The Wrath Of The Shadow Wolf novel Chapter 3

It is the burial ceremony of Evolette, and the graveyard was filled with friends and loved ones who had come from far and near to pay their last respect for Evolette and also show their support to the bereaved family.

With the countenance of everyone present, it was so obvious that they would miss Evolette so much as she had been a dear friend to them during her lifetime.

Riona watched on absentmindedly as the priest prayed over the remains of her late mum, Evolette. All through the duration of the whole event, she was lost and was absent minded on all the happenings around her. The death of her mum had hit her so badly and it had turned her into a shadow of her formal self.

Riona had not known when the priest was done with the intercession and even when he had said ‘We pray oh Lord’, she was still aware.

It was everyone present had chorused ‘Amen’ that her mind was drawn back to them.

Haven been absent minded all through the final rites, and brought her back to the present by the sound of amen from the crowd; she focused her gaze at the coffin in front of the priest.

Riona wondered how such a little piece of wood would be able to hold her mum captive for a very long time. She reminisced on how she would be able to go on all alone without her own mother to lead, guide and love her and within her, she cursed the coffin and death. Of course her dad, Wright is great; there was no denying that fact. But there was Maeve, clung all over him, like she has been waiting for this very moment her whole life.

Thinking of her dad, she turned to his direction. She saw him in grief, and she could see Maeve all glued to him, pretending to console him.

The sight of Maeve beside Wright disgusted Riona. And no matter what happens, she will never trust Maeve’s sudden friendliness and sympathy over the death of her mum. To her, Maeve should be the enemy.

Riona cannot remember where Maeve emanated from and how or why she all of a sudden decided to become a part of their lives.

Even in her grief, Riona was able to access Maeve for the untempt time. To her, there was no doubt that Maeve was beautiful and she also appears to be lovely. But then, her beauty was nothing to Riona who believes that Maeve beauty goes to no issue when compared to her mum, Evolette. As for been nice, Riona overlooked that fact as she believes that she was only acting that role in order to gain her and her father’s trust. An agenda that Riona has already vowed to make impossible.

She cannot fathom ever seeing Maeve around her family. She only sprung out after the demise of her mother, Evolette and Riona had never hesitated to show Maeve that even though her presence brought her father some consolation, she will never be accepted as part of them no matter how hard she tries.

It is not as if Riona had never knew Maeve before now, on the contrary she had knew Maeve ever since she was little. But then, she was never this close to her family and Riona had never seen her close to her dad before now. So what changed after the death of her mum? This is a mystery that Riona is bent on unraveling.

“Hey Riona, I am so sorry that you have to go through this” a voice said beside Riona.

Riona turned to see that Riley was standing next to her. Seeing Riley by her side, Riona can’t tell if she was just coming to stand beside her or if she has been there the whole time. However, Riona was not in any mood to accommodate Riley at this moment and was ready to out rightly discharge her if she persisted.

She takes a look at Riley, and she noticed that her eyes were red. Riona concluded that that might be as a result of crying at this occasion but nevertheless, the realization did not bring any relief to Riona, but only further disgusted her.

Why the hell was she crying? Riona thought. Was she the one that had lost her mum? Riona does not seem to understand the excess show of care and concern on the part of Riley. She could only conclude that she was just like her mum, a person that Riona has already termed as an opportunists.

“Accept my condolence dear” Riley added.

Riley was hoping Riona would embrace her kind gesture, and would not see her as an intruder. She knows what Riona was going through right now and how much she would need a friend to talk to and she was hoping that friend would be her.

However, Riona was filled with nothing but disdain. She believes Riley is only acting up and she could not take this shameless show of hypocrisy any longer. The truth is that, as a classmate, Riley was a girl that Riona has a little respect for, but these past weeks has revealed a whole lot to her and had made her to start seeing Riley as a person one needs to be conscious of.

Rather than respond to Riley’s condolences, Riona decided to go meet her dad who all along has been occupied by Maeve. Her main concern was to go get Maeve far away from her dad since she does not appear to be shameless in her desperation.

As Riona walks towards her dad, Wright, whose face had been bowed to the ground all along, suddenly looked up and saw Riona approaching. He brightened up a little to receive his daughter.

“Hey Riona”

Wright called her as soon as she was standing in front of him.

A tear dropped from her eyes as she could feel the pains in his voice. The death of her mum has really been hard on the both of them. She wishes she could do something to bring him back to how he used to be before the demise of her mum. Riona vowed that she would do anything, absolutely anything to achieve this but would not let Maeve in even if she is the solution that she seeks.

“Daddy” she replied.

She went to where he was standing and she intentionally stood between him and Maeve.

Riona turned to see that Riley had actually followed behind her and was now right where they were, standing close to Maeve.

Riona is strongly of the opinion that Riley and Maeve have all along been waiting for an opportunity to take over her family and Riona is as much ready to forestall this attempt. Riona sees them as been wicked for wanting to profit from her misfortune.

Riona did not want to be in the company of Maeve and Riley as she detests their presence. So she held Wright by the hands and led him away from them. She wanted him all to herself.

As she led Wright through the mist of those that have come to sympathise with them, and away from Riley and Maeve, her eyes wandered through the sympathisers once again.

She could see her aunt Kyra standing beside her husband, Phillip with his right hand on her shoulders. Kyra and Philip had flown in from Regina this morning for the burial.

Kyra wore a dark shade on her black gown and even in her grief, she still looked pretty. She has not been able to bring herself to alter much word ever since her elder sister, Evolette passed on.

She saw Maeve’s family members, the Johnsons. She was able to recognize them as she had attended two or more parties at Riley’s place as a little girl. The ones that her dad had made her go as he claims it would make her appreciate everyone even those beneath her class. Her mum was not in full support of her attending those parties but she never tried to stop her against her dad’s wish.

As a little child, Riona had this fear for the Johnsons. This fear has been built up from how she has always felt whenever she attended Riley’s parties at their house. She wondered why there should have such a large expanse of land at the outskirts of town all to themselves and how much care they had put in to ward off intruders when they should have just sold a good part of it to better their lot.

Riona knew that the Johnsons were not anywhere close to her family in terms of wealth and yet her dad does not have such a large expanse of property. Because of this, Riona suspects that the Johnsons must be hiding something in most of their rooms as they were just numerous for her to count and there were not in use.