Bella:After a while of falling into the dark space, both Hazel and I hit solid ground with force, bruising our bodies slightly. We both let out chuckles that rumbled in the chilly night sky before getting to our feet. Dusting ourselves off, we took a look around to see that we were in the center of the cemetery—just as Hazel had planned.The cold slapped against my skin, but I didn’t hear the howling of wolves or anything strange, so my body remained calm.“Now, all we have to do is pick ten bodies we want to turn back into normal humans. Then we resurrect them with a spell,” she said, and I nodded at her words, following her without a clue.After a while of walking, she pulled off her backpack, letting it fall to the ground, then took out a piece of chalk, breaking it in two.“Here!” She tossed half the piece to me, then waved her hand to signal me to follow her.We walked around marking the graves until we had chosen the ten we wanted—five males and five females, just like Sue had
Bella:The next day, I woke up with many body aches as the bed I had been given to lie on was as hard as a rock. I couldn’t even stay in bed to cozy up or anything. The moment my eyes were open, I plopped my body out of bed to preserve what was left of my bones, which the bed had nearly crushed the previous night. It felt as though I had been sleeping on a bed of thorns.On getting to my feet, I walked to the bathroom in the room, turned on the faucet, and my hand was met with the coldest water I had ever felt in my entire life.At first, I didn’t want to complain because I believed I would be leaving today, but checking my breath against my palm made me think otherwise. I made my way out of the room, spotting the vampire girl with white hair coming out of the room next to mine.“Excuse me,” I said to her, and she turned with her head bent. “The water is a little cold, and I don’t think I can take a shower with it.” When I said this, she kept mute for a while before bursting into a sh
THIRD PERSON POV:Bella’s absence had the triplets in a chokehold, but they tried to convince themselves she needed space. Hazel, on the other hand, tried to conceal the fact that Bella had been in the vampires’ den for about three days.“Is it just me, or has something weird been going on with the girls?” Kai asked as the trio made their way to school.“Yeah, I noticed it too, but I’m going to assume it’s just Bella being Bella. I mean, Hazel is more of her friend than ours, so if she doesn’t want to show up to the cafe to eat with us in the morning, Hazel won’t eat with us either,” Ryder said flatly, but something about it didn’t sit right with the twins.“I think something other than her reacting to her mother’s death is going on,” Finn said, and Kai nodded.“I think so too,” he added as they walked into the school building.Hazel, who had been trying to avoid them, was unlucky as they spotted her alone by her locker without Bella.“There’s Hazel, and she’s alone,” Ryder said, and
THIRD PERSON POV:“What the fuck, Bella?” Ryder asked, his veins visible. Her foolishness amazed all four of them, and they wondered how she could embody that and still act smart.“Look, it wasn’t intentional. Sue said once you are in, you cannot leave, and leaving would only mean death. I wish I had known, I would…”“You would have still walked right into it, Bella, because this is what you always do,” Kai cut her short, and she looked at him with a fallen face.She couldn’t believe he had said that to her. He was the soft one, but the anger seemed to have torn deep into him.“All you do is make hasty decisions without caring how it would affect your counterparts. Do you know how it hurts to know that you were in trouble?” Finn asked, and she scoffed.She tried to sound brave, like she knew what she was doing, but deep down, she was scared.“At least I am trying to do something good for the werewolves. Look at you three, an alpha prince and two beta wolves who have done nothing to pr
Bella:Watching my friends get thrown out hurt. Worse, they hated me, except Hazel, who seemed to understand me a bit. Their words still hurt deeply, and I wished I could speed up this process so that I could prevent their plans from happening. But they kept me in the dark. No one had outrightly told me the exact things that needed to be done for Enzo to be released.“Hey, are you okay?” someone asked, and I looked up to see Mabel peeking into my room.My eyes were filled with tears, so of course, I wasn’t okay.“If you don’t—”“No, you can come in.” She opened the door further, walking into my room with Lyra.They shut the door and made their way to my bed, causing me to sit up. We remained in silence for a while before Lyra broke it.“You can always shut it off, you know. I haven’t felt a thing in almost a year, and I don’t think I want to,” she said, and I couldn’t help but look into her eyes.Someone hiding that amount of hurt for a year or more might crumble when they finally tur
Bella:“Now that is done, over to the next,” Sue said, then she cocked her head towards the door. “Come on, hybrid.”My legs got moving as she headed to the door. I wanted to ask what the next was, but I was scared because I was already on the edge with her, and every single thing I did seemed to annoy her.“With the way you are walking, we will not meet our mission requirements. There is a full moon coming tonight, and we need it to complete our ritual.”My mouth fell ajar when I heard this and my heart thumped in my chest—not because I was following her at full speed, but because of the “ritual.”“You are releasing Enzo tonight?” The question fell out of my mouth before I could stop it.Sue stopped in her tracks.“Fewer questions and more moving, hybrid!” Then she came to a halt in front of a room.She opened it to reveal a large hall. She walked into it and I followed as she headed for a wall opposite the room, opening a glass casing with a red button. The moment she slammed her ha
