Under A Paper Moon

XVII

Elias recognised the woman standing in front of him. She was the woman he had met at the grocery store when he was distraught right after finding out that he was Micah's mate. She was the one that asked him about his troubles and advised him to communicate.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" Elias tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"I don't have a lot of time right now," The woman walked towards Elias, touching his cheek gently with her hand before whispering, "You've grown so much. Into such a handsome man."

Elias could feel it. He could feel the familiarity of the touch. He could feel that there was some sort of connection between him and the mystery woman. There were questions and doubts floating in his head but he couldn't form them into words. He knew that he had met her before, not just at the grocery store, but he knew her from somewhere else as well.

"How do I know you?" He reframed his question.

"You're transitioning into a werewolf now. You'll be able to feel your family when they're near you." She answered, a soft smile on her face that held a lor of sadness.

"Family?" Elias whispered. "You're my family? I- I already have a family.."

"Yes, you do," She nodded, "Tessa and Victoria have done a great job in raising you. I knew they were the right choice. But.. "

"But I'm not related to them by blood," Elias stated, "Like I am with you."

"I told you, you'll be able to sense your family now," She sighed, "I wish I never had to have this conversation with you, I tried my best to make sure it never came to this but I suppose life had other plans."

"Do you care to elaborate?" Elias snapped, his head was pounding and he couldn't make sense of what was going on.

"I will," She said, "I'll find you again. I will answer all the questions that you have but for now, listen to me Elias, listen to me carefully."

"Okay," Elias whispered, the woman's expression changed from sad to serious but the gentleness was still there.

"You're going to turn in 5 days. You cannot, you absolutely cannot turn in front of anyone. You cannot let anyone see you in wolf form."

"You don't need to tell me that, I don't know if you know but I have a werewolf mate and I get the whole secrecy thing-" He was cut off by her shaking her head.

"No! No, it's not that," She sighed, "What do you know about the origin of werewolves? The Firstbloods?"

"Micah told me the story, four villagers sacrificed a wolf each for powers. Learned they could turn people and all that." Elias answered.

"Yes, and what do you know about the White Wolf Bloodline?" She asked.

"That it ended with the first white wolf. He went crazy and the others killed him."

"That's where the story is wrong. He disliked that his friends were turning others left and right, he knew that was wrong and he knew how dangerous his powers would be if others got it. He didn't go crazy, he left the village behind. He never turned anyone for this very reason, but he did have a family. He had a wife and he had kids."

"So, his line didn't end with him? Why do the stories say that then?" Elias questioned.

"To prevent people from knowing that white wolves still exist. To prevent them from being hunted," She smiled sadly, "Our existence is a secret, there are.. there are people that know about us and are hunting us. There's an organisation that's dedicated to it. I will tell you all about that too. But for now, keep your wolf a secret."