ELIANA.I sat on the living room chair, still reeling in the aftermath of everything that had just happened before me. It was hard to not get shaken up, and even harder to watch Denver wrap Cary’s pale lifeless body up into a bag. He dragged it up the basement and across the room until he got outside.A tear dropped down my cheek when my Nana inched closer to me.“I didn’t want her to die” There was a crack in my voice and a nod which she gave back to me. “I know” Nana whispered. “She didn’t have to. Her only offense was being compelled.”“She was trying to kill you” My Grandma seared through her lips. Denver had said exactly those words to me. He even had to scream it into my ears repeatedly for it to register in my brain. That, and the whole curse thing was just a lot to unpack.“It was either you or her…” Denver had fastened his grip around my wrist. I remember how I quivered earlier, letting my eyes on Cary’s body across the cold basement floor with a stick that went into her bac
ELIANA.I looked at my reflection in the mirror as I combed through my hair and it was then I heard a knock on my door. I didn't have to turn around to see my Grandmother come in. She folded her arms across her chest and her eyes bore enough worry for the both of us.It was an hour to midnight now. Denver and I should have already been on our way. I realized that I got up. It was hard to move my legs inside of deep-blue resplendent ball gown Nana had given me. She said it belonged to my mother.No wonder her eyes grew moist when I finally turned back to her."You look just like her" There was a crack in her voice. I faced the mirror again, the corner of my lips curling into a faint smile. My hands soothed the corset that hugged around my torso tightly. The gown was elegant and meticulously crafted and I was surprised it was even my size in the first place. But it was perfect.Especially for tonight.And the comfort from my Grandma's words seemed to be all I needed at that moment. "Don
ELIANA.The moment we pulled over was when the clock struck twelve. I stepped out, but not without my glittery black mask over my eyes and it was at that moment, that the wind breezed into me the reality of tonight.I turned to Denver whose charcoal black mask fitted perfectly over the bridge of his nose and Ivan went with a grey color. We assembled amid the whole Pack, their hundred bodies the perfect camouflage. “Are you ready to do this?” Ivan asked. I leaned forward because I could barely even hear him. “Are you ready to do this?!” He said louder. “I should be asking you that!” I replied him. From here, we were supposed to split. The plan was for Denver and I to stay together up until it was time for Jaxon to make his announcement before we took on him.While Ivan was supposed to head up to the chamber to get my Dad when everyone else had come down. He was supposed to get him, take him to the car and drive him back to the cabin before bringing the car back. Denver and I ought to
ELIANA.More than an hour had passed since I last heard from both Denver and Ivan and it’s safe to say that my anxiety had piqued the moment when I dialed his number, only to be sent straight to voicemail. The Ball had been going on nonstop, and so did the music and the dancing.With every second that passed, the people had started to get more and more bored. They’d retired to the bar in sections, the only reason they stayed was because of Jaxon’s orders and his supposed announcement.Jaxon, who we hadn’t even seen since the beginning. But while I may have lost sight of him, there was Sienna at the corner of the room, who was gawking at me since we ran into each other. She may not have been able to do something with this many people around but she decided to not take her eyes off me as well. Through the night, she said. She had kept her words up till now. It was a good thing, I’d like her to be there when I finally confronted Jaxon. To see the expressions across both their faces wou
DENVER. It was clear something was bothering Eliana the whole ride to Blood Hound. Occasionally, with my hands clutched to the steering wheel, I would dart my eyes in her direction only to find her lost in her thoughts.Her eyes remained fixated outside the windows. I could tell she had been so through so much, especially after finding out about Elijah. I mean, raising a kid all by yourself over the last few years could've never been an easy feat. Only to be called back home that the future of your Pack rests upon your shoulders as well.If there was something I hadn't noticed when we were married, it was that Eliana was just as strong as she was a beautiful woman. One of the reasons I was attracted to her but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to stop hurting her even though it was never intentional. Ever since the night we spent together, it has been hard not to think about her. Harder to take my hands off her as well. When I found out she had been with another man which res
ELIANA.I jerked up from the floor, barely avoiding being trampled upon by the agitated members of the Pack who searched for a way to flee the crumbling building. The structure could barely contain such an uproar and Jaxon bursting through the roof did severely more harm than good.Screams echoed around me as I lifted my gaze. One second, I saw Nora and the next, she had disappeared. She had made it clear that she wanted to fight me, from the marks she’d sliced across my face and the low growling that seemed to stem from thin air.“I know you’re up there!” I yelled, the structure returned an echo once everyone had left but it also groaned and threatened to collapse around me. “It doesn’t have to end this way—“ But before I could even complete my sentence, there she came, pouncing from the walls and landing across my body. I fell to the ground with a heavy thud.She parted her mouth open and a drop of wolf saliva fell across my face. Her claws dug into the sides of my neck as she howle
DENVER.“Oh thank Go—“ Ivan halted his words once he saw me. The door was still open but there was no one else behind me. With the tears in my eyes and my shoulders that low, he was right to have concern knot his brows. “Where is she?” He asked.“Where is Eliana?” Her name stung the depths of my heart as her Grandmother walked out. I closed the door behind me. “What’s going on?” She looked at both Ivan and I. Words failed me at that moment.How was I supposed to break the news that something bad had happened to Eliana? That instead of us coming back home hand in hand as we said, she was now missing. How was I supposed to tell them?The tears in my eyes dropped down my cheeks as I stretched out my hands before opening it. Her broken necklace fell out onto the table. Her Grandmother sprung forward with shock and worry across her face. “Where is she?” There was a crack in her already frail voice and I bit into my lips before shaking my head. She picked up the necklace and squeezed it in
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