JADERay looked at me, confusion clear in her expression. She didn’t seem very happy that I was laughing at her failed attempt at an apology. But she seemed glad that dad didn’t call her out.“Was that okay?” He shot her a glare which she smiled at and he shook his head.“Don’t mind her. She thinks being rude is cool.”“I’m not being rude.” She argued. “You said I should let people know my true feelings and I’m doing just that.”“That was in relation to your classmates that pressure you into getting in trouble. It is not an excuse for you to be rude to your sister.” He pulled out a chair for me opposite the, sitting here, I was facing Aidan directly, with Ray beside him.“Dad, that’s mum's chair.” She eyed where I was sitting.“And mum is not here.” He didn’t miss a beat, she pursed her lips, not looking at all happy.“You never let me sit there.” She added under her breath.“Because it is not your place.”That already set the tone for the brunch and I didn’t like how I was the elepha
ATLAS“Again,” I called out at the heavily breathing woman.She stops and glares at me, then with much effort, starts running again.I hear footsteps coming from behind and knowing it would be one of two people. Andrew or Samuel, one of our warriors and the person relieving Jade. I didn’t care to turn around and acknowledge them.I realized it was Andrew from his scent. Even before he spoke. My eyes were still strictly pinned to the woman who looked real wobbly on her feet.I was pushing her to the extreme. But she still hasn’t reached her limits. She isn’t about to break right now and that is what I’m hoping to do. To break her.“You’re trying too hard,” Andrew starts saying but I don’t turn around or even think to reply to him.He has been doing this every single day for the past two weeks. It isn’t about to change my mind and the sooner he accepts that, the better it would be for him.He may not be tired of hearing the same thing come out of his mouth everyday. But I am.“If you wa
JADEI’ve been here for a little over two weeks and I still haven’t seen my dad’s wife.Jay has started warming up to me and Aiden, he is just his usual self. I don’t think he minds about things that much. He leaves all of it to his sister.But sometimes, he would join her and they’ll just give me the cold shoulder. I wish I had more time to really experience the teenage tantrum. But I have resumed work. Fortunately and unfortunately at the same time.Like this morning, Jay woke up pissed and she has been giving everyone attitude. Me, especially. I asked how she slept, as I always do and the look she gave me suggested I should be very careful when I go to sleep tonight.We carpool to save the environment. According to dad. I have a feeling he just likes his kids too much and he loves spending time with them.Getting ready to leave is always a sport. There’s a lot of screaming and yelling involved.It was like being on the field again. Only without the sweaty guys and physical strain o
JADEJaiya was happy about the extra guest and she insisted we all get ready at her place.“It’ll be easier to go from there.” She pleaded with puppy dog eyes.Not that we were going to argue much to begin with.“Do you have a stack of clothes that you keep in hoped people will need it?” I asked who she excitedly brought out a clothing rack with different dresses on them.Jaiya looks at me over her shoulder and smirks. I shake my head, chucking a little bit. I should have expected it. She is crazy.“Wow, this is amazing.” Willow says, utterly in awe.We dressed up. Well, they did for the most part. I picked out a nude gown that flared from the waist down. It stops just below my thigh. I paired it with tights and boots. I have no idea what Jaiya has planned or where we are even going. So if it is appreciate for there, I don’t know. But she didn’t say anything so I guess I’m good.“Are you driving?” She has mentioned how much she hated that which is why she always uses uber. That its be
JADEI kept looking over my shoulder as I headed to the restroom. I’ve never been a particularly paranoid person. But I believed there was a reason I kept feeling this way. Like I was being watched. That weird sense of doom in my stomach.Something bad was about to happen. But where? To who?It was making me almost go crazy.Nothing jumped from behind me in the restroom. I kept looking over my shoulder while I relieved myself. I kept glancing all around me while I washed my hand and adjusted my barely there makeup. I only added a fresh coat of lipgloss and then walked out.The hallway was empty and I could have sworn the lights were brighter when I came out the first time.The eery silence was a contrast to the busy place I had passed when coming.The hairs on the back of my hand stand at attention. Goosebumps appearing all over my skin.I turned to my left slowly. I think I heard soothing but I couldn’t tell if it was true or just my mind playing tricks on me. There was no sign of an
ATLASI knew I wasn’t alone even before I closed the door. One part of me thought of telling Andrew to just piss off but that would just make him become more insistent on trying to talk to me about her.And the other part of me. The one that hated showing even an ounce of weakness didn’t want to give Andrew the impression that anything bothered me. To him, it didn’t.“What do you want?” I said without looking at him as I wet headband took my seat.He came out of the connecting door between my office and one of the hallway exits. If you didn’t know it was there, you would never guess the wall was a door.“Just checking the doors to see if they are rusty or not.” He said, hesitating a bit.I shot him a glare to which he raises both his hands up in surrender.“Fine, I’m sorry for coming into your office like this, I know you’re not going to be happy about me talking to you outside.” He looked around. “And well, there are a Loy less weapons here.”I looked at the pencil case on the desk.
