"How powerful am I exactly?" Lowena asked her mother.
"I don't know," Iliana confessed.
"My powers came when I least expected them. I ran as fast as possible when I realized what had happened."
Aiyana helped Iliana get dressed in her celebration garbs. Gerald and Eli went with the pack to bring meat for the party. In only two nights, Lowena had to decide what to do. Now, more than ever, she was clueless.
"What happened?" Lowena pressed.
Iliana sighed, a look of horror briefly showing in her eyes, "They were going to kill you, stab me in the womb with a bewitched blade. They told me it would heal my uterus so I could have children later in life, just not then."
Aiyana paused but continued to help Iliana dress herself. Iliana had Lowena at a young age and had never had children since, so her body looked like she had never had children. In a similar red fox bra top and slightly longer skirt, she could be mistaken for Lowena's sister instead of her mother.
"What about my grandparents?" Lowena asked, "Why didn't they try to help you?"
"What we did was against the laws in their eyes. There was nothing they really could do. They can't, not even now," Iliana explained.
Iliana turned to her daughter, a scared look in her eye.
"What did you do?" Lowena asked, "So I know what I can do."
"I don't know if you can do what I can. Every witch's center of magic is different. Mine erupted from a place of fear and anger," Iliana said.
"The last thing I want is for you to have my gift."
"Why? What's so bad about it?" Lowena pressed.
With a frustrated sigh, Iliana confessed, "I'm still unsure. I remember them binding my wrists and ankles in shackles. I thrashed and begged for them to let me go, but they just kept chanting over and over again. Then a masked woman of our coven was standing there, holding a dagger above my stomach with both hands outstretched."
"I panicked. The fear I felt rushed over me, and I closed my eyes. I felt this release of energy I'd never felt before, and I screamed. I screamed so loudly and felt a rush of wind as my wrists and ankles were released from the shackles.
"When I opened my eyes, branches impaled the chanting witches in the surrounding trees. All of them were dead."
Lowena's jaw dropped in shock.
"I was scared, but then your father showed up moments later," Iliana continued.
"He saw the carnage, grabbed me, and we ran."
"It wasn't your fault, Mom," Lowena comforted, hugging her sorrowful mother.
Iliana sighed, "Your father was the only person I could touch without incinerating him. We knew you were special when you hugged me last year."
Lowena huffed, pushing back from their embrace, "I hugged you plenty before that."
"But you hadn't," she denied, "I made you think we had. When you held me and didn't turn to ash, your father and I knew you were powerful. Powerful enough to keep death from touching you."
"You're not dead, Mom," Lowena said.
"You're my mother, who did all she could to protect me. I feel that you're good. I don't know how to explain it's true."
I silently, happy tears trickled down Iliana's cheek, which she wiped away.
"Enough about me," she choked, "Let's get down to the celebration! It's bound to be the biggest one yet!"
"I'm not going to party with my mother," Lowena hesitated.
"Oh, hush, I'll be with your father most of the night," she reassured them as they went downstairs to the outside.
Lowena saw her pack to her left, holding the meat they had on slabs, roasting over the fires. The look of excitement in their carnivorous eyes made her salivate.
"What should we save you! Cade beamed at Lowena.
"Beef ribs!" Lowena giddily barked before running hand in hand with Aiyanna into the crowds of people.
Lowena couldn't help but laugh excitedly at what the night could bring. They ran for what seemed like forever, their pace quickening like that of animals.
"Do you feel it?" Aiyanna asked.
"Feel what?" Lowena giggled.
"The overwhelming freedom of running!" Aiynna howled as others surrounding her howled back.
Lowena laughed, and all her fears began melting away. Perhaps she was meant to be a wolf after all. She hadn't experienced this sense of calm in a long time. It wasn't in Kage's arms, Caspian's, even Keiran's. It was with Aiyanna. The joy she felt radiating from her was enthralling.
"Lowena!" Kage called.
Aiyana tried releasing Lowena's hand, but Lowena refused to let her go. Halting both of them.
"There you are, I wanted to make sure you were alright. A lot happened to you last night," Kage explained while approaching.
"Oh, I'm alright, fully healed," she reassured.
"Impossible," Kage said, delicately examining her chest and neck.
His eyes caught sight of Aiyana, looking at their interlocked grasp, and looking back at Lowena.
"I want her to stay with me," Lowena reasoned, "She's helping me feel calm. I wouldn't know what to do if I were alone."
"So you're not alright?" Kage questioned.
"No! I'm fine with that; it's family stuff," she explained.
"Okay," Kage looked back down at their hands again.
"Do you like this little wolf?" he asked.
Lowena's mouth opened, but she wasn't sure what to say. They were kissing one another only a few nights ago, but she never thought about how she felt.
"I don't know," Lowena confessed.
A look of surprise flashed across Aiyanna's face.
"No worries, she can always join," Kage teased.
Aiyanna's heart dropped, her cheeks blushing bright red against her copper skin. Before Lowena could respond, a loud cackling came from behind Kage. Kage, trying his best to block her view, failed as she peeked around his shoulder seeing Caspian having an orgy next to a bonfire.