Maureen's POV

'Should I wait with you till he arrives?' Lucia asked me after one hour of waiting for Lance.

It was our routine. He came to my school to take me home every day and any day he couldn't come he would call me. I have tried calling him several times but he would not pick up.

'Will you try to call him again?' Lucia asked. I knew she was impatient to get home. Her father was off duty that day and she wanted to spend time with him.

'I have called him several times but he wouldn't pick, what makes you think he would pick now?' I snapped at Lucia.

'Hey, don't take it out on me, Maureen. I am only trying to show concern,' Lucia said surprised at my behaviour.

I realized what I had just done and apologized,' I am sorry, Lucia, it's just that he has been acting weird since his birthday,' I sighed sadly.

Something suddenly occurred to me.' You know what Lucia, give me your phone.'

'What are you going to do with it?' Lucia asked looking at me suspiciously.

Despite her reservation, she handed me the phone. I called Lance's number on her phone, put it on speaker, and pushed the phone on her to speak to him. Lance picked up almost immediately after it started ringing.

'Hello.' Lance's sleepy voice answered from the other side. I breathed a sigh of relief that he was fine. Why then was he not picking up my calls?

'Em, em hello Lance,' Lucia said looking lost for words. I signaled for her to ask him about picking me up at school.

'Hello, are you there Lucia, is everything ok?' Lance asked, his voice seemingly losing its sleepiness. Lucia's silence must have made him wonder if something was wrong.

'Yeah, everything is fine. I was just wondering if you would be coming for Maureen or if you would be sending Dominus,' Lucia rushed everything in one breath.

There was a long pause on Lance's side. 'Are you there?' Lucia asked not sure of what to make of his silence. I looked at the phone intensely as if I could see Lance by staring at it.

'Yes, I am here. Are you with her right now?' Lance asked. I shook my head telling Lucia to say no.

'No. I left her believing you would be there,' Lucia gritted her teeth. Lucia was all sorts of trouble rolled into one person but lying was not her thing especially not to her crush.

'She is no longer a child Lucia, she can take care of herself,' Lance's words broke my already hurting heart to a thousand pieces.

I looked back at Lucia with tears in my eyes. She looked sorry for me. I didn't want her to feel bad and spoil her time with her father so I tried hiding my pain and smiled at her but she wasn't fooled.

'When did your baby suddenly become so grown up? Because you turned eighteen?' Lucia got back to her normal self and decided to question Lance.

'You won't understand Lucia. There is a lot I am trying to process right now,' Lance sighed from the other side.

'Maureen has been calling your number all day but you are not picking,' Lucia accused him.

'Tell her to get herself home or better still sleep in school if she wants.'

'Tell her yourself I am not with her.' Lucia and I were surprised by what he said.

'You really underestimate me, Lucia. Have you forgotten that I have my wolf now? I heard two people breathing on the phone.'

'What!' Lucia and I said together forgetting the fact that we didn't want him to know I was there.

'My ears are four times sharper now than before as well as my sight. Imagine your sight better than what it already is now,' Lance explained further.

'Lance,' I called his name with a trembling voice.

'See you around Lucia,' Lance said and cut the call pretending not to have heard me call him.

I looked at Lucia with tears rolling down my eyes. I did not understand what he was doing or why he was doing it to me.

'Why is Lance treating me this way, Lucia?' I asked crying bitterly.

Lucia hugged me and patted me on the back gently.

'It's ok Maureen, don't take it to heart. He said he is going through a lot. Why don't you give him some time to adjust.'

'He is not the first person to get his wolf. Why then is he behaving like this?'

'True, he is not the first person to get their wolf but how many Beta wolves have you met in this lifetime?' Lucia asked.

I shook my head indicating none. Lucia smiled at me, she wrapped her hands around my shoulder and urged me towards the school entrance.

We walked in companionable silence till we got to the bus station and sat down waiting for the bus.

'I thought about something just now,' Lucia started a conversation to break the silence. 'I am thinking that you should try talking to Lance.'

'I tried talking to him yesterday,' I said stubbornly.

'Don't be hard-headed Maureen.'

'I am not being hard-headed, I do not like the way he is pushing me away,' I said close to tears again.

'He might just need somebody to talk to. Maybe then he can stop behaving this way.'

'I will try Lucia. I am his sister, we are closer than most siblings. I expect that if anything is bothering him, he should be able to talk to me.'

'Have you thought maybe he may not want to bother you with whatever he is going through?'

'Who then will he bother with it?'

'I am sure he will confide in Dominus now and then. You know boys and their ways,' Lucia said looking thoughtful.

