Chloe
It all happened so fast. After Mark killed Calvin, and declared that I was his mate. Vincent smiled a treacherous smile and roared to his wolves.
“Attack!”
The wolves on Vincent’s and Mark’s side of the circle began to transform as they ran at each other. They’d only gone a few steps when they all crashed to their knees, howling in pains unimaginable. A man could be seen slowly making his way towards us at the center with his hands held at his side. The look on his face was unmistakable. Utter disgust.
“Now boys I know I did not consent to oversee this duel just to get front row seats to my nephews destroying the Pack their father died to protect.”
I was stunned to watch this utmost display of power from Pascal. One of the pack elders. No one talks about his gifts. But now it’s clear why no
VINCENTIt was exhilarating to be able to openly antagonize Mark. He had been a thorn in my flesh since we were kids. I can almost still feel my claws raking through his underbelly and it was easily my most treasured memory ever. The pain of losing Calvin was a fair trade as far as I was concerned. With any luck, Mark would not come back from that but deep down I knew he was too stubborn and life was too unfair for that to happen.It was going to be light out soon. I could see the eastern skies lighting up with the sun in its wake right from my office.The door creaked open quite loudly, mirroring the emotions of whoever opened it
CHLOEMark was rough. He wasn’t like last night. He seemed like a hungry dog that tasted blood for the first time.He pinned me down to the desk with one hand on my neck and shoulder while the other hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me into him as hard as he could, which as a werewolf was really hard. Still I didn’t want him to stop. He didn’t want to either. We went on for hours.After we took a shower I got proper clothes while he went back to the library. He remained there for most of the days for reasons I did not fully understand. When I asked him, he didn’t seem to know either. I guess it was something sentimental. I didn’t want to di
MARKJane’s words made the hair at the back of my neck stand. As I tried to reconcile her words with what we had been taught as young cubs, comparing it to what I’d seen for myself in the last couple of years.“It’s been millennia since the packs have had any sort of civil war or infighting. The rituals were made to prevent it. For the strength of the Pack is in its unity. A Pack without the bond is as good as dead.”Even as I said these words from the Lupus Codex, I could feel the difference between what it said and our reality. Jane seemed to be staring at me as though she could see the inner workings of my mind. She strode ac
CHLOEI could almost see the veins pulsating in Mark’s arms and head. Being in the arms of a transformed werewolf who could snap my neck at any time scared me so much I couldn’t move. A chill was continually running up my spine and every joint in my body was frightened stiff. Still I was focused on Mark.Vincent’s effrontery infuriated him, even though there was an all out war between the both of them. I saw how fired he got when Vincent’s wolves first broke in. But it was different now. Seeing me in danger like this set something off in him like nothing before. His face was steely calm and his brow was furrowed and his upper lip twitched so slightly on the left side. His fingers were opened up and his claws were extending slowly. He looked like he
MARKNo. 1 Blackmouth avenue.That was the address in the book. The only writing in it we could make sense of .I drove in silence as Jane continued to scan through the little black book. She claimed to not have understood the writings but she kept scanning every page in the book very carefully. The only thing she could deduce was that it was an Ascension ritual, Forbidden magic that hasn’t been performed for centuries. If she had known Whatever that meant or anything else, she kept it to herself.My mind drifted back to Chloe. I thought about how we left and how she might have been feeling now and I gripped the stee
CHLOEI laid on the single bed with apprehension in my heart and yearning in my soul, actively worrying about things I couldn’t directly affect. Thoughts of Mackenzie, wracked me with emotions. And now Mark and my mom have gone headfirst into the unknown. It completely took me by surprise when the phone rang. I was tense but I moved towards the hotel phone and picked it.“Hello.” I said with my heart beating at an insane speed in my very ears.“Chloe? Is that you ? Thank God you are alright, is Jane there? How’s Mark?”Rachel’s voice reached my ears and I sobbed to hear her voice, it filled me with relief. But her rapid words came with an emergency that tensed me up as well.“Rachel we are fine, how are you guys? How’s Mackenzie?”She broke in tears and apologized barely coherently.“I am so sorry, Chloe. They attacked us at the Porters and took Mackenzie. I tried to stop them”, she sobbed, “I’m really sorry Chloe.”My blood ran cold as I heard one of the worst thing I could ever he
