IVANA sharp pain stabbed me in the chest again when I looked at Javier, to see my brother looking so weak and pale was killing me in more ways than one. This is not how this situation was supposed to turn out, he was still in a coma from his wounds.To make matters worse, Sarcana had gone out with Olivia of all people saying they were going to do something to increase our chances of getting Mia back. I opted to go with them but Sarcana insisted I stayed behind and looked after Javier.Bastien and Leo had already left a while ago to go see if there was any information to find or allies who were willing to join hands with us and fight our new enemies.All I could do was just stay and watch. I hated the feeling of helplessness I felt inside of me, it was a paralyzing feeling and then something strange happened.Leo and Bastien returned first, they still seemed preoccupied with whatever discussion it was they were having. They both came to check on Javier, Leo stayed longer, watching Jav
SARCANAThe four of us left Bastien’s apartment and went in search of a workable plan now that Rylee had been captured.After the battle that took place in the penthouse where Mia and her mates lived, we decided it would not be safe to remain there so we relocated to Bastien’s house.Not that it mattered, somehow, they were still able to find us and deliver the message to return Rylee. We were running out of time. The ultimatum was twenty-four hours and we had already wasted some of it.We all sat down in a rundown bar where we were to meet with someone that Bastien recommended.Leo, myself, Bastien, and Olivia were all uneasy and tense, if this meeting did not yield some quality information, then that would be another hour or so wasted.The man we were waiting for came and joined us at the table. He was tall and huge and had lots of scars running across his muscular body.He nodded at Bastien and then looked the rest of us over, “What can I help you with, Bastien?” he asked after sit
IVAN“Oh, Philip you cunning bastard,” the rogue king muttered to himself and smiled before his gaze met mine and the smile disappeared.“I was starting to get impatient, I might have drained the chosen one earlier if you did not show up with Rylee. Now, set her down carefully and take five steps back,” he said to me in a stern voice.Hearing him say he was going to drain Mia earlier made the muscles in my body stiffen as I considered my options.I had made the right decision coming here with Rylee, at least I had made sure that Mia got some extra time but I was not about to leave empty-handed. I fully planned on taking advantage of the situation and freeing Mia, if I could.“Can I see her? Just to make sure that she is still alive and sound,” I asked.He scoffed, “Do I look to you like I am stupid? Why would I ever agree to such a request?”I frowned, it was worth a try, if the easy way was not going to work, then maybe I would have to resort to the hard way of using brute force.I l
JAVIEREverywhere was rowdy like the scene of some accident or something, I found myself dressed in a white suit like the type a doctor put on. It was the most mundane thing I had ever experienced so I was certain that I had to be dreaming or something like that.Nevertheless, I felt compelled to help given the type of carnage that was going on. There were lots of people out in the field with different types of injuries, some severe, some minor. I found myself moving from person to person, administering care that somehow I knew how to do.I had never had any interest in medicine, it was a useless topic for us lycans given the fact that we had self-regeneration, so this only reinforced my thought that I must be in a dream. If not why would I of all people have such an in-depth knowledge of medicine and be providing care?I ran to my next patient, an injured old woman on a stretcher, the paramedics had just rushed her into the field that was serving as a makeshift hospital.“What do we
IVAN“Mia, Mia, come on Mia, snap out of it!” I yelled shaking her roughly.“She cannot hear you, she is out cold.”I turned in the direction of the voice, it was the rogue king.He was standing on the outside of the cell and was grinning at me.“What the hell did you do to her you, beast!” I asked.I ran up to the steel bars and gripped them but the spikes all around pierced my fingers and I had to let go.He smiled, “You wanted to see her so badly, well, I have delivered you to her on a silver platter. Enjoy whatever little time you two love birds have together.”“Oh, when I get out of here, I am going to kill you! I am going to rip you apart!” I yelled.The anger in me was so much that I could not contain my emotions again. This man had the nerves to not only stab my brother but also to hurt my mate and render her unconscious, he was as good as dead as far as I was concerned.“Yeah, let that thought sustain you. No way will I fall at the hands of a weak and despicable lycan like yo
BASTIENWe drove back to my apartment in thick silence, after getting stuck at the crossroads for over thirty minutes, we realized the hopelessness of the situation and returned home. Nobody was speaking, the same thing that was going through my mind was going through everyone’s mind.Leo looked like he was trying to come to terms with the fact that he might lose his son this time around, for good. The last time this happened, Leo was very lucky that Mia was around, that’s how Javier was saved, now, that option was not looking like it was going to be possible.All the rage seemed to have left him and he looked solemn and far away.The same thing could be said for Sarcana, she sunk into one of the sofas and stared off into the distance, I could only imagine what she was feeling right now, the different types of emotions she was going through.She had done everything in her power to keep Mia hidden from all these supernatural beings; she even went as far as binding her powers and sendin
ROGUE KINGEverything was coming together better than I had expected. I could not believe how easy it was to lure all of them here, cunning and elusive people like Sarcana and Bastien.Guess that’s what happens when you have kids, common sense goes out the window when their lives are in danger, another reason why I vowed not to have any, didn’t want anything that would make me weak.“This is where you die,” I said to them and laughed to my heart’s content.They just stood there, helpless, an angry look on their faces.“Where is Mia?” Sarcana screamed.I could hear the fear and frustration in her voice and it made me so happy, I laughed again. “Should you not be more worried about what ill fate awaits you?”“Tell me where my daughter is,” She barked, more forcefully this time around.I scoffed, “Like you are in the position to ask me any questions, you have no power, no right. You all should be on your knees begging me to spare your life, not making demands like you own the building.”
