ELODIE
If it weren’t for the fact that they told me Freddie was their father, I wouldn’t have thought they were related. Their appearances were nothing alike: blonde with green eyes, dark hair with gray eyes.
They were opposites in every way.
My eyes darted to his wife. She was blonde, too, with blue eyes, which her daughter had inherited. She had that innocent look, but unlike her son, she seemed to be hiding her true self behind that facade.
“Would you start with an introduction first?” I snapped at Freddie. I wasn't going to let him speak to me like that. I wasn't going to let anyone speak to me like that.
Freddie’s eyes widened in disbelief before he threw his head back in laughter. I couldn’t tell what was funny about how I spoke to him. Ignoring his laughter, I proceeded to pick out several foods to fill my plate. Tedros helpe
ELODIEI glanced at Tedros as soon as his father was done talking. Why was he paying attention to me? It wasn’t like we knew each other. Tedros reached down to hold my hand and squeezed it softly. He was comforting me, but I felt like it was more like telling me not to snap. “Yes, go on, Freddie,” I replied. “What is it that you want to ask me?”I had a feeling that whatever he wanted to ask me wasn’t good. A grin spread across his face. Everyone was silent; I guess they were curious about what he had to say.“I heard you are the best friend of my son’s ex-wife,” Freddie stated, making me freeze. Why was he bringing that up? If he had paid attention to that, he must have known what happened.“Yes, I am,” I replied, unwavering.“Why are you suddenly asking that?” Tedros demanded. “We have made it clear that we won’t mention my ex-wife anymore.”Turning my gaze to look at him, I found him glaring at his father. “That’s right,” Belle added. “If that’s what you want to talk about, you
ELODIEHe was standing up for me. Does that mean he doesn’t believe in his father? I mean, what his father said made a little bit of sense, and they could believe it. After all, I don’t think they fully trusted me.What if they secretly blamed me for her death? I was the one who offered to buy her baby’s outfit the day before. If only I remembered what happened. My head throbbed as I tried to think about it.“Are you so dumb that you can’t realize that she killed her best friend?” Freddie pressed. “Didn’t they head out shopping?”Shopping? I couldn’t remember heading out shopping with her. I remembered telling her we were going to go, but I had no idea if we did.The pain in my head increased, and everywhere suddenly became blurry. I placed my hand on my head and tried to keep my eyes open. My head throbbed, and I felt a tight grip on my chest. “Be quiet!” Mrs. Vinters' voice echoed, and I saw a liquid spilling. Even though my vision was getting blurry, I found the liquid spilling
ELODIE“Are you alright, sweetie?” Mrs. Vinters asked, her fingertips grazing my cheek.Why are they so worried? I am not dead yet; I just collapsed from... I couldn’t even tell what caused me to faint. It must have been stress from reading all night without getting proper sleep.“I am fine,” I replied.“No, you aren’t,” Belle choked out.It was then that I realized she was crying. What the hell was happening? Her sobs increased, making me panic.“I am seriously fine,” I said, trying to calm her down. “Nothing happened to me; I only passed out from stress. It was nothing important.”Although I was confused, I was glad that they were still by my side. That proved they didn’t believe the allegations Freddie made against me, but where was Tedros?I had trailed my eyes earlier to catch sight of him, but he was nowhere in sight.“Stop lying to us,” Cole murmured.Mrs. Vinters pulled them both away from my body and shoved them behind her. Sitting next to me on the bed, she snatched the box
ELODIEHer response made my lips curl into a smile. Tedros did what he had never done because of me.“You shouldn’t bother about what that man said about you. We believe you and would never believe a word coming from his lips,” Mrs. Vinters said, her voice cool and collected. “Remember, we are family and will always stick together.”Warmth filled me as I listened to her. “Yes, thank you.”Belle’s face lit up. “Are you going to stay with Mom and me?” she questioned, changing the topic. “It would be a great vacation for you.”I shook my head. “No.”My main reason for refusing was that I couldn’t leave Tedros alone in the house. If I were to go on a vacation, there would be no one there to feed him the pill.Belle tilted her head to the side, stunned by my sudden refusal. “Why are you refusing to stay with us?”It was then that it hit me: Tedros hadn’t taken the pills for five days now. Was he okay? He didn’t go on a rampage? I couldn’t help but panic.“Where is Tedros?” I asked.“Oh, I
ELODIE“He came to look for you again,” Tedros muttered, making me wonder who the man he was talking about was. “You know him; he comes all the time to visit you, and he also insisted that I tell him where you are.”As soon as he was done talking, I could already picture who it was in my mind. The only man who had ever visited me was Lucas.“Was it Lucas?” I questioned him, frowning at him for not telling Lucas where I was. “You should have told him where I was; he must have been worried sick.”“He shouldn’t be worried about another man’s wife.” Leaning in, his face was inches from mine as he stared at me like he could see into my soul. “So, what’s that pill that you are feeding me?” My eyes widened in shock. Did he know about the pill? How did he find out? My heart began beating hard against my chest as I panicked, trying to think of what to tell him, but I couldn’t come up with anything. It was like my head was blank, and I couldn’t think of what to say. I could only wonder how he