VINCENT “Boss, your daughter has been taken to your quarters.”I gave a barely perceptible nod to the werewolf who had just spoken, he’d been standing in front of me for about 5 minutes giving his report. And I’d only heard the last thing he said. It didn’t matter though, because in less than 24 hours Chloe would be here and my family could be whole again. Mark will be dealt with and my family shall once again boast peace. I allowed myself to relax a bit when I sniffed her presence.“If I didn’t know better I’d think you had no problems from merely looking at you sitting all relaxed there, son.”Of course, Mother chose this precise moment to come here and haggle with me. It was as though she couldn’t go days without her dose of hounding on me.“Need I remind you whom you address so carelessly?” I spat out with my back turned towards her.I could almost smell the amused look on her face as she dropped her purse on my table.“And who might that be, son?” she asked with a sarcastic smil
VINCENT “Uncle… you traitor” I winced and spat out through gritted teeth. Pascal just ignored me and walked over to my mother who was also huddled up in pain.“You made me a promise, Jacinta. One small thing I asked of you.”Pascal spoke very calmly but it was very obvious how mad he was. His eyes were bloodshot and despite being calm he had the aura of a walking hurricane in a three piece suit.I wondered what promise he was referring to, but I couldn’t focus through the pain. I could barely pay attention.“Don’t you dare touch her Pascal”, I screamed as loud as I could and tried to stand. Pascal didn’t even turn to look at me but the piercing pain in my head doubled instantly and I fell limp.“I… I didn’t …know” my mother breathed almost silently. The pain enunciated her every word, and it made me furious. The subtle but glaring fact that I could do exactly nothing about it made it worse.“You didn’t know!... really?”, Pascal scolded, hi
MARKThe pure undiluted rage pumping through my veins seemed to overflow and fill my senses. All I could see was red and I was going to make sure Ronald felt that rage.I pounced on him and he braced himself in response as we crashed into the marble table in the center of the room reducing it to a million tiny pieces.Ronald seemed to recover first and made to swipe at my face with bared claws and a maniacal grin on his face. But Pascal intervened, grabbed him from behind, and threw into the wall with sufficient force that made Ronald-shaped cracks in it. Pascal stretched his arm out to help me up which I took. I looked at him a bit quizzically. All the time I’ve known him I had never seen him intervene physically in any conflict in the pack or even in his family apart from the training he gave me and Vincent. The fact he was fighting with me now, especially against someone who actually shared a blood relationship with him made me feel a type of way that was difficu
FANGROOTMARKI sat there and simply processed what I’d been told. Christian Packard had allowed himself to get caught because he would rather we catch him than go back to Ronald’s clutches. Ronald Dennison, the new thorn at my side. He was powerful, undoubtedly so. Testament to his ability was his seamless invasion into my home. Now I know how. Wolves have always been social creatures, from the wolves in the wild to the more advanced kind, we have always been social creatures, and we’ve depended on our senses. A werewolf has a heightened sense of smell and hearing, impeccable vision, and most of all, what we rely on is our ability to sense our immediate environment, the energy around us, and the general life force.But there was a werewolf who could manipulate al
FANGROOT CHLOEAlone. Unaided, that’s how he did it. Ronald had successfully invaded my home and showed me what we all knew now. That we were completely at his mercy. I didn’t know it at the time, but Mark had half a dozen werewolves watching over us when he left the house. He had two monitors outside the gates, another two on the grounds of our property, and two more on patrol. Yet not even one of them smelled his entry, much less saw him enter. He sat in my chair and threatened to end everything I cared about in the world and we don’t even know how. Logically it was almost impossible to avoid the senses of six well developed werewolves on guard. Avoiding just one werewolf’s senses was lucky, avoiding two was considered divine luck. Avoiding three, now that would require divine luck and help from others. Avoiding Six was Ronald. And no one else. I knew Dennisons. I know the feeling of having your existence be threatened by one of them.Mark had left the house ye
MarkThe unusual blend of dread and determination in my wife’s eyes was something I’d never seen before and it made my heart sink. I felt a bit of fear too but the rage mostly overshadowed it.Ronald had managed to get into my house despite the couple of wolves I had put on guard duty to watch my family. What was worse was that he also managed to get Mackenzie to ingest something and neither I nor Chloe knew exactly what it was. We were again at the mercy of one of Vincent’s goons. I could only imagine how distraught that made Chloe feel.The children were asleep now but she refused to take her eyes off them. She sat in their room and watched them as they slept. I, on the other hand, had to figure something out. I can’t sit on my hands while my family remains at Ronald’s mercy. I was so consumed by rage so much that I wanted to go to the Caldor lands myself and rip his head off with my teeth, consequences be damned. Besides I was only raised with the Dennison family
