Chapter 57
Since both Benjamin and I were attacked by the rogues at the Golden Blade Pack, we had been helping the investigation process about what had really happened at the time. It seemed that the whole thing was targeted specifically. Why did those rogues decide to get out of their hiding places? Did they purposefully attack both Benjamin and I? But, most importantly, did someone reveal information about us because those rogues already knew that we would be there?
Nevertheless, the entire Lock Heart was understandably pissed about this whole thing. Our pack had asked for replies from the Golden Blade Pack, which they didn’t have. After all, they were as confused as we were with this entire thing. To their annoyance, the Golden Blade Pack was forced to work together with us throughout the investigation process because of that. I was sure of that.
However, months had already passed since we got any hints about this. Also, there wasn’t any hint of a camp being set on the Golden Blade Pack’s territory, which made us trust that the rogues didn’t have any intention to stay in that area for long when they attacked. This discovery only made this whole thing feel even more alarming.
After all, that incident really shook me to my core. Not just because of what happened to Benjamin, it also made me realize just how fast I could feel myself being unprepared for a battle.
When it came to fighting, my advantage had always been about defense tactics. Yet, the rogues were able to give me a
harsh awakening to how survival sometimes truly meant being able to give the final blow. My current strength was visibly lacking on that aspect, which was proven by those rogues who refused to be beaten throughout our battle.
Thanks to that, I had begun keeping one of their silver daggers with me to give myself an advantage if I was ever in that kind of situation ever again. To be more specific, it was the knife they had pulled out of Benjamin. As for the other knife, it had already been kept as evidence before I could get it. Besides, those were pretty hard to get without getting some approval from the top officials.
Still, more importantly for me, I realize that this very knife felt weirdly allegorical to look at every time I tied its sheath around my leg.
This knife was something that could really kill us werewolves that easily, but there had been a moment where I had chosen a path to save someone’s life by using this knife instead.
Nevertheless, thinking of the fact that those rogues had two silver knives in their possessions was a very crazy idea. After all, the silver that was used to either poison, restrain, and even kill us werewolves wasn’t any ordinary silver. That silver was infamously known as silver that ‘was kissed by moonlight’.
This silver had characteristics such as being able to stop anyone who was hurt by it to be able to use their abilities, whether that was silver handcuffs that were used to stop us from shifting or using our strength or a silver knife that was used to stop us from healing ourselves. Thus, how we handled the silver before it was made into something else was a very well-kept secret.
Not only that, I also had heard about how extremely difficult to make this kind of silver into something else. The knowledge about this silver was only made known strictly to the Elders and a few selected werewolves.
That being said, a knife was harder to get because many werewolves refused to forge them, which was unlike handcuffs that were a staple within most packs. The reason the knife was harder to get was because of their very deadly potential to kill us werewolves. Obviously, I made use of this situation to get that silver knife for myself because of that incident. Nevertheless, it did pop another question about how the rogues could get these silver knives into their hands in the first place.
“Are you okay?” a voice then yelled out at me.
Somehow, I could feel that I might die of a heart attack because I almost fell over because of how shocked I was. It seemed that I was so ingrained in my own mind way too deeply that I didn’t even realize that Benjamin had arrived at the office before me. However, I had to admit that I felt some sort of strange seeing him after I saw Isabella last night.
To me, it felt like I knew that things were off. It seemed to me that I had changed this timeline so much that it became something novel and hard to predict. Not only that, I was also becoming blind in lots of aspects to what would happen next. This feeling wasn’t something that I wasn’t used to after I was able to gain an ability to see into the future sometimes.
However, I surely knew about one thing. Isabella knew that I was looking for her. I could only think that the reason she showed herself last night was to send a message to me that she knew that I had been searching for her. Nevertheless, I
truly was curious about the reason she might have thought that I did that.
Did she perhaps already plan to take over as the Luna when she realized that I was tracking her down? Did she even realize that I actually didn’t want to get the Luna position? Also, did she know that I wasn’t even actually a threat to her, except for the fact that I was technically Benjamin’s fated mate? It wasn’t like she could actually prove that either.
