha. Let’s move.”
“That’s it?” Dean whispered, grabbing his brother by the wrist, as he leaned over him. “Is that all we’ve got? And why didn’t you say anything more about that witch?”
“We also have grandpa’s sanctuary,” Raul murmured, furrowing his brow. “Monica says she’s found a few of her diaries in there. If you have any further suggestions, I’m all ears. And I just told you about the witch.”
“Helena’s left a few of her manuscripts in my cabin,” Dean added with a little more force in his voice, as he released Raul’s wrist. “I can ask Kate to go over them again, just in case she missed anything the first time.”
“Go ahead,” Raul urged. “Have you read those?”
“Her manuscripts are a lot like Marianne’s book: full of riddles,” Dean claimed, as Ray approached his Alpha from behind. “I tried it once. I gave up after five minutes. Why are you asking?”
“Helena’s said a lot about her relationship with grandpa, but she never talked about her own family,” Raul explained, his voice dropping down an octave. “I was wondering if she’d written anything about her relatives: her brother, to be exact.”
“I don’t recall reading anything about him. Come on,” Dean patted his older brother on the shoulder. His words would have amplified Raul’s belief, had he not confessed himself that he had read very little of Helena’s manuscripts. In any case, the Alpha could not bother with his hunch anymore. There would be a time to deal with Donna; it was just not that time. Right now, he had to go up to his grandfather’s hall. Much to his dislike, Raul had to pry into Helena’s personal life. Nevertheless, if he had any hope of locating her, he had to invade her privacy.
Chapter Eight
Apart from the spacious library, a considerable number of much smaller storage rooms and bedrooms comprised Roman’s sanctuary. Up until that point, Raul had not troubled himself with going into them. However, now that his choices were literally decreasing to almost none, he, Dean and Ray had to explore them.
Still, “exploration” was not an accurate term for these rooms. They were barely big enough to house him or his brothers, and so cramped they all found it difficult to even maneuver in them. Most of them either contained boxes of old clothes; luckily, two of them were filled with books and notebooks. More than that, the massive amount of dust on each and every one of those rooms rendered it next to impossible for them to consider reading anything in there. Frustratingly enough, their findings had to be taken to the library.
Firstly, Raul had to separate books from notebooks. It was an easy task, but he had to use extreme care. The reason for such caution existed in the fact that he found himself handling faded print books that were almost a hundred years old, and worn-out notebooks that had quite a few pages sticking out of them. Should one of those pages slip out, he would be in a great deal of trouble. The Alpha knew it would take a while to finish his task, but neither the work nor the fragility of his findings worried him. What did concern him was the small size of those rooms, both in height and in width. Raul recalled his grandfather as a big man; 6’3”, a little over 200lbs, and very athletic. This structure was supposed to be his safe house. How could he have built those rooms like that?
Hours later, the brothers carried the boxes into the library. Thousands of dust particles rose up in the air, as they dropped them onto the floor. Taking a deep breath, Raul bent down, and picked up the notebook on the top of the pile. A deep-yellow page came into view, as he flipped the cover open. The date on the upper left corner read:
05-16-1937
His initial thought was to put it down. Helena had written this entry eighty years ago. It wouldn’t avail him in any way, and he would avoid prying into her private life, wherever possible. But, as he caught a glimpse of his grandfather’s name on the first line, Raul had a change of heart. Each word would take some effort to make out; the writing was faded, but, even so, he would try to read it. Helena had been kind enough to let him know about the reasons of her breakup with Roman, but Raul still knew very little about them.
“How ironic… I begin a new notebook, right when my Roman leaves me. Here I am, writing the first entry, and it is all about the pain that has been scorching my insides since last night, when he broke up with me.
It’s spring. There’s a sense of freshness in the air, the birds are nesting in the trees all around our little town, and the sun is shining in the blue sky. But, my heart cannot feel any of that. Your leaving has put up a wall that blocks out every warm feeling. It’s cold: freezing cold. Whatever I do, I cannot escape the emptiness that I feel inside. I walk in the sunshine, and I think I’m crossing a frozen sea. I don’t see trees around me, but tall, jagged icebergs. They close in on me, every time I recall our breakup. Before I know it, I start running, trying to avoid them, trying to forget the harsh words that came out of your mouth last night. They cut like a knife… so deep that now I feel like my life is slipping away from me. That my next breath is going to be my last. In the bitter hours of my loneliness, I close my eyes, telling myself that this is all a bad dream. I say to myself that I will wake up, and it’s all going to be ok. But, it won’t. It is real. You are gone, and I’m just trying to pick up the pieces of my shattered heart.
Where is your face, my sweet Roman? Where is your voice? Why would you take them away from me? You don’t need to answer that. You’re afraid, afraid that, maybe someday, my powers will be the death of you. You don’t believe me, my love. You never did. And you never trusted me. If you did, we would still be together. You would see the absurdity of your fears: because that’s what they are, Roman; absurd. My powers are not beyond my control. I would never hurt you, in any way. I would not bring harm to the man I love.
As much as it breaks me up inside, I will grant your wish. I will stay away from you. I will not bother you again. There is no point in insisting, anyway. You have made up your mind. Do not think that you can count on my help in the future, though. I would gladly provide a helping hand, if you were still mine. However, if you do fall in love with someone else, you two are on your own. This may sound like payback, but, let me assure you: it isn’t. You can’t reject me, and then crawl to me for help.
The night draws in. Tears blur my vision, as I look up into the sky. You don’t have to worry, my love. I will not be alone. I have the moon and the stars to keep me company. And they will never betray me.
A deep gasp escaped Raul, as he tore his gaze away from the page. It was as if he had been holding his breath under the water for a minute, and he had just surfaced for breath.
“What a fool…” he grumbled, biting his lower lip, as he tossed Helena’s
notebook back into the box. The Alpha knew that Helena loved his grandfather; yet, he didn’t know how much their breakup had upset her.
“Fool?” Dean averted his gaze from the book in front of him, to look up at his brother. “Who are you talking about?”
“Grandpa, who else?” Raul stated rhetorically, thrusting his arms out to each side. “How could he turn his back on a love like that?”
“Guys, you might want to take a look at this,” Ray said, the urgency in his voice forcing both of his brothers to turn their attention to him. He had a photograph of Helena, Monica, Julia and Melissa in his hand, but was not looking at the front side of it. Instead, he was staring at its back. Raul felt his heart pounding in his chest, as he started off towards him. In his eagerness, he snatched the photograph out of Ray’s grasp.
“Summer, winter, autumn or spring
Peace is where the sun killed the king”
In the blink of any eye, Raul’s adrenaline shot into the ozone layer. He was searching for clues, not riddles. Narrowing his eyes at his brother, he pressed his lips together, as his inner beast twitched in unease.
“A riddle? Are you kidding me?” He exclaimed as his nostrils flared and his breathing quickened.
“Kate might be able to shed some light on this,” Dean stated, turning right to face his brother. “She’s good at solving riddles. I think we might have a lead after all. Keep your hopes up.”
If only Raul could take his advice. If only he could believe that the key to finding Helena was just Kate’s interpretation. But he was too emotional to process this. Perhaps it was the witch’s words about his grandfather that had affected him too much. He had a soft spot for broken hearts, especially when those hearts belonged to the people closest to him. Therefore, he chose to keep his mouth shut, and follow his brother Dean for a change. Instead of doing the leading himself, the authoritative Alpha, the most dominant wolf in his pack, was now being led. Raul didn’t mind. He loved his brothers fiercely. He was willing to pay a much bigger price than just following Dean.
A Wolf's Love (Wolf Mountain Peak Book 5) Page 4
