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
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