I'm sorry for the wait. I'm not one to make excuses. Let's just say my personal life is a disaster through no fault of my own and writing was the last thing I wanted to do.

On another note, I was interviewed by

Meet The Authors Part 2 (August 2018 To Dec 2018 Book 2 of The Interview Series - interview #13 firebird65

If you want to read a litle but more about me, check it out!

The link is: https://www.wattpad.com/592638225-meet-the-authors-part-2-august-2018-to-dec-2018

Chapter 27:

Camila felt the eerie call of a bird jolt her awake. She wasn't sure if she had even slept. If she was even awake at that moment. Everything was too foreign and terrifying.

She could feel an insect worm itself into the space between the folds of her shirt and her soft skin.

It was at least an hour before she even dared to open her eyes. The thick mist of the morning hung heavy in the air and mixed with the mud pancaked against her face. It stung her eyes and was loud and gritty between her teeth. She felt like she had become the tree she was so closely pressed against. She had no feeling in her limbs, she couldn't hear her breaths or the slow beats of her heart.

She imagined that some otherworldly being had taken pity on her. Fairies that had come and turned her into a strong steadfast tree. It wouldn't be so bad to stay here, to grow, to sway. To forget.

Eventually, she pried her eyelids apart and immediately shut them again. She didn't think the scene in front of her could look more bloody or horrific than it had the previous night, but now it was harshly illuminated with an evil sunlight that painted the earth brutally. Better to stay in the darkness. Better to sit quietly and hope someone had enough mercy to let her disappear into the earth.

Flashes of teeth ripping into flesh, bone-breaking bone. Her parent's last breaths. Their killer. So, so close to killing her.

She slipped in and out of consciousness thinking about her mother and her father.

--

Camila was a well-behaved child but she wasn't used to the lack of attention she was receiving from otherwise doting parents. She didn't like being told constantly, to go play because 'adult conversations' were taking place. She didn't like the worry lines that seemed permanently etched onto their faces.

She would often peep between the rectangle of light that came from the slightly open door of the kitchen. She could vividly remember the sharp features of her mother, her striking green eyes, high eyebrows and cheekbones, planning and discussing with her father. They both wore indecipherable expressions on their faces. Indecipherable for a child who could only confidently recognize happiness. After all, it was the only emotion she had really experienced up until that point.

"Do you think we've done the right thing?" Her father said, his head in his hands, resting on the kitchen counter.

Her mother placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We have chosen to fight for something we believe in. Of course, we are doing the right thing."

"But the rumours...What if he does come to attack?"

There was a strange glint in her mothers' eyes as she responded.

"He won't. We have made it clear we don't' want a violent outcome and I believe he won't do anything impulsive without listening to us. Besides, even with the other Alpha's breathing down his throat, he is too far away and I don't think we are worth his attention."

"Worth his attention?"

"I simply mean that they aren't going to send a violent, rage-filled power hungry tyrant to represent the North, when we deserve to speak."

A distastful expression came across her face.

"Darian silences people with his claws. Because of the support we have rallied and the case we have built up, we are in a different category. He won't come. He won't come because we are too good for his speciality in spilling blood."

"You're right. Our kind has moved past unnecessary bloodshed."

They attacked four nights later.

-

Camila could hear voices. Distant, echoing and inaudible at first, then they pierced her ears like knives. The crunch of leaves became so close that she hid her head in her knees and prayed for it to be over. She felt something hit her head. She screamed.

"Ow, ow, calm down!"

Camila's head snapped up to hear the high pitched voice directly in front of her. It was a little boy, with glasses, a wide smile and velcro shoes. He took a few steps back and picked up an orange bouncy ball.

"I didn't mean any harm, I just threw this at you. You looked like you were sleeping."

Words seemed to be unable to form in her throat. She tried to talk but all she could do was stare at him wide-eyed.

The boy folded his arms and sat down in front of her. They stared at each other for a few moments. A frightened creature and a curious child.

He tried to poke her foot, slowly moving his finger towards the hole in her sock where her blueish toe stuck out. She burst out crying.

Mason looked at her with a perplexed expression on his face.

"g-go away." Camila managed to croak out. This boy didn't seem to be threatening but she wasn't about to take any chances. Her parents were dead and she was all alone in the world. She clutched her mothers mating ring tight.

All alone.

Ignoring her request Mason didn't leave. He just sat and bounced the ball between his hands. Camila rotated her shivering body away from him, further into the tree.

"You're weird."

She ignored him.

They both heard voices and footsteps approaching in the distance.

"That's my mom and dad. They're the Alpha and Luna. They'll help you. Where's your mom and dad?"

That sent Camila into another wave of tears. Mason didn't know why he kept making this strange girl cry. He looked at her muddy face that was slowly being cleaned by tear streaks. If he hadn't come to look closer he would have thought she was a wild tree monster. Or werewolf that was raised in the thick of the woods, far from civilisation.

"It's okay...I have a shower at my house. You can use it if you wanna."

Camila extended her canines and tried to scare away this irritating stranger. All it did was make him laugh at her high-pitched non-threatening growls.

"What's your name?" He asked, trying to stifle a laugh with his pudgy hands.

What was her name? She felt her name it didn't belong to her anymore. A name given by her parents. A name that was a part of a life she didn't have anymore. A name she didn't want.

She thought for a moment and whispered, "Camila."

The name of her grandmother. It was a safe name. A new name. Even then she knew telling people her real name would be dangerous. This prevented people from getting too close to the real her. It was a mark, between the then and the now.

A mark she would carry with her forever.

"Well don't worry Mila, I got your back." The boy said it with such confidence, with a toothy smile on his face that she couldn't help but smile a little back.

If he hadn't found her, curled up into the roots of the tree, her tree, the life quickly escaping her cold bones. she wouldn't have survived. She barely survived that night and all these years later she was still recovering.

The scent of death in the air and the harrowing sight of it didn't deter the boy. It was a strange way and a strange place to start a friendship, a strange situation for hope to blossom, but it did. And that was why Mason was so damn special. He had been her friend through every high and every low and would be, till the end.