“She deserves no pity,” Spencer stated, his face stone cold. If it were anyone else, he would be hesitant about ending someone’s life but… he too was carrying the hatred in his life, but it was only pointed towards her. “The thing is, she won’t get the upper hand on us. Not like she did before– just because we’re biding our time, doesn’t mean that we won’t be ready. He thought back at how he told Wil bout their life, laying down every dark deed Wilburn’s leader did to his pack– the pack he was supposed to be Alpha of and lead. In the moment, had he thought about what that would do to Wil in regards to swaying him to the twins’ cause? No. But he couldn’t deny the bittersweet feeling of taking away one of Charlotte’s most devout hunters right from under her nose. “He has sympathetic friends in the group, I know that much. It’ll be a matter of time before the dominoes fall and Charlotte will get her comeuppance,” Spencer replied quietly, dead seriousness falling on his features, “she will not leave this town alive, Liv. We will end it, no matter what– we can’t let her take this pack from us, too.”
“Only death.” Pity was reserved for those who deserve a second chance, who hadn’t chosen cold-blooded massacre over displaying mercy towards a werewolf pack fighting in the name of survival, yet the woman who shall not be named in their household lived by a different code of honor. “We’re playing with uncertain variables here, Spence. Not knowing if someone may whisper in her ear what Watt is doing could be turned around to her advantage. And if that makes me the pessimist out of the two of us...” Olivia would follow her brother’s plan either way. Wilburn’s involvement concerned her slightly, she welcomed the poor guy into the pack the minute he joined although his previous history as a hunter and with Charlotte, hearing of Wil’s disgust erased all hesitation. “Well, I hope Wilburn understands he’s slapping a target on his back by playing the town gossip. Let him be the catalyst, fuck it.” Liv rose from her chair, moving around the coffee table and lowering herself at Spencer’s side with absolution dotting the lines of her face, “It began with us, it ends with us, you and me. I won’t know we’re safe until her heart is in my hands.”
I wish it were that easy, but just the fact that I’m still alive is enough to put her back on the offensive with me.
You realize that if we do this, then we’re still going to be us against a caravan of hunters. We need to destabilize them from within and I think I have a way. I told Wilburn Watt of what happened to us, it was in no way to sway him to our cause but to just show him the light of the monster he’s been working for. If his feelings were true, which I know they are, he will tell other hunters. We just have to wait a little while longer so that if we were to attack, it would just be us and her.
To carry that much hatred in your life, I would almost pity her if I didn’t want her head on a platter.
“And if we bide our time, nothing may stop the bitch from launching an attack while we sit and twiddle our claws.” Olivia leaned forward, a frown slowly forming on her features and creasing the lines along her forehead as she listened to a plan Spencer all but kickstarted on his own. “You told Wilburn?” Very few knew their story, their suffering, she honestly harbored enough anger to keep the tale to themselves until Tori welcomed them into the pack. “Showing him the monster or otherwise, Spencer, you still used his connection with Charlotte to your advantage. It’ll spread like wildfire.” She nodded once. “With no allies backing her cause, she’s left vulnerable. I don’t care how it happens, but you and I...we’re ending it. We kill her.”
A near month’s worth of running produced nothing less than unfruitful, but what were Olivia’s expectations, truly? Their entire pack were gone with flashes of fire and the ringing of gunshots, their parents, their alpha murdered in cold blood and discrimination by hunters. And the one destined to inherit her father’s title had been blinded from a wolfsbane bomb activated by the devil herself. Spencer lost more than his sight that tragic evening, everything that made the twins who they are was now stripped from them. They were only children, after all, and ten year olds aren’t ever to experience such heartbreak so soon. The devastation left Liv wondering if she should have died with them, however...she made her choice. Dragged Spencer from the chaos and pandemonium, decided they wouldn’t die like the broken mutts she saw them as.
That’s the major advantage of being as young as the twins were, small enough to fit through windows and just barely inconspicuous to fly under the radar. Picking the lock barring intruders from entering the foreclosed house proved effortless, no one doubted her resourcefulness even when it remained a significant trait to their survival. Olivia made it the mission to take the time describing each room for her brother with what little furniture was left behind by the previous owners. Nothing really usable apart from a few questionable couch cushions Spencer had the idea to makeshift into beds. It beat sleeping on the floor which wouldn’t have been the first. Their way of life, their reality. Taking what they could, living in a new place for what seemed every week, how did they land here? How the hell? To the world and to other packs, the VanWarren twins were shattered inconveniences not worth the trouble, but nobody did see nor understand they were still kids needing guidance and love.
And protection from the monsters plaguing their nightmares.
