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