BASTIENDifferent things were going through my mind as Leo went in first and then we went in after him, when the door closed, and the lights came on, it was clear that this was an ambush.The first thought that came to my mind was this was where we were going to die. I was expecting to see the vampire king, the rogue king, and also Rylee all present but was shocked to see only the rogue king and his wolves there.How was their partnership working? Did the vampire king and Rylee just leave everything for the rogue king to handle or was this something that they did not know about?Knowing Rylee, I decided that she was not aware of what was going on, if she was, she would want to come and gloat or at least be present to have her revenge, she never let a grudge go or passed up a chance to get back at those who had wronged her and we were certainly high on that list.I was slightly relieved when he said that he was not going to kill us yet but instead, he would do it after the ritual. Good
MIAThe next few days were all dark and gloomy, we had won the war but the cost was heavy and it was felt by everyone of us, most of all was Javier.For the first few days, we just holed up in the isolated house that Leo had found and there we passed days as we all tried to come to terms with what had just happened. But today was the day, the day we said goodbye for good.Ivan and Leo had decided that we would all mourn our dead on the same day. Leo handled all the preparation, that was the least that he could do, he said.The first few days were the worst, Javier blamed himself for everything even though we told him that it was Rylee’s fault that he had that evil put in him in the first place and even though he knew this himself, he still blamed himself.How could he not? I sympathized with him and as he hurt, we hurt too. He killed Olivia and then also went ahead to kill Bastien when trying to kill my mom who was protecting him from killing his own brother.It was a very horrible ex
MIAWhat was going on? I was supposed to be dead was I not? Instead, everywhere seemed bright and happy.Not the dark and cold embrace of death that took hold of me earlier, what was going on? I could feel the sunlight on my face and I could hear birds chirping happily in the distance.My hands went to my chest, to where the blade was plunged into me, I felt around the skin frantic, there was no scar, no depression, no sign that I had sustained any injury of any kind at all.I opened my eyes and looked around, I had to blink to adjust my eyes to the brightness that was all around me.I was lying in a field and I was wearing a short rosy gown as opposed to the dark blouse and the tight jeans I had on when I was stabbed.I sat up, the grasses were about two feet high and they were swaying in the soft breeze that was blowing, it was all I could see for miles, a field covered in green grasses and hills all around.I got up and walked through the grasses bare-foot, there was just something
IVANWith Mia captured, it was different, we were able to track her thanks to her mother, things were happening so fast that it felt like I would not even be able to keep up.Mia had been sent away by her mother and then Javier had attacked us and defeated all of us easily, he was about to end my life, my brother, and that was when Olivia stepped in.Why did she step in? Maybe she felt responsible somehow and was trying to make amends but that didn't work, she just ended up getting killed by the man she called her bestie, it was tragic.Now we were all in Bastien's car heading towards the site of the ritual. Sarcana had been able to track Mia to where she was being held.All that was on my mind at this point was to kick down the front door and rush in to rescue her, but I knew deep down we didn't have the strength to stop our adversaries, we were most likely going for a suicide mission."How are we going to take down all those guys and free Mia?" Leo asked.That was when Sarca
JAVIEREverything was dark all around me, I was wrapped up in a cocoon of darkness and I did not know what was happening in the world around me.Then without any warning, a powerful shockwave hit me and put a crack in my cocoon, a ray of light filtered in and I reached for it immediately and tore at the cocoon until there was a hole big enough for me to climb through.It then felt like I was slowly rising to the surface after being submerged in a deep dark liquid for too long, it took me a while to fully return to my senses and when I did, I was overwhelmed and confused.The first thing I noticed was all the chanting and screaming, there were a lot of people around, wolves, I could tell and then something else, I could smell death in the air, vampires too.I had never been in the company of so many of them before then I locked eyes with Mia and I remembered what I had done to her.Not just to her, to Olivia, to my brother, to her mother, to Bastien, and Leo, oh my goodness, I was such