Olivia shouldered the role of protector and caretaker for her twin brother, a part she played before his life-changing injury, and perhaps that made her more than a sister. A parent, a mother, despite his birth preceding hers by a few minutes, and he never could allow her to forget the fact during those extra suffocating moments. It was by pure instinct. Her brother wasn’t helpless, on the contrary, he carried a furious strength that relayed a reminder to their departed father. And Spencer, from the deepest pit of her soul, would have become the fiercest Alpha she’d had the honorary privilege of standing at his side proudly.
Liv rifled through the plastic bag containing their sustenance as she stood in the kitchen, huffing with slight annoyance as she pushed a hand through her untamed hair. A girl at ten shouldn’t possess a lion’s mane straight from Medusa, giving in was the better alternative. “Hey, Spence,” She called for him in the other room, humming in satisfaction as she plucked the two apples from the bag of groceries she ‘borrowed’ from a food bank. “I thought we could use a late night snack.” Olivia tossed one apple in the air and caught the fruit in her hand before making her way to the living room where she left her twin, however, she did remember leaving him in a wakeful state. She stopped briefly when her eyes landed on her other half, curled fast asleep and invading every inch of the cushions that resembled his bed, including hers.
Why? Why did this visual image warm and break her heart simultaneously? Spencer owned a never-ending haunted distance forever marred on his expression. The struggles weren’t nonexistent, particularly for a newly blinded wolf who relied so heavily on his crucial senses. Yet, here, Spencer finally favored the likeness of a boy his age. No worries, no pain, no fear infecting his dreams, residing in a realm where his parents survived a horrendous invasion. Olivia saw the brother she missed. Instead, the pair swallowed their melancholy and found the reason to wake every morning.
“You big old dumbo.” Olivia whispered lovingly as she lowered herself at his side, placing both apples to the right of her and hugging her knees to her chest. The house developed a terrible draft she couldn’t shake and certainly, if they stayed here long enough, the summer months would be sweltering heat. Livvy lifted a hand, gently grazing her fingers along Spencer’s forehead, brushing strands of his brown locks from his face. Gaze settled on the scars surrounding his closed eyes and all but hammering in all they’ve endured. What they were missing. Their father...their mother. The familiar melody of a lullaby sparked Olivia’s memories, the song the parental figure would prepare when the twins couldn’t rile themselves to sleep. “A gentle breeze from hushabye mountain softly blows o'er Lullaby Bay,” Liv began softly, barely audible as she recited the words, partially singing with a hushed tone, “It fills the sails of boats that are waiting...waiting to sail your worries away.”
It reminded the girl so much of her, the mother who would never tuck them to bed at night or sing her children another note again, “It isn't far to hushabye mountain and your boat waits down by the quay,” The verse caught in her throat for the briefest of seconds before pushing away the lump forming. “The winds of night so softly are sighing, soon they will fly your troubles to sea.” Olivia happened to recall asking her mother what it meant, even asking if hushabye mountain was genuinely real. Rest those little eyes and you will see skies of bluest blue, she would always say. “So close your eyes on hushabye mountain, wave goodbye to cares of the day,” If only they could, if only this life granted them the luxury. “Sail far away from Lullaby Bay.”
Olivia heard the voice in her head as she settled into a laying position beside her brother, facing a striking realization the lyrics were meaningless without the woman behind singing them. Spencer grieved by his own design while she focused her attention on keeping him protected rather than the overwhelming sadness. She might allow the flood gates to pour when the moment was ripe, but she and Spencer weren’t safe yet. Even the possibility of finding a pack, any pack, who could take them in was slim to none when Spence’s blindness made him a hinderance and a threat to the pack’s survival. Maybe there would be one to come along and find a shred of generosity where others failed, now wasn’t that time.
She reached for his hand, clasping it gently as to not arouse him from sleep. Given half the chance and the roles reversed, Olivia knew in the deepest vein he would shower her with the same dose of sheltering she offered. Siblings bonded by calamity and genetics, fusing a connection on a cellular level even scientists couldn’t explain. A set of twins, she only imagined, held high regard in the supernatural world, and although Liv couldn’t retain the significance for wolves, she knew just by their resilience they possessed power. Together or not at all, a philosophy that wouldn’t suffer compromise.
Olivia’s eyelids drooped heavily before her dark orbs floated towards the battery-operated clock hanging on the wall. Midnight. Something important happened at midnight, why couldn’t she remember?
Wait...
The date. The ticking hand of time pushed onward without delay, paying little mind to the events in someone’s personal life. The reminder took a pause to blossom for Olivia, it was a day she hoped could have been scrubbed from the calendar. An anniversary of sorts, nothing pertaining to her parents’ deaths as one may believe. Something that shouldn’t hold negativity, yet, it was a first. A first of many to come.