ELODIETedros’ brows arched at my question, then a grin spread across his face. “What do you think? Do you think he’s fine after poisoning me?”“It wasn’t poison,” I corrected him. “Lucas would never poison anyone without my permission.”“He shot me with a tranquilizer. Did you permit him?”I wasn’t going to deny that I ordered Lucas to shoot any prematurely transforming werewolf on sight.“Yes, I did tell him to shoot, but I had no idea it was you.”Tedros gave me a questioning look. I knew he had many questions, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer all of them.“What were you going to do to the person if it wasn’t me?” he asked.I had a feeling he was starting to figure out that something was wrong. I’d do the same if I found out someone was feeding me pills.Averting my eyes from his, I tried to think of the best response, but he moved my head to the side to meet his gaze.“Look at me when you answer.”I looked up at him. From the look on his face, I felt like I wouldn’t be able
ELODIESeeing that my words were having an effect, I tilted my head to the side. He was still cupping my face in his hand and forcing me to look at him.“How sick am I?” he questioned. “And when can I stop taking the pills?”“When you’re better,” I replied.“What’s the name of the sickness anyway?”That was it. The grin I had been trying to control spread across my face. Lucas didn’t tell him what the sickness was. I was right; he wasn’t given all the information he needed.“It’s a secret,” I answered, winking at him. “If you know the name of the sickness, it will only get worse.”“Is that true?”“Yes.”He released me and sat up on the bed, and I did the same. I stared at him from the corner of my eyes, sighing in relief. I couldn’t believe how I had panicked for no reason; now it was all settled.“Are you going to find Lucas and apologize?” I asked, keeping the conversation going.“No, I won’t,” he replied stubbornly.“You beat him on purpose because he shot you with a tranquilizer.”
TEDROSThe lights were turned off, the curtains drawn, and a breeze found its way in. My eyes were still open, focused on her hair as she inhaled and exhaled.We were lying on the hospital bed together, just as she wanted. Her head was on my chest, and I held her close.The bed was small. It was enough to contain us, but it felt like she was sleeping on top of me.A smile reached my lips as I remembered how red she turned after suggesting we share the bed and how stunned she was when I agreed.“I was just wondering what it would feel like if you lay on this little bed with me and I could inhale your scent as I sleep,” she had said, avoiding my eyes.It had taken me by surprise, but I agreed. And here we are, lying on the same bed.She didn’t fall asleep early. She was wide awake until thirty minutes ago when she couldn’t hold back sleep anymore.To be honest, if it were me, I wouldn’t be able to sl
ELODIEGlancing at Tedros, I could see he was curious about that. Why had I mentioned it in the first place? Now, I have to talk about it.I was pissed that he had ignored my texts and calls; however, there was still a sense of relief in me. I was glad his look-alike hadn’t shown up when I was alone in the elevator.Also, I was yet to learn what was wrong with me.“I have been counting all the girls you dated,” I answered. “It doesn’t matter; you’ve heard my final answer, and since you weren’t with your phone, I’ll let it slide.”I rose to my feet and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll go shower,” I said but paused halfway. “There are no clothes to change into if I shower.”“You can wear my jacket. It has buttons,” he suggested. “You’re short, so it’ll probably stop at your knees or mid-thigh.”I glared at him for calling me short. “Alright. It would be best if you took off the jacket now. I have to go.”“Alright.”Tedros took off his jacket, and I took it from him before heading for the
TEDROSLeaning my back against the wall next to the elevator, I sighed. Ducky was probably asleep by now. She must have thought about it like I asked her to.Her words couldn’t stop ringing in my head.“It’s because I love you, dumbass!”Dang it.How could that be possible?To be honest, Ducky and I were nothing alike. She got good grades in school, became the top student in all her classes, won all sorts of competitions, and even became the school president.She always shines bright everywhere she goes. She’s a role model for several students. Why the heck did she notice me of all people? An average student who barely passes his math exams.Come to think of it, our paths were nothing alike. She was on the academic path and super intelligent, while I, on the other hand, was on the sports path.I did quite well in sports and won tons of awards too.I had always thought she would go for a more academic guy and not someone like me who couldn’t solve quizzes with her or enjoy the same boo
ELODIETedros' eyes were wide in disbelief as he stared at me. I had just laid out my feelings for him, yet all he could do was look at me like I had said something shocking.“I’m telling the truth,” I insisted. “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, but you’ve never seen me as anything more than a friend! Even now, we’re married, yet you still treat me as just a friend.”Tedros shook his head, trying to snap out of it. “Are you serious?”“Believe me or not, I don’t care. But I’m not going to let you kill yourself!” I growled.He slowly raised his hand, placing it on mine, which was gripping his collar, and gently pulled it down. “I think you’re confused, Ducky,” he murmured. “Why on earth would you love a man like me? You could love anyone in the world, yet you chose me.”As I opened my mouth to respond, he placed a finger on my lips to silence me. His expression was unreadable.“Think it through carefully. Consider what you really want. Do you want to keep me alive, or do y
