Unofficially Yours

Chapter 9

Michael and Victor entered the mouth of the shadowy, dark cave and trudged forward. Victor stomped on a small rock on a corner and fire erupted on the torches that were held by the steep wall. They continued walking small steps, both seeming hesitant. When they both came face to face with a dead end, Michael reached out and twisted then pulled the torch from their right, causing the wall to slide to the side.

      Inside, numerous amounts of people sat either busy with a kind work, or just standing by doing nothing at all. There were computers and computer programmers, with a big model of digital globe on the middle of the room. It showed the position of werewolves’ territories and their specific names.

      People greeted both Michael and Victor as they passed through and entered an elevator, stepping in and pressing the button that will lead them to the lowest floor. Michael closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, musing about how he was going to tell the Empress about his failure.

      The elevator rang and they both stepped out, greeted by a dark room with a leather seat back facing them. It faced a large-screened monitor, showing the similar maps on the globe they spotted from earlier.

      “My lady,” they both curtsied and rose.

      “Just give me one straight answer. Failure or success?”

      Michael and Victor exchanged glances before Michael stepped up to answer, lowering his head. “Failure.”

      A hand reached out with a remote, pressing the ‘off’ button so that the screen turned black. The chair spun, revealing a woman. She had on a green cocktail dress that went just above her knees, she wore her hair on an up-do, allowing strands to frame her face. Her eyes were a soft shade of purple, lined by her dark fringe of lashes and an eyebrow with a perfect curve. Her legs were crossed and her fingers were laced together. She stood up and walked over towards Victor and Michael, a loud sigh escaping her lips.

      “Didn’t I say failure was not an option?” she questioned, her steps slow but haunting. “Perhaps your tactics about taking down the wolves during the mating moon is already familiar to them. But as I said, why did you fail?”

      “The wolves outsmarted us.” Victor whispered, his eyes directly on the ground. Unlike the top floor, the walls weren’t exactly rocky and steep. The walls were neatly polished and marbled tiles covered the floor. A wooden office desk sat on the corner of the room, along with a leather seat to match it with.

      “So you are telling me that your plans are the ones that failed.” her voice was soft and her expressions remained stern and cold. “Tell me, Michael.” the woman turned to him. “What is the use of your years of martial arts training when you won’t use it?”

      “But,” Michael protested. “The wolves injured most of our men,” he looked at the ground while sighing heavily. “And they took my daughter.”

      “Akira,” she said.

      Michael nodded. “Yes,”

      “Why did you retreat? I did not give you any orders to. I said full-on.”

      “We were actually setting out the plan when the wolves took us by surprise. We all know that a wolves’ bite can be dangerous, so we temporarily retreated back to our campsite to treat the injuries of our men. I know hunting was supposed to take days, although the minute I was informed that my daughter was gone, I’ve had the idea of them taking her. I assigned Bradley to look out for my daughter, but for some reasons, Akira had used one of her tactics and placed Bradley to sleep. She went out into the woods to look for me, I guess.” he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I . . . I was afraid they’d hurt my daughter. We searched the whole forest, though. For some reasons, the wolves had hidden themselves good. We tried entering a secluded portion, but something was keeping us off.”

      The woman walked back to her table and she turned the monitor on once more. There were red dots that blinked all over a portion of the country. “I cannot afford any more failures, no matter your excuse. You know after the mating moon their numbers tend to increase. Those parasites are proliferating in numbers, and we cannot afford to let them dominate over us now, would we?”

      “No, my lady.” Victor answered.

      She allowed her gaze to linger on the blinking red dots before she redirected her stare and watched Michael and Victor intently. “Save my favorite niece would you, Michael? I won’t afford to lose her. After all, she’s a part of the family.” she sauntered back to the chair and sank down, letting out a huge breath. “And my heir.”

      “She doesn’t know anything about us. I disagree of the fact that you chose her as your successor. I want her to live a completely normal life, uninvolved on any of these . . . missions and tasks. Vivian, I beg of you. Choose another person to succeed the position.”

      “You are not to question my decisions, brother.” she said. She flashed Victor a look. “Leave us.” she told him pointedly. Victor bowed low before turning hot on his heels and walking away to the elevator, stepping inside it and riding to another floor. “I have no husband, or child. She’s the only one left who has the bloodline to lead us all.”

