Did Carmela also get that witch to bewitch Tatum? She probably did, that is something Carmela can do and that would explain Tatum’s refusal to take her mindlink, to visit her and even agree for her to be killed. It has to be, it is the only rational explanation. She doesn’t want to believe otherwise, she doesn’t want to believe Tatum said those words in his right senses, something else has to be at play. He loves her, he confessed it to her, he has always been in love with her from when they were young, that’s what he said. Just like she has loved him from a young age as well, that love could not have just suddenly evaporated, mate bond or not. Carmela is behind this, she has to be and she doesn’t have anyway to defend herself or fight back. Tatum is her only hope but she seems to have lost him now. Tatum knows she is pregnant. It doesn’t make sense that he would just abandon her like this and worse, condemn her to death with the heir to the pack growing inside her. Even if
Carmela chuckles, switching on the torchlight she’s holding and pointing it at Leila. Leila doesn’t move an inch, nor does she say a word.She stares straight into the blinding light defiantly, her heart pumping with rage, her stomach boiling with anger.Carmela has taken the most precious thing in her life away from her, her child, the one source of joy she had in the midst of all the other sorrows Carmela has put her in.The guard accompanying Carmela places a chair for her to sit and he gives Carmela the keys to the cell before he departs.“You look pathetic,” Carmela says, scrunching her nose from the bad odour hanging in the air. “But then, it is what suits you.”She snickers, taking her seat and leaning forward.“What did you think you were going to do Leila? What did you think was going to happen? That you were somehow going to stay married to Tatum with me on the side?” Carmela asks with a sneer on her face.Leila stands up like a lifeless woman and walks to the corner of the
The shock fills Leila’s eyes and her thuds but the next thing she feels is an immense pain that almost makes her run mad when Carmela punches her bump, making her yelp even more pain, tears spilling out of her eyes, agony striking her heart and strength leaving her body as her eyes flutter open and close.Carmela takes out a vial and holds Leila’s mouth open, emptying the content inside it before she drops Leila to the floor and stands up, dusting her hands and wiping them on her skirt, a sinister smile on her lips.“Now you can die in peace or despair, I don’t really care,” Carmela shrugs and chuckles. “I should have been his mate, not you but it doesn’t matter now, he’s mine and I’m keeping him.”The disbelief remains staunch in Leila’s eyes that she can barely keep open as she stares at Carmela. Different emotions coursing through her heart.Tatum is her fated mate? But how would Carmela know that when neither her nor Tatum knows it?“You know I’ve always liked Tatum Leila, why di
“So I’m the phoenix— What have you done Carmela? How can you be so selfish?” Leila mutters weakly in shock, out of breath and covered in blood. She can barely keep her eyes open and her heart thuds slowly, every movement painful to the core. Carmela stole her destiny, made her the enemy and is now getting rid of her. Is this how her story really ends? Blood mixes with the tears dropping from her eyes and she winces as she tries to move but her muscles are stiff, she can barely feel anything but the immense pain in her chest. “Why Carmela? The pack comes before any of us, before any of our wants…” For a moment, Leila loses the hostility and anger she feels towards Carmela and it’s like she just wants Carmela to see the wrong she has done, not even to her but to the pack. Despite how they have all neglected her and treated her with contempt, it hurt her deeply to know that they will miss out on the prophecy that makes them hate her all because of Carmela’s deceit. “I don’t care a
Tears spill out of Leila’s eyes in abundance as Carmela walks away, sorrow hugs her heart and anguish serenades it. Anna’s betrayal hurt when she tried to give her that food that day but knowing that Anna has been poisoning her for Carmela’s sake for two long years does more than cause her pain.Why her? She has been nothing but nice to the people around her.Why is all of this happening to her? Is it a test that comes with being the phoenix Luna? Can she really trust Carmela’s words? If she is Tatum’s mate and the real phoenix Luna, why did she never get the mark, even after getting her wolf?She heaves a tired sigh and drags her back down the wall till she is laying on the dirty cold floor, her back flat against the floor as she stares into the darkness above.It is hard to believe Carmela, perhaps she only wants her to feel even worse than she already feels because her wolf said in that dream that she needs the real mate mark, if Tatum is her real mate, why didn’t his mark libera
“Amanda, hurry up, they’re hot on our trails, we have to leave,” Kelvin says frantically, peeping through the window of the abandoned building he took Leila to for Amanda to check her wounds. “I’m going as fast as I can, her wounds are severe, her body is weak, but thankfully, the baby is safe, weak but safe,” Amanda replies, cutting up the last stitch on Leila’s forehead. A huge sigh of relief escapes Leila, hearing her child is alive and goosebumps rent her entire skin, a new feeling a hope comes upon her and tears jerk her eyes as she looks sadly from Amanda who is cleaning her body up with a warm towel with rapt speed and focus to Kelvin whose brows are furrowed in worry, constantly looking from her to the window. What would she do without these two people? She is blessed to have friends like them and she knows she can never repay their kindness to her. “Thank you,” she mutters, tears rolling out of her eyes. Neither of them replies and Amanda stabs her simultaneously with two
