Since Andrew left Brighton, Caleb's life had become easier. Pack members were so afraid by the thought that Andrew wouldn't return that they didn't seem to mind when he did or said something crazy or stupid. He'd been walking around the Pack like he owned the place. The old Alpha was also too busy with the planned attacks on the witch coven which were already underway. Laura and Larry didn't have the time either. While Larry was sulking, Laura was actively doing her duty as pack warrior.Brighton had already sent in troops and threw a couple of bombs on the witch territories. The witches were so shocked by the sudden attack and hadn't even come up with a counterattack.Brighton planned to repeatedly attack them, giving the coven no chance to retaliate. The attack also affected the Pack members. They were terrified that when the Coven finally got themselves together it would be awful for Brighton. They also thought that it was wrong timing because Andrew their savior was not around to
Emily looked at her outfit for the umpteenth time wondering if she had done too much. It was supposed to be a simple date at one of her favorite restaurants in New York and yet she'd felt like she'd gone overboard with her hair and makeup. Well, she had nothing better to do all day but try to perfect her look. She'd been through different outfits before she'd finally chosen the one she put on. Her hair had been straightened, curled, packed, and repacked a dozen times already. She sneered at her reflection, her nerves were all over the place since news from the dispatched teams revealed that 3 of the suspected locations were empty early that morning. She'd asked herself if it meant that they'd already escaped or that they were in the next location.She'd spent the whole day fretting around her apartment, wondering if she'd picked the right outfit as she tried to distract herself from the main problem. Which was finding those children. She also worried about her mother. Despite the h
If Emily was being perfectly honest with herself, she hadn't been expecting her night to go as wonderfully as it did.When they came out of her apartment, she and Andrew walked a few blocks arm in arm before Andrew spotted some silly weird-shaped glasses and bought a pair for each of them. Then they moved from food cart to food cart, trying to sell their tourist dreams and faking their accents to impress food vendors.Each vendor got a different story and city depending on the vendor's countenance, but they mostly pretended to be a couple on their honeymoon that had heard of how great New York was and had come to experience it. Emily laughed so hard that she almost choked on her food. At some point, she couldn't keep up with the fake accents anymore. Even when a random person on the streets called their bluff and told them that they belonged in hell for lying, Emily didn't feel guilty as she normally would. That night she'd broken a thousand rules that she normally wouldn't dare to
Andrew followed the path mapped out on the map. He'd hiked for hours as the path led him deeper than he'd ever gone into Westmont park. As shocking and revealing as it was, the safe haven he was supposed to find was located in another part of Westmont, deeper than he'd ever been to. It explained why he decided to settle there after all.Throughout the night, Andrew was so excited and partly anxious about what he would find and how arduous his journey would be that he had barely gotten any sleep. His wolf also watched pensively, worried about Andrew's reaction to the reception of another memory.If the last one knocked him out for more than 24 hours after which he was still woozy. His wolf feared that Andrew wasn't ready to be bombarded with other memories in such a short duration of time and would react worse than he did when he discovered the storage unit. Grunting Andrew stopped walking and leaned on a humongous tree that was in his way. He heaved then allowed himself to slide to
Andrew's senses awoke before him. His wolf, who had been in attack mode, immediately simmered at the warm scent that filtered into Andrew's nostrils.Andrew smiled, it smelled like home. It smelt like his mother. He cracked his eyes open and caught a glimpse of a very familiar surrounding.He jolted up, seeing himself in his mother's old cottage house. The memories returned at once and this time they weren't bad like he'd been fearing that they would. His wolf purred enjoying the calming scent that smeared itself around his senses. The bittersweet memories engulfed him, he remembered them all. The laughter of his childhood, the games he played with his mother, tagging along with her in her little garden, his first big wound, his nightmares, their little outings, He groaned, feeling blissed. Then the sad memories trickled in little by little. He remembered the first time his father returned home, he'd been sleeping in his room when he heard voices. "Did you think I wouldn't find you
"She did what?" Douglas growled into his phone."Find them and kill her." He bellowed, then slammed the phone in his hands on the desk as he removed it from his ears.The silhouette of his wife's ghost appeared beside him, dark long fingers trailed across his shoulders."My love, who's got your panties in a bunch." She whispered into his ears.Douglas growled, then sighed."Your time is over, my masters say. They're retrieving the protection they've given you. You've failed to keep to your end of the bargain."Douglas jolted up,"Darling! You don't mean it. Did you speak for me? For us?"She sighed, "I'm afraid you may soon have to join me. While I complete my service, you shall be in eternal torment. They will own your soul. You will regret making promises you cannot keep." Douglas tried to grasp her hands but it turned to smoke."Darling, tell them to start the sacrifice. The moment Andrew returns he will become Alpha and by the time he takes my position for the first time during