      “This is exactly the reason why I turned down father’s offer of getting the position. I wanted to have a normal life with Kathrynne.”

      “Our family will never have a normal life as long as the blood of the Martins runs deep within our veins. We are hunters, Michael. Even if you lead her on to another road, her fate shall eventually takeover and she’ll be leading us all. Can’t you even see? She’s more powerful than all of us for some reasons. Why won’t you let her go down with this road?”

      “Because I want her to live without worries or any troubles. My involvement with the Hunters had given the wolves a reason to abduct and kill my wife. Akira had already grown without the love of a mother, and I’m struggling between my time with her, my work, and my responsibilities. I don’t want her to live the same life.”

      “Now that she’s been taken by the werewolves there’s no need to hide the truth from her. You’ll eventually have to tell her everything, and that’s when she’ll be enhancing more of her abilities.”

       “I am her father, and I have the right to make decisions for her.”

      ”She’s already eighteen. She’s old enough to make decisions of her own. I’ll only stop when it comes directly from her mouth.” she straightened her spine and curled her hands into fists, banging it against the wooden desk. “Get her back, Michael. Family or not I want her back.”

      “I will do this for my daughter, and not because you ordered me to.” he told her.

      “Do you even know a single reason why they abducted your daughter? They do not know who you are, do you? They’ll definitely take advantage of this opportunity.”

      “No.” he said. “But whatever that is I will be finding out. And if they ever lay a single finger on her, they’ll know the wrath of the Martins.”

      He swiftly turned, his eyes flashing a luminescent glow. His blood was boiling and he was clenching his fists. Akira was the only thing he has left of Kathrynne, his dear love. He won’t let those rogues take her away also. He had a feeling that the minute those wolves had seen his eyes, it gave him an idea who he was. The Martins originated way back in the ancient times, from the line of the original hunters that primarily hunts down werewolves and other supernatural creatures. They, like the wolves, originated from the moon goddess. Their first purpose was to hunt down wolves that had gone astray. They also had been given extra abilities for them to able to match them. The symbol of being a Martin was having those violet eyes. All those who have their blood will eventually have that kind of eye-color. It was an influential inheritance.

-*-

Adam was led by his beta through the long corridor, leading directly to the library. The way through wasn’t as crowded as it was before, it seems that the pack was getting busy with other things again. They entered the room quietly and they trotted through the towering shelves of thousands of books.

      They stopped on a long, polished table. A book was settled on the top of the table, wide open. It was turned on a page, clearly on the middle of the book.

      “Look at this.” his beta pointed on the illustration. “I was going through this book and found this.” A picture of purple eyes with a caption came to his view and his eyes scanned down the passage. “Doesn’t your mate have purple eyes? Adam, your mate is a hunter.” he told him on a hushed voice. “Did you know of this from the start?”

      The Martins, it said. An original clan of hunters said to inherit one of the goddess’ main characteristics. The purple eye-color was told to be the color of the goddess’ eyes. They are also one of the most powerful bloodlines, the first to hunt down wolves that have gone astray. They are leaders starting from the ancient times.

      Adam sighed. “I did.”

      “Why didn’t you tell us?”

      “I knew you wouldn’t understand.” he told him. “I was trying to find the right time to tell you. How did you even know she has purple eyes?”

      “When she escaped,” he answered. “You told us her description.”

      The image flashed back to his mind. He had been foolish. He was actually about to go mad he didn’t know what he was doing. Adam rubbed the bridge of his nose and placed a hand on his beta’s shoulder.

      “How did this happen?” he asked.

      “I don’t know. I just . . . I just followed the connection, and then I found her.”

      “But no hunters could ever be mates with a wolf . . .” he trailed off disbelievingly. “We aren’t meant to be.”

      “I guess there are some things that are full of mysteries.” Adam sank down on a chair, staring intently at the book before him. “Did this ever happen before?”

      “I don’t know.”

      “Marcus,” Adam turned and flashed him a look. “I want you to not inform anybody of this just yet.” he told him. “Let’s keep it a secret for now and tell them when it is in the right time.” he said.

