Chapter 1
I Don't Know You
Ilse Castellano
"State your business or you get out of this property!" The guards with a pointy tip spear had seen me from a distance, and I could tell they were coming to intercept me.
From here I could hear the voices that filled my heart with warmth... The joyful celebration that was ongoing in the pack. We had finally won the war that took seven years to end, and now everything that was running through my mind was to get home, have a nice hot bath, cuddle into my husband and tell the kids a lot of stories about life on the battlefield.
I gave them a small smile before they were pointing the spear at me. "I know it's hard to recognise me because it has been seven years, and I'm caked with blood and mud, but I live here."
They stared at me for a second, quite taken aback, until one of them regained their composure and laughed towards the second guard. "Yeah, sure you are..." He mocked. "If you're looking for help, know that the Alpha doesn't help filth like you."
That sounded harsh, even to my ears. Gareth wasn't that kind of person. My husband was a kind man, and these men were out here dragging his name to the mud. What if I was a part of the independent wealthy figures disguising myself and looking for a pack I could ally with, was this how these guards were going to make Gareth lose his face?
"I am Ilse Castellano, your Luna." I finally said, my eyes cold with warning as I met their gazes. "And I may understand that I may look unsightly now because I'm coming from the battlefield, as you may well recall, that I was sent to fight seven years ago."
They looked between each other before bursting into laughter, like everything I was saying was hilarious. The gates still remained shut and neither of them were making any move to open it. I was already tired and broken, and my entire body was sore... And this is what they were doing?
"We wouldn't punish you because it seems you have a screw lost somewhere in the back of your head. But I think you should go somewhere else... You'll have a higher chance of getting scraps from the people of this pack than getting from any of us here." He pulled back his spear and turned away from us. "If I turn around and you're still there, don't blame me for being wicked."
I let out a small scoff. Them? Wicked? "If you don't want to let me in, then call the Alpha himself to the gate to verify my identity. Or send someone to him and tell him his wife has returned from the battlefield... The same battlefield that she brought victory to all the packs."
His entire body went rigid, and he turned around quickly, throwing his spear towards me. Seven years battling creatures that weren't even human made his reaction seem like a joke. Before the spear could reach me, I had already caught it midair and bent the iron bars of the spear into two.
I looked towards the second guard whose jaw went slack in shock. "Do you want me to try the same with your spear? Or will you open the gates and let me in, or bring me the Alpha?" I cocked my head to the side. "It's your choice."
The blonde guard swallowed, now defenceless without his spear, and the fear in his eyes would have made the beasts I fought for seven years swallow him whole. The guard with the spear and a black hair whispered something into the other's ear, and he nodded before leaving.
"Don't think you can deter me by that simple magic trick you just did." He pointed his spear at me, still shaking with fear, but he tried to keep his voice firm which was commendable. "I will kill you if you move from your spot."
"Okay." I humoured him and waited under the sun for what felt like fifteen minutes until I spotted two figures making their way out of the big estate. One of them was the guard who had disappeared earlier, and the second person was... my sister.
"Nadia!" Every fibre of my being lit up in joy that I almost cried, at the sight of my family. All those years of hopelessness and loneliness and doom, and Nadia was walking towards me, lighting up something inside me. "Oh, sister..." I didn't know when I broke down and held the bars of the gates, ignoring the dark-haired guard's warnings.
"Do I know you?" Nadia asked a few feet away from the gates. "The guard rushed to tell us that a woman claiming to be Ilse Castellano is at the gate."
"Yes. Yes. Yes." I nodded. "It's me, sister. I'm back after seven years." The tears fell from my eyes and I laughed, thinking of how pathetic I may be looking now. "I... You look so beautiful, Nadia. And I know how terrible I look losing all the weight and looking really lean and—"
"Leave us—" Nadia cut me off, and I realized she was speaking to the guards who bowed respectfully and left. When they were not within earshot, she took a step forward until our faces were almost inches apart. "Why did you have to live?" She tilted her head to the side, and something in her voice made a chill run down my spine when her eyes glinted. "You could have just stayed dead and let us live our lives in peace."
"What... What are you saying, Nadia?" My heart sank as I pulled away from her. "It's me... It's Ilse. I'm alive. Shouldn't that make you happy? Shouldn't..." I felt my throat tightening as the tears spilled from my eyes again, and this time it wasn't tears of joy but sadness and grief. To see my sister hate the sight of me... To hate the fact that I had survived the battle.
The corners of Nadia's lips curved into a cruel smirk before she beckoned to the guards to come back.
"I do not know this woman who claims to be my sister," She told them, "...but you can show her the grave where Isle Castellano lies... Where my real sister died after being found in bed with another man when she was supposed to be in the battlefield."