'He's not your father.' Laura's words resounded in his head as he prepared for his date with Emily. She'd already called to confirm their date and though he'd thought of canceling it so he could spend the night ruminating on everything he had heard, she sounded so elated that he couldn't bear to do so.He stared at his reflection, seeing his wolf and not balking with hatred and disgust as he usually did. Laura and a witch helped him get over his fear of mirrors during her great reveal.Andrew swallowed as a wave of shock shot through his body.The things Laura had revealed to him just hours ago were messing with his head. He had his wolf, who he'd allowed to remain close to the surface since Laura had asked, to thank for his sanity.His wolf was able to contain his wilding emotions and keep them from erupting by concentrating on what was important, which was not letting Emily down tonight.'There's a fourth prophecy.' Laura had said. "Douglas is not your father."Andrew's mouth fell
"Hello!" Emily waved enthusiastically, as Andrew stepped into the restaurant.He gave her a small smile. His eyes glinted with mischief.Emily gave him a full-fledged smile in return. Her excitement hadn't run out even after the celebratory dinner and drinks she had with the team."My lady," Andrew said, bowing a little before taking his seat.Emily giggled,"Why you're the fairest maiden in this establishment, I daresay."Emily laughed harder."Oh stop it." She gushed.Smiling, Andrew took her hand and kissed it."Evening Milady. How pray tell did your day go?" Emily rolled her eyes as she tried to stifle another giggle."Andrew." She cautioned, but since she couldn't help herself she laughed out loud."My day was awesome!" She squealed. "I'll get into it after we've ordered. What are you having?" Obliging Andrew picked up the menu and scanned it. While Emily, who'd already picked out something, looked again at her own menu.In a few minutes, a waiter dropped by and collected their
"Did he agree?" Emily asked as soon as her mother reappeared. "Yeah, after a lot of persuasion."Emily released a shaky breath. Her body was burning like she'd been bathed with acid. "Let's get into position then." She said, lifting herself up. The pain was too much had she found herself unable to stand. She staggered backward and fell to the bed. "Emily! What's wrong?" "It's like my body is on fire." Emily hissed,Vanessa came to her and inspected her body."It's the mark from hell. He's suffering from the mark from hell. Are you sure you can do this? I can tell Andrew the plan, I'm sure he'd be happy to do it in your place.""No." Emily said forcefully. The truth was that no one could execute the plan effectively apart from her. Even if they collected the totem from Caleb, she was the only one powerful enough to destroy it. Andrew's strength couldn't break it, and neither could her mother's magic. But her body burned and she wanted to crawl into bed and cry. She'd have to make
Emily purposely ignored Andrew.She also purposely ignored the nudges her mother was giving her, as she narrated her experience to everyone. She also tried to ignore the sparks that were ignited in her body when he pecked her and whispered that he had to go but he'll be back.But when her mother, who'd been attentively listening to her, rose up, dragged him by the side, and hugged him. Envy, heavily laced with anger as she'd never felt before, coursed through her body. It felt as if her mother was betraying her. Jacqueline was the first to notice the change in her countenance.She smirked,"Girl, that's what you get for ignoring your man. Now he's in the arms of another woman." Emily growled and Jacqueline burst into laughter."When did you start behaving like a she-wolf? Hold your horses Em, it's only your mother. It makes me wonder what you'd have done if it was another female."Amelia laughed,"She would have probably hexed her entire generation." She said,"Nah, Em's feeling m
Emily had given up on trying to escape her imprisonment before she realized that it wasn't real. It had been days, yet she'd not felt hungry and she woke up the exact way every time. The sun didn't set, her clothes didn't change, she didn't want to use the bathroom and everything was still and lifeless.The only thing that changed each time she awoke was her strength. It was as if something was sucking out her energy. On the second day of her entrapment, she remembered wandering around the sheet/film that locked her in search of a weak spot or way out until she got bored and forced herself to sleep.Now she could hardly move a limb. Anger at Andrew and his Kingdom burned within her chest. She allowed it to blind her reasoning and she began to blame him for everything that happened.She promised herself that she would hunt Andrew if she died there.She'd been making such plans when she noticed the potted gardenia again.With a lot of effort, she stood up, walked to it, and lifted it of
