“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
“I put Amara to bed, you need anything before I retire?” Kelvin asks Leila later that evening as she fiddles with her laptop in her room.Leila turns to him with a sullen look in her eyes. Ever since she tossed that paper out of the car, all she can feel is rage, five long years gone but her anger is still as palpable as the day she rejected Tatum and jumped off that cliff.She hates him, she hates both of them and she doesn’t wish them well in their so-called marriage.What even took them five years, she expected them to have multiple kids by now.She knows Kelvin anonymously brought it to her attention as a way of asking if she has moved on without them having to talk about it but the bitterness and anger coursing through her is unbearable.Remembering how much she fought to stay by Tatum’s side, only for it to mean nothing in the end breaks her.If she did not have Kelvin by her side, encouraging and helping her, especially in the early months after she left, she would have died f
When Leila opens her eyes, the next morning, she hears the sound of a man’s slow heavy breath behind her in bed, his arms firmly wrapped around her, their body pressed tightly against each other and Leila slightly shifts her butt away from the hard thing pressing against her thigh, feeling embarrassed but she doesn’t wake Kelvin up. She spins slowly in his arms and studies his face while he sleeps, he is handsome and looks almost like an angel in his sleep. He is an angel even when he is awake. Without him, she would not be alive and he has saved her life numerous times on different occasions, putting his life at risk, the hideous scars on his forearm are testament to that. She knows Kelvin is in love with her, it came to her as a brutal shock when he told her that he has always been in love with her about five years ago, two months after they settled into the Bayview pack, thanks to Kelvin’s family business investments in the pack. It was the day she went into premature labour, s
“Aunty Amanda, I will be having a girls sleepover tonight,” Amara says into the iPad standing on the dining table as she has her dinner.After helping Leila and Kelvin escape, Amanda knew she would be the next target and she moved to Kelvin’s uncle pack the following day with the help of Curtis.Luckily for her, a doctor with her versatile skill was just what the pack needed at the time and she quickly secured a job at the hospital.Amanda was with Leila throughout the final days of labour, as gruesome as it was, she never left Leila’s side and she stayed for months after delivery before she returned back.Amanda chuckles. “Is that so cupcake, how many of your friends are coming over?”“None of them, I’m going over to Kate’s—”“Amara!” Leila calls, stepping into the living room.“Kate’s mom is here. Do you have everything you need?” “Yes mama,” Amara replies sharply, jumps down from the chair and runs into her room.She returns with a huge backpack and waves Leila goodbye as she run