A Kiss For Your Freedom

I continue walking, turning in circles like a lioness in a cage. Yohan may have been caught in his own trap. Maybe he didn’ manage to reach them. Maybe he's already dead. I sigh for at least the hundredth time since I got home. Its like nothing can ever happen the way I want it to. I grab a cigarette which I light mechanically. Clearly, this sister is a real burden.

I look at my cell phone for the umpteenth time. Always nothing. Nothing at all. My heart starts to beat faster. Should I lea again? Do I have to start all over again? No, she won't do anything to me anyway, she'll even keep those Wolves on a leas! so they leave me alone.

I stub out my cigarette before going to my bedroom to open the drawer of my bedside table. I pull out a firearm that I acquired since my encounter with these guard dogs. If they come to me, I won't let it happen. I've never been a weakling, (ll prove it to him once again if I have to. After all, don't we say that we are never better served than by ourselves. I think should sort this out myself once and for all.

POV Melissa

It's the same while being different. I don't really know what really happened but I have to say that I don't like the marks o her face. These are marks of blows. Someone beat him up. But it's not just that. When I see her with these kids, it seems natural, like she was made for this. It's crazy, it's like I'm rediscovering it. Even his look is slightly different. Sometimes me tender when she looks at Dorian or the children, harder at others without me understanding why.

After the meal, she puts the children to bed, who just want a few minutes alone with their mother. When she returns, Dorian disappears into the kitchen to leave us alone. I pour us two glasses, like we did a few years ago. She smiled as she took it and brought it to her lips before taking a sip.

~ Your apartment is really beautiful. I was sure your salon would work.

~ Although I could never finish my greatest work of art.

~ When I think about it, I almost feel like it was in another life.

- You regret?

- Not in the least, even incomplete, it remains magnificent. Your greatest work of art, she adds, taking another sip.

~ Who knows, maybe one day I can finish it.

- One day perhaps, she adds with a suddenly sadder voice.

- I'm not the type to ask questions, when Dorian called me, I didn’t ask anything but I know you. I know when you're not well. Although I must say that your acting has improved over the years.

~ Let's say I have a difficult thing to do but I have to follow through, I have no choice.

- You're talking about your sister, aren't you?

- Indeed, I'm talking about her. She wanted to kill me, my children, my husbands. I don't understand why, at the same tir I tell myself that I think I never understood it. We are so different. His obsession with money, his fixation on me, on my family. I would never have thought of doing such a thing, she said before taking another sip.

- You have always been different. You didn't realize it at the time, but I've known you since we were kids. Just like her. Eve at the time, she only thought about her career, only about the business. She looked down on everyone and looked down on others. I'm not sure how to explain this to you, but I've never felt it. You didn’t see anything because you had other things to deal with. But when you found yourself orphaned, she did everything to manage your life. Choose your educational direction, the career you should have. She pushed you to work in the family business without even asking if you wanted something else. I never said anything, I knew I didn’t have the right, that I couldn't interfere in this relationsh but things are different now, you are different now. I don't know what you're going to do, or even what you're both up to, but do it. Free yourself, once and for all. Dorian told me about this arranged marriage. About what she was planning to dc to you for money. She's gone to the other side, she's no longer your sister, she doesn't even see you as a human being bu just as a way to live peacefully in wealth.

She sighs before emptying her glass which I immediately refill. I know her well enough to know that a little extra drink wil help her open up a little more. she smiled when she saw me do it before continuing.

~ it reminds me of the good old days. When you were trying to find out something and you made me drink a little so I cov finally spill the beans.

~ Which you still don't end up doing, I said proud of myself.

- It's true, but this time it's different Melissa. Telling you everything could bring more problems than anything else.

- Dorian says the same thing.

Immediately, she runs her hand over his neck, over this mark that she already had before leaving. I know it's linked to Dorian, I feel it deep within me.

~ If 1 told you everything, you would think I was crazy. You wouldn't believe me and above all, it might even put you in danger. What I can tell you is that I am very happy. We live in a beautiful house, in the middle of a forest. We are far from everything. There is no store within fifty kilometers and maybe even more, but I have no regrets. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. We live almost independently. Electricity provided by the sun and running water, crops for food. The bare minimum but which makes me get up every morning with a smile. I'm sure it seems crazy to you but they changed my life, its meaning. I realized that I didn't need anything other than them and in that moment, everything took a new meaning. The love I feel for them is so intense that I didn't think it could exist, yet, in addition to what we are goin; through, they gave me the greatest gift of all, our children.

~ I would never take you for a crazy person. You and I have been through enough that we can tell each other everything, you know that as well as I do. However, I am happy to know that you are happy. Although I admit that I was really surpriss to find out that you were a mother.

- Our children are the most wonderful thing in the world.

~ They are great.

- Like you, for welcoming us like this, for freeing yourself to take care of them.

- Stop with that. Dorian spends his time thanking me.

- And he's right. Really.

She takes another sip before settling down a little more comfortably in the chair.

- Coming back from the hospital, I barely recognized the city. At least, I didn't feel out of place there. There are too many people, too much activity. Here, the boys would miss the forest too much.

I cringe at this little sentence. Why would they miss it so much? Why does she seem to love nature so much?

~ They could get used to the city, I said, drinking too. They might even like it.

- It's impossible, they need freedom and to be honest, I don't want it either. I prefer to raise my children far from here. She quickly meets my gaze, I know she's not far away. That he doesn't miss much before talking to me, before giving himself up.

~ They could also find a space of freedom in the city, they both had careers. They might want to take it back.

- I guarantee you no. We are happy, really happy, you can't imagine, this feeling of freedom, this rhythm of life according the sun, nature, the seasons. You probably wouldn't believe it, but now I gut poultry that I killed myself. I make preserves to get through the winter and every day, I play teacher with my children. Melissa loves reading, she reads very well for he age, Julien is still young but he recognizes his first name when it is written. I suspect it must be difficult to understand bu although I never imagined it, it's a life that I wouldn't leave for anything in the world. I like knowing them free and knowir that our children will share this feeling.

Once again, I wince at hearing these words. This need for freedom seems primordial, yet reason continues to elude me. I take another sip as she does the same.

~ You always come back to freedom, I said softly which made her smile a little more.

- Its true, it's important for us, for them, for our children in a few years.

- For what?

- Because a Wolf needs to run, she said in a whisper. A Wolf likes to hunt, travel long distances, mark its territory. When t children meet their Wolves, they will live this experience without any constraints, without the pressure of a pack. They wi be free, free to make their own choice.

I finish my drink before pouring another one. Wolves? I have a hard time understanding, but I let her continue.

- You don't understand, do you? It's normal. These two marks on my neck, she said, placing my hands on them, they are not tattoos, they both marked me. I'm theirs, its like marriage for humans except there can be no divorce between us. We would really die from it, she said, looking into my eyes. We're related, all three of us. The simple fact that Jason is far awa from us is t*****e as much for us as for him. We perceive everything we feel, each other.

~ Which explains why Dorian knew you were awake.

~ We know everything, all the time. We share everything, pain, suffering, joy, love. I don't really know how to explain it to you but it's as if we were united and nothing could separate us, ever.

- When you talk about Wolves?

- I'm talking about real Wolves, magnificent Wolves. Much bigger, more powerful than anything you've seen in zoos or on TV. Dorian and Jason are different, they are not human. Just like our children. Even if I am, the Wolf part of their fathers is stronger, I feel it more and more as they grow up.