“NO!” Kieran roared.And right as the dagger pierced the surface of my shoulder, Daniel was promptly pushed off me. “I said *don’t touch her*,” he growled.The weight of his words fell over everyone in the room, and once again I experienced the tangible sway of his order.“Kieran,” Daniel huffed out, unable to get back up to his feet. “She—.”“No, enough! You’re hereby forbidden from moving until further notice,” Kieran said. “That goes for you too Allison. Sit down. Now. And I don’t want to hear another word from either of you.”Allison gritted her teeth but did as she was told.“What… What is that?” I asked. “What did you do to them?”Kieran looked defeated as he straightened back up, unable to meet my eyes. He simply stared at two people he held dear as they were trapped on the floor.“An Alpha heir order,” he said. “It’ll only hold them long enough until a full ranked member arrives though.”“Kieran—.”“Leave… Rae,” he said quietly. “I can’t do anything else for you now.”The pa
Two months had gone by since my escape from Ashwood. The day still haunted me whenever I thought about it, remembering the faces of loathing, remembering the fear and confusion… remembering the pain of leaving Kieran. It was that pain which was still the hardest to deal with, like an aching that never left me. A constant thorn in my side to remind me how we couldn’t be together… and it wasn’t just thoughts either. With the suppressors assumedly now completely worn off, for the first time I was experiencing living with what I imagined our entire species did; feelings that belonged to a creature inside you. Every single day it was like I could feel its pain crying for Kieran, whimpering internally as if I’d amputated its arm off. It was exhausting… and it only made it more difficult. Sometimes, in my darkest hours, I contemplated taking the suppressors again. There had been one bottle left behind which now stood atop my bedroom dresser, staring at me with the promise of making the wo
This was the riskiest venture I’d done since returning from Ashwood.Not only was I now leaving the protection of my father’s reach, but I was willingly jumping down a rabbit hole that could potentially bring more problems in its wake. Opening myself up to secrets I might eventually regret uncovering.But I couldn’t go on like this anymore.To continue as I was would only lead to destroying myself or others, possibly bringing more harm than I knew how to fix. *If* it was even fixable. I could only hope that Zac would recover and stop treating me like… whatever that was.However, it was clear that there were things at work behind the scenes that weren’t immediately obvious. Things that might come back to bite me whether I liked it or not.And so I had to start with what information I did have.…Information that led me to staring at an old iron woven gate, a chilling familiarity about it.Because it was this very gate that belonged to the place I’d called home for some time.The orphana
The possibility of having family still alive felt a little too good to be true, though it was hard to disregard what the lady was saying. A lot of time had passed since I was a child, yet there was potentially someone out there claiming to be related to me, to be from the same pack I apparently once belonged to.‘Claiming’ being the keyword.It would be naïve to completely believe it so easily. I’d already been burnt by Ashwood for trusting too much and I didn’t wish to repeat this.But if she *was* my family… could that maybe mean…?“Be careful, Rheyna,” the lady added in my silence. “I can see you’re eager to find whoever this is but… I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Even putting aside her inability to provide documents, she was also vague on *how* she was related to you, something that seemed a little strange. I know you might wish her to be your mother, but there wasn’t much resemblance between the two of you.”She pointed out the same concerns I’d already thought of, killing the sma
‘Beware the Silver Saintess, her hair as silken thread. With her consort mate of power, the people wept and bled.’‘And beware the Siren’s call, his eyes as gold as ore. With whispers of manipulation, they’ll hold you in their thrall.’‘And if you breathe despite this, a devil still awaits.’‘Because forever lives another….’‘…The deathless angel mate.’The words of Allison’s recited passage repeated through my head, echoing like a bad dream. An impossible dream.How could she be…?But there was no mistaking it. With the confirmation of who she was, I realised why she looked so familiar. I’d seen a painting of her inside Ashwood’s Moon Goddess temple. They’d depicted her with sapphire-like eyes and shadowy wings.So… did that mean she really was…?“…I… I’m sorry, I’m not sure I’m following…,” I stuttered out, struggling to wrap my head around the new information. “Did you say… great-great-grandmother? …How are you alive?”Myra just laughed though and moved a hand to cup her cheek. But
“You know me?” I asked, surprised.She’d somehow known my name and implied we’d met already once before. Had we been childhood friends maybe? But that would have been back when I was five years old, her maybe even younger than me. That would be such a long time ago to recall.Despite this though… I had a nagging in my head as if I’d heard her name recently. Somewhere I couldn’t quite place… At Ashwood perhaps? No… that didn’t seem right.Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to think on it for long though.At my question, Clarissa instantly looked even less enthused, her eyes narrowing slightly.“…What kind of dumb question is that?” she replied curtly.“Clarissa!” Myra snapped. “Where are your manners? Apologise. Right now.”“But, Myra…,” she whined. “It’s not—.”However, Clarissa wasn’t able to finish her sentence, another coughing fit wracking through her chest. “…Stupid girl,” Myra sighed, walking over to her bedside.She wrapped the tiny girl back in her blanket and forced her to lie do
“Breathe,” Myra said, gesturing with her hands for me to inhale. “Breathe and hold it.”We’d been at this for a few hours now, Myra doing her best to teach me what she could. She seemed to know a lot about how the ability worked despite not possessing it herself. Though, as she had already previously pointed out, she’d raised a few generations of Knight children.Truthfully, I didn’t expect to feel as comfortable around her as I did. We’d only just met but there seemed to be a deeper connection, something that was drawing me to her. A feeling of safety and reassurance in her presence, perhaps.“…I am,” I muttered.“Then ask me for this pen,” she said, holding it up in front of me. “Remember to dig deep inside, connect with that spark, and pull it forward.”I did as she instructed, doing my best to reach for it. But it was difficult, increasingly so. The more we did this, the worse a headache was pulsing in my mind, slowly becoming worse.I reached… and reached… and reached… and when I
“Is that…?” I tried to ask.But I didn’t get the question out as I heard Clarissa begin cursing next to me, doing so whilst struggling to get out of bed.“What are you doing?” I gasped, seeing her shaking with the sheer effort required.“What does it look like I’m doing?” she snapped. “Fucking help me up already.”“Hey! Stop being so rude to—.”“No!” she yelled, cutting me off. “From here on out you shut up and listen to my instructions. Now pick me up.”“What?”“Pick. Me. Up. Onto your back. You’ll need to carry me for this.”Stunned, I started to help her out of bed, but couldn’t stop myself from asking another question anyway.“What’s happening, Clarissa? Are those howls…?”“What’s happening is that we’re going to run and get Myra,” she said, speaking as if I were a child. “Hopefully before it’s too late.”“Too late for what?”And she paused then for a moment, just long enough to look up and allow me to feel the full gravity of her words.“…They’re here,” she said. “The hunt begins