MIASo the ritual was going to happen in an hour, which meant that was exactly how long I had left to live. I turned my gaze to Javier with pleading and tears in my eyes.He just stood there like a robot or a statue, looking past me and not seeing anything at all.Was I really to take the words of the high priest Antonio? Was Javier lost to me? A part of me still felt that he was my last hope, that somehow he was the solution to solving the problem that was right in front of me.The wolf bane in my system made me suddenly groggy, I was afraid that if I fell asleep now, it would be my last slumber. I had to find a way to fight this feeling, I needed to be awake for my remaining time on the planet.The more that I tried to fight the sleep, the more it attacked me until I had no choice but to close my eyelids and succumb to it.As soon as my eyes closed, I realized that I was indeed in a vision. This one was different in the sense that it forced itself upon me, usually, when I fell aslee
MIA"How can you say such a thing about my mate, Javier? He is not cursed!" I countered the high priest Antonio."I did not mean to offend you, chosen one, I was just saying things as I saw it. Javier Romanov is cursed by the prophesy, he is the harbinger of doom and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to change that.""No, you are wrong, there is always a way and I will find it," I said stubbornly.The high priest shook his head at me, "There are far more precious things for the chosen one to be doing than fixating over a lost cause.""He is not a lost cause, stop calling him that."He got up from his meditative stance, "We have waited for the chosen one for a while now and here you are finally. You have a lot to learn, you need to learn how to use your powers to stop the forces of darkness that are converging. Only you can do it.""I don't care about any of that," I snapped, "I only care about saving Javier."Antonio sighed, "I have told you, it is a lost cause.""Then I have
IVANMy heart felt bad for Mia, having to swap her out in the middle of a serious fight like this but I was totally on board with my dad's reasoning.We could all think better and work better without Mia here, if she was not around for us to worry about, we could focus on the task of getting my brother back."Where did you send her?" I asked her mom."I..." Bastien cut her off."Don't tell him," he commanded."What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I said, anger rising in my chest."It's not what you think son, better if only she knew exactly where Mia is, for security reasons.""You think that I would rat out my mate's location if I get tortured or something like that?""You might not have a choice, Rylee is a powerful psychic. The only one among us here that can counter her mental prowess is Sarcana. So it is best if only she knew where Mia was and besides," he looked at Leo, "You might not rat her out but someone else here might.""Great, keep treating me like a criminal wh
MIAMy mother's words filled me with a sense of doom and gloom and made me sick to the stomach. How could she say something like that? Did she not know what Javier meant to me? How could she say that there was nothing we could do about it?We just got him back after he had been on the brink of death for so long, and now we were losing him again to some strange curse that I had never heard of.Was it not possible for us to catch a break? "Mom, c'mon, you can't say that there must be something we can do to help him."She shook her head sadly at me, "I am sorry dear but this situation is out of our hands, all we can do now is take precautions."Leo was not having any of that, "Maybe you might have hit your head a little too hard because I think you said that Javier cannot be helped. Or am I the one who did not hear you right?""I'm sorry, Leo, this is dark magic, there is no way out of it," Sarcana said to him. She was more apologetic than usual."Like hell, there is nothing we can do? W
JAVIERIt was a shock to me that I was standing right there, so close to her. I wanted to reach out and rip out her throat but my body would not let me do that.I cussed inwardly, this was bad, by the looks of things she was the one responsible for what was happening to me, if I could just take her out, the spell or whatever the hell this was would be broken.She was still smiling and had not yet answered the question I asked her earlier, I repeated it with much difficulty, the dark liquid that I was drowning in made talking very difficult.“What the fuck do you want from me?” I said baring my teeth.“There is no point in a puppet asking its master what the goals of the master are. Its job is just to obey wordlessly and move as the master pulls its string.” She said and laughed hoarsely.I took another step forward, “I am not your damn puppet you sick witch, tell me how to break this spell.”She stopped smiling and locked eyes with me, “Why the hell would I do something like that? I c