'What is going on in your head?' I asked rolling my eyes. I know her too well not to recognize that look in her eyes.

'I am thinking maybe...' she suddenly stopped and shook her head lightly before she continued. 'You know what? forget about it.'

'Out with it Lucia, you know I would not let go, so just say whatever it is already.'

'I am just thinking of something. Is it possible that Lance is terminally ill?'

'What do you mean?' A fear I have never known crawled right into my chest and sat.

'You know, maybe when he got his wolf he discovered they were both going to die soon. You know your wolf will know these things,' Lucia explained.

I was too dumbfounded to say anything. My hands started trembling. Losing Lance was the last thing I wanted to happen in my life.

He has been with me from the beginning of my life. I trembled in the hot afternoon sun.

'Can being terminally ill make him behave like this?' I asked Lucia with my voice shaking slightly.

'I guess he is trying to make you hate him so that by the time he is gone, you won't hurt too much,' Lucia explained.

Each word she spoke felt like a sword piercing my heart. The thought of him dying turned my already shattered heart to shambles.

My hands trembled slightly as I adjusted the strap of my folder. As I was about to open my mouth to ask Lucia how best to ask him then her bus arrived. Right behind hers my bus also arrived.

I waved Lucia goodbye and boarded the bus. I intentionally went to the back of the bus to sit.

I was so lost in the thought of losing Lance that I burst into tears without even knowing I was crying until tears dropped on my folder.

I have never been that scared in my life. Losing anyone was strange to me. The fact that I might lose my brother soon scared me to no end.

When the bus got to where I was to alight, I was too carried away in my thoughts. But the bus driver had to shout to make me come out of my musing.

I was always the last to alight each time I used the bus. The Alpha and Beta's houses were built on the edge of the park's land, close to the forest. so the last bus stop was called AlphaBeta Line.

Since my father was the Beta, I was well-known in school and among pack members.

I walked the rest of the distance home with the fear of opening the door and finding Lance lying dead on the floor of the sitting room.

I opened the door and rushed towards Lance's room but was stopped when I heard a sound in the kitchen. I turned to check what was happening in the kitchen first.

I entered the kitchen to find Lance drinking directly from the bottle in front of the refrigerator.

'Lance, can we talk?' I said forgetting that he might not have noticed me coming in.

Lance nearly got water in his windpipe as he coughed hard from my interruption.

'I am sorry I scared you,' I said when his cough had subsided.

'It's ok. I should have paid more attention to my environment.'

'Lance, please can we talk?' I repeated my first question l.

'I am all ears.'

'Please be my brother again. Even if you are dying, I can take anything. But please don't keep me in the dark.'

'Wait wait wait. Dying? Me?' I am not dying,' Lance said looking surprised.

'Why then are you behaving like this? Why are you treating me like you don't love me anymore? If I did something wrong please tell me I will apologize Lance. Stop punishing me this way. You are all I have got please, Lance please,' I broke down totally in front of him.

Lance looked pained looking at me crying like that. He came close to me and held my hand firmly in his.

'Maureen, You have not done anything to offend me. You can't understand even if I explain it to you. Besides, you shouldn't know.' He paused a little cleaning my tears with the pad of his hands. 'You will understand someday but until then, no matter what I do to you, you must always remember that I love you, my dear sister. But for now, stay away from me.'

After saying that he walked out of the kitchen leaving me crying profusely. For the first time in my life, the fear of losing someone I love gripped my heart and squeezed hard.

Maureen's POV

I woke up with a start. Something woke me up or more like a person woke me up. I could smell Lance's scent in the air. I wondered for a while if he came into my room.

Since our talk Monday afternoon in the kitchen, he had been avoiding me like I had leprosy. At my most desperate moment, I kicked against his warning and went into his room. He was not in the room when I got there so I sat on his bed and waited for him.

I waited for a long time and when I started feeling sleepy, I laid my head on his pillow and fell asleep.

A loud growl woke me from my sleep. I woke up with fright so I started shaking from the impact. Lance did not look at me twice. He banged the door almost removing it from the hinges. Since that day for the whole week, I had not laid my eyes on him.

Sensing his scent in my room was the last thing I expected. I had always liked the way he smelled. He smelled like the forest after a heavy rain. Since he got his wolf, his smell has seemed more intense.

I looked around and found nothing amiss. I listened, yet I heard nothing. I laid back down took my other pillow to cuddle and sat back up straight, sleep leaving me immediately.

My pillow smelled as if Lance had lay there. I sniffed the part where the pillow was and found his smell very strong there. It was obvious he had been there.

