ELIANA. As I slowly opened my eyes, the dimly lit surroundings came into focus. I gasped shakily through my lips as I sat up. The cold, damp air clung to my skin and the distant echoing sound of dripping water filled the silence."Hello?" A bolt of panic sliced through my body as I stared into the darkness around me. My memory was blurry although I do remember stumbling through the forest after my fight with Nora. I also remember a masked man who had injected me to fall unconscious.That was all in my head. But I figured whoever had captured me was the one who brought me here."Hello" My voice was shrill with a crack emanating from my sore throat. Once my hands touched the ground, the metal clangs dawned on me my grim reality. I was chained in the suffocating darkness of what seemed to be a basement or some dungeon I'd never seen before.There was only one window which was at least several feet in the air and even behind that was pitch darkness. It wasn't morning yet, that much I cou
DENVER.A storm took the room as the doors banged shut and the curtains wavered in the winds. The moonlight poured into the attic of the cabin where Eliana’s Grandmother, Abigail sat cross-legged on the floor.Her eyes closed in deep concentration and her hands upon her thighs, she began to mutter an incantation that caused the candles around her to flicker and the lights to go off by the winds.She was trying to find Eliana, she said—the only way she knew. But most of all, I was still shell-shocked about what she’d just revealed to me. All this time, her Grandmother had been a witch. It was hard enough trying to process what that meant for the both of us but I couldn’t imagine how Eliana would feel when she finds out her whole life’s been a lie. I was between worrying about that and her own safety. Either way, it was hard to stay calm. Not when the possibility that something bad had happened to her was still up in the air. Ivan was a lot calmer than I was, strutting behind me. Som
ELIANA. Elyndra’s hostile cackles speared through my heated ears like a sword. All the color had drained from my face once I’d heard the truth and not only was it a lot to process, I started to doubt everything in that moment.With tears in my eyes, I cowered my head. I couldn’t believe my Grandma could keep such a secret from me, I couldn’t believe she was a Witch which meant I was a Hybrid and the enemy—the Queen of Witches was my Great Aunt. It meant my mother was a hybrid too.I’ve lived a lie all this time. Every time she said I was special, this was what she meant. More so, this was going to affect my son, Elijah too. Because he had the Witch’s blood inside of him, alongside his father’s.Perhaps, that was why he had nightmares.It was all because of me. Because Nana didn’t tell me the truth. How was I supposed to ever trust her again?“It’s okay…” Elyndra muttered, twisting her lips into a pout. “I understand you feel betrayed. How could Abigail my Nana do something like this
DENVER."Abigail,""Abigail stay with me!" I wedged her head up in my hands once I noticed her eyes slowly closing. She'd lost a lot of blood from the fall and I could slowly feel her slipping away. "No!" I gritted through my teeth."I won't be the one to tell her that she's lost you too! I won't, Abigail" I looked her dead in the eyes before hefting her into my hands. "Tell her," Her voice was low with a crack in it."Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her I didn't want to lie to her...that there were many times when all I wanted was to tell her the truth" Eliana's Nana said but I struggled to lift her up in my arms."You'll tell her yourself" I disagreed. Her hands gripped with the last of her strengths into my shoulders and I carried her up the stairs, out of the basement and into the passenger's seat of the car. I walked around to enter the other side and I didn't waste a second starting the car."Here!" With one hand around the steering wheel, I handed Abigail a piece of clothing. "It shou
DENVER.“Where the fuck are you, Cory?”I gritted through my teeth as I placed the phone against my ears. With one hand holding only Elijah behind me, I clung to the walls as I made my way to the back of the PackHouse. That was where those buildings were, especially the one with the mountain symbols that Elijah saw.“Is mommy here?” He whispered. I squeezed his hands before he clamped his lips shut, remembering what I’d told him—to be as quiet as possible. Hell, I wouldn’t even have been on this call if my Beta Cory had just replied to his text.“Alpha Denver, you were the one who directed me back to Blood Hounds after the incident. I already left this morning with the troupe” Cory replied and I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh from my lips.I wanted him to come and carry Elijah and tend to him while I handled Blake but I just remembered his other assignment. I looked back and forth, halting at the entrance of the building.“So who’s around now?” I asked him. “Not many people
DENVER. "No!" My voice sent a reverberating thunder through the dungeon walls and I fell to my knees as soon as Blake drove the knife into her chest. Eliana fell forward with a gasp. Her eyes were left open, she heaved her last breath while gazing into my eyes.Blood spilled from her lips and her chest into the fire which erupted into violent flames. The fire spread across the room, demarcating it in half. Blake was on the other side, deep cackles escaping his lips as he turned to me. With one hand around Elijah, a tear escaped my eyes."Mommy" I held him tightly to my chest so he wouldn't have to see his mother like that. But he knew something had happened. "I want you to trust me, and cover...cover your eyes, okay?" I gritted through my teeth, trying my best to overcome the words stuck in my throat.I lifted my eyes to Eliana's hanging body and it was like a sword sliced through my chest. I retired Elijah to the corner as my fist folded up in anger and rage. Blake clapped his hands
ELIANA. I was still trying to make sense of everything that had happened when the room was swept in a brewing storm. My hands tugged at the necklace around my neck and when I looked at Elyndra, she was angry just as much as she was disappointed. Her groans were pulsed with rage as she darted her hands at me.Maybe she realized then that there was no way she could kill me while I was wearing that necklace my Nana gave me. I had heard of magical pendants before but it wasn't until I experienced it that I believed. It made so much sense now that I knew my Grandma was a Witch.It made sense why she kept clamoring that I wear the necklace and never take it off. That night, I had made the mistake of removing it and look at everything that happened."It's meant to protect you" She'd said a million times before. Only now, did I believe it. At that point, the door to the room barged open and Cory walked in. I recognized Denver's Beta almost immediately. His eyes bore a look of shock as they f
ELIANA. The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor echoed incessantly through my ears as I sat beside my Grandmother. The scent of hospital antiseptic hung in the air and fluorescent lights up above.After a whole night, she finally opened her eyes, managing to sit up on the white crisp sheets. At that moment, I squeezed her hands as I sat up. It had been a very long last few hours. I’d known things that I didn’t my entire life and come to terms with a reality I had no idea of.Yet at that moment, after pondering for hours on what I wanted to say, it was hard to feel any other thing but happy. Happy that my Nana was alive. That she was breathing and that the stupid monitor wouldn’t stop beating. I was happy because I defeated Elyndra.“Hey” She softly called, stretching her frail hands to caress my cheeks. Her eyes narrowed with a million unsaid words and I moved closer to her.“Hey” I whispered. Tears shimmered in my eyes, and in hers.“I’m so glad you’re okay” Nana whispered. I nodd