Chapter 4 Going For Shilah

"Please....!" She whimpered.

He lifted his declaw and scratched her arm with it, making it hurt so bad. Something in Shilah told her he wanted to kill her, hurt her. But she couldn't tell why he wasn't doing it yet.

Shilah mustered the courage to beg the wolf once more. Sobbing, she pleaded, "Please don't hurt me."

The wolf backed off and retreated to the side as if it had understood her words. It then sized up the trembling Shilah for a while before turning around and leaving

Shilah was still shaking there on the ground as she watched the White Wolf run away. It left..! Didn't hurt her! Oh; she'd been so scared.

Her heart was still beating rapidly with sweats dripping down her forehead. She could hear it's howl even as it ran away. She was so scared to even move.

"It's fine, Shilah; it's fine" she tried consoling herself repeatedly, but it just wasn't working out.

Her eyes found the hem leaves on the floor, and with shaky hands, she crawled to it and picked it up, her breath hitching. Her intestines were churning, she suddenly had a string urge to puke. But hell, no; she couldn't do it. Not out here.

She looked back at the direction the wolf had taken, but there was no sign of it; even it's howling had stopped. And without further hesitation, but still in fear, she stood up and started running back home.

Shilah's parents were overjoyed to see her return with the hem leaves. Her mother wasted no second and rushed to Pia's room with the hem leaves.

His father glanced at Shilah and praised her awkwardly, "You've finally done something worthwhile."

Then he left.

Ina snorted and dragged Vanessa to Pia's room, leaving Vanessa no chance to care about Shilah.

In a flash, everyone vacated the living room, leaving Shilah standing there alone. Nobody cared what she had gone through while foraging for hem leaves. She was hurt, but no one seemed to notice. They just took her dedication lightly. Holding back her tears, Shilah dragged her feet back to her room.

The room was still cold. Shilah sat on the bed and carefully checked the wound on her arm. Fortunately, the wound was not deep, and the blood had already dried up. Feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, she cleaned her wound and applied medicine to it before lying down on the bed.

Shilah's thoughts returned to what had transpired in the forest. But the mere recollection of it made her heart race. Suddenly, a realization dawned on her. The wolf had bloodshot eyes!

Shilah's breath paused. It was common knowledge that only the Alpha King's wolf possessed a pair of red eyes. She shook her head in disbelief. Why was the King's wolf in the forest on No Movement Day? And why did it let her go?

Shila was so confused that she fell asleep with those questions in her head.

In her dream, a beautiful mother fled through the forest with a baby in her arms.

She panted heavily as she ran in the dark woods, her legs cutting so many distance in a split second. If it wasn't for the sound of her legs rustling against the leaves and a tall woman covered in red cloak chasing after her from behind, she was damn sure her stolid breath would've been overheard.

"Faster!!! We're losing her!!!" The tall woman behind screamed loudly.

The mother was scared and tired from all the running already. A light sob racked her throat and suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on her leg which threw her to the ground.

"Argh!!!" She cried out, unimaginable pains coursing through her body. Her baby got loose from her arms and rolled to the ground, also letting out her own cry.

She repudiated the pains and crawled to where her baby was, drawing her close and placing her next to her chest as her back hit the floor. No doubt, those women would definitely be catching up with her now.

"Your fight is over." she suddenly heard a voice, that menacing female voice.

The mother looked up and could see the tall woman standing there in the dark, dressed in her long red dress; so long, it swept the floor.

"No, please...." The mother on the ground winced.

"You really think you can run away from your judgement? You thought you were smart enough to escape the penalty for your foolishness?" She snapped in.

Sobs racked her throat. "My child has nothing to do with this.... please, don't hurt her...."

"Your daughter has EVERYTHING to do with this!" A lightening cracked the sky as the tall woman spoke angrily.

"Your daughter is a curse. She became a curse the very day you mated with one of our enemies and begat her. You broke one of our sacred rules, so you and your hybrid daughter has to pay for it!"

