ALLISON.No way. Just… there was no way.I grew up with the knowledge that my mom was an orphan, a refugee from a ruined pack. But no other packs would take her, so she grew up being a rogue, fending for herself in the streets and stealing from other packs to survive until she met my father. They realized they were a mated pair and my father, despite his fragile reputation in the Flower Moon pack, took home my mother as his mate.That was the story that I’ve ever known, the story that I have admired all my life.But looking at this photograph made me question everything.Drignis family. I’ve never even heard this family name before—not even from my mom. She had never mentioned this to us, never told us that she used to have a brother… or a family for that matter. She used to tell us stories about how she met Dad and all the funny things they did together, all the fun moments they shared but nothing about this.Besides, this family didn’t look like an average household at all. This who
ALLISON.“But that doesn’t make sense! You didn’t have this ability ten years ago! We were just ordinary Lycans. Sure, we were a bit stronger than the average werewolf, but we grew up without knowing any of this crazy shit!” I blurted.He finally looked at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of pity and firmness.“Mom hid our dragonblood heritage to protect us. She knew this would happen if anyone found out. Everyone would want a piece of our power,” he explained.I sank back against the wall, my head spinning. Holy shit. First, her family history, and now this? Just… how many things did our mom hide from us?He opened the photo album and pointed to a picture of our mother that I saw yesterday.“Mom belonged to the Drignis family. They are the last dragonblood family in history. They were hunted by dragonblood hunters who wanted their power. Her parents and older brother were captured, but she managed to escape. She lost her only home.”“This house,” I murmured, the realization dawning
ALLISON.After a while, hunger gnawed at my stomach, and despite my anger and disappointment, I ended up eating the breakfast he’d brought. In some twisted way, even after everything, a part of me still trusted him. It turned out, I was the pitiful one. I couldn’t bring myself to fully Sullivan, after all. In my eyes, he was still the same older brother I grew up in. I just wished he wasn’t as cold-hearted as I thought now.Eventually, I dragged myself to the bathroom to wash up. I rummaged through the cabinet and found some clothes—my mom’s old dresses. I didn’t wear dresses often, and they were a bit smaller than my usual size, but I didn’t have much of a choice.As I stood in front of the mirror, I couldn’t help but notice the resemblance I had with my mom. People used to say I looked just like her. Although the Flower Moon Pack wasn’t always kind to rogues like my mom, I knew that many of them secretly admired her for being the prettiest woman in our pack.The hours crawled by as
ALLISON.He turned to his heel and left the door ajar as if urging me to follow him. And as much as I wanted to doubt his intentions, I still found myself following him. To my surprise, we did not meet a single guard as we walked through the dimly lit hallway.“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.“To the only passage out of this place.”Before I could ask anything else, he tossed a small object in my direction. Reflexively, I caught it.A bottle of spray.An imaginary bulb clicked in my mind when I recognized what it was. This was the same perfume River had given me to mask my lycan scent when he sent me to spy on Mason. Wow, I didn’t expect that I would get to use it again.“Spray a generous amount on yourself. Quick,” Sullivan ordered.The urgency in his voice left no room for argument. Bossy, but I obliged. I did as he said, fumbling with the cap before spritzing myself all over. This one has a very weird scent, almost like the scent of a withering flowering left under the sun, b
ALLISON.The basement passage was pitch black and the air damp and stale. No light. No fresh air. It was straight out of a nightmarish horror movie we used to watch as kids. Only this time, we were the protagonists. The place was so dark I couldn’t see a thing, but Sullivan’s grip on my hand was firm, guiding me through the darkness.The memory hit me out of nowhere, Sullivan holding my hand when we were kids, guiding me through the woods after I’d fallen and scraped my knee. He used to tease me mercilessly, but once I started crying, he would promptly stop teasing me. Instead, he would hold my hand and assure me everything will be alright. He was that kind of brother to me.My chest ached at the memory.“By the way, why do we have to go to this scary passage to get out? Isn’t there any other way?” I asked.“It’s the only way to escape because the mansion and the vicinity around it are enchanted by a powerful spell that makes it hard for outsiders to track it,” Sullivan explained. “On
ALLISON.I took a deep breath while I stood in the middle of the crowd, feeling the gust of wind and listening to the loud cheers of the people around me. Their voices thundered across the field as my opponent advanced towards me, her razor-sharp claws ready to tear me apart.“Not today, Vanessa,” I muttered calmly as I open my eyes and easily dodged her attack.“Damn it!” she exclaimed in apparent frustration when I swiftly slid behind her and landed a powerful kick on her back, enough to send her rolling to the ground while howling in pain.“That’s my girl, Allison!” Emily proudly cheered, along with our other pack mates who had been watching the match.Vanessa coughed blood, her claws retracting as she reverted to her human form. Tears well in her eyes while lying on the ground and unable to move a muscle from the excruciating pain.My bad, I think may have overdone it. Looks like I almost snapped her spine or something.“Vanessa can’t get up. That means, Allison is the winner! Bet
ALLISON.I stumbled through the crowd, desperate to escape the overwhelming wave of heat that had taken over my senses. I feel so hot… so restless. The more the moon boasted its enigmatic glow in the sky, the more I felt feral. My primal instincts were slowly taking over my senses and I’m not sure if I wanted to prevent it… or embrace it.Shit. I think like I’m gonna lose my mind any moment from now! I’ve had several heat cycles in the past but nothing was as intense as this!Every step felt like wading through a thick, intoxicating fog of my own making. The werewolves around me had become predators, drawn by the sweet scent of my pheromones, and I was their prey.“Hey, missy. You smell so good. Wanna spend the night with me?” a random werewolf went to me, his breath stinking of alcohol.“Get away from me,” I replied coldly before walking past him without looking back.I tried to push through the busy crowd, but my efforts were in vain. More werewolves tried to talk to me, all of them