Liv squeezed her brother’s hand tightly, breathing a sigh and scarcely raising her voice above a whisper. “Happy birthday, Spence.”
You still haven’t told me who she is. She said her name was Rosalyn… I’m guessing that was a lie.
You shouldn’t believe a single word that comes out of that bitch’s mouth.
”Her name’s Charlotte Atwood. A hunter.” Olivia’s fingers gripped her phone tightly as she stared down at the picture, wishing she could squeeze the life from who it captured. “She murdered our family and blinded Spencer.” She directed her gaze to Natalie, “He really didn’t tell you.”
“I’m going to plead the fifth on that one, least your head grows even bigger than it already is.” Natalie smiled in thanks as Olivia set the box in her arms down, shaking the offending appendages that had grown sore and stiff. She quirked an eyebrow at Olivia, Natalie’s cheeks flushing at the comment. “W—he doesn’t flirt. I have no idea what you’re talking about, Liv.”
“Oh, ouch, the sweet could-never-hurt-a-fly Natalie Saunders has thrown an insult. I’m intrigued and delighted.“ Olivia bent down and flipped open the box she set on the ground, curiously eyeing the titles embossed on the books contained within them. Nat’s denial had her standing straight and mirroring the brunette’s raised brow. “As a wise man once said, why the fuck you lying, why you always lying?” She spoke with a sing song voice before grinning, “You think I don’t realize the two of you went way beyond the construct of flirting, but I have a wolf’s nose, Natalie. He’s covered all over you just as you’re drenched on him.” She chuckled, “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I approve and...it’s about fucking time.”
“Wa—” Tori paused, her brow furrowing. She didn’t want them to be warriors… no, she didn’t like the sound of it, the implication that they were like Malcolm’s pack. “I just want them to be protected, to be able to protect themselves…” Because she wasn’t sure how much longer she would be here.
Olivia opened her mouth to speak, huffing a sigh and closing her eyes briefly once she realized her mistake. “Tori,” She began, “I understand you feel we’re on a bit of a time crunch. The clock’s counting down and hell knows we all feel it ticking against us. I’m racing to the finish line to ensure they know how to keep themselves and each other safe.” Liv reached out, placing her palms along Tori’s shoulders, “But you are not going anywhere, either the leader of this pack or our friend. And if you think even for a moment we would ever turn you away, banish those thoughts. We’ll protect you, we’ll accept you, we go where you go. Always and forever.”
He knew that Olivia was right– Charlotte being outnumbered in the long run could be moot as she can call for those reinforcements. What he needed to do was end this before it got worse; before there were consequences of playing cat and mouse with the enemy. Spencer untightened his jaw when he felt his sister wince, his anger getting the best of him for a moment but he nodded to what Olivia said. “We wait, we bide our time– we need to be smart about this. Attacking a hunter unprovoked, no matter if for retribution, will cause the hunters to strike back, and we will not do that to Tori,” Spencer said as he tapped his cane against his boot, calculated and rhythmic, “we will get her but I need your help. I can bet money that Charlotte will find out about Natalie– I need you to keep an eye on her when I can’t. Please.”
It would’ve proven easier, right? Make a beeline for Charlotte straight away and take her down before she unraveled the lives of Olivia and Spencer by picking the pack off little by little. Before the joke that caravan has become in light of the hybrid creation grew to include a large number her brother couldn’t contain. “For a lack of patience, she may lose hers and strike without warning. However, that might benefit us in the long run if she jumps the gun with no planning involved. Or she’s rallying the troops as we talk anyway.” The tenseness wracking Olivia’s muscles relaxed at the first sign of her twin’s subsiding anger, pressing a grateful sigh from her mouth. His thoughts, as to be anticipated, shifted to Natalie in the moment, and she understood exactly why. Natalie was a weakness, a soft spot, Charlotte would exploit the moment she reached the discovery. “This is the part where I joke you can’t see her anyway, but,” She sighed a second time, not the least bit forgetful for the seriousness, “She’s under my protection, Spencer. I promise I’ll keep her safe.”
“It’s your ridiculous faces, how can I say no to them?” Natalie pouted at the ease in which Olivia picked up the boxes. Super strength was an asshole to those who didn’t possess it. “Yes please. I’m surprise you know what a circulation desk is, though I guess you and your brother sulk around here most of the time.”
“Are we talking about my expressions or our ridiculously flawless faces you can’t resist?” Olivia set down the boxes she carried once they moved into the library, reaching for the one in Natalie’s arms and placing them down as well. “I read and I listen to the terms that are thrown around. I bet I’d even know how to chronicle the books in order.” The wolf placed her hands on her hips. “Correction. I sulk and my brother spends that time endlessly flirting with you as you work.”
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