We talked some more and I learnt a lot of things. Grandpa also took part in the conversation. He wanted to know what was the point of the legacy. Galena explained that the crystal underground served to preserve her until she found a good host. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t just possess anyone. She needed to find someone suitable, which was why it took decades for someone like that to be born.The first host married a woman from a small mage’s clan that didn’t have any influence. Their children did the same, which created the Remington family. The women they brought were healers. So whatever healing ability the Remington had, it was due to their mage’s bloodline.When their children didn’t become werewolves, Galena had to order for marriages with real werewolves, which enhanced their cover.The Wildknight would look for a wolf that couldn’t give birth to werewolves, since Galena was an artificial one. They wouldn’t look for them in the five packs. I retorted by saying that it wou
I ended up going to the campus the next day. Again, I forgot to ask my uncle. However, that dream couldn’t leave my mind. I wanted to make sure that Sally was Frederick’s mate. I didn’t want to be wrong about something. I mean, she could be his girlfriend before he found his mate.‘Stop thinking.’The campus was flooded with people. I learnt by asking around that not only I missed the announcements for the exam, I missed the entire deal. Now, I was thrown into some kind of a group and I didn’t know about them.I held a piece of papers in my hand, reading the names. The only one I knew was Sally. We were a group of five and our main task was to survive in the forest without any preparations. In other words, we weren’t allowed to take food, weapons or anything that could help us.“Hey, Ebony!”“Sally!” Now, after seeing her, I felt guilty.“I am glad that you’re well. I heard about the explosion and how you were almost caught in it.”“Words sure travel fast.”“Yeah.”We nodded awkwardly
The flag was white. I didn’t know why they chose such a color. It looked like raising the flag meant we surrendered. I didn’t like it. Still, we gotta deal with what we got.“So, how are we gonna survive in the forest without fire, food or anything that can help us?”We were settled near a tree. Durian, Kary and Louis didn’t leave us. Instead, they sat a few distances from us. I didn’t trust them so I wouldn’t tell them my plan. Still, I had to include them in small talks. Before we got into the forest, they checked us thoroughly and removed anything we had. Even their phones were confiscated.“I can deal with that. We’re wolves so we should follow our instinct. There are deer around. We’ll hunt.”“But what about the flag?”“The most logical strategy is to pack up, stock the food of a week and then, start attacking. Mostly, this is what everyone would do.”Except for that guy, he would attack on the first day. Back then, I wondered why he did that. It turned out that his sister in his
Before I could say anything, the Felix guy charged at me but I quickly flipped him over, using the same tactic I used with the idiots.“You should stay down. I am not in the mood to fight, big Felix.”“Wow! I saw this somewhere.”It was surprising how he didn’t look offended. As he got up, I jumped back and climbed a tree. Giving myself advantage.“You’re the girl who was with the three who attacked us earlier. Did you send them to attack us?”“Do they look like people who will listen to me? How did you remember that I was with them? Are you a pervert?” I retorted with a sigh.He laughed. “No. The show you presented earlier was entertaining. It’s hard to forget someone who gave a strong impression.”Oh! Did I?“Look! I am not here to fight. I know you don’t have a flag since you’re parading openly like this. I don’t have mine either. So it’s better to not fight.”I looked at the girl. She was smiling the entire time.“Since when were you following us?”“Before the fight with the three
We sat deep into the cave, where no one could hear us. Sally kept watch near the entrance because the fire was ablaze. Anyone would be able to see the light if he got close enough.“Wow! How did you find this place?”“It’s here, isn’t it? I don’t see we can talk about this now. We don’t have time. I need to talk to the five Sigmas. I talked to one and I got what I wanted from her. I need the others as well. I know we can work on something to protect the packs.”I looked at Marina, not trusting if she should be here. Felix looked at her as well and talked in a rough, wolfy voice.“Marina is a trustworthy girl. I don’t mind her hearing about our past. I am Griffin, the Sigma who blossomed the attribute Strength after countless trials and experiments. Chronos was the last of us to be born and he got it harder than us all.”“You don’t trust me?” Marina pointed at herself.“I am merely being cautious. I know the Sigmas and I share one goal. I have loved ones. I want to protect them. I know
Marina pulled me aside and told me that I shouldn’t trust him. She even reminded me of how he humiliated me in front of everyone. Of course, I didn’t forget. But I couldn’t forget either how persistent of a bastard he was. If I didn’t do what he wanted, he would find a way to make me do it or simply pull off something that would be hard to handle.“It’s a ‘good offer’, don’t you think so, Ebony?” Luke pushed. “I know you’re smart. You won’t listen to those ruffians.”I smiled.I didn’t want to use Felix’ strength this early on. It was better to just think about it from a different perspective. I knew his plan and I was also aware of the possibility that someone could be watching us. I didn’t want to showcase what we had.“Why should I believe this ‘good offer’ of yours?”“If you’ve read the rules, then you know that we can’t go on without making alliances. You know this is the purpose of the game. As long as you have over three flags, you’re in the clear so you don’t need to fight eve
I turned to the others and told them that if things got worse, they should find the flags and go ahead. I took the fake flag from Sally’s hand and hid it under my clothes. First, this was her second task. Second, I needed this fake flag to fool them. I also grabbed a small satchel from her hands that contained crushed wolfsbane. Her third task was to find some and prepare it for me.“Be careful,” Sally said.“What will you do?”I looked at Marina. “Listen, Marina. I need you to trust me. Don’t try to fight him. He planned this all along.”“What do you mean?”“He forces his alliances on groups but midway to his camp, he attacks them and take their flags. That’s what Luke intended to do. But since it didn’t work, he has to take us by force. I know it’s hard to process that I want you to do something without asking questions but I have some doubts and I need to clear my head from them.”“So you want us to run away like cowards.”“Sometimes to win, you need to learn how to lose correctly.