Bella:“Bella, come on!” Lyra yelled, but I didn’t move until the car came to a halt. I was sure it was them, and as soon as the car stopped, the four doors opened at once, and my friends piled out of the car.My gaze remained on them for a moment as I wondered what they were all doing. Then Hazel rushed up to me.“What happened?” she asked, but before I could speak, Lyra beat me to it.“We fulfilled our mission, and Enzo will be alive tonight.” Everyone’s eyes widened when she said this, and Hazel glared at me. “If you care about your stupid wolf population, then maybe you should take them to a hospital, because Bella’s bite will only heal their wounds, but the trauma...” she clicked her tongue. “It will be ugly, especially with the kids.”“Lyra!” I yelled her name, my chest tightening. We had already done a lot of damage, but she was trying hard to drive it into their chest, and it wasn’t something I appreciated.The twins rushed over to the accident scene while Ryder remained there
Bella:“Come on, cheer up,” Lyra said to me as soon as the portal opened into the den’s living room. “Did you see yourself out there? You were badass, and you are better than them. They know that.” My mouth remained shut as she said this.“Lyra, please stop!” Mabel called her out at once, and I glanced at Mabel before walking away. “Not everyone is like you, who has no emotions. Bella just lost her friends, and she had to fight with one of her mates. Do you know how tasking that is? You really need to stop.” They came after me as we made our way down the hall to find the rest of the crew.Mabel’s words did little to calm Lyra as she let out a scoff.“Then she should turn it off. They are really holding her back from being great, and you saw what happened when she let her guard down. She wouldn’t go full vampire on him, and he took advantage of that. But when she did, he couldn’t even reach her! That is fucking amazing!” Her voice shot through the roof, doing nothing but grating my ner
THIRD PERSON POV:Bella stood over Enzo’s battered form, her chest heavy from the stresss. Blood dripped from the cuts on her face and arms, but victory was near, so she held herself steady.“Bella! Catch!” Kai yelled, tossing her the stake.“No, you do not have to do this. We are partners,” Enzo said to her, and Bella scoffed. She hated the fact he thought his ‘sweet’ words would change her heart after she saw him take everyone she cared about.Bella reached up, her fingers closing around the black shaft, then she glared at Enzo, who was struggling under her grip. His once-dominating presence was reduced to desperation.“You deserve nothing but death,” Bella said to him, and he chuckled.“I will always find a way to ret—” Before he could finish, she drove the stake into his heart, and he gave a deafening scream that reverberated through the ground.Dark energy swirled around him as his body was being torn apart. Bella wasted no time pulling the stake free and driving it into his head
THIRD PERSON POV:As Bella’s body rose, her hand stretched out, pointing towards Enzo. Then the glow in her eyes dissipated as her eyes opened.“You want me, Enzo? Then come and get me!” she yelled at once. Enzo’s lips curled into a wicked grin, bloodlust evident in his eyes. He released Herald’s broken body, letting it fall to the ground.“Finally, you’re done hiding behind your pathetic friends. I’ll enjoy ripping you apart.” He licked his lips.In a blur, Enzo charged at Bella with blinding speed. Bella stood her ground as he closed the distance between them. She moved calmly, causing him to fall to the ground. Hazel undid the shield protecting them, and they tried to step in, but Bella turned to them.“This is my fight, and if you want to be helpful, then look around. Our troops are dying, and my father.” She locked off her emotions to prevent her mind from getting clouded by the thoughts of her father, who seemed to be dying.Then she turned to Enzo, who got to his feet with a sh
THIRD PERSON POV:Enzo’s eyes narrowed as he saw Sue collapse, clutching her chest where Fred had slashed her. She watched as the venom of his bite spread faster into her bloodstream. It was worse than being bitten by a living wolf, as it was consuming her twice. Rage bubbled inside Enzo as he watched her. She was useless to him, and he felt the need to get rid of her, as she had only foiled all his plans.“You!” He growled under his breath, leaving Halle and rushing toward Sue. As she saw her uncle from the fading light that drew her closer to death, her eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope.“You… you came to help me,” she whispered weakly, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. “I… knew you… cared…”Enzo stared at her in disgust as she said this, and for a moment, it seemed like the battlefield held its breath for this moment where Enzo was about to show kindness.With one pull, Enzo had Sue on her feet, then he stared into her eyes. “Of course, I came for you, Sue. You’ve been
THIRD PERSON POV:Enzo was still outraged about his failed immortality experiment. He was tired of running in circles with Bella and the entire werewolf community. He had sworn it would end that night, but now that it had failed, he imagined finding four hundred werewolves all over. That was close to impossible, and it was eating him deeply.“I asked you for one job, and you couldn’t get it right, yet you want me to acknowledge you!” Enzo barked at Sue, who was still in shock over what had happened.“I swear I didn’t do anything, Enzo. I would never do anything to jeopardize your plan. I will worship you forever, and—”“Silence!” he roared. “You are even more pathetic than my brother!” He gritted his teeth, and Sue felt as though multiple daggers were being thrown into her chest.He had to mention her father. It was said her father died fighting him, but Enzo had taken a liking to her, so he kept her as his daughter. He was nicer to her as a kid, but he abhorred her now, and it hurt.