ELODIETedros's gaze held mine, a serious look on his face. Had he just asked if I was seeing something no one else could? How could he have traced it back to two months ago?“Am I wrong?” he asked. “What is it that you’ve been keeping from me for the past months?” He paused. “It was the same when you came here, too, right? The vase cut on your forehead wasn’t you, was it? It was them. Isn’t that right?”He knew. He already knew. There was no need to hide it anymore.“That’s right,” I replied. “I can see what other people can’t.”His eyes widened for a second, then slowly turned into a frown.“What do you see?” he asked. “Why don’t you fight back when you see it? Why do you keep letting it hurt you?!”“Because I can’t fight back.”“Why is that?!” he demanded.“It’s way too strong for me!” I answered. “It’s way too strong for me.”“Did you try?” he asked.The question made me pause. Come to think of it, I hadn’t tried fighting the look-alike whenever he appeared.The first time he grab
ELODIEWas she just my imagination? But the ice cream was so real—I could see it. I held up the ice cream for Tedros to see.“Are you seeing the ice cream in my hand?” I questioned. “You can see it, right?”His eyes trailed to my hand, and for a second, my heart skipped a beat. If he didn’t see the ice cream, how many other things had I been imagining?Fear ripped through me. What the heck was wrong with me? I had seen that girl, listened to her, spoken to her, and even touched her. There was no way I could have imagined her.“Yes. I can see it,” Tedros confirmed. “You’re holding the same ice cream I bought you, except I never asked a kid to give it to you.”I felt the blood drain from my face.“Did you see the little girl when you got to the car?” I asked.He shook his head. “Nope.”No?“She was standing next to the window,” I mumbled. “In a pink dress with two braided ponytails?”He shook his head again.“How could you not see her?” I asked, my voice trembling.The cup of ice cream
ELODIEThe culprit had been caught, yet I couldn’t bring myself to ask who it was. The guilt of finding my mate and being married was eating me up. I hadn’t thought much about it, but was I going to have to reject one of them? I shook my head to snap out of it. I was good at hiding my emotions, and I wasn’t going to let them show.“Who was the culprit?” I asked.Even though the culprit was behind the rogue attack, I had been the one to run on the broken glass and jump out the window like that. His look-alike was the one who made me get injured. There was no way I could tell him that, though. I’d let him believe it was the rogue who got me into that condition.Besides, one rogue broke my head and made the glass pierce even deeper.“Are you alright?” Tedros asked.I looked away. “I’m fine. My injuries have healed on their own.” I turned back to him. “Don’t you think I’ve needed medical attention too much? I must be worrying everyone.”He reached out to stroke my head. “We might be worri
TEDROSWalking out of the cell with Jeremy and Mom, I rubbed my temples. That was stressful. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep for days, and dealing with that made my head throb.I wondered how Ducky was doing. Has she woken up yet? I wanted her to wake up, but I wanted her to wake up with me there.“I always knew she was trouble,” Mom said. “She had always been troubled since she was a little girl. Thank goodness she never ended up as my daughter-in-law.”Jeremy groaned. “That’s right. I disliked her too.”I had banished her from the pack, but I still needed to consult the elder of the wolf clan and bring the situation to them. Although Ducky could give her the punishment she wants, another pack could take in Jessica.All I wanted to propose to the elders was to make sure that Jessica never gets into another pack. If that happened, she was still going to be able to come close to Ducky, which I don’t want.“I will have to get an appointment with the elders,” I told Mom and Jeremy. “I will
TEDROS“What the hell?” Jeremy questioned. “The rogue is your mate and happened to be the leader of the rogue attack?! Does that mean you asked her to attack our pack?” he growled.I could sense the anger in his voice as he growled. They had told me nothing about Mira being the person who had led the other rogues to our pack.Jessica said nothing but took the antidote from her mate and gulped down all of the contents.She held her neck and began coughing vigorously. It took several seconds for her to stop coughing.Jeremy wasted no time; he grabbed her, lifted her by the collar, and slammed her against the cell.“Did you ask your mate to attack this pack?” Jeremy demanded. “I heard two rogues broke into the house to find the Luna. They wouldn't have gone there if no one from the pack hadn't told them.”Jessica held Jeremy's hand and tried to stop him from holding her up.“It isn't a coincidence that you had a fight with her the day before and got embarrassed instead,” Jeremy continued
TEDROSMy gaze turned to Jessica, who looked stunned for a moment before tears began rolling down her cheeks.“I think someone is trying to frame me,” Jessica cried. “Why would a rogue that attacked my pack claim to know me when I don’t even know her? She’s been lying all along, and now she’s trying to lie again.”Jessica looked like she was telling the truth, but there was no way I was going to buy her words.“Do you know her?” I asked the rogue.“Yes,” the rogue confirmed. “We’ve spoken to each other tons of times. She knows me too, but she’s pretending not to.”The whole situation was confusing. Jessica claimed she didn’t know the wolf and the she-wolf said she knew Jessica well.I had no idea who to believe—Jessica, whom I knew, or the rogue who was staring at Jessica with a determined look on her face. I could tell something was going on between them that Jessica didn’t want to talk about.“Stop lying!” Jessica snarled. “Just shut the fuck up and stop lying about me.”I stared at