No matter what I say to Lilly, she continues with what she's saying as if she can't hear me talk. Like I'm not even there in the room with her.
'Help me or leave me the fuck alone! How difficult is that!?' I wonder to myself in annoyance. Even though she's starting to piss me off, I manage to keep my temper in check, watching as she drone on and on to the invincible goddess she's speaking to.
"I can only help prepare her body for you goddess..." she finished saying while looking straight into my eyes.
"You're crazy!" I shout and wrench my hands away from hers. "You're an obvious candidate for the loony bin and should be urgently admitted to one! I'm leaving right now!" I say and immediately turn to leave. She has successfully driven me to the point of frustration, I just hope my leaving won't upset Martha.
"Wait!... Please!" She stops me again with her hand holding firmly to my arm. I try to wrench my arm away from her but her grip is too strong. She's certainly stronger than the fragile model image she portrayed to the outside world.
"Let go witch!" I growl at her. "If you're not going to help me then let me go!"
"No! I want you to listen to what I want to say to you, please!..." She pleaded and I stopped struggling since I could hear the urgency and desperation in her voice.
"Oh, you have something you want to say to me? What makes you think I will listen to you when you already made it clear you can't help me!?" I ask but she went ahead with what she wanted to say anyway while still holding tightly to my arm
"Tougher days are coming ahead of you. Tougher days than what you've been through in the past. You have to be ready and strong for this because you're going to lose it all.
Everything you hold dear to you, you will lose and if you're not strong enough then it might be the end of you! But if you hold yourself strong and you're able to scale through this challenge then you'll gain everything back in many folds! Do you understand what I'm telling you, Flame!?" She asks but I refuse to answer her
She said I will lose it all and I ask myself, 'Lose what? What do I have that I might lose in the future?'... The answer is nothing! I have absolutely nothing to my name! The crazy witch was just talking nonsense.
She held onto my hand for a while and finally let go when I didn't even look her in the face. I hear her sigh deeply…
"I'll be waiting for you here whenever you're ready to rise and rule alongside Thor... Goddess Sif!" She finally say with a half bow before walking out of my presence.
I stand alone in the garden and wonder about her last parting words to me... 'Thor?... Goddess Sif?...' These are names I've never heard before in my life. What have they got to do with me!? How do these names relate to the reason why I came to see her!?... I continually ask myself but can't find an answer good enough to justify the witch's crazy behavior. The witch is clearly delusional and I'll be stupid if I take her words seriously.
I wait in the garden for some seconds to calm my temper before walking back to the Gazebo. When I get there, Martha tells me Lilly and her husband had retired to bed. They however gave their permission for us to drive their car to the train station. They will have someone pick it up later.
The journey back to the train station is silent all through. No one ask me how my talk with Lilly went. It's as if they already know it is bad and that I wouldn't wish to talk about it.
I am left to my thoughts and didn't even know we had arrived at the train station until Martha tap my arm to inform me. I look up and catch Ethan's eyes looking worriedly at me through the rearview mirror. He smiles reassuringly at me and I smile back. I'm glad they're not prying me for information.
There's no time to go home to shower when we alight at the train station. Ethan drives straight to the pack house and as soon as we open the kitchen, I immediately start to cook breakfast so Martha will rest. When I finished, I set the table in readiness for breakfast.
When I return to the kitchen to get on with my other chores, I see Ethan and Martha huddling together over their coffee, talking in hush tones. They immediately stop talking and straighten up when they see me push the kitchen door open.
"Hey..." I say in greetings to Ethan. I thought you would be sleeping by now. What are you doing here?" I ask, looking from him to Martha and then back to him. I can tell whatever they were discussing before I entered must be crucial and it was about me
"Come sit, Flame," Martha beckons to me, tapping the chair beside her.
I sit and look at Ethan ``Okay so what's on your mind? Both of your minds... I knew the instant I walked in that you guys were talking about, so just spill it already!"
Ethan opens his mouth to argue but I cut him off before he even gets a word out...
"Look, guys, I appreciate you both for all you've done for me so far okay, but I'm not a little pup that needs to be protected every step of the way. If whatever you were discussing before I came in concerns me then don't you think I have the right to know? Did you find out something about my wolf, Ethan?"
He sighs dejectedly...
"I hear from my dad that the Gamma chief was found unconscious around midnight yesterday, locked inside his bathroom... They said he was attacked and they're currently investigating the matter"
I freeze immediately. I'm in serious trouble! If they find out I'm responsible then I might spend the rest of my life in prison or worse be put to death! I am lost in my thoughts and didn't realize Martha had been calling me until I felt her squeeze my hand tightly with hers.
"Flame?..."
"Martha, I'm in trouble! They're going to kill me this time!... I swear, I can't remember anything that happened!" I say before pleadingly turning to Ethan.
"He was pawing me, Ethan! He ripped my shirt and was pawing my naked body all over and all I did was push him off me! I truly can't remember doing anything to him or locking him inside the bathroom! I guess my wolf reacted and saved me otherwise he would have raped me!
I stand up and walk toward the door and then turn back when I arrive there …
"Ethan, please help tell them how you found me! Help me tell your dad, please!..."
"Nobody locked him inside the bathroom. The door was locked from the inside. I believe he ran inside and locked himself in to protect himself from whatever it is that was coming after him."
"You saying 'whatever it is that was coming after him' does not wish what I did away, Ethan! I'm dead! How can this be happening to me now that I want to leave this place and get a life for myself!? How!?"
"Maybe you'll be gone before he regains consciousness..." Martha says softly, her words not so convincing.
"He's a councilman! How can an ordinary Omega get away with attacking a councilman, Martha!? I'm just eighteen! I don't want to spend the rest of my life watching over my shoulder! Where am I even going to run to!?" They will track me to the end of the world if need be!"
"Damn it! We should have reported this when I suggested it!"
"Ethan reporting this wouldn't have done her a lot of good either because he would have done everything in his power to silence her! Two days ago, he almost beat her to an inch of her life right inside the dining room! Every shifter that matters in this pack was present, even the Alpha and Luna saw him but what was done about it!?... Nothing!
He is a councilman after all! If he had successfully raped her yesterday, do you think an Omega's words would be trusted over a Gamma chief's words!?...
Mitch has been a pervert for as long as I can remember. Sexually harassing and beating on she-wolves that are lower than him in rank is his favorite pastime! It doesn't matter to him if they're married, whoever Mitch wants, Mitch must get!
Such a man doesn't have any business being on the council board and I'm sorry to say but he wouldn't have been on the council board if his Alpha and Beta hadn't guaranteed his credibility with their signature and seal stamped on his form!" Martha's eyes were hard and angry as they probed into Ethan's
Then they softened and she exhale
"I'm sorry Ethan, I shouldn't have flared up at you like that. I know that you have high regard..." Martha hadn't finished speaking when the kitchen door suddenly opened…
"Omega! The Beta wants you right now!" The shifter that opened the kitchen door announced immediately he walked in and my heart sank. And what's more, I recognize him as one of the shifters that wanted to gang-rape me in the woods two days ago.