Andrew and the Compliant narrowed their eyes at Vanessa."Do you understand it? Can you see how clear the prophecy has become?" Vanessa asked,The Compliant and Andrew glanced at themselves and then back at Vanessa."You," She pointed at Andrew, "became the enemy, you were the destroyer. He used your body to commit all these atrocities. Right now your people do not trust you. You'll need to do a lot to regain their trust. The second prophecy has come to pass. Can't you see it? You aligned with the enemies, you brought harm to your people and if I didn't save you, you would have perished.""Oh." Andrew agreed, nodding. "Now I'm very curious about the 3rd and 4th ones. I wasn't one to believe in those prophecies. My husband did and I often mocked it for it. I didn't think the prophecy concerned us witches and hoped you didn't find the key. I even hexed you."Andrew shrugged, he didn't understand where she was going or what she was trying to say.Vanessa chuckled mirthlessly, "And afte
"Where am I?" Andrew growled. His eyes were still shut and he wasn't fully awake.Vanessa, who had been standing behind her kitchen counter from the moment she dropped him, shivered. He's not going to rip you apart. You saved him, remember? She repeated in her head."Where am I?" Andrew asked again, propping his eyes open, then shielding his face with his arms.His wolf prowled around restlessly in his head. It wanted blood and it wanted it now.Vanessa steadied herself by gripping her kitchen counter. Her knuckles turned white and the bones in her fingers threatened to snap.Andrew jolted up."Where the fuck am I?"A shudder ran through her body and she swallowed involuntarily."My home." She said, her voice sounding more confident than she'd expected.Andrew's head snapped in her direction and he growled. Vanessa could see the malice in his eyes and feel the anger rolling out from his pores. Gathering as much courage as could muster she stepped forward. "I've been waiting for
The first thing Shirley did when the bodies exchanged was to try to get hold of Caleb before he fell to the ground.Later on, she would regret it deeply and ask herself why she didn't disappear like she normally did. Maybe it had something to do with the mark from hell that she'd seen reappearing on Caleb's body.Shirley's illusion flickered and she could feel her powers waning out as she bent to check on Caleb and wondered why. After confirming that he hadn't been knocked dead, she vented out her frustration on him and tried to wake him up. After trying several spells that didn't work she shook him roughly and punched and kicked him but he remained unresponsive. She'd also said another couple of spells that were supposed to be potent and yet the effect remained the same."Coma!" She yelled, "You're in an induced Coma you son of a bitch! Motherfucker, you get to sleep while I think of a way to save us!"If she had stopped screaming then and paused to do the actual thinking, she would
The next morning Vanessa snuck into Brighton and stood amidst the crowd of werewolves standing before the platform in the form of a man. She had to dig up her husband's old spell books and read and practice them throughout the night before she was able to perfect the spell. She stood within wolves knowing that any mistake she made meant death. She trembled, her hands were balmy and her forehead was clouded with sweat. Although she was terrified about being exposed, she was more terrified about failing. It seemed like the fate of the whole world weighed on her shoulders and that was enough to make her shake. Before leaving Andrew, she'd given him a sleeping potion and was glad that it was still in effect when they dragged him out of the dungeon that morning."Who are you and what have you done with Vanessa?" She muttered under her breath. Never in a million years could she imagine that she, Vanessa, would dare to do what she'd been doing in the past few hours. It was very out of char
It was the time of reckoning. Caleb thought, trying as much as he could to keep a grim expression on his face when he was bouncing with excitement inside him. The platform had once again been set and the pack members gathered beneath it chatting away as they awaited the death of Brighton's number one enemy. The gates of the dungeon creaked open, shushing the crowd of onlookers. The advisors and some stakeholders, followed by a barrage of guards and warriors who dragged Caleb's unconscious body processed solemnly to the platform and ascended it. Caleb had never felt so powerful in his entire life and he loved it. Thrills of victory ran down his spine and he clasped his eyes shut and struggled to keep at bay, the smile that had been threatening to break out from his lips. "I still don't understand why we are hurrying his death." Someone murmured dispassionately.Caleb scowled as his head snapped toward the direction of the sound. It had come from one of the stakeholders.He sneered
A thrum of energy buzzed in Shirley's brain signifying that some of her spells had been activated. And she knew the exact ones, it was those she'd said to trap the moon witch.A slow smirk spread across her face and she ignored Vanessa's righteous rant. She'd come on her own with the idea of threatening her into submission. But the once pale woman had suddenly developed a backbone of her own and was now shooting back and matching Shirley word to word.Of course, Shirley was irritated and had started thinking that maybe it was time to slice her throat. Shirley's threats were like water on a rock to Vanessa and it amazed Shirley to see her fired up like that.Unexpectedly, the new members of the circle swooped in, grabbed her, and secured her. They'd been hunting for a few days now. Yet, instead of Vanessa cowering like she normally would, she screamed some more and accused Shirley of doing everything under the sun. It had started grating Shirley's nerves when her spells suddenly activa