Alright! A wasted day. I just wanted them to join my ranks. With Adolphus and Frederick out of the picture, I thought I would dominate this but it seemed that it wasn’t as expected. Moreover, I didn’t see those who were looking for the five Sigmas, which meant that my theory about them being present around here didn’t turn true.I walked around, wondering what my next action would be. The others would deal with the situation better than me. Also, Sally knew where the flags were and no one would expect that. The only reason why I took the fake flag with me was to make it sound as if they didn’t have one.“Look who we have here.”I stopped and looked over my shoulder.“She must be one of those stupid females that think they can do better alone. Look at her expression. She’s confident.”“I like breaking their spirits. Who goes first?”I studied their bodies while I jumped back and climbed a tree. They looked totally rogue to me. Their clothes were old and they had scars, a lot. Probably
Rayleigh laughed.“I am being serious here,” I pouted. “Grandpa left me with you because I requested so. I want to talk to you alone. It’s sad that Chronos isn’t around anymore but I think it’s for the better. Now, no one has to take meaningless responsibilities. I guess without them, everything will be peaceful.”“How do you know…?”I cut him off. “C’mon! You’re a smart man. You know there is no way a five years old child will talk like this. I’ve lived through two regressions and I’ve come back again as part of the plan, only this time, this is the final phase. We can’t lose.”“Ah! What happened? Why did Chronos disappear?”“My father was supposed to be the sacrifice. I don’t know why but unlike all the other Chronos sent, I am the only one who got to regress more than a decade. That’s why they left the burden to me. Since my father is still alive, I assume that Chronos took the hardest decision in his life. He chose to die and take the others with him. I don’t know if I should feel
EBONY’S POV:I opened my eyes early in the morning. I drank my milk and sat with my parents having breakfast. They laughed together and nothing reminded me of these moments. I have been waiting for my father’s heart attack for two weeks now and it didn’t happen.I checked my tattoo mark and it was there, just faint and impossible to notice.“Sweetie, do you want more milk? You’ve been sipping on your glass while it’s empty,” my mother said.Mom had long black hair and the palest, bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. They weren’t the normal typical blue. They were lighter and paler, as if they were diluted by white and became as blue as the sky early in the morning when the sun had finally settled in place.“Yes, mom.”And I was five.I couldn’t believe that it worked. My father was sitting there, wearing glasses and reading his early morning newspapers. Our house was small and it was full of magical artifacts. Maybe because I was five, I didn’t remember them. Or maybe because a lot happened af
FREDERICK’S POV:I stood outside, thinking about everything that happened to me, all the regressions, the people we lost. I’ve grown numb to all the deaths. As long as Adolphus was alive, there was always a chance to change the outcome.My final role was to kill him. For the regression to happen, he had to die after her.Now, whether we wanted it or not, things would never be the same. I would go back to the kid I was and Adolphus would go back to his old self too. To be honest, I was always jealous of how he had a choice in remembering or not.He got out of the underground cell built specifically for today.“You certainly put so much into this,” he said.“Of course. But this is where our role stops. No matter how much we want to influence things with our current memories, it won’t ever happen. We won’t remember anything.”“It’s true. But this is the price we have to pay if we want it to work. We only need to someone to warn them. They will do the rest. If it doesn’t work again, then
EBONY’S POV:I was sweating profusely. I would die. I would certainly die. For the second time. I knew this was coming but I didn’t expect it to be this soon. I was trying to make a plan to fix things but it seemed all the effort I spent on that was a waste.“Adolphus, please be gentle.”Adolphus was confused. “Aren’t you mad that I killed your father?”“I’m sure he wanted that. He didn’t play a big role in my life so it doesn’t matter. But can you untie me?”He didn’t untie me because Frederick was ready to shoot me. But thinking about it, didn’t he kill me before too? No, he said that Adolphus must have poisoned me so I was dying anywhere. But I didn’t cough blood, which meant it could be that I wasn’t poisoned.‘Don’t overthink. These jerks planned a lot that they won’t say. Well, since we have no choice, let’s just wait till they settle their score. Maybe they’ll fight.’“Wait a second, you look like shit. Did my father beat you that hard?”Adolphus shot me a glare.“Woah! My fath