Did Lance sleep in my room? How?. He knew I was a heavy sleeper, I rarely wake up when I sleep, except if someone woke me up. I quickly checked the time on the mini clock on my bedside table, it said it was just some minutes after four o'clock.

I knew that Lance always got up around four-thirty to get ready for training at five o'clock. I wondered if I had woken up when he closed the door.

Why was he avoiding me and then sneaking into my room to spend the night? I thought of calling Lucia to tell her what I thought had happened but then I would be waking her up so early in the morning.

I decided to wait till she came to visit that morning. At least then she can tell me her opinion face to face.

I hugged the pillow close to my chest. Lance's scent on the pillow relaxed me and soothing my hurting heart, I went straight to sleep.

I woke up refreshed and happy in days. I headed to the kitchen after having my bath. I was surprised to see my parents already in the kitchen. I have not seen them since the morning after Lance's eighteenth birthday when they left hurriedly in the morning mumbling about a pack giving a distress call.

My parents were the main reasons I always prayed to the moon goddess to never mate me with a high-ranked wolf. I would gladly accept a park warrior as my mate.

Our pack was in charge of keeping peace in our region, so our Alpha and Beta were in charge of keeping the peace. Anytime any pack sent a distress call, they had to drop everything and attend to it.

Each time they go, they leave the Luna and Gamma in charge of the pack. Sometimes I wonder why my mother could not just behave like the Luna and stay back once in a while.

'Good morning Mum, good morning Dad,' I greeted them and they responded 'When did you guys come back?'

'Last night. We didn't want to wake you up,' Mum said smiling at me.

'Ok. Have you seen Lance this morning, mum?'

'Yes, he left for training. I guess he should be back soon.'

I only nodded my head as if my mind was with her. I heard the front door open as we started eating the food the kitchen hands prepared.

That is one big minus against my mum. I have never seen her cook. She had said she hated cooking because it reminded her of her suffering before she met my dad.

'Good morning sir, good morning ma'am,' Dominus greeted my parents as he stepped into the kitchen.

'Dominus, how are you doing?' My mum greeted him smiling. Dad gave him a pat on the back when he got closer to him.

'I am fine,' Dominus answered and went straight to the refrigerator to get water. Dominus was not a stranger in our house. We were all raised like siblings. Dominus was an only child so he made up for being an only child by stylishly adopting Lance and me as siblings. Although he was very close to Lance, he treated me like an annoying little sister.

I liked getting on Dominus' nerves especially since I knew how much he liked my friend Lucia who had eyes only for my brother, Lance.

I looked at the doorway and was expecting

Lance to step in. I had barely raised my head when he came in. He looked me straight in the eye with a distant look.

I searched his eyes for the brother I used to know but he was not there. If it were the old Lance, he would have simply greeted our parents and come to greet me with a kiss on my head.

Lance was the first to break the eye contact. He walked to the refrigerator and took water out to drink without greeting our parents.

'Lancelot, are you ok son?' My dad asked seeming to pick up on Lance's mood.

'I am fine dad, just have a lot on my mind,' Lance answered after taking a long sip of the water.

'Mind preoccupied to the extent of not greeting your parents?' Mum asked dropping her fork on the plate with a loud sound.

Mum was the toughest of our parents, she didn't tolerate indiscipline or impropriety. We avoided making her angry because her stance was always Dad's stance on any behavior of indiscipline.

'I am sorry Mum. I just zoned out. My heart is so heavy,' Lance said with his head hanging on his chest.

His posture and words got to Mum immediately. Although she was the toughest on indiscipline, she was still the softest when it came to caring for what bothered her children.

I always wondered how loving and affectionate she would be if she were at home most of the time like the Luna.

'What is it, son?' Mum got up and held Lance to her bosom. For the first time in years, my brother cried. Dad stood up and wrapped his hands around his shoulder while he put his head on mum's chest.

'I guess I will see you guys later,' Dominus excused himself, getting that it was a family kind of discussion.

I watched as they embraced each other for a while then I decided to join them. I placed my hand on his back and he immediately went rigid and stopped crying.

'Don't touch me,' Lance shouted and removed his head from Mum's chest to glare at me.

'Lance I ...' I didn't even know what to say because I was short of words.

'I said remove your hand, damn it.' Lance glared at me and growled. I saw his eyes switch between his normal blue which was his eye color and gray which belonged to his wolf.

I stepped back from him with tears pouring uncontrollably from my eyes. I could hear Mum shouting at Lance to stop growling at his sister.

I ran from the kitchen with my heart beating like it was going to jump right out of my chest and fall on the ground to be trampled by Lance.