Leila feels like her heart is being plunged into by a jagged edge spear, hearing the cold, emotionless way Tatum refers to her as a criminal.Does he really believe that she killed the witch?She heard him clearly pronounce death on her from Carmela’s mind link but seeing him so determined, leading the charge to bring her to supposed justice, it hits her with an immense amount of pain.It’s a pain she cannot describe, it’s raw, primal, like it is clawing at her heart and ripping it apart into a million pieces.She gets off Kelvin’s back, barely able to stand on her feet but she manages, her blue sombre eyes coated with tears as they stare straight into Tatum’s cold grey eyes.“A criminal, is that what you really think of me? You think my punishment is death, that I deserve to die?” Leila asks in a sullen tone, her heart racing hard, her chest rising and falling slowly.Tatum sneers at her and replies in a spine chilling tone. “Yes, you ordered for the pack witch to be killed. Death is
“Miss Leila, we really cannot keep tolerating this, if this happens again, we’ll have to suspend or worse, expel your daughter from the school. We have a zero tolerance policy for violence among students,” the principal of the Bayview Pack preparatory school says to Leila in her office.Leila frowns and turns to the innocent looking sweetheart chewing on her pineapple candy absentmindedly, dangling her feet from the chair and humming a song to herself.“We’ll do our best to make her understand that,” she says to the principal before turning to her daughter, Amara. “Apologise to Mrs. Keaton, dear.”“I’m sorry Mrs. Keaton, for beating up my classmates who tried to bully me.”“Good girl,” Leila replies sharply, “and what do we do next time it happens?” “Report to the right authorities,” Amara drawls on her words nonchalantly and Leila chuckles softly, apologising to the principal and takes her out of the office.“I shouldn’t have apologised mama,” Amara kicks an empty can of water as th
Leila’s men drag Trent out of the house, two of them holding him tight. Another one immediately lodges two syringes full of wolfsbane into his neck, both to weaken him and to stop him from mindlinking anyone. The fourth one opens the car door but one of them holding Trent frowns, “we should parade him round the pack before throwing his ass in jail.” “Sounds like a good idea to me,” the other replies, slamming handcuffs on Trent’s hand behind his back before he kicks him down. “You imbeciles, you’ll pay for this,” Trent says, groaning in pain, the wolfsbane having immediate effect on him. “Shut up,” one of the men throws a hard fist at Trent's face and splits his lip open and blood gushes. Another one yanks Trent up by his collar and gives him a cold stare, “if anyone is going to pay for anything, it’s you who will pay for your crimes,” he drives his fist into Trent’s torso making Trent squirm in pain before pushing him forward, leading away from the old Alpha house. A crowd start
“How is this possible?” Trent asks in shock, unwilling to believe what his eyes just witnessed. Adaline has been laying in a pool of her own blood with wounds all over. How is she fucking healed? And Darren has him pinned to the floor. Did he suddenly recover from his illness? He looks sharply at Leila, getting a thought as the blue aura emanating from her slowly starts to dim. Is she the one behind this? Does she have some kind of healing power? “Are you okay, Father?” Leila asks Darren, slowly walking towards him, her heart full of relief and gratitude. She has no idea what happened or why that powerful aura burst forth from her but something tells her that it has something to do with Trent’s recovery. “Never been better,” Darren applies more pressure to keeping Trent in place, “I think whatever happened with you just now healed me, I feel so young and strong.” Leila blinks and tears roll down the corner of her eyes. She immediately mindlinks some of her trusted warriors and fo
“No…” Trent’s voice is filled with terror upon seeing Leila, “you shouldn’t be here, you should be dead.” Leila sneers at him, “you think you’re one step ahead of me with your plotting and scheming to have me sent to the palace so you could get rid of me but the problem with being a step ahead is that you leave steps behind and you never know what’s going on behind you.” “Bullshit!” Trent growls, his eyes red and full of murderous intent as he stares at Leila. “You made a very foolish decision coming back here, your plan should have included you running for your dear life just like your cowardly husband because now I’m going to kill you myself, then I’ll kill this old fool and his wife. Nothing will stop me from my destiny.” Leila grinds her teeth, feeling so much anger inside of her from Trent’s words but she manages to keep the anger away from her eyes and her voice becomes sullen like someone riddled with fear from Trent’s threat. “Why? Why are you doing all of this?” She backs