ADOLPHUS’ POV:Instead of finding Frederick, I found her father. He was waiting for me in the middle of a clearing, playing with some cards. I shifted back to my human form.“You’re late,” he said. “I expected you to get here faster.”“Where is Ebony?”“With Frederick.”“Alright! I will go find her.”“I am afraid that you can’t do that,” he waved his hand and something shifted in the air. “You have to stay with me here. I want to fight you.”“What are you planning, both of you?” I growled. “She’s your daughter.”“I know.”“And you want to leave her alone.”“Frederick said that every time, you said the same words. That’s why the plan was for you to hate her but you still didn’t do that. He wanted you to hate her, to reject her while she wasn’t aware that you’re her mate. But it didn’t happen. I know why a part of phase 2 failed. When planning, no one thought of how my daughter is a variable.”“You won’t stop me.”I shifted and started running. He didn’t stop me. I thought he was all ta
I woke up in a cell. It was easy to recognize it because I’ve been there multiple times before. It reminded me of the torture I was subject to and how I suffered. I didn’t want to go back. And where was my father?The cell was dark. I couldn’t see anything. I tried to move my hands but they were tied. I was on a chair. I had to wait for a long time. I lost track of counting. Maybe it was the third time I reached one hundred.‘This is getting weird. We were with dad and then everything went black. Any idea?’Yeah, but I don’t wanna say it.‘Ammm… Yeah. Horrible. Dad is a jerk.’After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened. It was behind me and I finally caught sight of a lamp and a desk in front of me. Someone stepped inside. I felt him in my bones. Fucking Frederick.“Did you have to make my father into a jerk?”“He understands the consequences, don’t worry?”Frederick walked around and sat on a chair, not far from me.“How do you feel?”“Seriously? You’re asking me that? I fee
ADOLPHUS’ POV:When I saw a white wolf, I was confused. She was running and she didn’t care about the three that followed her. It intrigued me. And then, I felt my mark on her and knew it was my Ebony.I was stricken by how beautiful she was. She looked so free that it made me sad. She didn’t get to shift before and now, she felt how important it was.I didn’t want to overreact but I wanted her. Seeing her naked had only made me want her more. And then, there was her father. I was shocked. When Frederick said someone was telling her things, I didn’t expect it to be someone who was supposed to be dead.‘We gotta do it.’It’s hard to do it.‘We cannot run from this. We have to send her back and as quickly as possible. If she regresses to a time where everything can change, it will be better for all of us. It will undo everything.’But she will remember.‘It doesn’t look like she is suffering anymore. Look at her. She is happy. If she goes back, she will get what she lost and she’ll have
I was a wolf. I was running as fast as I could in the forest, forgetting everything that happened to me. It was so wholesome that I didn’t have to think about anything else. Nothing mattered but running.I felt freedom. Being one with the wind. For thirty years, I’ve never shifted once and here I was, running like a wolf. Nova was happy too. We were happy, ecstatic even. It was a feeling I’ve never felt before.I kept running and running, the wind over my fur but I didn’t feel cold. On the contrary, I felt complete. I finally had the chance to become what I was, a werewolf. We rolled in the grass, chased a few rabbits but didn’t catch them and howled. For the first time, I felt like a child.I didn’t care about anything else.I only stopped when the moon felt so wholesome. I stared at it for a while before I heard a laugh.When I saw who was laughing, I remembered my father, Brandon Wildknight.“Petra was white like you,” he said. When he stood next to me, I realized I was taller than
EBONY’S POV:I closed my eyes and waited for the blood to ooze from me but nothing happened. There was also the fact that I had to deal with a lot of pain. I laid on the ground and curled into a ball.There were a few more gunshots but I didn’t care. It was too much to handle. I hated pain. I hated everything that made me suffer. If this was how shifting worked, I didn’t want it.I heard a crack on my back and then a series of similar sounds followed, but it was slow. So slow that it put me into agony. I wished to sleep it off. Or maybe give my wolf control.Can you take over?‘I am. Why do you think it hurts? It’s because I am taking complete control. Your body is fighting it because you have Wildknight blood.’I felt a warm hand on my hair. It caressed me and then, I smelled something. It was like a smoke that made the pain fade. Slowly, I lost consciousness.Again, my wolf and I were sitting one next to the other. I was conscious of myself so it didn’t sound like a dream and it did