Waiting for a sign

Atasha’s Point of View

I completed all my tasks at work today, hoping that when the night came, we could all go back to the Crimson Moon pack’s territory and Veronica and Zach were able to stop the Alpha from coming here to the East land.

"Hey, Atasha. I'm going to leave you for a minute," Clarence said. I nodded at her and then she went out from this small tent where we were working.

I took a deep breath as I felt sorrowful, knowing that this would be the last time I would see them. For a brief period of time, I felt relieved to be with my second family— to be with them. I had to admit that they have filled the emptiness I felt after learning of my father's death and with Astrid’s whereabouts still undetected.

In fact, I couldn’t run away from the truth that I was still grieving over my father's death at some times. Every night before I go to sleep, I would see his face. I was sure that if he was still alive, he'd be extremely upset with me because I made the decision to join the Crimson Moon Pack. But this time, I chose to join Elijah with a solitary goal in mind: to bring the war to an end once and for all.

In my opinion, no one from each party should suffer and die, including Leo, Clarence, and the other newly found friends that I've made here. Regardless of how many days I spent in the East land, I became increasingly aware of my obligation to defend them because they regard me to be the hero's daughter, charged with carrying on his legacy.

However, this did not rule out any other options for us in dealing with this situation. Together with Elijah, I would protect these people, help him locate Astrid, and hopefully, once I've turned into a Luna, I would be able to make the world a better place for them.

While I was arranging the small boxes that had the invitations I made, it saddened me that I wouldn’t be able to attend the masquerade party that would be held this evening. A lot of my pack mates including the locals here in the East land had prepared for it to make it so special, and I was dying to see it even for a bit.

“Atasha, the Alpha has arrived!” I dropped the boxes as I heard that from Clarence’s announcement when she came back.

I looked at her, bewildered.

“Is it true?” I asked.

I grabbed a mask on the table and walked towards her, then we went outside of the tent. We then hurried to the streets where there were a lot of people welcoming him and his men. I immediately covered my face using the mask I brought with me.

“Why are you wearing it?” Clarence asked while both of us were peeking into the streets.

People were on the sides of the streets, watching how the Crimson Moon warriors marched to the Military Government office of the East land.

“Why are there so many of them?” Clarence asked in curiosity.

At the back of my mind, the reason why there were too many of them was because they thought they were coming here for a war.

I took several deep breaths, trying to get a grasp of what was happening before my eyes. What happened with Veronica and Zach? I thought they would prevent their father from arriving here but the Alpha and his men were already here in flesh . . .

I felt anxious, almost in a state of panic, and my mind was clouded with thoughts that I wasn’t able to control my stomach and vomited in front of Clarence.

“Oh my goodness, Atasha! What happened? Are you alright?” Clarence asked me in horror. “Let me take you to the clinic!” she said and immediately called someone to assist us.

The next thing I remember was I was put in a room and the nurse checked my pulse. I was aware that she was saying something but I couldn’t hear anything, it was as if my world slowed down and my body was floating in an overwhelming dread.

My stomach and head hurt, as if there were pins and needles that kept piercing them which made me want to cry. Laying down on the bed, all I could do was to catch my breath.

“Where’s Elijah? I need to go and see him!” I exclaimed after minutes of my struggle breathing and enduring the pain from my head and stomach.

My eyes roamed around and I was shocked when I saw Clarence sitting beside a chair next to my bed.

“He’s not here, Atasha. Why are you looking for him?” she asked in her serious tone of voice.

My mouth instantly ran dry. I was too careless and voiced my thoughts out loud. I didn't know that Clarence was here! I was sweating bullets as she stared at me with suspicion. Something from my stomach started to build up, indicating to me that I needed to go to the toilet.

“Clarence, please help me stand up. I need to go to . . . the toilet.” My voice was quivering as I held my stomach.

I held her forearm when she didn’t respond. However, I was shocked when she pulled her arm away from me and stood up.

“I’m the one who needs to see him, Atasha . . . not you. May I remind you that you were just a mere previous slave of Elijah. Don’t get your hopes up and don’t ever think that he wants to see you,” she said firmly, her irritation was evident. “The nurses will take care of you. I need to go to the office and check if Elijah’s there with the Alpha.” She then walked out of the room and called a nurse to assist me.