THIRD PERSON POV:The air reeked of blood and smoke, thick with the cries of war. The Dusk Pack's territory, once a sprawling, serene land, had become a battlefield drowned in chaos. The moon hung low, partially obscured by clouds, casting pale light on the destruction below. Growls and screams filled the night as werewolves clashed with vampires in a brutal fight.Ryder stood at the heart of the storm, his wolf eyes glowing a fierce gold as he ripped through the enemy ranks with unrelenting force. His clothes were torn and soaked in blood. He wondered how his father was doing and if he thought of him often. Then there was Bella, whom he hadn’t heard from in a while. As he fought, he was determined to win because there were a lot of people he needed to reconnect with.They had been torn apart after the vampires struck their den, forcing them to flee back to the Dusk Pack with Riley. He had been scared of his father’s wrath, but now he wished he had listened.“Behind you!” Ryder roared
THIRD PERSON POV:Bella’s spirit wandered aimlessly, her bare feet touching nothing but mist and shadow. The world around her was colorless—a sea of gray stretching infinitely in all directions. There was no up, no down, just an endless void that pulsed with her heartbeat, faint and unsteady.“Where am I?” she whispered as a chill ran up her spine.It was cold here. She looked down at herself, seeing her missing arm somehow restored. She touched it in confusion.“What the hell? What is going on?” she asked aloud, but there was no one to answer her questions.Then she noticed it. A faint, flickering golden glow ahead. It pulsed like a beacon in the dark, and though her instincts screamed for her to run, but she couldn’t stop herself from moving toward it. She was curious to find out what was going on, and she wondered if this was what it felt like to be dead.As she got closer, the glow grew brighter, and soon the mist thinned to reveal something that made her blood run cold. It was hi
THIRD PERSON POV:“Bella!” Hazel’s voice cracked as she rushed toward her, the globe clutched tightly against her chest.“No, stay back!” Halle’s voice cut through the chaos.Bella staggered to her feet, clutching her side where Sue had struck her.“But she’s dying!” Hazel’s voice was shrill, filled with panic and anger.Bella barely registered their words. The sound of her own heartbeat pounded in her ears, growing fainter with each passing moment. Her head drooped, and she let out a weak, shuddering breath. Darkness started to creep into her vision, the edges of her consciousness slipping away. She could heal, but not regenerate an arm, and she was in fear cause her to bleed too much, making it difficult to focus on healing. Evelyn rushed to her, holding her and trying to apply pressure to the bleeding arm. She was scared her daughter would die.Then the ground trembled beneath them.At first, it was a faint vibration rippling through the earth. But within moments, it grew into a vi
THIRD PERSON POV:As the chant of the witches echoed in the air, Hazel and Bella stood close to the rock. Halle stood nearby with her hands raised as she reinforced the protective barrier.“Are you both ready?” Halle asked the two, and they glanced at each other, nodding. They each bit their palms, letting blood drip onto the surface of the rock. The ground trembled as the stone absorbed their blood. A surge of energy rippled outward, and for a moment, it seemed like they had succeeded. But then a chilling laugh echoed through the air, freezing them in place.Sue emerged from the darkness, but neither Bella nor Hazel was moved. The witches kept chanting their spell, and Halle, who had created a powerful barrier, turned to Sue.“Well, isn’t this touching? The living and the dead all merged together. What a joyous reunion,” she said in a mocking tone.Sebastian moved first, stepping between Sue and the girls.“Stay back!” he growled, raising his hands defensively, and Sue chuckled light
THIRD PERSON POV:Fae turned sharply to Sebastian, her eyes blazing with fury.“What the fuck did you just do?” she hissed, her voice sharp enough to cut glass. Sebastian remained still. He didn’t answer, and his gaze fixed on the stone as his blood trickled down its surface.“Sebastian!” Fae snarled, stepping closer as she burned with rage. “You just ruined—”A slow creak interrupted her. It came from deep within the ground beneath the stone, a sound like an ancient door being forced open. Fae froze, her anger replaced by confusion.“What’s that?” she whispered as fear crossed her heart.The vampires surrounding them snapped to attention, their heads turning toward the noise. Before anyone could react, the vampires behind Bella and Hazel snapped their necks, allowing them to fall into darkness.**Bella’s eyes fluttered open. Her head throbbed, and her vision was hazy. She sat up slowly in a sluggish motion. It was still nighttime, and she was trying to remember what had happened.“W