"She won't be a problem... I've made sure of that. Please, you have to listen to me....." The mother begged.

"You shouldn't have fallen for an enemy and worst, have a child for him. You disappointed me! Talking time is over!" Her roar caused another crack in the sky.

"No, please..."

The tall woman paid no attention to her words, instead she stretched out her hand and was about to use the wand towards her. That was the moment the mother knew her life would come to an end - if she didn't do a thing.

There was only thing she could do - fighting. Using all her powers would definitely drain and kill her, but for her baby she had no choice.

So, the mother let out a loud scream - one that caused a thunderstorm this time around.

The woman was taken aback and shouted in horror. "No!!!" But it was too late.

The vibration cracked the sky and quaked the trees around.

"Ah!" Shilah screamed and jolted awake from her dream.

Although she had dreamt of this a couple of times, the jarring vibration from the explosion still scared her. Dripping with cold sweating all over, she looked as though she had just been pulled out of the water.

Shilah's dreams were plagued by this inconceivable scene that had disturbed her for years. But at the same time, it also felt so real. Unfortunately, she had no idea what it was all about.

While restlessly tossing and turning on the bed, she suddenly heard continuous roars outside the room. The blaring sounds sent shivers down her spine, causing her to jump out of bed quickly.

The second Shilah walked out of the room, she bumped into her stepmother.

"You clumsy thing! Are you blind?!" Mrs Walter snapped angrily.

"I'm.... I'm so sorry, mother. I'm so sorry. It wasn't...."

"Oh! Just shut up, will you? You're always clumsy. And will you stop calling me your mother? Your mother is DEAD".

It was a sharp stab to Shilah's chest. Her jaws dropped as she stared at her in the face.

Ignoring Shilah's grievance, Mrs Walter went straight to the living room.

"Evo!" Mrs Walter called in fright. "What's the problem? Why are you...."

"Mother, we have a problem; a really big one" he said admist breaths.

Shilah had also followed Mrs Walter and stopped to hear what was going on.

"Wh... What is it? What's the problem? Please talk to me...."

And Evo had to gulp hard before proceeding. "Some.... Some men on horses are riding straight here! And the horses ... they look like .. royal Horses..." He was practically panting.

Whaaaat?????

"Royal Horses?? Royal Horses from where???" Mrs Walter yelled.

"Where else could Royal horses come from, mother?!" Evo cried out.

"Evo, have you gone nuts?" Ina rasped. "How can you say such nonsense?? Why would anyone from the Palace show up here?"

"I'm not lying!! I know what I saw...!"

Before Evo could finish up his statement, the glasses from the window came crashing with a hard sound on the floor, and that was when they realized an arrow had been shot at them..

"Mother!!"the sick Pia cried out in fear as she left the bed and sought for her mother's bosom to hide.

"YOU'RE SURROUNDED!! COME OUT HERE!! ALL OF YOU!!"

They heard a deep roar from outside that imbued them with so much fear.

"Oh, no. It's true...." Ina eyes dilated in trepidation.

They heard another glass crashing from the next room and figured they had shot at it as well.

"Mother!! What do we do???!" Evo yelled.

Shilah lowered her heads as others. Her mind was beating rapidly, she didn't want to think of it. No; she didn't want to. It's not possible.

"GET OUT HERE!!! ALL OF YOU!?" The deep roar came again and almost immediately, they heard running footsteps in the house.

"Mother! We need to go! We need to go!" Ina flinched.

But before they could make a move, men with swords already barged into the room.

"Argh!!!!" The sick Pia cried out as they looked so frightening, she hugged her mother tight.

"You want death?! You want death??" The guards yelled at them. "Come out!! Now!!".

They grabbed them roughly by the arms and started dragging them out of the room. Shilah was behind.

She wanted everything to be a terrible dream. The Alpha King was there??? The King never visits anyone - never. Unless he was going to kill.

Shilah's heart sank. Now she was most certain that the red-eyed wolf was really the Alpha King's.

And the reason why he came her was to punish her. There was no turning back; she was doomed.