C5 The Unveiling: Embracing the Unknown

Sounds rushed to my ears as slowly as drops of rainwater dripped off a gutter on the roof. They sounded muffled, and I struggled to open my eyes to see.

At first, vision came slowly. Everything was so blurry that I had to shut my eyes and try again for the second time. I opened my eyes again and saw movement in front and around me. Dark figures move from here to there. I felt pressure on my chest, felt someone lift my hand and someone else utter something my ears couldn't comprehend.

Gradually, my vision cleared, and the dark figures took shape. All around me were women dressed in cloaks. I looked around me and the place looked like heaven. Candles everywhere, and glowing orbs.

"Am I dead?" I managed to croak out. My words caught their attention and the four figures around me with flowing hair moved closer.

One of them said, "No. You are not dead, my dear."

"But this place... Is it real?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Looks like heaven to me."

"Well, this is Earth and you are still very much alive."

I sighed and looked up at the rafters. Why am I still alive? I threw myself off that cliff and the bottom was filled with rocks. So how come?

I looked at her. "How am I still alive?"

"You mean after you tried to kill yourself by falling off that cliff?" asked the woman at my left shoulder. She had a funny face, and her cheeks looked like they were stuffed with cherries.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Oh, we do know. But what we do not understand is why."

"What I do not understand is why I am still alive. I should be dead."

Silence spread through the room we were in when I mentioned the ill-fated word.

"You don't know?" asked the woman who had told me that I wasn't dead.

"Know what?"

"You are different."

"You mean human? Yes, I do know that I'm human and not a werewolf. The lie I've had to live with since I was a child."

"That wasn't what I was going to say, child. You aren't human."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you are Lycan. Not just any werewolf. But you are a direct descendant of the Moon Goddess."

I was utterly astonished to hear that. And I had to repeat, "What?"

"And to answer the question that's been brooding your mind, you didn't die because you are of royal blood."

**********

I never understood a word she said to me at first. I thought it was all a joke. That I had fallen and I was dead. The designs all around me and the patterns on the walls depicted one of the plenty rooms in heaven.

"How is this even possible?" I asked.

"Well, any werewolf would have died after falling from that height. They aren't that indestructible, you see."

"But I am human," I said.

"No, you are of Lycan blood," she said, with emphasis on the last two words. "Don't worry, you'll come to understand soon enough."

"But who are you people?" I demanded to know.

"My name is Amelia James," said the woman.

"Amelia. Is it me or do you look like me?"

Amelia sighed and looked at the others. She nodded at them, and they began to clear out of the room. When it was just Amelia and I, she put down her basket of stretched clothes and sat down on a stool beside my bed. My eyes followed her every movement.

"How does it feel?"

"How does what feel?"

Amelia looked at me, her eyes studious on my face, like she was trying to read my thoughts. Finally, she said, "How does finding out that you are a Lycan, have been a Lycan your whole life, feel?"

"That? I would rephrase your question."

"To suit your circumstance? Alright. Go ahead," said Amelia.

"I would answer how would you find out that you aren't a human, haven't been a human all your life, feel?"

Amelia gave me a wan smile. "And what would your answer be?"

Laughter erupted from my mouth. "Overjoyed," I said. "You know, my mate treated me like I was different, and so did the townspeople. Though, not all of them did. I thought the problem was with me. Killian Romero thought the problem was me."

"Wait. Killian Romero, the Alpha, is your mate?"

"Not anymore," I corrected. "He rejected me after I caught him having an orgy in his study with a file of women. And you know what he said to me? Those words?"

Amelia shook her head. She wanted me to go on.

"He told me that I didn't live up to his expectations of who or what a mate should be. So he found those features in the other women. And rejected me."

"I am sorry about that. But you'll need to understand that he wasn't your destiny. You are of superior blood."

"Then why didn't my powers manifest? Give me a sign or something. Why now?"

"Why now? You think your powers manifested?" Amelia asked.

"Well, you said I didn't die because I am of royal Lycan blood."

"Yes, I did. But that wasn't the case. You were saved, Valeria."

The fact that she suddenly called me by my name didn't irk me. It was the part where I was saved that got to me.

"Saved? How? By who?"

"By your father. Your real father. The Lycan King."