The nurse immediately went to my bed. I gasped, terrified and humiliated.

“Let’s go, Atasha. I will help you to get to the toilet!” the lady nurse said.

But I shook my head and I refused to stand up.

“What’s the matter?” Her forehead creased. “Oh, what’s that smell?” she then asked.

I felt a sting of pain in my chest. She instantly pulled my blanket and found that I had wet my pants. My eyes poured hot tears as I observed her reaction. But she altered it straight away to a more concerned and accommodating expression that I typically see from the nurses.

I bit my lower lip as she helped me stand up. She gave me clothes for me to change and she put me in a different room.

“Here Atasha, you can use this room for the meantime. We will clean the other one.” The nurse smiled at me and then she walked away.

I was sitting on the bed for a couple of minutes, envisioning possibilities that Clarence and Elijah might have undoubtedly discussed and resolved their relationship. A part of me was breaking simply by thinking about such things, and the more these thoughts whirled through my head, the stronger I felt that I was being torn apart.

Why do I like imagining things that hurt my feelings?

And why do I feel it with Elijah though? He was only special because he was the son of the Alpha. Other than that, he was just a hard-headed boy, ill-mannered, rebellious to his father, and . . . he was obviously only using me to escape his arranged marriage with Margaux. He was also—

“I came here for you . . .” I recalled the words he said when we were in the Ferris wheel.

“You’ll be my contracted Luna until the end of time . . .”

Those words lingered in my mind. What did he mean when he mentioned until the end of time? If he found his true Luna, what would happen to me then?

When my stomach and head stopped hurting, I immediately got off of bed. I then ran out of my room to see Elijah. I even bumped into one of the nurses.

“Hey, Atasha! Get back here! You’re not feeling well! ” she yelled but I didn’t listen.

I went out of the clinic and ran to my house. Even though I realized that I was running barefoot, I didn’t stop and just ran as fast as I could.

I stumbled on my feet and both my knees hit the ground. I looked at them and they started bleeding. I inhaled sharply and stood up as I didn't have enough time to stay here and cry over my wounds.

At the back of my head, I was thinking that the Alpha was already talking to the East land’s leaders in the main office. . The chances of him finding out that Elijah was also here was low, given that his son was hiding himself to everyone even before he showed up to me, but still was possible.

I only hope Elijah would be able to stop his father just in case the Alpha found out about Leo’s plan of assassinating him. With that thought in mind, I believed Clarence should not see Elijah. She couldn’t see him . . . at all.

When I arrived home, I opened the main door and noticed that the living room was messy. The curtain of the window was closed and there was no sign of Elijah in this house.

“What happened here?” I muttered, confused.

As I looked around, I started to feel the throbbing pain on my head and stomach again. I badly wanted to ignore the pain but as minutes passed by, they became intolerable.

“No way, Atasha. There’s no time for this.” I went to the bedroom as I couldn’t endure the pain anymore. “Get up, please. You need to find Elijah,” I uttered to myself.

My eyes went shut as my body was too tired. I decided to fight it and tried to get up but I didn’t succeed. As I closed my eyes, I saw Elijah’s face, which gave me strength to get up from my bed. For a second, I thought he was here but I realized that I was hallucinating.

I noticed a paper on the table and my eyes widened as I recognized Elijah’s penmanship. I knew what his writing style looked like as I managed to memorize it during our study session back then.

‘Whatever happens, don’t go outside in this house. Wait for me.’

That was what the letter indicated.

My heart pounded aggressively inside my chest.

“What if he already saw Clarence?” I uttered.

How am I supposed to fight without you, Elijah? This is our battle, I wish you don’t throw it away.

If ever he heard her reason about why she left him, would he give their relationship a second chance?

“Atasha, here you are again,” I murmured.

Remembering how Clarence was so determined on getting Elijah back terrified me. She had that confidence that I didn’t have.

Even though I didn't like the idea of her getting back to Elijah, I hope I had that kind of confidence. She was brave to speak up about her feelings, which was the opposite of me . . .

I sighed and looked at Elijah’s letter again.

***

It was already past six o’clock in the evening and Elijah was still not here. I was on the verge of tearing up and I briskly pacing back and forth— from the living room to kitchen— biting my nails and looking at the clock every minute.