CHLOEMark had gone to meet with his uncle and once again I was left at home with the kids. Mackenzie and Victor were my joy and reasons for living, but It was hard. It always was, sitting and waiting for the men in my life to cause problems and to solve problems, with me, left at home to wonder if they are alright and if we are going to be fine. Ever since Mark left I haven’t been able to take my eyes off my daughter. Always shadowed her, especially when she played with Victor. I hated to think that my daughter could be a danger to my son and herself, the little girl didn’t deserve to be burdened as such if only I had been there to protect her and keep her safe as a good mother should. The teardrops came running along down my face. “Now, Chloe. That just wouldn’t do.”I froze dead in my tracks at the familiar yet unfamiliar voice that invaded the air around me.“Hello, Chloe. I see you standing there doing what you do best. Nothing.”Ronald was sitting in
MARKI could hear Mackenzie’s blissful chatter as she told little Victor stories of how she beat me in a race. All I could think of was going straight to Caldor and detaching Ronald’s head from his shoulders. I didn’t mind stepping over his body to get the Crane Lilies, the only plant known to succeed in reversing the effects of fangroot. “You can’t go alone, Mark. Let me come with you. At least let someone else come with you, Pascal, or anybody Goddamnit!”She yelled now. Causing me to pause in my actions and regard her calmly. My phone rang with urgency as I made to silence it. I looked at the screen and saw it was my uncle calling.Speak of the devil.“Now’s not a good time, uncle. I’m in the middle of something.” I said coldly to my uncle. “This can’t wait. And if you wanna save Mackenzie from the Fangroot that has invaded her body for a year, you’ll get yourself to the Dennison manor and we’ll go on a little drive together.” My uncle finished with
CHLOEIt was the weekend, and as promised, Mark and I decided to begin Mackenzie’s trails. She was to take the first step on the trail today with Mark and me around to guide her through. “I’m ready mummy. This is like when Aunt Sally gave me a tour of the woods at the other house. Uncle Mark raced me!”Mark laughed a laugh that only came out when he played with Mackenzie. A breathless laughter that always sounded unintentional, as though the child in him came out despite his best efforts. It never failed to warm my heart, seeing him be a father to her in a way Vincent never was. “Slow down little wolf.”Mark said, still laughing.“We’ll race alright, but first I have to tell you something. Something about our family and other families who live in Drewsy.”Mackenzie was jumping at this bit already. She’d always liked it when Mark called her his little wolf. But now she was eager to run and Mark wanted to talk. She was beside herself with excitement as sh
MARKChloe was asleep beside me as the affairs of the day played out in my mind. I calmly told my wife that it was all fine and that there was nothing to worry about. If only that was the case. The look on Chloe’s face right before she went to get dinner ready was the scariest I’d ever seen her. Because she meant every word she had said. Chloe and I had been through a lot. Had a lot taken from us, so it was no surprise she was willing to crack heads and spill the blood of whoever was going to try to take the happiness we’ve found together, away from us. I would seek divine retribution for anyone who hurts my family…The fear of losing them loomed bigger than anything I’d ever faced. So I unconsciously said a prayer: Oh God I’m sorry. Please don’t take these beautiful things that I got.Chloe stirred at my side and snuggled up to me. I held her closer as my thoughts ran miles a minute with my fears.I took up my phone and called the only person I thought I could trust. The Pack elders
CHLOE“Wolves are social creatures, they move in families called Packs. And when the moon is full, they howl at the moon.”I could hear Mackenzie’s voice over the sound of the radio as she told her little brother stories about animals. She seemed to have a new obsession with wolves, I’d like to think that was a coincidence. The Drewsy Pack usually kept all information about their true nature from their children till the children turned 10 years of age. The change could be too much for the young wolf to bear. It usually ended up in a catastrophe, traumatizing the child and even causing self-alienation from the Pack.“Mummy, can we please get some Ice cream, please? You promised.”I'd been waiting for her to say that Mackenzie could forget her backpack in the house and settle into the car all ready for school, but she never forgot an ice cream promise.“Of course, baby girl.”I said with laughter in my voice at the pleading look on Mackenzie’s face. She started