The hate I saw in Lance's eyes was the last straw for me. I ran into my room and jumped into bed crying as if I was dying. My heart was destroyed above repairs.

I was beginning to hate his wolf. If what Lucia said about it all having something to do with his wolf, then I was going to damn all consequences and face his wolf. With the resolve that I was going to face his wolf, I wiped my tears and waited.

I went back out after one hour to find the whole house empty. I asked the housekeeper about their whereabouts and she said my parents had gone to the Alpha's house but Lance said he was going for a run at the back of the house.

I went outside and followed the path into the forest knowing fully well that Lance would have gone that way.

I was there for thirty minutes before I saw the immaculate white wolf walking in the opposite direction.

'Hey Lance,' I shouted, the wolf turned his head and walked towards me. I was scared at first but then I thought if I was going to die then I had better say my piece.

'I don't care to know what your name is but I hate you. You hear me? I hate you with every of my being,' I cried harder as it came nearer.

Instead of pouncing on me, the wolf suddenly whimpered and lay on the ground in front of me in a submissive way. His eyes looked at me as if saying he was sorry.

I became confused. I thought it hated me so it turned my brother against me. But there it was looking at me with love in its eyes.

I crouched down and touched his head, rubbing it in a circle. It felt so good to touch his beautiful fur. I put my head on his back and hugged him close. It whimpered again as if saying sorry to me.

Suddenly I felt him go rigid. I drew back and looked into his eyes. It was going between gray and blue.

Just when I was thinking of what could be happening, he shifted back to Lance in his naked glory. I jumped back but I was not fast enough.

He grabbed me by the neck cutting off my air supply. 'I told you to stay away from me but you wouldn't listen what the hell is your problem?' Lance shouted in my face.

I clawed at his hands trying to save myself from him. I started seeing black dots as I started getting tired.

I heard someone shouting Lance's name but I wasn't sure as gradually the black dots grew larger and I had no option but to surrender to the darkness.

Lance's POV

I was going crazy and I knew it but I couldn't help it. The moon goddess must be playing tricks on me. It was my eighteenth birthday but it was my saddest.

My wolf had happily tackled my sister to the ground in happiness in the presence of all that were there to celebrate my eighteenth birthday.

As the future Beta of the park, it would have been disappointing if I didn't get my wolf. It had happened before in our lineage and this had made my parents especially my mum very anxious.

My grandfather was not the direct bloodline of the Beta post but according to history his elder brother who ought to take over from their father never got his wolf.

At first, they had thought his wolf was only delayed for a particular reason but when he didn't get his wolf at the age of twenty-five, my grandfather who was twenty years then was asked to start training.

According to my grandfather, the training was difficult and draining and he nearly gave up. It wasn't easy to train to become a Beta at the age of twenty. Betas started training around the age of twelve.

Betas were usually emotionally and physically conditioned to do their jobs. The Alpha and Luna he was to serve were his main priority. My grandfather survived the training and was made the Beta of our pack.

My parents were apprehensive that if what happened before should repeat itself, it meant the Beta position might leave our family forever. The elders might not allow my sister to take over as the Beta. Our pack had never had a female occupying the post of a Beta.

That morning of my eighteenth birthday I had woken up with a mixture of joy and anxiety. I was going to get my wolf and probably my mate and live happily ever after but the moon goddess sure had another plan for me.

It was painful turning into my wolf for the first time. It was a good thing that my dad actually took his time to explain to me what it was likely to feel like and because I was having a Beta blood, the transition might be more painful than that of any normal wolf.

I smiled when I looked at my dad immediately I was able to get on my feet after my first shift. He looked at me with so much pride in his eyes and I couldn't have been more proud of myself. I couldn't wait to see the look on my mother and sister's faces when they beheld my wolf.

I nearly bolted for the house but my father's steady hands on my fur stopped me. He signaled for me to turn and face the forest. It was then I remembered I would first have to go on a run with the men of the pack. It was a way of testing my agility since I was their future Beta, they needed to be sure I could take my father's place.

No normal wolf can go through the pain of shifting into their wolf and going for a run all in one night. It was only the Alpha and Beta that were made to do it. That was why our training was always difficult and draining, it was to prepare us for the task ahead.

I howled to the sky and broke into a run into the forest followed by the men in our pack and my dad, who by then had shifted into their wolves. I knew I shouldn't fail so I kept pushing. I was the first to get to the edge of the forest, I stopped and waited for them to get to me.