“Elijah, where are you? We're supposed to escape from this place!”

I looked at my bag with clothes. I opened it and took the knife that she gave to me from the forest.

“If you decide not to show up here, I will definitely kill you with this knife,” I said warily.

But then I knew I couldn’t do it. I sighed and put back the knife to its case.

“Don’t put your hopes up!”

I then remember Clarence's words before she left me at the clinic. I didn’t know what had gotten in me but from this time, I became more determined to become a Luna for Elijah.

“Clarence, just watch me,” I uttered and took a deep breath.

I palmed my face. If only Astrid was here to help me. My mind wondered about what would be her reaction if she learned about my situation? Would she laugh or pity me?

But the more I thought about it, the stronger I felt that the Moon Goddess probably let this happen to me for a reason. What if all this time I was wrong to believe that she wanted leo for me?

What if the Moon Goddess really wanted Elijah for me? What if it was really her plan for me to become Elijah’s contracted Luna? Hearing Elijah’s story from Clarence a while ago, it made me realize that both of us didn’t have mates. He searched but he failed. And me, I was unable to locate mine too, given that I couldn’t feel my wolf inside of me.

Maybe we were destined to be together?

“Atasha, what are you thinking!” I screamed at myself.

I was getting crazy, I guess. I needed to go back to the clinic to have myself checked as there was really something wrong with my mind!

I heard a knock on the door. It was not done in the same pattern that Elijah taught me. I took a deep breath and walked to the door and slowly opened it.

I was hoping that it was him but just got disappointed when I didn’t see anyone.

“Hey, are you coming to the party tonight at the coliseum? I was sad that it’s only for adults, my sister was all dressed up.” a kid suddenly showed up in front of me.

“Oh, hi!” I greeted the kid. “Uhm, I’m not really sure,” I replied.

I was stunned when he suddenly ran inside.

“This is my ball!” he said, referring to the ball that was thrown on my window which broke its glass. “It was from my sister, Clarence. We live a few blocks away!”

I crouched and looked at the kid. He was cute like his sister Clarence.

“So it’s from you?” I asked.

He said yes and was very happy to see the ball. “I was trying to get it but a big guy didn’t want to get inside of your house to help me get it.”

I was curious who the big guy he was referring to. He described him and based on his descriptions, I was having an idea that it was no other than Elijah.

“He even got someone to fix the window.”

“Oh really?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah! We always played around here and saw them fixing the window. I also saw him taking out the trash last time. I thought he was your boyfriend!”

My! What a kid! He already knew about relationships at this young age?

“Am I wrong, Miss?”

I was too shy to answer him. This kid thought that I was Elijah’s girlfriend when in fact, what we had was just a mere agreement. However, it was not clear what were the do’s and don’ts of this fake relationship we had.

My gaze went to the window. So Elijah was the one who fixed it and even cleaned the house? All this time, I thought it was Leo . . .

I only came back to my senses when the kid spoke.

“You look good together!”

I blushed upon hearing it.

“Hey! You don’t need to say anything about that kind of stuff, you’re just a kid!”I exclaimed.

“I already had five girlfriends!” he hissed which made my jaw drop.

I chuckled. I didn’t expect that this kid was giving me a good laugh.

“You’re so adorable!”

“But that’s true. Anyway, see you around Miss beautiful!”

This kid was such a sweet talker. He waved his hand and then ran out of my house.

I sighed and looked at the clock again. It was already six-thirty o’clock in the evening.

Elijah Montreal, what is taking you so long?

Minutes passed and my hopes about getting our plan carried out were fading slowly. Just when my mind thought of giving up, I heard a knock from the door, the same pattern that Elijah taught me this morning.

I immediately opened the door and I was welcomed by familiar faces.

“Atasha!” a familiar lady pushed Elijah and then ran towards me. It was Veronica!

Was I dreaming? Veronica was here . . . even Zach!

I got teary eyed when I realized that everyone was here. Elijah was smiling in the distance while both Veronica and Zach embraced me. I thought they were mad at me and was only forced to go along with the plan because it was Elijah’s order but it turned out that they were also concerned about me.

My heart was flowing with emotions as I saw them but most importantly, I saw Elijah laughing and smiling.

“Thank you, everyone!” I uttered.