      “I will do whatever you think is best, alpha. But does your mate know any of these? I know even if we do not tell them, they’ll eventually be finding out themselves.”

      “She seemed oblivious that her father is a hunter. She doesn’t know anything of us and she reacted like her head was going to explode when I was telling her about me being a werewolf and her mate. I thought she already know everything but . . .” he sighed.

      “Don’t push it, alpha. We’ll find a way how everything had gone to this.”

      “I’ve been thinking about everything lately,” he said, standing and looking through the numerous bookshelves. “I don’t know if this’ll even work.”

      “It is hard, maybe. But it’ll eventually work.”

      “How come you’re taking everything in so easily?”

      “Because werewolves are understanding.” he smiled as he used his usual line of speech. He patted Adam’s back. “And I do believe in fate and destiny. Goddess Diana is still looking out for us, I’m certain. And I’ve remembered what our lessons were when we were still on high-school. When you said purple eyes, it kind of hit me. So I decided to look through our history books.”

      “I didn’t know we had lessons about hunters.”

      “That’s because you never really paid any attention to our lessons.”

      Adam scratched his head as his friend chuckled. “The hunters had been ruining our peace since the last century. They were only supposed to hunt down wolves that had done evil deeds, not all of us. Some of us are still innocent. Maybe this is the way the moon goddess sees fit to put a stop to it.”

      “Maybe and maybe not.”

      “Come on, man.” he used his friendly voice and shook his head. “Don’t lose hope just yet. We just hope for the best and expect the worst.”

      “The worst thing is she’s already hard to handle. And she’ll be adding to my mountain-high pile of problems and worries.”

      “Why don’t you just—“

      “What was that?”

      They both went quiet as the sound of a cheering crowd rang in their ears from a distance. The sound was there, but sounded far from their direction. They exchanged glances before rushing out of the library and following the source. They eventually flew down the staircase and saw that the sound was originating on the training yard. They dashed out of the double doors and made their way through the cramming people.

      In the end, they both spotted Jessica throwing punches towards Akira’s direction. Adam stepped forward but Marcus held out his hand and stopped him, sending him a message through their mind link about a match. It was obvious since they were inside the circle. Adam reluctantly stayed still and watched as his mate attentively stared at her opponent, dodging all of the skillful punches she tossed. She dropped to the ground and swung her foot, tripping Jessica and making her fall on her back. Akira rose and held out her elbow, dropping right straight to Jessica’s form lying on the ground.

      As if on instinct, Jessica’s eyes widened at her incoming blow and rolled out of the way. With Akira knowing she would drop painfully on her elbow if she kept it up, she turned and paralleled her back against the ground, placing her hands out until they reached the ground and did a back-flip. She ended right back up on her feet, and wasted no opportunity to swing her foot out on a graceful curve, attempting to hit Jessica’s face. Jessica, on the other hand, already recovered and was now standing alert. She caught her feet and tried twisting it, although Akira lifted herself from the ground and moved along with her shot. Akira twirled one time before she kicked Jessica’s shoulder, causing her to release her and fall out of the circle. She tumbled gracefully back to ground on her feet and knees, redirecting her gaze straight to Jessica’s face. Her nose was bleeding, and she was literally thrown out of the ring. The crowd moved out of the way and gasped.

      Silence.

      And then the audience went wild.

      Adam was impressed of his mate’s fighting abilities. She moved with grace of a feral lioness and moved swiftly like an indescribable blur. She was alert and he must admit that although she was only wearing his t-shirt and boxers, she looked sexy. She was effortlessly seductive but she was also filled with a burning flame—like he was the moth that if wasn’t too careful will get burned.

      Rules are rules. Jessica stood from the ground and wiped off the blood that trickled down from her nostrils. Her eyes flashed fierce anger which was headed straight to Akira. “I will not lose this match!” she screamed unacceptably.

      She unexpectedly charged towards Akira like an angry bull and Adam instinctively moved forward, pushing out his wrist and forcing them straight to Jessica’s chest as she ran towards Akira’s direction. Adam had eventually stepped onto her way and made a move, hitting her with an unnatural force which eventually caused her to fly back and land a few feet away from their position. The people moved out of the way and hatched, allowing a clear view between Jessica and Adam.

