Thalia had never been to a shifter’s funeral before, she wasn’t here when her parents died and lone shifters didn’t have any funeral, if one of them died, the group would look for a suitable spot and bury the lone shifter there was no ceremony or anything. But it wasn’t much different from those funeral ceremonies that were held for humans, except everything was done by the shifters and there was no clergyman leading the ceremony it was the Alpha who was reading the scriptures. But it must have been difficult for him for the Alpha of Ivory pack was Carter’s cousin and the son of the deceased. Though he stood tall and firm in front of the pack and was speaking about how his mother was a warm and supportive pack member who always wanted the very best for the pack, but his voice was shaking throughout the entire time and behind him, his sister never stopped sobbing as her mate comforted her with an arm wrapped around her shoulders.Once he was done, the members of the pack and his family
“Are you okay?” asked Carter and Thalia snapped out of her daze as she nodded and looked at the tombstone that was apparently too clean for something that has been neglected for years, however as she was looking at her mother’s tombstone, her gaze swiftly fell on the grave next to Lydia’s and then all the wind was knocked out of her lungs. There laid her father’s tombstones just next to her mother’s—— alone and forgotten like no one has paid any heed to it and that was what stuck ominous to her. Why was it that her mother’s grave was so well taken care of but her father’s was not —— who was—- her eyes widened as a realization snapped in place.One that was akin to robbing her breath away. “ He is here..” she turned to look at Carter who was frowning as well, as she clung to the sleeves of his suit. “ That monster, he is here… I knew it. I knew it… my mother was a good woman there had to be something that was troubling her, you see that… someone cleans her graves like every second week
Carter took her around the territory, as his cousin lived in the innermost part of the pack with the rest of his pack guarding him. The whole time Thalia looked around the territory hoping that she would remember anything, but not surprisingly she didn’t remember anything, it was frustrating but also kind of relieving, because she was sure that she wouldn’t have been able to walk on these paths if the laughter of the past echoed in her ears. As they approached the innermost part of the pack, Carter pointed to a house that was located on the outskirts of the pack away from the rest of the scattered houses of the pack in the territory. “ That’s where your parents use to live.” Thalia didn’t know why he told her about it because she was sure that she would have been fine without knowing anything but despite the internal resistance she was feeling, she still looked in the direction where he was pointing as the urge to resist couldn’t win over her curiosity. The house wasn’t big unlike t
Thalia didn’t know why someone was calling her but she still went with the child who was asking her to follow him. If Carter was there he would have told her that she was a fool to try something like that but at that moment she didn’t think that she will be harmed with so many guests in the house. “ There,” said the child pointing to the small space next to the staircase. “ He is asking him to come there to meet him.”Thalia frowned a bit suspicious of this ‘him’ who was calling for her but didn’t bother to even tell his name, she sighed and walked to the staircase. She too wanted to know who this ‘him’ was and in case this man was the one she has been looking for so long then —- her eyes narrowed, there were a lot of questions that she had in her head that she needed answers for, why did the man chase after her mother and what did he wanted from her? Who killed her mother and many more questions —- but just as she reached the small space that was next to the staircase, she saw that
Thalia’s breath hitched as she looked at the little boy who was tied to the wall with chains as she walked close and stopped in front of him. “ Is your name mate?”He didn’t say anything and Thalia narrowed her eyes as she pouted at him. Though the basement was still dark and she couldn’t see anything clearly, she was still able to make out the beautiful features of the young boy. He was dressed in dirty clothes and his eyes were dark as that bitter dark chocolate that she didn’t like to eat but her wolf was eager to know about him and so was Thalia, so she walked closer and then took in another glimpse of the boy. This time he looked familiar, a bit more than before—- she blinked her eyes and took out a handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt before approaching the boy.He turned his face away and she furrowed her brows as she unhappily glared at the ungrateful boy. “ I am trying to clean your face you look dirty.” The boy stiffened and then she took her chance to clean his face, h
The door of the en-suite bathroom was open yet there was no light flickering through the gap. Carter frowned as he slowly made his way towards the sobbing sound that was coming through the tiny gap and pushed the door further open, the sound of water and the smell of blood and tears jolted his mind awake. Startled he switched on the light and there she was, sitting in the bathtub with blood seeping out of her curse marks, her face buried in her knees and her shoulders trembling with an ache that was burning in his skin with just one glimpse.As he moved towards her, Thalia didn’t even flinch or move. It's like she wasn’t even aware that she was sitting in water that was too cold with darkness cascading upon her shoulders, she was crying while scrubbing the curse marks on her legs like she was trying to punish herself for something that she has done, seen, felt —— Shit.“ Darling?” He called out to her as he sat next to the bathtub and raised her head, her expression dead and cold. Jus
