The scorn on the faces of all the members of the council was quite visible, but I held my head up high as I walked into the hall. I sighted Noah sitting in the crowd, a disgusted look on his face. A man was seated right beside Damien whom I guessed would be his beta. Lavender had a straight look on her face, obviously trying to make everyone believe her.Soon, I was standing in the middle of the room, all eyes on me. The man who led me in was already sitting beside the beta, I immediately realised he was the gamma.Uncomfortable silence settled in, my skin itching from so much gazes piercing into it."Just like you all know, we are gathered here to bear witness of the trial of Bella Mackenzie." Damien finally spoke, his eyes fixated on me. "Do you swear on the goddess' name that you would tell the truth during this trial?""I do." I was quite surprised my voice sounded very confident, against my emotions.Just then the beta began reading my offenses from some pile of papers in front
Damien's POVI leaned back on my chair, resting both elbows on the handle as the door went open and George, my gamma stepped into the courtroom, Bella walking closely behind him."Just like you all know, we are gathered here to bear witness of the trial of Bella Mackenzie." I began as soon as George was already seated and Bella was standing at the center of thehall. "Do you swear on the goddess name that you would te the truth during this trial?" I continued, my gaze fixated on her."I do." Just then, Lucas began reading out her offenses. I sat back and watched, as murmurs went around the hallway, only waiting for the right time to speak. A few minutes later after Lucas was done, I cleared my throat causing absolute silence around the hall. "Bella, how do you plead?""Not guilty." She replied almost immediately. So much confidence!"I should speak now, I'm the only witness here." Lavender leaned closer to me, speaking in a low voice. I nodded, giving her the go ahead. "Bella," I call
It was silent when I woke up, I remember waking up a few times to distant noises, Linda's perplexed voice echoing around the bright room. I slowly sat up on the bed, my eyes immediately moving to the window, it was dark outside. I had no idea what time it was, but I know it's really late, especially with the fact it was really silent outside. I wanted to stand up from the bed when I felt a hand on my lap. Linda? She was asleep while sitting on the chair. I gently held her hand, putting it on the bed. I climbed down the bed but winced, stopping immediately when I felt sharp pains around the middle of my legs and waist. Then I remembered why I was brought here in the first place.The brown soup! What could Nina and Lavender have planned? And why the bleeding? The fact I was clueless made me even more confused. Were they trying to kill me?I never knew they could ally with each other against me, I see they have a lot in common, which is hating me and they could do anything just to hurt
I did not sleep again, well I couldn't. I stayed awake till it was dawn. I could hear voices in the packhouse already, the maids already setting to work. Good thing they could finally work, without me. I heaved out a deep sign for the umpteenth time, as I leaned against the headboard, staring outside the window. I've been sitting this way, ever since Linda left earlier this morning, just staring into space.I've never felt so empty ever before, it was like there was a big hole in my chest, just filled with nothingness. I rested my hands on my stomach, running my fingers around it softly. The only reason I was holding on to survival is gone, the only hope I had. A small bead of tears slipped from my eyes and I wiped it off immediately, sniffing gently. Now I wonder how my mother left me with my father without any regrets. Because I can never, the feeling is out of this world. I can't believe she could ignore all these and never even bothered checking up on me. I placed my hands back o
"It worked!" I flinched when the door suddenly burst open and Linda stepped into the room, clasping her hands excitedly. "Come on, get up. It worked.""Worked? What worked?" I asked, utterly confused, before I stood up from the bed, walking to meet her."Well, I talked to Damien, told him a few lies so that you can come with me to my house and no problem for you.""Oh." Was all I could reply. Let's just say nothing brings excitement in me any longer, I don't think I have any feelings anymore, maybe just pains. Well, I've been in this room since morning, had my bath here and a nice nap again. It's afternoon already and I really need to have a break outside this room. So maybe going to her house might help, even the littlest bit."Sure, let's go." I slid my feet in the nearly oversized flip flops I saw here before heading outside the room. Ever since I came to this pack, this was my first time ever leaving the packhouse and honestly, it was one big city. I never had an idea on what it
I was almost arriving at the podium when I felt someone grab my wrist, stopping me from moving any further. “What are you doing?” Linda asked in a hushed tone, looking down at my claws. I jerked my hands away from her slightly strong grip, shaking them to make the claws go away. “Nothing, I just-” I looked back to the podium and my eyes met Lavender’s, staring directly at me, even as she stood beside Damien who was still speaking. “I just need some breathing space, I’ll be right back.” I said before walking past her, out of the hall. I did not want to believe I almost thought of walking up to that podium and sending those sharp claws into Lavender’s chest. I see, a little bit of control is changing my thinking. I ran up the stairs, to head up to my room where I can have a little bit of quiet time and talk to myself before I do something I might regret, but unfortunately bumped into someone. “Sorry-” I wanted to apologize as usual but stopped when I looked up to see no one else but Ma
