Jurius
Like the love two wolf shifters had for each other when paired by the moon goddess. I had that same deep affection for her; the only difference was that she wasn't one of us, and it was wrong. A human and a wolf shifter can never be together. That has been the rule for hundreds of years and will remain unchangeable. I felt miserable fighting the love I had for her. I felt like I was fighting myself.
"I thought it was teamwork to get rid of her," I said, covering my lies.
If Dad only knew how badly I was starving for her—to touch her, to be next to her—every single night instead of going off to bed, I secretly watched her from her window as she cried, desiring that one day I could put an end to her tears.
Dad gave me a grave look.
"For a minute, I thought you were accepting her as your soulmate," he said.
"Never!" I retorted, lying again.
He and Uncle Lennox kept looking at me as if they didn't believe me. I knew they were listening for a sudden rise in my heartbeat. Over the years, I've learned to control it.
"She's suicidal," I informed them, wanting them to quit listening to my heartbeat.
It hurts like a knife what I'd said, but I feared they might figure it out soon that I am lying. I didn't want them to know I had already become attached to her badly and that I was battling inside not to, and I was losing hard every time.
My head lowered, remembering her harming herself. It was painful to see her burn herself. A body that belonged to me.
When a wolf shifter finds their soulmate, our bodies no longer belong to us but to our partners. For an alpha, it is different; his partner doesn't own his body; he only owns hers, but for Freya, I felt like she owned mine as well.
"How do you know?" Dad asked.
"She has burns on her lower abdomen and on the wrist of her hand," I answered.
I stood up, clearing my throat. It was painful to be reminded of the places she had wounded herself.
"How did you get to see her lower abdomen?" Dad asked curiously.
My back turned to the window of the gym, and I stared at a tree outside. Kathara was there, reading. Being a mateless she-wolf was one of her favourite hobbies.
"How do you know, son?" Dad again asked, but this time his voice sounded commanding.
"When I went to kill her," I spun around, answering.
"How am I just knowing this?"
"I'm sorry, father; I didn't tell you. Well, her relative came right before I could," I lied.
If he knew I saved her when I could have easily gotten rid of her, he would be angry.
"It's good you didn't," said Uncle Lennox. "When we kill her, we must make it seem as if it was done by a human. We don't want the town to panic, worrying about a vile beast on the loose, killing humans."
I nodded.
In Dad's eyes, I could see he was disappointed I'd kept it from him. His eyes never left mine as Uncle Lennox went on plotting more ways to kill my human soulmate.
My eyes moved away from his. I wish I'd never told them about Freya being suicidal.
"Does anyone else know who she is? Uncle Lennox asked. "We could use it as an advantage."
"She's new; I doubt it," I retorted.
"She ran away in the forest a few days ago because of some motherly issues," said Dad.
My mind took me back to the day she was shouting from her window in pain—the day I went to kill her, but I couldn't. I now knew the reason why she wanted to die and why she cried herself to sleep every night. She feels alone, unloved, and forsaken by the one she needs the most, her mother. And yet again, I was about to do the same, but much worse—kill her.
"Her relative might know she is depressed as well," said Uncle Lennox.
"The kid smells like she's drunk on sadness; she's probably depressed as well," said Dad.
That wasn't all she smelled of; I disagreed within my mind as I remembered the sweet fragrance of her body. The scent of a garden of roses.
"I say we make her death seem more like an accident." Dad changed the plot.
"How?" asked Uncle Lennox.
"Making her fall from a very high place," retorted Father.
I remembered her falling from the window and, for the first time, how scared I was. My body relaxed, remembering how small and delicate she was in my arms when I caught her. She was like a baby—my baby soulmate. And when she looked at me, it felt like we were the only two in the world. Her dark eyes were so beautiful.
"The school will be having a school trip next week in the center of the forest. The principal informed me about it and wanted to know if it would be safe for the student to be there," informed Dad.
Jurius, you can lead her away from the class when no one is watching and push her from the hill," said Dad. "But make sure you return before anyone notices you're gone as well."
"They'll believe her death to be an accident," Dad concluded.
A pain strikes me in the heart, and I hate that I'll have to kill her, but I have to for the sake of my pack and mostly my dad. I cannot afford to let him down.
"We have to do this before anyone finds out about her, or she'll allow our pack to face serious consequences," said Dad.
I could see how worried he was. I didn't particularly appreciate that I was making things difficult for him.
"Don't let us down, Jurius," said Uncle Lennox.
"I won't, dad," I retorted in a rather low tone as I leered at him. I couldn't stop looking into his eyes, knowing I was the cause of his worries. It was the first time I let him down, and I hated it.
No matter how it feels like taking out my own heart whenever I try to kill her, I'll make sure that she is dead this time," for the sake of my father.