Wolf #1: The Pack [COMPLETED]

Chapter 26

Image Citation: Ameatball. "10 Common Animals You See In Your Dreams That Have A Deeper Meaning." Cheezburger, I Can Has Cheezburger?, 10 Nov. 2018, cheezburger.com/7111173/10-common-animals-you-see-in-your-dreams-that-have-a-deeper-meaning.

Chapter 26

The wolf lies on her side, shutting her eyes contently as the woman's hand run against her pale coat. She's less on edge around Stephanie and the hooded woman.

"Don't take offense, child," the woman speaks, "Iphigenia has to keep her guard up until you learn how to defend yourself and her. But here...here I can protect you."

Here I can protect you.

I look back at the wolf and then back at Steph, who sits beside me quietly.

"You're Hekate..."

"I am."

She continues to stroke the wolf...Iphigenia. That must have been who Leon spoke to whenever we came face to face. He wants to reach my Guide for some reason.

"Be careful what you let consume your thoughts in your current form," Steph whispers, "He can sense you."

"That's how he found your sister," Hekate's voice is wispy again. A snake slithers from underneath her mask but she continues to fawn over my wolf, "She was searching for him after her room was broken into."

My mind flashes back to the times where Leon had found me in my dreams, and when I found him too. The same had happened to Steph, so she must have the same connection to him that I did...

The wolf growls, looking at me with a narrowed gaze. Wrong. Whatever is between Leon and I, it's solely between us. To be more precise, it's between him and Iphigenia.

"He said that he didn't kill her. That he isn't trying to kill me—"

"He likes word play. Be careful how you interpret his words," Hekate's heads turn and I'm now faced with a frowning, theatrical mask, "As for you...he has far bigger plans in mind for you."

I glance down at the wolf. This is Iphigenia. I'm not sure what that means—although it's strange to be staring at the other half of me. Because that's what she is...the part of me that had been asleep until now.

Finally meeting her felt like a weight has been relieved from my whole body. Like I had been incomplete until now...but I don't feel entirely whole yet.

"Now's the time to ask the questions your Healer cannot answer," Hekate murmurs, her misty form moving over Iphigenia and to me.

I back up but Steph's hands are on my shoulders and keeps me in place. There's something about this goddess that terrifies me and makes my skin crawl. A darkness lurking beneath her that feels like it will consume me if I let her too close. The magic and death that lingers on her skin is like a powerful drug.

"We'll start with Orion," Her robes splay out around her as she sits in front of me.

"Orion?" The name coming from my lips makes the wolf's hackles rise.

"Orion is the man who's after you," Steph says quietly, "The one who Marked you."

"I thought his name was Leon—"

Hekate's laughs bubbled like water in a caldron, "He goes by many names. But he was born Orion—as he will die Orion."

"Who is he?"

"Someone who has been trying to destroy what my sisters and I created," She growls like a wolf. The smokey mist around her sharpens into little pin-like hackles as she rages, "Orion was once a man...a man gifted with powers and strength. He was a hero among people and a devout servant of the immortals. And he was made immortal himself after falling in love with one of these gods."