CLAIRE.Evie jumped up excited as she had just killed her fears and made father proud. Father couldn't contain his joy any more than Evie. He held her in a warm embrace as she was now officially a hunter. I was happy for her anyway but I just wanted to get out of there."See? It wasn't all that hard, Evie. You're now officially a hunter and I'm proud of you!" Father said, enclosing her in another warm hug."Come give me a big hug!" Becky said excitedly as Evie ran to her and hugged her. Becky swamped her face with kisses, and Evie was embarrassed."Stop it, mother." She said as she blushed.The sight of it all felt heartwarming but the only warmth I could feel was those of anger. My birthright had just been taken away from me in my face and there was nothing I could do."I'm sorry we doubted you." One of the hunters who had been mocking Evie earlier said and turned to me to give me a face. I rolled my eyes at him and looked away."It's fine, I forgive you." She replied. I felt so jeal
CLAIRE.I was shaking, my body vibrating with nervous energy and fear, worried for Alex and then my father dousing me in cold. I watched the scene play out, the wolves howling loud as they took in the limp bodies of the wolf and then Alex. In the midst of all the whirlwind of emotions that clouded my mind, I wondered if these were Alex's family and I deeply hoped that whoever the wolf was would be okay. I watched, my hands over my mouth as the wolves all seemed to make a sort of barricade in front of their limo bodies, shielding the hunters from any other attack. My eyes went to my father and Malkholm, wanting to see what they would do next. But they watched the scene with detached eyes, looking like they would definitely attack if the wolves made any move. I turned to Evie and noted that she was whispering furiously to Scott who smiled widely, his gaze on the wolves with something akin to delight. I knew that look and I knew that he was planning something else. Just as I noticed Evi
CLAIRE.Father called me in to ask why I had wanted to save the wolf. I stood awkwardly inside his study, trying to come up with a reason why I had wanted to save Alex. I was sure that Father didn't remember who Alex was since that first time he had met him and if he realized that it was the same wolf I was trying to save once again, he would be furious. My mind whirled with reasons to give him and I finally settled on one, telling him that the blood greatly disturbed me and that I didn't see the need for more violence when Evie had already killed the beast. It hurt me to refer to Alex as such, but I guessed that it was the only way father would remotely believe me and let me go. He stared at me for a while after I said that and I had the feeling that he didn't believe me. I expected him to call me out on my lie but he didn't. He stared intensely at me as he picked up his glass of what I knew was Scotch -as that was the only drink father took. I watched as he slowly took a sip, his e
CLAIRE."God." I wiped at my tears once again, angry that even the liquid from my body was betraying me. I didn't want to feel sad that Father had disowned me, he didn't deserve my tears or any sad feeling I was somehow having. I kicked at a stone in my frustration and ended up tripping, my knee hitting the paved road hard. My tears finally burst open and released in a torrent of all my pent up anger and hurt for my father, and I hugged my knees to my chest, the tears falling on my bruised knee and causing it to hurt more. That made me cry harder, and it felt like I could place my ragged feelings on the fact that my knees hurt like crazy. After a while of hugging myself out in the open, the chill in the night started to disturb me and I rubbed at my arms furiously, my hurt feelings suddenly transforming into one of anger. Couldn't he have sent me out in the morning? Why did Becky have to raise a confrontation so late at night? It was almost like they knew that father had gotten to h
Alex had been half awake throughout the entire fight that occurred between the wolves and the humans. At first, he thought that the wolves were the former wolves he had moved around with before he realized that he could still shift to a human, but then they weren't. These ones had been fighting to protect him, and not just because they enjoyed the violence of killing humans. Alex had watched through half lidded eyes as they had viciously fought against the humans, one of them going as far as jumping in front of an arrow one of the hunters aimed at him. Alex didn't know what exactly caused him more grief, the fact that someone else had gotten hurt by an arrow meant for him, or the fact that it felt like he truly knew who the wolf was. He slipped into unconsciousness at that thought and came to again to see trees over him.It felt like he was being dragged carefully on the forest floor. He turned to the side and locked eyes with a grey furred wolf, who looked sad. He went back into a d
ALEXAKIS My eyelashes flicked open several times before I could finally concentrate my sight to adjust to the bright light that was penetrating my eyes. The light from the unknown source almost blinded me, and I had to close my eyes once more to keep from going blind. I couldn't help but feel that it had been a little too long since I last opened my eyes to see any form of sunlight.That thought jolted my memory awake, and I was reminded of the awful incident that happened the last time I had gone into the forest just to obey the urge of my body to shift. I rose from the bed rapidly and winced as I felt my lower back give way. I laid down back on the bed, aware that I was going to collapse either way even if I didn't do so myself. Along with my anger rose the urge to murder someone. And the someone I wanted to murder was no more than that evil sister of Claire. How dare they try to hurt an innocent animal? Forget the fact that the animal was me. Didn't they have any compassion for
CLAIRE"Janet, could you pass me that knife, please?" I asked Janet. She did as I requested and handed the knife to me."If that food isn't as delicious as you hyped it, you are in soup." She warned me.I laughed at the way she said the words. Even though she was trying to sound like she just threatened me, the playfulness in her voice gave away her true intention."Don't worry about a thing. Leave it all to chef Claire," I told her warmly.It has been two weeks since I have been living with Janet. If there was anything I was glad about, it would be about meeting Janet at the time when I did. The friendship between us had blossomed even though we had barely been living together for no more than two weeks.She did her best to make sure that I was always happy when I first arrived at her place and she noticed that I was always sad or even crying every day when I thought no one was looking. She would come to where I lay in a small corner and consoled me until I fell asleep and was oblivi
ALEXAKIS I couldn't believe that it had been more than three weeks since I came to live in this place that was slowly beginning to feel like hell.True, the people there nurtured me back to life, but none of them were ready to answer the questions that weighed on my mind. All they did was give me food, water, medicine, and care. They also made sure that I got enough rest. But the attention was not there.Luna Lisa, as I have learned she was called, had refused to listen to me or even talk to me. I understood that she might be very angry with me at the moment, seeing as her husband died because of me. I later got to learn about this from one of the nurses that came for a visit. And they had carried out his rites, or was it supposed to be later in the day? I couldn't remember.All I knew of at the moment was the fact that the place was beginning to feel like hell. How else could I explain the fact that everyone treated me like a plague? Like I was responsible for all the miseries they