      Akira stared disbelievingly at Adam as she watched Jessica rise and choke. “You have lost this match, Jessica. You are already going against the rules. Attempt to hurt my mate and you will be banned from this pack.” Adam’s voice was loud and full of authority, causing all of those watching to fall silent.

      Jessica stood, crying. “How could you do this to me?!” she screamed, clutching her throbbing chest. “After all we’ve done—“

      “That is the past, Jessica. You must accept the fact that I want nothing to do with you anymore.” he allowed his arms to fall by his side as he casually stood on his position. “We’re done.”

      “Damn you! Damn you and your pathetic mate! I will never forgive you! And remember the fact that you can never ban me from this pack! Because I’m leaving!” she turned and began stomping away.

      Akira impulsively began jogging forward, but Adam stopped her by putting out his arm and blocking her path. She looked up at him to see him looking straight at Jessica’s retreating figure. After a minute, he diverted his gaze slowly to meet hers.

      “It’s her decision.” he told her.

      “But we can’t just let her leave like that—full of hatred.” she protested.

      “Isn’t that what you wanted to do? Get rid of her?” he asked.

      Akira looked up at him accusingly, shoving the hand he extended out of her way. “I was merely trying to make her respect me and to teach her a lesson. I have no intentions of making people go away simply because I don’t like them and they don’t like me in return. Slut, witch, bitch, or whatever kind of evil she might be, no one deserves being treated as such.”

      Adam clenched his jaw and she watched his mate walk away. Ann trotted behind her like a lost puppy as Akira made her way to reach Jessica.

      “Jessica!” she yelled.

      Akira entered the room and tried to decide which direction she had gone to. She eventually took the flight of stairs leading to the bedroom and turned, surprised to see Ann behind her. “Ann.” she breathed. “Do you know where Jessica’s bedroom is?”

      “I don’t understand. Why would you talk to her after everything she’d done?”

      “We’ll . . . talk about that later. Now tell me where her room is.”

      “Right there.” she pointed at the door to her right. Akira gave her a nod of gratefulness before heading towards where she pointed and knocking on the door.

      “Go away!”

      Akira opened the door and found Jessica shoving all her clothes inside a suitcase, her eyes flowing with tears. She stomped back to her cabinet and took out all of her clothes, pushing them into her suitcase until it was full to the limit.

      “Jessica, don’t leave.”

      She snarled at her. “Why not?” she spat. “Isn’t that what you want? You have no more rivalry because I’m leaving. Aren’t you happy you’re finally getting rid of me so you can have Adam all for yourself? You’ll be having no more problems about me!”

      Akira frowned. “I am not a slut to run into the arms of a guy who I barely met. I am merely just trying to make you respect me because all you’ve ever been is a bitch and a leech.” she retaliated. “I just got here, you know that? And you’re all just, ‘I want Adam, he’s mine’ since the beginning.” she made an irritating high-pitched imitation of Jessica’s voice.

      Ann giggled from behind the door.

      “You just arrived from last night and you already managed to throw me out of this pack. It’s best if I leave, you’re making my life my personal hell.” she faced her suitcase and zipped it close.

      “Stop it, okay?!” she threw her arms in the air. “You’re doing this to yourself, not me! If you aren’t so foolish to take someone you barely know! You think so highly of yourself and you underestimate persons around you! To be honest, I think you’re stupid to throw yourself into someone who isn’t for you. Ann told me you guys know who your soul-mates are. Why would you even let yourself be with someone who you aren’t meant to be with when you eventually know they belong to another?!”

      “Shut up, bitch. You don’t understand!”

      “Well then make me understand.”

      “My personal life’s none of your business. Besides, I have no choice.”

      “This is your life. You have a choice.”

      Jessica wiped away her tears. “You’re so demanding and defensive you know that?”

      “I am. And you’re the bitch.” she bit back.

      “Well you don’t know the feeling of losing someone nearest to you.” she spat. She sank down on the edge of her bed. “I was thrown out by my family because they say I was such a disgrace! They disowned me . . . and my only brother who ever cared for me died of protecting me! Mating with the alpha whether he’d be my mate or not will make me a Luna. This will be my only opportunity to prove to anyone that I’m somebody. It’s my only chance to slap to my family’s faces that it was a big mistake of disowning me. Now do you understand why? I bet you’re going to spread that to the whole world.”

