The Wolfless Luna's Revenge: Returning With His Secret Twins-Chapter 298

~Diana~

"MOM!" I screamed as loud as I could. "DAD! HELP!"

"UNCLE KILLIAN!" Devon yelled too. "ANYBODY!"

The wolves were getting closer. I could hear them right behind us.

My legs hurt. My chest hurt. Everything hurt.

"I can’t run anymore!" I was crying and running at the same time.

"You have to!"

"I can’t!"

Purple suddenly stopped. Turned around. Faced the wolves.

"Purple, no!" I screamed.

But Purple didn’t listen. He barked at the wolves. Put himself between us and them.

"He’s protecting us!" Devon grabbed my hand. "Come on, we gotta keep going!"

"We can’t leave Purple!"

"He wants us to run! So we run!"

We ran more. My legs were shaking. I couldn’t breathe right.

Then I tripped. Fell hard on my hands and knees. Rocks cut my skin.

"Diana!" Devon tried to pull me up but I was too heavy. Too tired.

The wolves were so close now. Maybe ten steps away. Maybe less.

"I’m sorry," I whispered. "I’m sorry I made us follow Lila."

"It’s okay." Devon stood in front of me. Held up his whistle even though his hand was shaking. "I’m not letting them hurt you."

The biggest wolf jumped.

I closed my eyes.

Then I heard Dad’s voice. His really really mad voice. His Alpha voice.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!"

Something huge crashed into the wolves. Roaring. Snarling.

I opened my eyes and Dad was there. Wolf Dad. Huge and scary and fighting all the shadow wolves at once.

"Diana! Devon!" Mom was running toward us. Her hands were glowing silver. "Are you hurt?!"

"Mom!" I tried to stand but my legs wouldn’t work.

Mom grabbed us both. Pulled us close. Her hands touched my face, my arms, checking everywhere. "Where are you bleeding? What happened?"

"Shadow wolves chased us." Devon was talking really fast. "We purified one but there were more and Purple tried to protect us."

"You purified a shadow wolf?" Uncle Killian appeared. He looked sick. The black lines on his skin were everywhere now. "By yourselves?"

"We had to." My voice was shaking. "It was gonna eat us."

"Where’s Purple?" Mom looked around. "Where’s your wolf?"

"He stayed behind to fight!" I started crying harder. "He protected us and we left him!"

"I’ll find him." Uncle Killian ran back toward where we came from.

Dad finished fighting the wolves. They were all dead or running away. He shifted back to human Dad and ran to us.

He was yelling. "What were you thinking?! I’ve lost count of the times you both keep escaping. I don’t know if I’m a bad parent or you both are just naughty kids!"

"We’re sorry!" I was crying so hard I could barely talk.

"Sorry?! SORRY?!" Dad’s face was so red. "You snuck out! You followed a stranger! You nearly got killed by shadow wolves! And all you have to say is SORRY?! That’s what I keep hearing every single time."

"Dominic, not now." Mom interrupted.

"They’re hurt."

"They’re hurt because they were silly! Because they didn’t LISTEN!"

"We were trying to help!" Devon yelled back. "Lila was leaving and we thought..."

"You THOUGHT?! You don’t think! You don’t get to think! You get to OBEY!"

"Dominic!" Mom stood up. Put herself between Dad and us. "That’s enough."

"It’s not enough! They need to understand that every action has consequences."

"They understand! They’re terrified and bleeding and they get it!" Mom’s hands were shaking. "Now stop yelling and help me check them for injuries!"

Dad looked at Mom. Then at us. His face was still really mad but also something else. Something that looked sad.

Then he dropped to his knees and pulled us both into a hug.

A really tight hug. So tight I couldn’t breathe good.

"Don’t ever do that again." His voice sounded funny. "Don’t ever scare me like that again."

"We’re sorry, Dad." Devon was crying now too. "We’re really sorry."

"We just wanted to help Grandma’s friends." I buried my face in Dad’s shoulder. "We didn’t mean to get lost."

Dad squeezed tighter. "I know. But you can’t follow people alone. You can’t run off without telling us. You have to stay close. You have to be safe."

"Okay."

"We will."

Uncle Killian came back. He was carrying Purple. Purple’s fur was bloody but his eyes were open.

"He’s alive." Uncle Killian put Purple down gentle. "Fought off three wolves before I got there. Brave little guy."

Purple limped over to us. His leg was hurt but his tail was wagging.

"Purple!" I reached for him and he licked my face. "You saved us!"

"Good wolf." Dad petted Purple’s head. "Very good wolf."

Mom was looking at my knees where I fell. "These need cleaning. And you’re both bleeding from your noses again. Using too much purification power." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"We had to." Devon wiped his nose. "The shadow wolf was gonna attack."

"You did the right thing." Uncle Killian crouched down next to us. "Purifying a shadow wolf on your own? That’s impressive. Your grandmother would be proud and I bet your dad is too but he won’t admit it."

"She would not and I support her." Dad’s voice was hard again. "She’d be horrified that they were in danger in the first place."

"They handled themselves well."

"They’re still children, Killian! Stop indulging them!"

"You scolded them enough, the least I can do is compliment their bravery!"

"They’re children who need to be protected, not praised for almost dying!"

"And what happens when you are not there to protect them?!"

"Oh I know where this is going!" Dad stood up. "You’re going to give me a three hours lecture on how it’s better to gentle parent!"

"I wasn’t going to say that but now that you mentioned it, you should try it sometime!"

"How about you take your own advice when you’ve your own children?!"

"Dad! Uncle Killian! I need you both to stop fighting." I screamed.

They both stopped arguing and looked at me.

"Diana." Dad reached for me but I pulled away.

"No! I don’t like it when you are mad, it’s scary!"

"I’m sorry, alright? I need you to understand that my whole world revolves around you both. Now imagine what happens when you are not in it?"

“It crumbles?”

“Exactly.”

"We promise not to give you a heart attack," Devon promised.

Dad smiled at us. "I’ll take your words for it."

"I’m still here, remember? Don’t give all the love to your grumpy dad." Mom joked and we giggled.

“Don’t tell me you’re jealous, mum.”

“You bet I am.”

"Let’s get you two back to camp and cleaned up. Then we’ll figure out what to do about Lila."

"Is she bad?" I asked. "Is that why the forest was acting weird?"

"I don’t know yet." Mom helped me stand up. "But we’re going to find out."

Uncle Killian picked up Purple. "I’ll carry him. He’s earned a rest."

"Thank you." Dad’s voice was stiff. "For finding him."

"Yeah." Uncle Killian didn’t look at Dad. "No problem."

They were still mad at each other. I could tell. But at least they stopped yelling.

We walked back to camp. The forest wasn’t moving anymore. The paths were normal again.

Like the shadow trap turned off when Dad showed up.

Like someone decided to stop messing with us.

But who?

And why did Lila leave without telling anyone?

And where did she go?

My head hurt thinking about it.

So I just held Dad’s hand and let him carry me because my legs were still too shaky.

And I didn’t let go the whole way back.