CHAPTER 42: FAMILY REUNION

A beautiful woman stepped into the path of the attack before I could relieve the young man of his head. She had strikingly long white hair and a face one could only imagine on a goddess. I immediately froze when I saw her, and so did everyone else.

The first person to react was Lily, whose face lit up with a bright smile as she jumped out of Allison’s arms.

"Mama~"

My mother smiled when she saw Lily jumping towards her and caught her mid-air and began showering her with kisses, while we all stood in a daze at her sudden appearance. Even the young man, who was radiating enough killing intent to make the air heavy, stopped in his tracks when he saw her.

"I missed you so much, baby," she squealed as she hugged Lily, who was giggling loudly.

After she finished embracing Lily, she turned to us, particularly Derrick, who still had his feet on the young man’s head, pressing him to the ground.

"Let him go, Derrick."

"Mom? What are you—"

Derrick was about to ask a question, but hearing his alpha’s command, he had no choice but to obey. The young man immediately sprang to his feet, ready to attack Derrick, but he was stopped in his tracks.

"Kaelen!" The moment he heard my mother’s voice, he froze. "Go home, Kaelen. We’ll talk about this later."

Kaelen glared at her but didn’t utter a word. Instead, he woke up his unconscious friends and turned to leave with them.

"My father will hear of this," he muttered bitterly before he left.

Liora, who was standing with her mouth agape, finally decided to speak, but before she could utter a word, my mom approached her and cupped her face.

Liora tried to play it off, but immediately tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Allison watched them with tears in her eyes before running into my mother’s arms, crying. Soon, my mom gestured for me and Derrick to come over to her, and hesitantly, we did.

My mother cupped my face, ruffled my hair, and gave Derrick a kiss on the cheek.

"My babies, I’m glad you’re all alright."

I glanced back to see Isabella standing off to the side, so I gestured for her to come forward. She hesitated at first, but it was an order, so she complied.

"Who is this?" my mother asked with a confused look.

I opened my mouth to speak but was immediately interrupted.

"This is Isabella, she’s our new sister. If it weren’t for her, we all wouldn’t have made it here alive," Liora said as she took Isabella by the hand.

Isabella looked surprised by Liora’s words, as if she never expected her to say that. My mother looked at the two girls holding hands, then a smile bloomed on her face as she pulled Isabella in close and hugged her tightly.

Isabella’s face suddenly turned red, like a volcano about to erupt. The cute expression she made caused a mischievous grin to appear on my mother’s face as she hugged her even tighter and began teasing her. After a while, she finally let Isabella go.

"Who was that guy, the one who attacked us?" Derrick asked.

My mother smiled warmly as she stroked Lily’s head.

"He’s your cousin. He actually reminds me a bit of you, Derrick," she teased.

Derrick’s expression froze stiff. He clearly wasn’t expecting that answer.

"You can’t be serious."

"Let’s discuss this at the lodge. Your father is waiting for us there." my mother spoke with a kind smile.

We all nodded in agreement and followed her back to the lodge. Allison and Liora surrounded her as we walked and began chatting up a storm. As we walked, I sensed we still weren’t out of the clearing. There were still people following us.

Just then, I spotted my mother glancing in my direction.

’I swear this woman is a mind reader.’

No one else had realized we were being followed. Her staring at me was a discrete signal telling me to keep quiet. I nodded at her, assuring her that I wouldn’t say anything. Though, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on.

Why were the werewolves so guarded in the first place? Could it be the zombies? Or maybe some sort of monster?

Whatever it was, I could practically smell the fear oozing from them. Something had spooked them, and whatever it was, it could probably prove to be a nuisance for me. After just a few minutes of walking, we finally arrived at the lodge.

The lodge was small in size. It was difficult to see how it was going to fit all eight of us. Nonetheless, we made our way inside, and immediately a nostalgic scent hit me. This place definitely smelled familiar.

My mother smiled as she looked at our stunned faces. She seemed to be beaming with joy.

"Your father must be out back. I’ll go get him."

Before we could say anything, she rushed off with Lily clinging to her tightly.

"Honey!"

After a few minutes, we heard a loud shriek and a crash that sounded as if someone had fell. It was then followed by loud stomping footsteps then a few seconds later our father burst into the room practically half-naked. It looked like he was taking a shower and had barely wrapped himself up in a towel.

A look of disgust crossed Liora’s and Isabella’s faces as they frowned at him. But Allison, on the other hand, rushed to give him a hug while crying like a little girl. He warmly embraced her and he too began crying. My father was a man who looked like he was in his thirties. He had dark hair, a slim build, and wore glasses most of the time.

Since werewolves have a longer lifespan, it takes a little longer for us to age. Some elders have been known to have lived for over 150 years.

Our tearful reunion lasted for hours as we explained everything that had happened since the apocalypse started and soon it was dark outside. We sat down for dinner that Mom had made. We laughed and talked until it was time for bed. They mostly praised Derrick for getting us here safely.

There were only two rooms in the lodge: the main room, where Mom, Dad, and Lily would be staying, and another room where the rest of us would stay. Luckily, the room where we would be staying had enough bunk beds for all of us to sleep. But before I went to bed, I needed to talk to my father about something.

As everyone went to sleep, the two of us stayed in the living room, standing face to face.