Sophia’s pov Alora’s is the first face I see when I wake up. The dreams of destruction fade back into the realm they’re from and the events that took place earlier come back to me in waves again. Despite myself, despite my legendary strength, I find myself turning away from her and burying my face into my pillow again, crying softly at first, then the tears take over with a mind of their own and I find I can't stop. “Luna Sophia.” The bed dips as Alora sits on it but that only makes me cry some more. A hand pats my hair, slowly, softly. I regulate the force of my sobs because crying even more would just be silly. I don't even know why I'm crying. It’s not like I died. It’s… it’s not like I hadn't expected to die. I always knew I would one day. One day I would give up the ghost and I would be buried the same way anyone would be buried, or not. I didn’t expect getting thrown off a balcony to shake me so much, and what happened afterward? Caelum!I bolt upright in the bed almost
The screen is bright as I stare at it and a slight smile lines my lips as I watch.“This is Alora Friar, and I report live, from what is and also once was the most regal standing mansion this side of the city and four cities beyond.Tragedy has struck the Silvershine pack today as their longstanding Alpha and Luna, Alpha Joras, and Luna Margery Silver have both been abducted and the mansion destroyed in what is an obviously brutal display of destructive power.There is not a single pillar standing. Debris and chunks of the former mansion can be found as far as four miles into the Silvershine property. This is one attack that will do one thing above all others in the hearts of all shifters and non-shifters alike, and that’s to strike an undeniable chord of fear in the hearts of all those who visit this spot in the future.Clips abound on the internet as different people speculate on the identity of the force that carried out this damage. No one is sure of who the man captured in the v
Those words are like a bullet shot into my heart. I feel my face go slack and my jaw aches for a brief second. I keep my voice mellow as I ask,“Where do you plan to go?” Dimitri’s response is slower now. He hesitates for a while, darting his eyes this way and that before he finally keeps his eyes on me and speaks. I imagine he’s always thought of this. Of escaping with his sister and just going somewhere else, anywhere, everywhere else than where they had been.“We could find our mum’s relatives.”“They let the Silvershines take you.”I want to shoot Alora a glare but she’s right. I don’t know if she’s done sufficient investigation on their background, but if she has, then that’s impressive.My little minion is living up to her reputation. She’s learned well.Alora’s words come for me again in the confines of my mind, and I admit that yes, I do have a soft spot for kids. And this time, it won’t be the same soft spot that has me causing harm and damage to them. Seeing them makes me
His voice floats into my head and I have to mask my reaction as he begins,~I’m almost tempted to accompany you two. It doesn’t take much for an argument to start especially when you’re left alone~I chortle because it really doesn’t, but he didn’t have to remind me of that. There’s a devious gleam in Sebastien’s eyes that tells me he liked letting me know how often Caleum and I argue, and this time when I get up, I take a look behind me and see the younger faces camped around the bed. This time, Alora doesn’t seem to be shivering at the sight of Kellen, or feel timid considering her proximity to him.If anything, I feel she wants him to notice her, and I gauge the tension between them. The tension they seem to have always been between them.“They’re siblings aren’t they?”Sebastien chuckles at my question and his response is loud enough that they can both hear, “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”I nod because I'd always suspected it.I take one look at Dimitri and Ophelia and
Caelum is in the living room when I go to him and this time I know something has changed.He’s hunched over his computer, the look on his face grim and the line of his lips tight. I can tell something’s wrong, it’s obvious, yet when he looks at me his eyes soften. He sits up straight and I unconsciously notice how much space he takes up on the couch.The couch is large enough though. It’s almost perfect for someone of his size.I take the leap of faith and I go to sit beside him. Directly beside him. I feel Caelum stiffen as I settle in and that makes me chuckle, because this shows he’s just as nervous as I am and that settles me.“Is anything the problem?”I can almost already tell there is, yet this isn’t one of those moments where the knowledge of an imminent problem would bring cold to my fingers or a scared rumbling to my belly. The laptop is shining in front of us. When I direct my eyes to it I almost half expect him to close the open window, but he doesn’t.Instead he seems t
The more I read the more I feel like hitting my head on something, or slamming a knife against my chest and letting the sharp end go in so fast it just stops everything.“This is going to put a lot of people in trouble.”Caelum chuckles beside me and when he speaks, his voice tickles something at the back of my brain though his statement is solemn, “I don’t believe they’re thinking about any of that.”I agree with him because they’re not. It’s obvious they’re not.Volta Shipping isn’t just any shipping company, they have ties everywhere, and even if they seem small, I don’t think they are. They’re one of those organizations I never got to wrap my head around, to be honest. Nothing seemed clear cut when it came to them, but they served my purpose so their origins at the time wasn’t that big of a stumbling block“A scandal of this size could sink Volta.”They don’t have the necessary footholds to survive something of this magnitude, not to talk of the fact that Ulric doesn’t know what t
“Alora!”I can barely keep the shrill scream from my voice.“Aloraa!!!”There’s something almost perfect about the air today and though I'm screaming my lungs out, I realize all this, just a few happy moments with these people, washes away the years of pain and trauma I've always been trying to keep under the surface. I scream again,“Aloraa!!!”This time she sticks her head out from one of the rooms with a disgruntled look on her face, like an annoyed cat. Her words are calm and slow as she responds, “Is there any reason why you want to shake the pillars of this manor with the sound of my name?”I scoff and chuckle at the same time because if I could do that, I would have done it a long time ago, just not to these pillars and not to this house.I go through the door and into the room she’s in and when she’s seated on the bed again, looking up at me confused and with a slight frown on her face, probably because I’m grinning so much, I say the first thing that comes to mind,“You start
Alora’s response does not surprise me, but the efficiency of the task does. I realize that I can see what Caleum meant when he told me to go ask Alora. He didn’t just want me to congratulate Alora on her return to reporting. He wanted to save me the stress of having to find things out myself. Things like who to truly side with within this Volta vs Highrise dilemma, and while siding with Volta would have been the easiest and best choice, now I know it’s the right choice too.I know I wasn't wrong with my judgment, and Alora has done the fact-finding to prove it.“Did you get what you needed from her?”Caelum is still seated on the couch when I return, and this time I don't even think twice about it. I throw myself onto the couch with a slump, sitting as close to him as I can and feeling the warmth of his skin on mine through his shirt as I respond.“Ulric is the one setting the company up. I was right.”Caelum chuckles in a way that makes me feel he’s saying there was never a doubt ab