My father was the first to appear I gave him a tired yelp. He came to me and rubbed his snort on my tired face as if he were cleaning my sweat. I turned away from him, mind linking him to stop, he only laughed and told us all it was time to head back, his son had proven himself worthy of being their Beta.

We stopped at the stream to drink water but I didn't want us to stop, I wanted to see my sister already. Our parents were rarely around except on occasions like my birthday so my sister and I kind of take care of each other always, more like I became her father, mother, brother, and confidant all rolled up in one.

She was my confidant too. It kind of got crazy sometimes when I tried to deal with her emotional mess alongside mine. I was just three years older than she was, yet I had to take care of us.

I could already imagine what the look on her face would be like when she beheld my wolf. We had both talked extensively about what my wolf would possibly look like. She had said I was going to have Dad's midnight black fur color. I had not argued with her because that was what I expected. I looked at my image in the stream and gave a wolfish laugh, dad lifted his head and looked at me questioningly. I shook my head at him signifying that nothing was wrong.

I looked up at the sky, it was still dark but I could actually see everything around me. I looked at my immaculately white fur in the stream and wondered why I didn't ask my sister to bet what the color of my wolf would be. At least I would have won her money and made her pout in envy.

I was so consumed with the thought of my sister that I didn't know that the others were already on the move, my dad nudged me on the side and we moved on.

When we were getting near the house I suddenly felt a pang in my chest and my breathing accelerated. My wolf seemed to take over my thinking completely. It felt strange losing control but it was not something I wasn't prepared for.

Due to the strength of my wolf, it was possible for it to consume the human part of me and submerge it totally but I was trained and I knew how to get the reins back. I tried reasoning with my wolf not to do anything rash but it kept insisting we go inside the house immediately.

'Are you ready to go in son?' My father asked through the mind link.

I turned and faced my father. 'I don't know Dad, my wolf is suddenly getting restless.'

'Maybe your mate is inside the house.'

'I would be glad Dad. I don't want to start looking for my mate all over packs.'

'Your mother invited all the eligible girls in the pack. Besides, Maureen's best friend has an eye for you. She just might be the one.'

'Dad, I hope she isn't,' I said rolling my wolf eyes. I can hear Dad laugh through the mind link.

'Why not her, son?'

'Then I have to wait another three years before I can let her know she is my mate. I don't want to be mated to a baby dad.'

'Let's go in and find out then. Let's hope it is not one of your mum's nosy friends,' Dad laughed in the mind link and I laughed too.

My father and I might not get to spend a lot of time together but we were really close and whenever he got to be around we talked a lot and I can say we were good friends. Although my sister was a different ball game. They both seemed not to have a good relationship with her. It was more like I was her parent and they were just there for us.

Maureen didn't bother with them as far as I was there with her. I once talked about it with my mother but she only said I was the one perceiving it that way. So I had to let the sleeping dog lie.

We walked into the house and I had to control my wolf from bolting to wherever it wanted to go. We had to first pay our respect to the Alpha and the Luna then to Dominus who I will be serving as his Beta. Dominus and I were friends, even best friends just like our fathers. Our mothers too were friends. We both joked about it once that maybe if the Luna had had a girl after Dominus, she would have been my sister's best friend too.

After greeting the Alpha and his family, I had to do all I could to make my wolf stop and acknowledge Mum. She looked at me with so much pride. I could see her eyes mist over. She had never shown so much emotion in my presence before. She rubbed my wolf's head gently and that seemed to calm him down a little.

My wolf suddenly seemed to smell something in the air. Before I could do anything to stop him, he made a beeline for my sister and tackled her to the ground. Maureen must have thought I was playing with her because she laughed and rubbed her hand on the fur on my side.

My wolf put his nose on Maureen's neck and sniffed her, it tickled her and she laughed harder. I took hold of control and bolted straight upstairs. I could sense the deafening silence downstairs.

'What the hell just happened? That is our sister,' I berated my wolf.

'If she is our sister, why then is her scent calling out to us?' My wolf answered nonchalantly.

'You are the only one it is calling out to, not me. I only hope the goddess didn't give me a mad wolf,' I said getting ready to change into my human form.

'I am not mad, I know what I sensed,' my wolf insisted.

'You will stay away from her, she is our sister. We ought to protect and love her. She thought just now that you were playing with her, we would keep it that way,' I shouted in my head and blocked my wolf out.

I quickly changed into my human form before my wolf could do or say anything more stupid.

I entered the bathroom feeling the opposite of what I thought I would be feeling that day. But I knew I had to push through with the ceremony, I had guests downstairs and I couldn't afford to hole up in my room. I only hope I can keep my mad wolf at bay around Maureen.