CHAPTER 22

LUCY’S POV

“What did you do to him?” I followed my father behind, throwing questions at him as he and my mother helped Adrian to his bed. He passed out in the front yard after undergoing a terrible shock.

“Dad!” I yelled, trying to get his attention. But they were so focused on Adrain that I felt invincible. After successfully placing him in bed, they decided to give me an answer.

“You have nothing to worry about. Adrian is fine,”

“A wolf doesn’t move as fast as that,” I objected, refusing to let go of their trail. I followed them back to the dining room where they went to their meal which they abandoned to help Adrian. I checked the time, it was almost nine.

“If you won’t give me answers then let me leave. The swearing-in begins at ten,” I protested.

They paid deaf ears to me, quietly eating their food. The doors were locked, and the huge guys who captured me at the party were positioned at the front exits of the house. No doubt the back was guarded too.

“Go to your room, honey. We’ll come speak to you there,” my mother dismissed me calmly. But I knew that after that calm came a storm. I returned to my room, sitting at the edge of the bed while going through the media.

Posts about the event that occurred in Club 9 were topping the headlines on every blog. A few minutes into my silence, I started hearing my parents voices. They were quarreling once again. I slipped out of the room and crept my way down the stairs to listen.

It was about Adrain.

“I was against this! You chose to use him as a lab rat! Now look!” My mother fired, eyes blood red as she held the fork to my father's face.

“Adrian is stronger than you think. He’s a Loretto. He’ll get past this stage and you’ll thank me for creating the strongest asset we could ever dream of as rogues,” my father boasted.

“Yen…yen…yen…bullshit!” My mum yelled. “Adrian is no test material,”

“And Lucy? What is she?” My father asked, causing my heart to sink as he mentioned my name. “What is she? Isn’t sending her into the pack of your ex-lover part of usage? Because I believe she’ll hate you for the rest of her life even right now as she’s watching from the stairs,”

My heart took a deeper dive, my blood running cold at his statement. I wanted to hurry back to my room, but it was pointless.

“Come out honey, we don’t bite. We’re your parents” he went further to say. I sucked in all the air I could before taking my feet and going down the remaining steps.

“What did you do to Adrian?” I asked, my legs trembling for fear of what they would do to me. Whatever they did to Adrian made him different. He possessed a speed not regular for werewolves, but vampires.

They were my parents, but they were monsters too.

And they’d created us in their image.

“Let’s just say…he’s becoming stronger in a different way. But we wouldn’t want to keep you here against your will,” my dad said as he pulled out a chair for me to sit. My mum murmured something only to her hearing before sitting.

“Your mum and I are concerned about your relationship with…”

“Caine,” I inserted the name where it was lacking as his voice trailed off.

“Yea., the Creek boy,” my father confirmed. He took my hand in his and squeezed it gently. “We just want to be sure that you haven’t forgotten the task ahead of you and what benefit it brings to us. Not just us, but Bryan too,” he said, reminding me of Bryan whom I forgot was my actual boyfriend.

“I have it handled Dad,” I assured him. He smiled, glancing at my mother who was not even a little bit impressed.

“I believe you. Now where was it you said you were headed?” He asked.

“Back to the pack house. There’s a swearing-in ceremony tonight,” I answered, elating his smile as he reached for something in his pocket. He took out a piece of paper and slipped it into my hand.

“It contains information on what we need you to get your hands on. Read it when you get back,” he said.

My mum was the first to leave the table, then I followed, heading for Adrian’s room. I got there and was surprised to see him awake. He didn’t look like someone who just suffered from a seizure.

“Adrian?” I called his attention to the video he was on. He paused it and swiveled his chair to me.

“You’re not staying? Why?” His voice was laced with sadness. I couldn’t ignore the veins in his eyes. They were spread by the sides, giving him this dark, bloody stare.

“I have to be at the pack house tonight. There’s a ceremony for the new students,” I said. He pulled me into a hug, and a tear trickled down my eyes when I didn’t get the full scent of his wolf. Dad was using him for experiments.

“Please don’t let Dad kill you,” I said almost like a joke, but I meant every bit of it.

“You too. Don’t get caught by the rogue hunters out there,” he returned with a smile.

The car horn honked, pulling us away from each other. I shared a hug with my dad before I made my way to the car. One of the huge men was the driver, and my mother was seated in the back seat where I joined her.

“We have to make it look real, that you were kidnapped and not taken for a family reunion,” she said without looking at me. I care less about her concerns, so I just nodded.

“Whatever you want,” I muttered, words I would regret in a few hours from now.

We drove past the silent street of the estate until we arrived a few meters away from the alpha's home. I could see the golden light emanating from the grand hall which was to be used tonight. Our car parked at the side of the road, waiting for some of the cars behind us to pass.

The road became silent again, and I heard the locks of our car pop.

“Step out. And make it quick,” my mother said.

I thought she was referring to me until I saw the man step out of the car with me.

I walked to the back, totally oblivious to what was going to happen next.

Then without warning, he drove his claws into my torso, slicing through it till I felt my blood gushing out.

I let out a loud cry, falling to my knees in pain. With my vision blurred by the tears in my eyes, I watched our black car drive off, leaving me helpless on the road.

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