After getting dressed I headed downstairs, to the kitchen and grabbed a tray, walking into the hall, filled with lots and lots of people. I took a deep breath before walking around to serve the drinks in my head. Honestly, I wish I wouldn't be here. The stares I got from the people already, made me just want to disappear. They already knew who I am, the shackle around my neck gave me away. I stopped when a woman in a black glittery dress turned to me, raising her hands to grab a glass. "You," She spoke, staring at me disdainfully. "You're the stealer." I only stared at her plainly , not saying a word at all."When I speak, you reply." She spoke, showing off so much elegance that she could. "I see, you have no idea when you're speaking to a Luna huh?" Now I know why she acted so bitchy, she must be a mate to one of these alphas. I still don't care though, I'm here to just do my job and leave the place as soon as possible."Excuse me." The look of shock on her face was quite evident,
We returned back to our spot after a few hours of playing around in the woods."Omg, that was soooo fun." She screamed, sitting on a lot of wood. I froze when I heard footsteps walking into the woods, still quite far away though. But I could hear it closely, probably because I was still in my wolf form."Shit, you have to shift back in your human form." She must've heard it too, because she immediately stood up, already alert.Shit! How do I shift back?! This is my first time doing this and I have no idea how any of this works out. Thankfully, after a few deep breaths to calm myself down I finally did it, standing on the ground completely bare. To make things faster, Linda grabbed my clothes and pushed them to me. In less than a minute I was already dressed, brushing my fingers through my messy hair, trying to make it straight. Surprisingly, Noah showed up right where we were, like he was here searching for us. "There's a ceremony going on." He began speaking as soon as he was stand
Eleven years laterMarilee's POVOnce again, I'm woken by the aggressive sound of my alarm ringing, I blindly reach to grab it and threw it across the room. The satisfied sound of it smashing against the wall makes me lie on the bed again, taking a deep breath."Marilee, what the hell was that?" I heard dad say as he walked into the room. "Marilee, that's the eighth alarm in just two weeks!" I don't reply to him but bury my face into the pillow, trying to fall asleep again. "Marilee!" Dad yelled again, pulling the duvet off my body. "That's it! Get up, you're going to be late for school!""Can I get just ten more minutes?" I mumbled, curling myself into a ball."No, get up now." He held my arm, pulling me from the bed. "Geez, you'll be sixteen in a few weeks do I have to keep doing this?""If only you'd let me make a choice here," I grumbled, frowning as he placed me on my feet."I hate school, yeah say that again. Marilee, you would be a future leader, you need to make the other kids
Bella's POVIt's been exactly eight weeks since that ugly incident happened. Eight weeks of reconstructing the whole pack, we moved them from the woods where they had been hiding back to the pack. Most parts of the pack were destroyed, especially the packhouse, but it was a chance to change a few of the settings of the packhouse.We laid the dead to rest, using a few weeks to mourn them. It wasn't easy for Damien to get over the guilt of killing his best friend. Taylor was doing quite well now that she had her father, Helen was right. She would be the same if she were with me, she just needed someone very close to her. Heather was back with her parents Zoe and Tobias who were survivors of such long captivity. Damien has been very close to Marilee who seemed to enjoy his company more than mine. It wasn't so hard to convince her that he was her father, she could feel the bond and gave in quickly, besides she had been waiting so long for her 'daddy'. They've grown closer more than I was
I froze, feeling shivers run down my spine when he said those words. I managed to stand up, staring at Damien in shock. Those words rang in my head over and over again.What could it mean?“The stupid symbiosis experiment went wrong on them and now they aren’t what we think,” Freya answered my question and I shook my head trying not to believe it. I did not want to feel hopeless, not after coming this far.“ But there could be something, to save him right? Like an antidote?” I asked, rubbing my palm on my pants.“You really think those scientists make an antidote for all of their mistakes? Do you think they ever fix them? Snap out of this Bella, we have to find a way to bring him back ourselves.” I pressed my lips tight, trying to shove back the cry threatening to escape my lips."Okay." I sniffed, taking in several deep breaths. From the corner of my eyes, I saw the others take several steps back after sighting Damien. He stopped in front of the cell, looked to the side to stare at t
