Davina
“Wait! Stop Amara,” says uncle Gabriel.
Her look softens and Derek hands me a dress and the boys turn around. Amara shifts and puts the dress on.
“Where are my parents Gabriel!”
Gabriel looks at her with sad eyes before answering her. I know she will not take this news well.
“Your father is gone and your mother is missing.”
“We have to go back now! I told you I didn’t want to leave!”
“We will return first thing tomorrow. Hopefully we will find survivors and if we do, your people are going to need a leader Amara,” Derek tries to reason with her. However, she is far from being able to leader her people. She is just a child.
“My brother can do that. Where is he? Did he return home?”
“I never saw your brother Amara. Ghalen is also missing
DavinaThe minute we arrived in the pride’s territory we were all in shock. Bodies of men, women and children litter the ground. Smoke rises out of their homes as the fires had died out. Mark, Derek and the few warriors we brought begin checking everyone just to be sure we don’t ignore someone injured. Amara rushes to her pack house with me and Maliyah following.“Mom!”Amara is searching for her mother while Maliyah and I check to see if there are any survivors. Dead bodies are scattered throughout the house and so far there are no survivors. I was hoping we would find someone, at least a handful but so far we haven’t found even one.“Mom, everyone is dead. There are no survivors in this house,” says Maliyah quietly.I sigh as we see Amara head outside. We follow her and see a very beautiful garden full of native plants and flowers to Africa. T
AspenDavina prepares to take the group of survivors back to the Palemetto pack with Derek. Maliyah and I are helping Amara and Ghalen ensure there are no other survivors. We are also helping with building a giant pyre to burn the bodies of those lost. Davina asked us to make sure we get everyone’s name to put up a memorial wall. I can’t believe how many lives were lost. Not even a quarter of the children survived.“Ghalen, I have all our pack records and other important documents loaded into the Jeep. I also grabbed our family albums and family heirlooms,” says Amara as she hands a ring to Ghalen.It appears to be a bone tribal ring. The ring appears to be mostly black with a pattern I am unfamiliar with. It must’ve belonged to their father as Ghalen slips it on, his gaze lingering on the ring.
Davina When Derek and I arrived back at the pride we were not prepared for what we saw. Rogues are on the ground dying a slow, painful death. I immediately know how but I am in disbelief that it’s actually happening. Maliyah should not be capable of this, not yet anyway. I look around, trying to find where my daughter is at and immediately rush to her side once I find her. “Maliyah, stop!” Maliyah blinks a few times at the sound of my voice. Once her eyes clear and she lays eyes on me, she faints. It was too much for her. Derek panics and checks her pulse. He relaxes once he confirms she has just fainted. “She’s fine Aspen. She just used too much of her powers.” “Uh, anyone want to tell us what the hell that was?” I look over at Ghalen and his warriors. They all seem confused and a bit frightened at what they just witnessed. I ignore his q
MaliyahI can’t believe it’s been a year since I woke up. I turn eleven in three days and little Aiden turns one. Mom insists we have a birthday party and I only agreed because of Aiden. I don’t really feel like celebrating. I got up extra early this morning to go riding alone. I know this will make everyone mad but I need some space. There is always someone following me so I left before everyone woke up but I at least alerted border patrol of my little solo ride.Aspen told me about Malayah’s spirit absorbing into mine, essentially making me stronger and the reason I was able to literally boil those rogue’s blood. That ability kind of scares me but I also feel stronger and safer knowing I can access it if need be. I worked with mom to control it and I am confident I won’t lose control again.As I ride along the trail I come across border patrol.“Hey boys,” I say through the mind link.“Your pa
MaliyahI grab the prettiest dahlia’s that the florist has and take them to the cemetery. I place a few in aunt Keila’s and uncle Owen’s vases before placing the rest in Malayah’s. I sit in my spot by the window in the mausoleum and take out my book I’ve been reading called The Way I Use To Be. I have been spending most afternoons here but I know it’ll end soon. My parents want me to go back to school after my birthday and I really don’t want to.“Hello?”I look up from my book and see a pretty blonde woman with blue eyes. She doesn’t smell like a shifter, she smells human.“My name is Dr. Stone. My mate is Kevin Stone.”“But you’re human.”She laughs before answering me.“Yes, I know it’s rare for humans to mate with your species.“What do you want?”“I was hoping&nb
Maliyah“You going to be okay with tomorrow,” asks Dr. Stone.“No. I was recovering from my coma on my tenth birthday so this is the first birthday I’ll be celebrating since her death.”“Being honest with yourself is a good step Maliyah. It’s okay to not be okay with celebrating your birthday.”“So what should I do?”“What do you want to do?”“I’d rather the birthday party focus on Aiden. It’s his first birthday and that’s a big deal. I don’t want the focus on me.”“They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes for their time with us. Do you want me to help you with telling them?”“I think I want to try on my own this time. But I’ll let you know if I need help.”These sessions with Dr. Stone have turned out pretty good. I didn’t think I needed to speak to anyone, o
Maliyah“Wanna sleep with me Ada?”She perks up and smiles. I am glad we got a toddler bed for my room. Accalia sometimes likes to sneak into my room. I open my bedroom door and freeze. That smell of lemongrass invades my nose and my body stiffens.“Maliyah what is wrong?”I slowly take a step into my room and turn on the light. I can feel my heart beating erratically in my chest as I look around my room. The scent is not that strong so I know he’s not here now but the fact that he was scares me. There is a single gift left on my bed and I just stare at it. Aspen walks over to it and inspects the package.“Uh, there is no name to say who it’s from. Maliyah, what has you so frightened.”“He was here,” I whisper.“Who?”“Alastor.”I’ll ne
DerekAfter Maliyah has calmed down we all leave her room and I do my best to not hit something. Nero is close to gaining control and it takes everything in me to keep him from losing his shit.“Derek, calm down.”“I am trying love, Nero and I hate seeing Maliyah so terrified.”“I do too but we need to be calm for her. She has enough anxiety without us adding to it. Also, I don’t want Nero scaring the younger kids.”I know she is right and does Nero.“Get it together Nero,” I tell Nero.“We have already failed her once, we cannot fail her again. We are the Alpha for crying out loud,” Nero growls.Davina holds me and whispers to me, calming Nero down. Davina has told us multiple times we are not failing as a father but