Trent quickly tries to move out of the way but he’s not fast enough and her claws tear into his cheek, making him yell in pain. She’s been behind the door the whole time listening to the conversation between him and her husband and the more Trent revealed the depth and treachery of his schemes, the more she hated herself. She was Carmela’s number one supporter. All those things she did to Leila, all the many times that she made the poor girl’s life hell, it was because of this man and his evil deeds. “You bastard,” Adaline growls, charging at him again, taking another swipe at his face but this time, Trent blocks her attack and shoves her back. He wipes the speck of blood on his already healing face and rubs it on his finger. “I’d ask your husband to put you under control but seeing as he is not fit to carry out his manly duties, I’ll do it myself.” He throws a punch at Adaline but she ducks underneath it and kicks the back of his leg, making him stagger forward. “You don’t dese
Darren already knows this so it does not come as much of a surprise to him but he never thought Trent would openly admit his atrocity, which makes him gaze at Trent with a bit of surprise in his eyes. Trent scoffs, reading the look on Darren’s face and he smirks. “I’ll admit that I had a little bit of luck with the drunk old witch, finding out what the phoenix mark was going to look like from the prophecy before anyone else. After consulting with my own witch, it wasn’t hard to discover who was most likely to be the real phoenix Luna. Imagine my anger when I found out it could be Henry’s daughter. I was livid. “I wanted to wipe out the entire family that day when I killed him but he wounded my wolf before I could take his life. Leila wasn’t even there and I was too weak to take out his wife but I figured I’d spare them and let his family watch as I stole their destiny, just like he stole mine. All I had to do was put the beautiful mark on my daughter and present her to you all. Oh,
Trent watches from a distance as Leila’s car drives out of the pack and he picks up his phone and dials a number. “She’s enroute, make it look like an accident.” He ends the call and licks his lips, still staring as the car becomes as tiny as a dot in the distance and an evil smirk adorns his lips. It’s time to take what should have belonged to him all these years. “Take me to the old Alpha’s house,” he instructs his driver, cracking his knuckles and his neck like a fighter getting ready for some action. “How art the mighty fallen,” Trent mocks Darren who is lying in bed, shivering and covered with two thick blankets, his eyes pale and as red as blood and he can even barely keep them open. “The once great Alpha Darren the ruthless,” he shakes his head pitifully, “look at how pathetic you have become. This is what you get from deciding to surround yourself with weaklings!” He yanks the top blanket of Darren’s body. “No Trent, stop…” Darren weakly reaches out to grab the blanket b
“Darren told me the king summoned you?” Adaline sobs, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Leila squints at her, confused at why she’s crying. “Yes,I’ll be leaving at dawn. Is everything okay?” “Yeah…” Adaline sniffs, “I just wanted to thank you Leila, for everything. Since you became Luna, even if it’s only been a short while, the pack has prospered.” Leila keeps the look on her face blank. She’s always put her best into being Luna no matter what and made sure things progressed. She can even say she did more back then when everyone treated her terribly than she is doing right now. It only seems like a lot because she is wrestling with an opposing tyrannical power and this time, instead of seeing her as an usurper, the people are seeing her as a Saviour. “We all have duties we have to carry out, you don’t have to thank me for doing what I have to do,” Leila replies, glancing through the mess of things she has scattered on her bed. Her mind is continually hassled by what th
Leila’s newfound revelation of Tatum’s long lasting love for her somehow just happened to be the boost that her mind and spirit needed. Rather than spend time wallowing in worry and fear, she now catches herself fantasizing about her future with him. Knowing that he has always loved her and seeing how they have been through so much together, she believes their love can only grow stronger. She takes a day off from her Luna duties for the first time in a while to have a spa date with Amanda and some other women that were pivotal in helping her stabilize the pack. Things are running more smoothly now, Trent has been quiet, not stirring up much trouble with more and more people offering her their support over him. She doesn’t worry but she also cannot wait to be reunited with her family. Whatever Tatum is planning, she hopes it works out soon because she is sure that his plan includes them being together, she just has to be patient and make sure that he returns back to the pack better
Leila sets down a cup of coffee on a stool beside Darren and she takes hers, sitting beside him. Darren takes a long sip before smiling at her. “You know, from when you both were kids, I’ve always wished you would be his fated mate. Tatum did too, he would always speak about it, even if was just out a boyish crush. Do you remember the night your father died?” It is a night Leila remembers too well. She had faked an illness to avoid going on the trip to the neighboring pack with them so she could attend Tatum’s birthday party. The next morning, her mother showed up wounded, her father dead and Carmela was named the phoenix Luna a few days later. She can hardly ever forget those days. Trent stole her father from her and Carmela stole her destiny, how can she forget? “I try not to remember it,” she replies in a wry tone. “Hmmm,” Trent takes another sip of his coffee. “That night was the first time I realized that Tatum’s affection for you was not just something in passing. He had