      Akira felt a wave of sympathy. “I’m not really happy you think so low of me. Although they did make a mistake of disowning you.” she whispered. “You don’t have to pretend like somebody you aren’t so that you can be a somebody. There are ways to prove to them that they made a big mistake for throwing you away. What you’re doing right now will make them despise you more.”

      Jessica scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “What do you know about me to make you talk like that? For all I’ve known you were that girl who was eager to beat me up.”

      “Well then you thought wrong.” Akira told her. “People aren’t as they seem and I think that’s a lesson we’re going to learn from this. My mother died after I was born. My father was barely home sorting out things in his company so that he can provide me a better life. All I’ve been with were maids, butlers, drivers, and I became a spoiled brat because I have all the things that I want.”

      “So you’re a spoiled brat.”

      “I’ve lost my mother, and I never even got a chance to meet her.” she said to herself, unaware of the fact that Adam was right out of the door. “I’ve not got any of my mother’s guidance which is maybe why I am so troublesome, hard-headed, and stubborn. I didn’t get any of the love I needed.”

      “You’re a horrible cliché.” Jessica spat out, laughing humorlessly.

      “Yeah, so do you.”

      “I guess I’m wrong.”

      “And I was, too.”

      “I’m sorry for judging.”

      “I am, too.”

      Jessica gave her a look of uncertainty. “I’m not the one saying sorry.”

      “Well then I won’t either.”

      “You say it and then I’ll say it.”

      “No. You go first.”

      Akira sank down beside her as the room got a lot quieter. Jessica decided to speak, “Okay, fine. This may sound over-all stupid and humiliating. But I want to apologize. I was just a bit misunderstood and I’m just someone who made a horrible mistake. I am guilty beyond words, and I do hope you forgive me for trying to steal your mate away.”

      It was Akira’s turn to scoff. “You can have him all you want.”

      Adam felt hurt.

      “I don’t know him or anything to decide he’ll be mine. Besides, I don’t want anything to do with any guy.”

      “I guess I was jealous.”

      “Yeah, you totally were.”

      They stared at each other in silence. Jessica  chortled. “How modest of you.” she told her sarcastically.

      Ann was watching disbelievingly. Was this really happening?

      “I forgive you.” Akira told her. “And I’m sorry, too. Now will you please stay? If there's anyone who should be leaving, that would be me.”

      “I don’t think I have a face to show everybody after what I’ve done.”

      “I’ll help you.” Akira offered.

      Jessica stared at her cautiously. “Why do I feel like I’m not going to regret this?”

      “Because you won’t.” she answered. “I’m someone who is absolutely trustworthy, I assure you. I may be a demanding and very defensive a couple of times but I’m a good friend, and a very loyal person to have by your side. But to warn you, I’m not a very good person to go against.”

      “I see.”

      “But seriously, keep innocent children out of this. Although I heard little Junín say you were a bi-atch. I kind of made her think you were a witch.”

      “It’s okay, I deserved it. I totally was, especially to children.”

      “I’m glad you admitted it. I promised her I’ll get her some milkshake. Would you like to come? It’s a good thing to start with.”

      “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But I think you have to dress first. You’re very unattractive wearing Adam’s clothes.”

      “This is his clothes?”

      “Yeah, kind of.”

      “Well, and these kind of smell nice.” she said, leaning to her shoulder and smelling the fabric. It had Adam’s familiar husky scent. “And quite comfortable. I’m not really contented with shorts and frilly tops and dresses. This’ll do, but thank you.”

      “If you say so.”

      Adam grinned.

      “Are you two done spying at us now?” Jessica said aloud.

      Adam and Ann finally decided to make their presence known by pushing the door wide open. Akira blushed a deep crimson red and began wiggling her toes. It was said that wiggling your toes would make your blush disappear, so she’s trying to make it work and not draw attention to herself.

      Adam made a mental note to give her clothes.

I hope you guys liked it! Please vote and comment! This chapter was the longest I’ve written so far I think!