He wasn’t lying when he said that, she was indeed different to him than her mother, to him Thalia was just Thalia… with her stubbornness and untainted naiveness. “You are the worst liar, I know,” said Thalia as she closed her eyes and leaned against him. “ I am a carbon copy of her, if you were to take my curse marks off and take a look at my face, you will realise just how much I look like her.” She then struggled to get away from him and then walked back to the bathroom, he didn’t get a chance to stop her, no matter how many times he tried to stop her, she walked away and then climbed up inside the bathtub before she picked up the loofa and started scrubbing her skin once again. “ I am just like her, how can you even want someone like me and why? Just because I am your mate? You could have chosen anyone, any woman out there who will not cause you the same pain as me.” Her skin became red as the curse marks on her skin started to bleed red, which meant that she was hurting but sh
Finished wrapping her hands Carter looked at Thalia who was still huddled on the bed, still as shaky as ever. He pushed her down so that she could lay down on the bed, “ You need to sleep, darling.” Her electric blue eyes darted to his face as she reached out her wrapped-up hand and clutched his shirt, “ Don’t leave.” Her whisper was so damn broken just like the light in her eyes. “ I am so..sorry, I am so sorry.” He held her hands and sat next to her. “ I am not leaving, sugar, I am here.” Wiping the tears that she was starting to shed again, Carter whispered, “ You have nothing to apologise for, if anything I am the one who is sorry..” He shouldn’t have let her father take her away from him, nor should he have started this war between them that led her to be this insecure about him, about them. When he knew that it was one of those wars that he was going to lose.“ I am sorry, I forgot you,” she murmured clenching his hand in her, her lips wobbled as she turned to look away from
A loud echo of bullet shot echoed in the clearing as Carter pulled Thalia away but it turned out that his actions were useless because even though Cruz seemed to have aimed for Thalia the bullet didn’t hit her but instead hit him. “ No! Carter!” Thalia shrieked as she held Carter’s body that went limp against hers, as she looked at the painfully twisted face of her mate, Thalia was able to feel the echo of her mate’s pain through their mating bond and that was how she found out that the bullet wasn’t just an ordinary bullet it was specially made for putting down shifters with just one shot. Silver bullet dipped in wolfsbane and moulded with together with the holy water, her stomach churned as she felt the acidic sensation Carter was feeling while shaking her head as she cupped his face and crouched down with his head in her lap. “ No, No … No... No.. she tried to use her blood on his wound but it was of no use, she couldn’t heal him no matter how much blood she poured into the wound.
Thalia waited for Cruz to turn around, once she was sure that he was engrossed with her mother’s corpse and the stupid pentagram thingy, she flicked the pocket knife in her hand. Her gut was burning like someone has doused sulphuric acid on her skin and lit her up on fire, it was a pain like she has never felt before and because Cruz has stabbed her with a silver knife her healing was painfully slow and she was sure that she was going to pass out. He hasn’t just stabbed her for collecting her blood, he has left her to die…blood soaked her hoodie and dripped onto the concrete floor below her. As she moved her hand trying her best to slice the belt off her body, she could feel her wound throbbing with every move until it started to hurt with every breath that she took. Tears filled her eyes but she didn’t stop, it was hurtful but she knew that it will liberate her somehow. One strap down. Two straps down. Once her hand was free, she pulled the straps of the metal table that was tyi
With a great leap, Carter felt his wolf lunge against his surface as he growled, “ Renard!” Before springing and shifting mid-air as he rushed towards the wolves behind whom Renard was hiding. Every bite and slash of his was filled with anger and vigour, he didn’t care about the blood that was matting his fur or the corpses he was leaving behind, his eyes were on the prize and that prize was none other than Renard’s head. While he rushed towards Renard, the latter’s wolves tried their best to slow him down, they bit and clawed greatly affecting his movements but Carter was like an impending doom that was coming after Renard, nothing stopped him. He didn’t care about the bite on his neck, the claw mark on his hank and nor did he care about the blood that was dripping down his muzzle, all he cared about was reaching Thalia as soon as he could. Pain and blood loss was slowing him down but Carter couldn’t care about that, not when his mate was in danger. Especially, not when this f*cker
