Moana
When I came to, I felt myself sitting in a chair with my wrists tied behind me. My head was pounding from the blow that knocked me out, but that wasn’t the only thing I felt on my head. Something cold and hard was pressed up against my temple. My eyes fluttered open, squinting against the bright light of a spotlight. The light was so bright as it shined down on me that I could hardly see past it, but I could tell that I was inside the warehouse now. The cold metal thing pressed harder into my temple. And then, a familiar voice spoke out. “Hello, Moana.” I jumped at the voice and whipped my head around, my eyes widening as I saw Ethan standing beside me with a gun raised to my head. “E-Ethan?” I whispered, my voice shaking. Ethan smiled; it was that same creepy smile that I saw on the night of the banquet, when he didn’t think that I was looking. But now, he knew that I was lMoana“And now, I’m finally going to get it over with,” Ethan said as he clicked the safety off on the gun.During that moment, it felt as though everything froze in time. My mind began to race with a million different things, a million different outcomes. In the corner of my eye, Ella continued to sleep peacefully, oblivious to everything around her. Kelly laid motionless in the corner, and the spotlight that was beaming on my face blinded me so that I couldn’t see anything beyond it.“Mina, I need you,” I thought, searching for my wolf’s presence. “Please… I know you’re scared, but we have to do something. We can’t let him kill Ella.”My wolf, who had been hiding in terror as it seemed as though Ethan would surely kill me, showed her presence slightly.“Keep him talking,” she said, her voice echoing in my mi
EdrickWe finally located the place where Kelly called us from. It was a run-down abandoned warehouse nestled deeply into the Rogue district, where it was so dark that even the lights of the city from afar couldn’t brighten the place. Behind the warehouse were hundreds of stacked storage containers where the shipping boats came up the river and picked up shipments, but other than that there was nothing else; no people, no houses, no cars. Nothing. Long story short, it was the perfect place for a crime like this to be carried out.The police quietly surrounded the warehouse and got out, drawing their guns. I wanted to feel relieved, but I couldn’t yet until we were certain that Moana and my daughter were safe.When we burst in through the door, however, my heart sank. What I saw inside of that warehouse was my worst nightmare.Ethan, my evil half brother, was holding a gun to Moana’s head.“Put the gun down!” the police
EdrickEthan continued to hold the gun firmly up against Moana’s head. In the white blow of the bright spotlight that was trained on us, I could see the way that Moana’s red hair was stuck to her neck from sweating as her adrenaline surged through her. The ropes that held her to the hard metal chair in the middle of the floor crossed over her belly, restricting the little life inside of her. Seeing her like this made me feel physically sick, and if Ethan didn’t have a gun in his hand, then I would have ripped him to shreds as soon as I saw what he had done to her.“Just let them go, Ethan,” I pleaded as I took another tentative step forward.However, Ethan just pushed the gun harder into Moana’s temple.“You’re a liar,” he said through his teeth. “I know that you and your mother had something to do with it, too. Don’t take me for a fool, Edrick. Your family has done nothing but brought me pain, and now I’ll make you feel the
MoanaI wanted to beg Edrick not to fight and to just let the police take Ethan away, but it seemed as though Edrick had his sights set on a fist fight with Ethan. As I watched them roll up their sleeves and prepare to fight, I just hoped that Edrick was a good fighter and that Ethan wouldn’t pull any dirty tricks.One of the cops took Ella, who was thankfully still asleep. He took her to one of the police cars and asked if I wanted to come to safety, but I couldn’t rip my eyes away from Edrick.I felt so stupid for not trusting Edrick. Of course the conversations with Olivia were all fake, completely fabricated to make me lose trust in him. They wanted to separate me from the one person who would do whatever it would take to keep me safe.Ethan and Edrick stood on opposite sides of the open room and got into fighting stances. I watched with bated breath as Edrick put his fists up, prepared to fight. Everything felt still and silen
MoanaEdrick was bleeding out below me. I needed to mark him if I wanted him to survive, but he didn’t want me to. He said that it would be bad for the baby; he even admitted that the drops he was putting in my coffee were to specifically prevent this. But he didn’t know that I hadn’t been drinking my coffee, and I could mark him then and there.“I won’t let you die,” I said firmly as I held Edrick’s hand in mine.Behind us, Ethan and several Rogues were fighting with the police. It was a flurry of chaos in that abandoned warehouse, and I wasn’t sure what would happen if Edrick died. Ethan and the Rogues, who were likely hired by him, were certain to kill us. I couldn’t stop thinking about little Ella, who was still asleep in the cop car. Even Kelly was lying hopelessly in the corner, still unconscious. The cops were struggling with Ethan and the Rogues, and I knew that they needed Edrick’s help. If I marked him and healed him, then he would ha
MoanaEdrick stood, pushing his sleeves up to his elbows. “I guess we are gonna have a round two,” he said.Ethan’s bloodied face flashed with what looked like fear. Around us, the Rogues seemed to notice Edrick’s surge in strength. In a flurry of frightened yips and snarls, the Rogues took off in their wolf forms, leaving only Ethan to deal with.“I got this,” Edrick said, holding his hand out to the cops before they could jump in and restrain Ethan. I continued to kneel on the floor, completely in awe of Edrick’s strength. He looked bigger, even physically, since I marked him.Suddenly, Edrick rushed at Ethan with a speed that I had never seen before. Ethan didn’t even have time to react before Edrick slammed him to the ground so hard that the floor around him cracked. I gasped, jumping to my feet as I clamped my hand over my mouth. Had he killed him?I heard Ethan groan, and saw him move. Thankfully, he wasn’t dead.
MoanaAs the police officer drove us home that night, I felt immense relief wash over me. We made our way out of the dangerous Rogue district and the city began to grow brighter and cleaner as we headed back to the penthouse. The city lights illuminated the inside of the car, and beside me I could see Edrick still cradling the sleeping Ella in his arms.Seemingly without thinking much about it, Edrick saw me looking and reached his arm out for me. I hesitated for a moment, still feeling bad about the trouble I had caused, but I finally relented and scooched over to nuzzle down into the crook of his arm. How that I had marked him and my wolf had emerged, his scent overwhelmed me; it was so sweet and tantalizing, and filled me with a profuse feeling of peace.But Edrick’s concerns about my wolf emerging too early weren’t unwarranted. I understood that now that Olivia, Ethan, and now Edrick had confirmed that I was the Golden Wolf. Although I didn
MoanaWe headed upstairs after the police officer dropped us off. When we arrived, Selina and the maids were sitting on the couch and immediately jumped up when they heard us coming.“Oh, thank goodness!” Selina cried, rushing toward me and pulling me into her arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”I shook my head, then put my finger over my lips and pointed at Ella, who was still sleeping on Edrick’s shoulder. Selina nodded and wiped her tears away. Edrick took Ella back to her room without a word, leaving me alone with Selina and the maids.“Moana, what happened?” Amy asked, keeping her voice low. “We were worried sick.”“I’ll explain everything tomorrow,” I said. “But we’re okay. We’re safe.”This didn’t seem to fully satisfy the maids. Lily opened her mouth to ask me more questions, but Selina hushed her and sent them both off to her room. Selina left, too, but not before giving me another tight hug