ATLAS“You’ll be dead if I find out you’re fucking with me.”Without waiting for his response, I walked out of the office and went back to my room. I changed into a midnight two piece suit. With a green shirt underneath. Did I think of hr eyes when I saw it? Yes. Did I think it’ll impress her? Also, yes.I may now show Andrew or anyone else how much I really wanted hr in my life now. And not just because she is the best luna this pack will ever like. After the time we spent alone together. I find that I actually like her company.Not that I’m ready to admit hat to anyone.When I went back downstairs, Andrew was already waiting for me and he had a shit eating grin on his face. He looked way too happy for my liking so I made sure I kept my expression passive.“You are sure she is here.” I didn’t word it as a question but he still nodded as he opened the front door.“I have full reassurance.”I huffed and opened the car door. He rounded the corner and got into the driver’s seat. I leaned
JADEThe pounding of my heart was loud in my ears. I tried to stifle my laugh at the sight of the mood board in the room.Damien really underestimated me if he thought this would be hard to find.We have been playing Chase, the game, for the past half hour. And it has been good, more than good. So far, I’ve found everything he has hinted at and though she were harder than other. It generally wasn’t complicated. I barely had to use my brain for it. Just my sense of smell, which if I do say so myself, is good as hell.Perks of being a wolf and all.He’d hinted at the contents of paint. And told me to find the specific painting.We have been playing around five empty rooms. He said the other parts of the club were busy since there was a show going on so no one would interrupt us. And I was happy about it.He got a walkie talkie, from one of is security men, probably. And we have been using it. He tells me what to find from there and when I do, I’ll describe what it is.He also had video
JADE“i needed to come see him.”“Why?” He collected the baby from me “I told you that there's no need to. Why do you feel the need to come here even after I told you not to?!”“Because it's not just your victory! It's not just your life that he was after! It's mine too! And it's Ray's too! So yes, I needed to come down here to get closure.”He needed to understand that this meant something to me too, just as it did him.“Closure? Is that why you put the baby at risk? How much more closure do you need?”What on earth was he talking about?“Risk? Incase you didn't notice, I was there with him! I was at risk too! I needed him to look me in the eye and tell me why he did what he did to my family.”“Or maybe it's because you're too hung up on the past and you just can't let go. Incase you havent noticed, you're so stuck in the past and you are obsessing over it. Move on!”Well, I'm glad he finally got to say what he wanted to. Now I know how he feels about me trying to find answers. I w
JADEI didn't think it was worth it at first. Going to see the man that had made me grow up without parents and without the concept of what a true family felt like.But after much thought, he needed to know that all his plans failed and I was going to rub it in his face..I'd gotten all three pieces of the stone together and wore it around my locket.It would hurt him so bad to see that in the end, I won.Iniko decided that that was the right moment to start crying and everytime I dropped him back in his cot, he cried even louder.“Young man, what is it that you want? You've been fed and burped and I just changed your diaper so there's no way you could have soiled it again -”I stopped and remembered what happened yesterday so I took a peak for myself. There was nothing im his diaper.“So what exactly do you want?”I wish babies could talk.I guess I didn't have any other choice than to take him with me then. Atlas would blow a fuse if he found out that I took his son to see Ford.Whe
ATLAS“By wasting any more time, we are not doing ourselves any good! Sixth Circle pack is vacant. We have their leader in our custody and I've taken down every opposition in our way, do you think it would be long before we get more interests?”Sometimes, having a cabinet infuriates me so much. It was like I was speaking to brick walls. I didn't see any reason why they couldn't just agree to me taking over the Sixth Circle.It would even be better for us because it would improve our army base, it would make our pack bigger and in general, it would be a plus for us.But they weren't seeing it that way. All they were seeing was the fact that Ford had committed something against the pack and they weren't going to take it.I mean, what better way to teach him a lesson by taking over his pack?“Alpha, we're not disputing the fact that you've gone a long way-”“But you're diminishing my efforts. What's the whole point of defeating him and taking him into custody when I can't even go ahead a
