CHAPTER 35

JASMINES POV

“Get off me!” I yelled, struggling with the hands that were trying to hold me down. She was too strong for a lady of her size. I kicked several times, throwing failed jabs at her as she held me to the bed.

“Tell me!” She growled, placing the gun on my head. But I guess that wasn’t enough to keep me still. To my surprise, even with the nose of a gun placed on my forehead, I didn’t back down.

“Let me go! You’re going to get arrested for this!” I growled, yelling in her palm which covered my mouth. She dragged me by the hair and threw me to the floor. Without giving me a chance to get myself, she kicked my torso and dragged my legs.

“One last chance, girl!” She growled, pointing the gun at me. My heart was in a race, my sweat mixed with my tears and they streamed down my face.

“I’m…I’m the wrong person. You have the…the wrong person,” I said amid my rugged breath, clutching my stomach which hit the iron frame of my bed. My blood dripped from my nose, sending an alarm to my head.

“We’ll see,” she said, corking the gun and stepping closer. Her hands were restless, fighting for stability on the gun as she aimed at me again. If only I’d trained with the rest yesterday, snatching a gun from someone shouldn’t have seemed so hard even in my imagination.

“No..no…please don’t,” I cried, watching my life play across the life. I shut my eyes, my fear seeping deeper into my skin, awakening a surge of energy that I’d only felt once….in the woods—when I was with Bryan.

The bullet was fired, a sharp drilling noise piercing through the air. Every other sound around me was silenced in a way I couldn’t explain. The energy surging in me grew to a point where I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I let out a scream, feeling my lungs fighting for breath as my voice tore through the atmosphere. After what felt like an eternity of silence, I opened my eyes, hoping she was gone.

But she was standing in front of me with her ears and eyes bleeding.

That seemed to be the least of her worries because there was a smile playing at the corner of her lips. She looked proud…but what for?

My hearing was still filled with a shrill sound, then I heard her voice, faint…with a snicker.

“It’s you,” she said.

Heavy footsteps matched up the hallway, bringing my hearing to a normal state. I tried to stand, but my legs failed me. I struggled once again, fighting to stay on my feet, but my knees went jelly again and I fell to the ground.

“You…” I muttered, extending my hand to her. Her smile grew wider, then her face began to remold into something else….or someone.

“Dad?” I muttered, blinking consecutively to be sure I wasn’t seeing things. The door to my room burst open, and the guards rushed in.

“Help! Something’s wrong with my daughter!” My father’s clone alerted them with his hands in the air. The guards left him and hurried to me. I tried to warn them…to tell them that that thing standing at the door wasn’t my dad.

But before I could blink again, she was gone, and the person standing there was Caine.

He too was bleeding, just like the rest of the wolf guards.

******

The book landed on the table with a thud, sending me out of my thoughts. What did I just witness?

“Jasmine…how are you?” Alpha Morgan asked, taking his seat opposite me. I dropped the hot coffee on the table and clutched onto the blanket that was used to cover me.

I just stared at him, uncertain if he was the one or not. What if the person sitting before me isn’t the Alpha? I glanced at the door, my father whom I scared away was standing on the other side with tears in his eyes.

“How do I know it’s you?” I asked, turning back to the alpha. He smiled, and let out a deep breath before falling back to his swivel.

“Seekers can’t take the looks of an alpha. The title isn’t just a word or some…position.” He said, and for a second, I felt relieved. But then…Caine.

“And Caine? Can they…?”

“Take his look?” Alpha Morgan completed. “He’s the next alpha. It all depends on how strong he wields that title,” he answered. It was satisfactory to me, but I was good.

“Can you..urm…describe this lady?” He asked. My mind went back in time as I started describing the features of the lady. Piece by piece, part by part, and when I was done, the alpha showed a paper to me. A replica of the woman drawn in pencil.

“Is that her?” He asked, and I nodded, swallowing the horror. “That will be all for tonight, Jasmine. Unfortunately, we can’t let you out of the glass room. Damages occurred after…you know…”

“That wasn’t me,” I defended myself from being addressed as a villain. But deep down, my heart was bleeding. I knew that was me, and that meant I was the one behind the deaths at the camp.

“You can sit here and deny it all night, but that doesn’t change who you are. Now listen…” he leaned closer, almost like he was going to threaten me, but he brushed my hair with his fingers. “No one is blaming you, okay. We just have to figure things out”.

“For how long? So what if you don’t? I’ll be locked in a cell?” A glass room? With no one to talk to?” I threw questions at him, fighting back my tears.

“Goodnight Jasmine,” he dismissed himself and headed out. I went after him, hitting the glass even after he left, and kept yelling his name. The last external door was locked, and I fell on my knees, crying out my eyes.

How could I possibly be the cause of their deaths? I felt like shit…like I didn't belong and like I wasn’t meant to be in the first place. I sat there for hours, thinking of the best possible solution or answer while fighting with a powerful sleep that crawled up my eyes.

Just when I was falling off the scale, the lock clicked, and the glass door pushed open, sending me to my feet. The lights started coming on, one after the other, until the entire room was bright as day.

“A late-night drive won’t hurt, would it?” A voice echoed in the room.

*****