Indeed, Isabella showed herself really did make lots of interesting questions go through my head. If she didn’t find out that I was actually searching for her, would she even come after me around this time? Or could she become the Luna and myself as the Beta without any drama? Was there any chance that Isabella might change for the better, just like Benjamin seemed to have changed?
Or, more concerningly, there was a part of me that couldn’t help but wonder that who Isabella was had turned irrelevant at this timeline. Perhaps, what I was after was actually revenge instead of surviving. When I looked at Benjamin, he seemed… like usual. That boy looked tired. It was likely because of the big event that happened last night.
However, Benjamin didn’t really look like someone who had just met a girl he had feelings with. Not only that, he wasn’t treating me differently either. The latter was something that I had to remind myself again because my old instinct to stay away from him started to amplify inside my chest again. Isabella was a painful reminder of my past, which was something I had been doing extremely well to overcome in recent times. Thus, I took a deep breath as I forced myself to put a smile on my face.
“Sure, yeah! I’m okay!” I responded to him, albeit too cheerfully.
Still, I knew very well that I had to change the topic quickly.
“Anyway, you seemed like you had a long night last night.”
To be frank, I was shocked that he even was able to come here today. I still remembered how my first shift was. It made me so exhausted, to the point that I didn’t even want to get out of my bed. Or, rather, it might be because I was depressed because I didn’t want to see Benjamin again after my disastrous shifting ceremony.
“Yeah, I am. But that was good,” he responded as he yawned.
After that, Benjamin was leaning over some files on the table. The boy looked as if he was ready to take a nap.
“I’m sure it was. By the way, how are those new claws?”
He immediately raised an eyebrow at me as he said, “I’m actually eager to use them out properly.”
What he said made me laugh as I walked past him to put my bag down in our tiny office room.
“By the way, we may actually have a hint about those rogues’ attacks.”
“Oh, really?” I asked him.
Immediately, I came to Benjamin’s side to look at whatever documents he was checking. I did find a few field reports from the border patrol. However, I realized that he was sniffing in the air as he got close to me.
“Oops, sorry for that. I just came straight from the gym, so I didn’t get the time to take a shower,” I tried to apologize with a laugh as I quickly moved away from him.
“It’s probably an assault to your new heightened senses.”
However, the boy only looked at me confusedly as he said, “It’ s not like that.”
I just smiled as I went to get my bag again.
“It’s really fine. I actually wanted to take a shower when I arrived anyway, but I didn’t expect you to be here this early. Let me take a bath very quickly and we’ll meet outside at 10?”
“Hey, Winona … did you see Bash today?” he suddenly asked, causing me to immediately stop in my place at the doorway.
I couldn’t help but be surprised that Benjamin could actually tell that. After all, I was pretty sure that I only slightly brushed past Bash to leave the gym. Otherwise, I hadn’t really touched him.
“For a short amount of time, why is that?”
“Nothing, I’m just surprised. When I saw you two last night, you were slapping him right in his face.”
Soon enough, I could feel my cheeks burning as I responded, “Well, yeah.”
What could I say to him? Both Bash and I didn’t really make up, but it felt strange to discuss what happened between Bash and I to Benjamin.
“Well, he stopped by the gym to try to apologize again for being an ass. I took the free food he gave me and left it at
Benjamin seemed as if he wanted to ask about something else, but he eventually kept his silence. Instead, the boy just nodded. Immediately, this tiny room was then filled with such an awkward air as both of us didn’t really know how to navigate around this conversation topic even more. For a while, we just stared at each other uncomfortably.
“Well,” I eventually spoke, breaking the silence between us.
“Well, I’ll go to take a shower. I’ll meet you outside, okay?”
“Yeah,” he instantly responded as he quickly turned back to focus on the papers on the table, seemingly thankful for the topic change.
“Yeah,” I repeated that word to myself and left that room quickly.
