The Wolf Of The Moon & Sun

But A Shadow in The Trees (64)

Ethan POV
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ethan," Lonni called for me. I turned to look at her.

It had been two months since I had returned. Although there was news of some scouts, nothing big had happened yet. Everyone was on edge.

Training was becoming more intense. If someone wasn't training then they were either drafted or helping to prepare.

Irene and I had set up the basement for the healers and all the sick to move into. The house was filled with children whose parents were fighting, or preparing to.

Irene was busy either babysitting Daniel or helping prepare for the war. She had gotten ridiculously good at magic. She would make things float and move, she could grow a whole garden from one seed, and she also knew some healing magic, but she got tired so quickly. She'd have to relax or sometimes even nap after using her magic for more than an hour.

I approached Lonni who stood by the doorway to the balcony. "I just want to talk," she reassured me, causing the tense look I must've had to leave.

"Then should we go on a walk?" I suggested as I gestured to the door. She nodded and we left the crowded house. We walked down a path. The same path we had taken to Margrets all that time ago.

We walked some, enjoying the scenery. It was late into fall, and everything looked dead or close to it. It was cold out, or so people have been complaining about. I couldn't feel the cold anymore—not since I ran into the god of corruption.

Lonni and I had a small exchange of how each other had been but it was short lived, and it soon grew awkward again.

In order to prevent that, I said, "I'm sorry."

She looked at me, her expression painted with confusion. "Why?" She asked.

"For everything," I sighed, "For all the problems I've created." No matter how much I tried to ignore it, the guilt was still there.

"This isn't your fault, Ethan." Lonni stopped walking and I did to, turning to face her, "It's the red packs fault."

I took a sharp breath in. I knew to some extent it was their fault, but I also knew to some it was Lonni's. Why hadn't she told me the truth about Nala? Though the red pack told me of Nala, what if they had been lying too?

In hopes of a real answer I finally asked, "Will you tell me the truth? The whole truth about what happened? Why my mother died, and why the red pack hates us so much!" I pleaded.

Her face froze with a pale shock. "Ethan, I ca—"

"Please!" I begged. Her lips pressed together and soon she sighed. She took a seat by a tree, telling me it would be a while. I took a seat next to her.

After a while of silence, debating if she was really going to tell me the truth, her began to speak, "Nala was in even less control than you are. She'd have constant episodes of disappearing and returning with blood-stained fur and a drained look on her face. She'd pass out right on the porch and when she woke up, she couldn't answer a single of our questions." Lonni, as she spoke, had a look of distress on her face. Her expression made my heart thump more noticeably, "This made people grow worried, very worried. Even her mate needed answers she could not give. The pack grew fearful and after a long debate, Nala was exiled from the pack."

So far, it sounded as if the red pack didn't lie. As if Nala really had gone to the red pack for guidance. I hoped with every fiber of my being they were lying. That Nala wasn't killed by the purple pack, that Leo's parents didn't start a war.