JADERay and I weren't speaking for now.How could she hide something like that from me?“Where is she?”“I have no idea. All I know is that she ran away when we were little. She knew that he would come after her and she didn't want to put you in danger. So she ran away and left your nanny to take care of you. I don't know where she is.”How could she do this?“Before I lost my memory, did I know?”“No, you never knew.”I couldn't believe this. I lost my appetite for the rest of that day and I just stayed in Iniko's room because I couldn't even speak to anyone right now.I'd spent my life thinking my mother was dead only to hear that she was alive and she ran away because of that beast.“It’s not her fault, you know. Your mother ran away to protect you and Ray didn't tell you because she wanted to keep you safe. You have to forgive her.”I didn't blame her. It wasn't her fault things turned out like this. I was just hurt that I didn't know.Later that day, I took Iniko on a walk so h
JADEI was just realizing that this baby has Atlas's eyes and hair and everything!“This baby is rigged.”He turned around in shock.“What are you talking about?”“You did something to make the baby look like you.”He laughed and shook his head.“No, I didn't. It's just a coincidence.”“Coincidence? Look at this baby and look at you. It seems like I didn't even have anything to do with his birth.”“Don’t worry, you can have the second baby.”I scoffed.“You think I'm going to let you have another chance to have photocopies? Big joke.”Iniko was so small and he seemed so fragile.Ray brought my food and she took him while I ate.“I wish my grandmother was here to see him.”She gave me a sad smile.“Me too. She would be so proud of you.I'm proud of you.”I'm so happy my sister was here with me. She was the one who had been by my side throughout and if the child had been a girl, I would have named her after Raya.“Thank you for everything you did. If not for you, I don't know how I would
JADE“I'm going to need your blood as well. Atlas, I promise it won't hurt her. Just a little nick.”He nodded and she dragged the knife across my finger.“Place your finger over the stone and let the blood cover it entirely. Do not take your hand away from the fire.”It was a simple instruction but it seemed so intense.It was almost over. My legs were beginning to feel well and it was getting harder to quiet my screams.“What do we have here?”That voice. He was here.“What are you doing here?”All I had to do was keep my hand over the fire until the stone bled.Ray helped me stand up straight while Atlas and Andrew faced my uncle.“So this was why I came here. How did you do that? How did you call the other stones?”I eventually removed my hand from the fire since we had found them.“I always knew it was with one of you. That stupid old hag told me she couldn't find the other piece but I guess she gave it to you. “Why were all the worst things happening tonight?I was in labor and
JADEAtlas returned later that evening.I was right with what I'd thought.“What have you been up to?”I knew he knew I'd been eating because of the smirk on his face.“You know you don't have to hide from me when you eat right?”Oh, I did.“If you see how much I eat and the way I eat, I don't think you'd want to be married to me anymore.”He burst out laughing.“What makes you think I care about the way you eat? As long as you're healthy and our baby is fine, I don't care.”“But then, what if I get fat? I'll be so big that I won't be able to eat. I don't know why I eat so much.”This was actually a worry of mine. Normally, I ate but my appetite was not this big.“Blame it on the baby. I figure when you give birth, the cravings will stop and even though you do get fat, you're still my wife. It doesn't change anything.”I was really married to the best man ever, wasn't I?“You’re the best.”“I know. Ray says that we have to get there before midnight so that she can prepare everything.
JADEAt this point, I was realizing that the earlier we did things, the better.“I’ll arrange for the sacrifice to happen tomorrow. We need to move as fast as we can before he gets Intel that were here.”I didn't want to have to run with this big belly of mine.“What are you going to need?”“Don’t worry, I'll take care of it. Just bring the stone.”We went to bed that night because we were all completely exhausted.“Hey, are you okay?” Atlas asked when we were in bed.“Yes, I am. Why do you ask?”“You didn't cry when you found out that he killed your father. You didn't cry when you found out that she was not your grandmother. I'm worried.”Now that I think about it, it's true. But it was because I didn't feel like crying.“I don't know. Maybe my body just hasn't proceses it yet. Maybe its because I hate him so I'm not bothered that he's not my father and I never really knew my father so i can't cry for him. I've already mourned for my grandmother.”I just didn't feel the need to cry b
JADE“Jade, step away from that.”I walked back towards them and stared at the pile.“What kind of animal would do this?”I had no idea but I think I was beginning to understand why she wanted us to find this place.This place held secrets.I went back to the wall to look at the drawings and try to understand them.I used my fingers to trace them again and this time around, I heard the voice clearer.“Look at the bigger picture.”I stepped away from the wall so I could see the entire thing. There were more drawings to the side and when I walked up, I noticed that there was a sign at the bottom of it.That sign…looked all too familiar but I couldn't just place my finger.“Ray, come see this. I've seen this before but I don't know where it's from.”She crouched beside me and stared at it for a moment.“I know it's familiar but I don't know where it's from, either.”Andrew and Atlas joined us and just within seconds, they knew.“We know.”They shared a look and it made me scared.“Jade,