I lunged at the guard closest to me, grabbed him by his neck, and twisted in the wrong direction; I heard a snap and his body went limp. Weak humans! I used his body as a shield for a few seconds as the other guards opened fire and as shooting wildly at me. Knowing it wasn’t going to last and dropped him and moved with speed to dodge those bullets, but I was shocked the most when it seemed the whole world stopped, I could see the bullets in the air, moving very slowly while I just stood watching. What the hell is happening? I looked down at my body to see those magical flames around me; it was on every part of my body, looking so soft. I guess this was what Helen meant by being gifted by the goddess with special powers. I felt really strong and it was like my fingertips were filled with electricity. Well, let’s put this to good use. I held the bullets and the air and threw them back to the men, then everything turned back to normal and they fell to the ground dead. They must’ve called
I tried to push all nervousness and doubts aside as I stood before the huge abandoned-looking laboratory. I see they did a pretty good job hiding from the authorities and the government. I walked around the building, tucking my hands into my coat's pockets. I was dressed in black shirt, black pants and brown coat with white sneakers, comfortable enough for me to run when I sighted the camera. I stopped, immediately I saw the first camera, moving closer to stare up at it. My lips curved into a smile when I saw the red tiny light and without waiting another second, I turned around, walking away in hurried footsteps. As soon as I was out of sight, I took to my heels, hidiny between tall buildings in the area."I'm done." I said, speaking through the mind link to Noah. "We're watching the cameras, just stay where you are till we see the results." "Okay," This was our plan, quite crazy though. Noah suggested we let the hunters come for us, that way we'd be better prepared. They would def
Returning to the Library, Helen insisted I take some rest and continue with the plan later. Knowing she was right and I was feeling quite weak already, I did as she said, retiring to bed since it was late evening already. She gave me a room that consisted of just a middle-sized bed and a small table at the corner of the room and a wardrobe of course; thankfully it had a bathroom in it. So I took a shower, changed into my nightwear, and decided to take some rest. I clenched my fists, biting back a growl when I heard a knock on the door. Shit! I was just a few seconds away from drifting into sleep. Pushing the door I did not expect to see Jane standing outside, clutching a pillow to her chest. “Can I sleep with you tonight?” She asked in a timid voice, pressing her lips innocently. “Just for tonight.” She added, rushing her words. “Jane?” I tried to hide the smile forming on my lips, turning my face to the side. “I’m fucking thirty, not a fourteen, sixteen years old kid.” I rolled my
Few minutes later we walked out of the room after trying off our tears with a profound determination, my brows raised in confusion when we sighted the rest of the workers including Helen all laughing as Marilee stood before them.“Mom.” She ran towards me immediately after she noticed my presence.“What is going on?”“Mom, I was telling uncle Alexei that my name was marry me.” She spoke, staring up at me with an innocent smile.“What?” I chuckled in amusement, moving to sit at the table where they all sat.“Yes, I told him marry me!” She repeated, rolling her eyes.“You know that’s not your name, don’t you?”“I actually wasn’t telling him my name,” She crossed her arms behind her, stretching her lips into a plain smile. “I was telling him to marry me, he just didn’t get it.”“Whattt?” Alexei shrieked, bursting into another fit of laughter.“Okay, that’s enough Mari, you don’t go around telling people to marry you,” I spoke, pushing all playfulness away.“Oh, and you did not also get t
I looked back at Helen with shock all over my face, completely awed at the revealed. "How could you? I mean all this while?""I thought you might've felt it," Helen replied with a shrug of her shoulders."I always felt it, but I ignored it, I thought it was just you." Helen chuckled as I kept glancing between her and the workers. "You know the first thing you should learn now is not to ignore every weird sign you see or feel. It's could mean a lot more." I nodded, understanding her point. If I'm going into a big fight now, even the littlest details or suspicion mean a lot."So, do you guys have a secret pack here also?""No, no. They're just...""We're rogues." The first guy spoke, cutting Helen off. "I'm Alexei." He stretched out his hands for a shake which I accepted immediately. "Bella," I said with a smile on my face."We all know your name already." They all burst out laughing, making me feel hysterically stupid."Silly me." I chuckled, scratching my head in embarrassment."Let
I closed my eyes and leaned back into the seat when the announcement of the preparation for the landing boomed from the speaker. Five years and I'm back in Russia, only this time around, I feel like a coward for running in the first place. The kids were quite excited for different reasons though, Marilee was happy she was going on a plane for the first time, and Taylor was happy she was away from school for a while. Heather showed no form of excitement, just staring outside the window before she asked the question that made my heart clench. "Are we going back to the pack now?" Her small tiny innocent voice came through. "No, baby. Not yet." I replied, hiding my emotions with a smile on my face. "I do not like Australia." She heaved out a tired sigh, shaking her head. I knew right from the start she never liked it, but chose not to complain about it. "We'd talk about that later baby." I planted a small kiss on her forehead, wrapping my right arm around her shoulders, and pulling her