CamelliaAs soon as I walk into the kitchen and see Nero leaning against the marble counter, I can feel something is wrong. Nereo is not feeling well, so after tucking him in bed for a nap after daycare, I wanted to come start with dinner, but the look on Nero’s face gave me pause.“Where’s Nereo?” he asks before I can ask what’s wrong.“He’s not feeling well. I got some meds from the pack clinic and put him to bed. Is everything okay?” I say as I approach him and he shakes his head. “We found Osiris,” he says and shock courses through me… but then I frown because he doesn’t look particularly happy. The only thing that could mean is—“Oh my Goddess, is he okay? He’s not hurt, is he?” I say as I place my hands on his chest, and he shakes his head while holding my wrists.“It’s not like that, no, he…” he trails off and sighs. “It seems he got too close to the truth about who took your memories and they did the same to him. But they didn’t just take his memories, Camellia, they took his
NeroI’ve barely had time to sit the past few days since we found Osiris and have been in more meetings that I can count. Cecelia couldn’t leave Norway as she had an important session with a witch doctor scheduled for the next week, so I had to go to the next big thing. But none of the witches I have spoken to seems to know what I am talking about or what could be wrong with my brother.Frustration doesn’t even cover it. No other Alpha in the country has heard of what happened to Camellia and Osiris, but they’ll be keeping an eye out for me. Not even Creed’s witch, the one who was trained by the Moon Goddess Catarina herself, has a clue what this could mean, but she’ll be looking into it and letting me know.So, now I’m back to pacing my office. I have no idea how to end this fucked up nightmare because I don’t even know how it even started. Walking to my bourbon decanters, I pour myself two fingers when I hear the door to my office opening. I don’t even need to turn around to know i
NeroI’m sitting in the soundproof basement of the pack house; soundproof for the exact reason you’re thinking it is.Cezar’s tied to a chair in the dimly lit room, his eyes darting between Orion and me as we stand before him. His hands are bound securely, and his usual air of authority is replaced by an uneasy tension.“Nero? What the hell is going on? Why am I tied up?” he asks, trying not to show fear, but I know him already.I cross my arms and pin him with a glare. “You know exactly why you’re here, Uncle, and you need to start talking before I start breaking.”He swallows hard, his throat bobbing. “I—I don’t know what you mean. Whatever she told you is a lie—”“So you’re saying my mate is lying about feeling scared when she’s around you? Because I can tell you now that I’ll believe her before I believe you,” I say, and I swear I can fucking see her looking relieved.What the hell is that about?“You need to start talking,” I repeat, my voice steady but filled with a cold fury. “
CamelliaNero has been acting odd these past few days. He seems to be a lot more attentive, constantly telling me he loves me even when I can’t return the sentiment yet. I know I shouldn’t be complaining but I can tell when something’s up.Right now I’m in the kitchen with Osiris. He’s helping me cook and talking about his problems a bit. I don’t mind at all and wish I could have had someone like that when my memories were taken.“Did you ever get these flashes of images? I get them a lot lately and they’re always accompanied by—”“Mind splitting headaches,” I say while chopping the vegetables for the stir fry. He looks surprised that I would admit this. “Yep, but I only started getting them when Nero came into my life again. I’ve gotten more flashbacks since being home from Italy.”He continues slicing the chicken filets into strips, then he glances up again. “That makes sense, I guess. But I thought the witch said our memories were completely removed, not just hidden under a spell?
Nero“So we’re back to square one,” Orion comments when I admit to him what I saw in Cezar’s mind. “And there’s someone else fucking with people’s memories.”I nod. “Not only that, but I have to explain to everyone why Cezar is dead. I’m sure they all felt the link snap,” I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. “I’ll have to make something up. Thank fuck he didn’t have a wife, or I’ll have to lie more.”“The fucker was lucky he got death after what you told me,” Orion growls. Killing him was easy, but I’m not going to tell Orion how I wish I kept him alive so I could slowly torture him. After what I saw, he deserved that, at least.“Okay, enough about that fucker. We need to focus on the leads Osiris had before they got to him. What have you got so far?” I ask, leaning forward on my desk. Orion brings out a laptop and places it in front of me. “I’ve gone through everything on here, but none of it makes sense to me. See if you have any luck with this,” he says, sliding the laptop acr
NeroI’ve been thinking about how to approach Morana about Osiris’s investigations. Not only do I not know how it’s going to be, I also have no idea if she’s even aware of the fact that Osiris was looking into her wolf.To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to find what I did on his laptop. I thought he was looking into Camellia’s memory erasure, so why was he so caught up in Morana’s wolf? Are the two connected? I can’t ponder this any longer than I have because there’s a knock on my office door and I know it’s Morana. She walks in with an extremely nervous look on her face and the anxiety in her scent doesn’t set me at ease, either.“You wanted to see me, Nero?” she asks as she approaches my desk and I nod and get to my feet, gesturing to the sofas. “Sit down, there’s something we need to talk about,” I say as I sit down on one of the two-seater sofas and she lowers herself next to me. “It’s about your wolf—”“Did Camellia tell you about my dreams?” she shrieks. “She promised she wouldn
Morana/“Morana, we need to head back—”//“No! They’ll kill me now that they know it was me!”/ I exclaim, running as far as my paws can take me. /“I did this! I somehow…this thing made me hurt Camellia!”/It’s all coming back to me now. This thing inside of me gained followers and had Camellia taken away after nearly killing Aeron and Me. It planned for me to be hurt in the process so no one would pin the blame on me.What the hell! I hurt Osiris as well and nearly hurt Aeron, too. I have to run away before—/“They’re your family, Morana. They won’t hurt you, they’ll try to help,”/ my wolf, Scythe, nearly growls. /“Trust me for once and not what this demon is making you believe!”/~“Do you really think they won’t kill you when you go back? Poor, naive little sister. You took Camellia’s memories and had her shipped to a different country while she was pregnant. Nero will never—”~/“Don’t believe its words, Morana! It’s trying to weaken your resolve so it can take over, you need to stay
NeroThe door to my office opens and I brace myself for what I’m about to see. The mind link has been quiet with me unable to contact Morana or check on her at all. Either she blocked us out, or the Meraloth did.Orion walks in with a grave expression on his face, and behind him follows Morana with glistening eyes. I’m about to say something, when Camellia leaps to her feet and rushes toward Morana. I watch my sister flinch, but then Camellia wraps her arms around her and Morana bursts into tears. “I’m so sorry, Camellia! I did this to you, I’m so sorry!”“Shh, I don’t blame you, Morana,” Camellia says in a soft tone, rubbing her back. “Whatever happened, it wasn’t you and it wasn’t your fault.”I’m not getting any manipulation from Morana’s scent, and no sign of the Meraloth’s presence at all so I know she’s back to being herself for now. But how long can that last? How safe are we from this?“Morana, you need to tell us everything you know,” I say as soon as they break off their em