Carter groaned as he banged his fists on the steering wheel of the car he was driving. He tried to stop the ringing and pounding of blood in his ears but then again no wolf would take any obstruction including the one he was facing when he was in a hurry to get to his mate, he could feel the slow churn in his stomach, the pain pounding in his veins like little hammers drumming down on his head, stomach and every freakin pore of his body and here he was staring at Renard and his wolf as they surrounded him and his pack mates. Jake peered out of the windshield as he counted the wolves that were standing outside. “ One, two, three…damn that f*cker brought at least fifteen wolves to take us on, maybe he wants to bury us in an early grave.” “ Like he will get a chance to do that,” grunted Shayne from behind while looking out of the window as well. “ Fifteen, I think I can take them, we have been in a worse situation before haven’t we?”“ We have been,” rasped Dan as he rubbed the back of
Thalia saw his madness, that crazy glint in his eyes as he fervently drew the pentagram on the floor with her blood that he has collected, an angry flush crept on her face as she glared at him. “ You can stop with that bullshit of yours you see? Disrespecting my mother, causing her life to become a mess because of you and then digging her body out of the grave, none of these actions says that you loved her. You are the reason, she is dead, all right? You rejected her, when she wanted you to claim her, you didn’t do it and yet you didn’t let her go. You framed her for being crazy and a kidnapper who went mad because you refused her, till the end you painted a totally different picture, all because you wanted to hide the hideous things that you have done, so what are you doing all this for?”Cruz’s head snapped up, as he straightened up and twirled the knife in his hands, eyes hard as he predatorily moved towards her. “ You don’t understand, I never wanted her to die you see? I wouldn’
“Did you find her?” asked Carter as he rushed out of his lodge that was at the centre of the pack and rushed to meet with Shayne who shook his head. “ I have checked the kitchen, the pantry, even the small shack where she used to stay, I can’t find her.” “ This is ridiculous, where did he take her?” said Carter as he tugged on the locks of his hair with his hands. “ No one saw him leave the territory, his car is parked in the garage so how can he take her away in such a short period of time?” An hour ago, he did not send Brandon to call for Kim, there was no way he was going to send Brandon to call for Kim leaving Thalia alone with him when he was still suspicious of Brandon, so when Kim came back and told him that it was Brandon who sent her to see him, Carter knew that something was wrong with Thalia at once and he rushed to the lodge to see what was going on but there was nothing as if she wasn’t even there at the first place.“ I can’t find Brandon,” Jake whom Carter sent to see
Thalia’s wolf arched her back as she prepared herself to lunge at Cruz but Thalia knew that it was going to be of no use, so she hurriedly said, “ You killed your brother right? You sacrificed him for my mother?” In her memories, she remembered a brown wolf lunging at her mother to protect Carter when her mother tried to claw Carter’s heart out, if that wolf wasn’t Cruz then surely it was —— Brandon.Cruz jutted his chin out Ashe nodded, “ That’s right, should have kept his nose out of my business. He said he loved Lydia but he crushed her throat right in front of me, he was even going to go after your father and end his misery so that he will not suffer much from the loss of his mate but I got there first, I took care of your father first and then took care of my dear brother, I left him half alive and left another wolf with his face clawed so badly that no one would be able to recognise him. Everyone thought that the body belonged to me and I died while taking care of your father, a
Have you ever tried to stuff your brain until you can no longer stuff anything in it? Well, that was what Thalia was going through right now, she didn’t know whether Cruz was saying the truth or not but she felt her brain sort of freeze as she shuffled back and said, “ This is a joke right? This has to be a joke.” “ You can deny it all you want, sweetie but you know it in your heart that it's the truth,” Cruz smirked as he kicked back on his chair. “ You remember it all but you just don’t want to accept it, I know I get that feeling too… I felt the same way when I found out that my mate mated with a f*cking submissive, she could have done so much better than that gutless submissive wolf but she just had to do something to piss me off.” “ Or maybe she genuinely liked him,” said Thalia before she took another look at the basement, she knew that Cruz would not just capture her for no reason, there must be something more to this, now Thalia hoped that Carter would be able to sense her
Thalia’s eyes snapped open as she took in the surroundings around her. The place wherever she was, it was just sad —— the windows were boarded up and there were also panes of wood that were hanging off the doors and if that wasn’t enough, crude insults were sprayed all over the walls. She didn’t have to think about where she was anymore, with just another glimpse of the surrounding she knew where she was —- she was home. The one where everything went downhill. And she wasn’t in the living room, no she was in that one place she hated with all her core, it was the basement. The exact same one where Carter was locked up by her mother, she sucked in a breath and somehow pushed herself to sit up straight, her feet weren’t chained but they were bounded by something, when she looked down, she realised that it was shifter resistant ropes. She muttered a curse inwardly but her curse stuck in her head mid-way as her gaze fell on something much more hideous that was sitting in the corner. Ori