Gray Valley

e i g h t e e n

SHE LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE ME. I didn't even need to think twice to realise it. I was undeniably her doppelganger.

"You are a monster," she repeated, her voice cold. "You are a heartless monster, West."

"But you wouldn't have came," he choked. "You wouldn't have came if there wasn't someone worthy enough."

"There is," she stated. "It is not you, but there is someone worthy of being in my presence."

She stood in front of me, her eyes fixed on mine. When had she moved? Seconds earlier, she was on the opposite side of the room; yet she had appeared before me, almost immediately. I stared at her, dumbstruck.

"Id est, filia mea..."

I had no idea what she meant, but I knew it was Latin. Either way, the tone in which she spoke to me was so gentle. It was the complete opposite to the way she spoke to West.

"She called you her daughter," Liam explained, as if he'd read my thoughts. I wouldn't be surprised if he had. He knew how I felt at all times.

"Weslyn, filia mea..." she murmured lightly. "You've grown so much since when I last saw you."

"How long ago was it?" I asked, finally able to speak again.

"Its been eight years, Weslyn." I stared at her. Did that mean... "Around the time your wolf was suppressed."

It was surreal. We were perfectly matched in every aspect. The same height, build, stature-everything. Standing in front of her was almost like looking at my reflection in a mirror.

"Why do I look like you?" I asked her the obvious question. "Am I actually your..."

"I may not have given birth to you, Weslyn; but there is a part of me in you and that is what makes us alike," she ran her fingers through my hair, letting the warmth spread throughout me. "It wasn't there since you were born but I gave a part of myself to you when I came to see you, eight years ago."

"Why?" I whispered. "Why did you do it? Why am I like this? Why me?" I couldn't react. No emotions flooded me. I was only full of doubt.

"You're one of a kind, Weslyn," she said. "You must've realised by now... You are a girl born with the Alpha Marks; a female destined to lead others. No other Gray Wolf has ever been born in this way-it is only you..." She stepped away from me and glanced down at the blood on the ground. "Your birth intrigued me."

"Isn't it you who decides who is born with the Marks?" I was shocked. It was not what I expected.

"Do you know how I was made the original lycanthrope, Lyn? Did you learn in school?"

"You were cursed by the wolf guardian," I replied. "You turned into a lycanthrope and formed the bloodline for Werewolves."

"Exactly," she responded at once. "My fate, as well as that of all Gray Wolves, is a curse. It is even wolf guardian who chose the Graysons to be the Alpha family and it is also he who selects those worthy of bearing the Alpha Marks."

That was when I saw it. A Mark on the bottom of her neck, dark against her fair skin. It was small and insignificant looking but even at first glance, I knew it was important. It was in the shape of a crescent.

"Y-you," I began, unsteadily. "You have them, too?"

"I am the very first, after all," her lips tilted upwards, ever so slightly. "I am and forever will be, the original lycanthrope."

"Why didn't you come all these years?" I demanded. "Why didn't you come when I needed someone the most?"

"That is another part of the curse. It's not possible for me to enter this world without being summoned by the blood of a Grayson Wolf."

"Does that mean... Did someone summon you the day I was attacked and my wolf was suppressed?"

"Of course, Weslyn," she answered. "It was your father, Wesley Grayson, who summoned me... Don't you remember what happened?"

I stared at her with disbelief, a sickening feeling seeping into me. It was wrong. Something was very wrong was going to happen. It was to haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Your father summoned me that night; the night he was heartlessly murdered by his own monster of a son, West Grayson."