ALLISON.This can’t be happening! No, I must be dreaming. For the past two weeks, I have been trying to erase any traces of memory that I had from that night. It was supposed to be a bleep in my mind; something that I shouldn’t even talk about anymore. The Howling Night was a blur and I wanted to keep it that way. That night was as good as a fever dream to me. I was like an animal who let my inner instincts get the best of me. It was bold. It was primal… in the most humiliating way.“I thought we were late for the meeting. Glad to see that we’re just on time,” Liam said, his eyes still fixed on as he strode inside the meeting room.Oh my god.I could feel the tension thickening in the room as Quinn cleared his throat. “Everyone, this is Liam Miller. He’s here to discuss the potential alliance between our packs.”“Oh my, he looks like a total snack in person,” Latisha whispered giddily, her cheeks flushing red.My heart raced as he stepped forward, the air around him crackling with con
ALLISON.The basement passage was pitch black and the air damp and stale. No light. No fresh air. It was straight out of a nightmarish horror movie we used to watch as kids. Only this time, we were the protagonists. The place was so dark I couldn’t see a thing, but Sullivan’s grip on my hand was firm, guiding me through the darkness.The memory hit me out of nowhere, Sullivan holding my hand when we were kids, guiding me through the woods after I’d fallen and scraped my knee. He used to tease me mercilessly, but once I started crying, he would promptly stop teasing me. Instead, he would hold my hand and assure me everything will be alright. He was that kind of brother to me.My chest ached at the memory.“By the way, why do we have to go to this scary passage to get out? Isn’t there any other way?” I asked.“It’s the only way to escape because the mansion and the vicinity around it are enchanted by a powerful spell that makes it hard for outsiders to track it,” Sullivan explained. “On
ALLISON.He turned to his heel and left the door ajar as if urging me to follow him. And as much as I wanted to doubt his intentions, I still found myself following him. To my surprise, we did not meet a single guard as we walked through the dimly lit hallway.“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.“To the only passage out of this place.”Before I could ask anything else, he tossed a small object in my direction. Reflexively, I caught it.A bottle of spray.An imaginary bulb clicked in my mind when I recognized what it was. This was the same perfume River had given me to mask my lycan scent when he sent me to spy on Mason. Wow, I didn’t expect that I would get to use it again.“Spray a generous amount on yourself. Quick,” Sullivan ordered.The urgency in his voice left no room for argument. Bossy, but I obliged. I did as he said, fumbling with the cap before spritzing myself all over. This one has a very weird scent, almost like the scent of a withering flowering left under the sun, b
ALLISON.After a while, hunger gnawed at my stomach, and despite my anger and disappointment, I ended up eating the breakfast he’d brought. In some twisted way, even after everything, a part of me still trusted him. It turned out, I was the pitiful one. I couldn’t bring myself to fully Sullivan, after all. In my eyes, he was still the same older brother I grew up in. I just wished he wasn’t as cold-hearted as I thought now.Eventually, I dragged myself to the bathroom to wash up. I rummaged through the cabinet and found some clothes—my mom’s old dresses. I didn’t wear dresses often, and they were a bit smaller than my usual size, but I didn’t have much of a choice.As I stood in front of the mirror, I couldn’t help but notice the resemblance I had with my mom. People used to say I looked just like her. Although the Flower Moon Pack wasn’t always kind to rogues like my mom, I knew that many of them secretly admired her for being the prettiest woman in our pack.The hours crawled by as
ALLISON.“But that doesn’t make sense! You didn’t have this ability ten years ago! We were just ordinary Lycans. Sure, we were a bit stronger than the average werewolf, but we grew up without knowing any of this crazy shit!” I blurted.He finally looked at me, his eyes filled with a mixture of pity and firmness.“Mom hid our dragonblood heritage to protect us. She knew this would happen if anyone found out. Everyone would want a piece of our power,” he explained.I sank back against the wall, my head spinning. Holy shit. First, her family history, and now this? Just… how many things did our mom hide from us?He opened the photo album and pointed to a picture of our mother that I saw yesterday.“Mom belonged to the Drignis family. They are the last dragonblood family in history. They were hunted by dragonblood hunters who wanted their power. Her parents and older brother were captured, but she managed to escape. She lost her only home.”“This house,” I murmured, the realization dawning
ALLISON.No way. Just… there was no way.I grew up with the knowledge that my mom was an orphan, a refugee from a ruined pack. But no other packs would take her, so she grew up being a rogue, fending for herself in the streets and stealing from other packs to survive until she met my father. They realized they were a mated pair and my father, despite his fragile reputation in the Flower Moon pack, took home my mother as his mate.That was the story that I’ve ever known, the story that I have admired all my life.But looking at this photograph made me question everything.Drignis family. I’ve never even heard this family name before—not even from my mom. She had never mentioned this to us, never told us that she used to have a brother… or a family for that matter. She used to tell us stories about how she met Dad and all the funny things they did together, all the fun moments they shared but nothing about this.Besides, this family didn’t look like an average household at all. This who
ALLISON.My chest tightened at the thought. Sullivan had been my hero when we were kids. He was the big brother who always looked out for me, who protected me when no one else could. But that version of him was gone, replaced by someone I didn’t recognize—someone who could threaten to harm his own niece.But even now, seeing him like that, weak and defeated on the floor… it didn’t make sense.“Damn it, this is maddening,” I groaned.I let out a frustrated sigh and finally took in my surroundings. The room wasn’t exactly a dungeon, but it wasn’t far off. It was plain but oddly clean, almost fancy actually. A queen-sized bed sat against one wall, and an antique closet stood across from it. The place looked like a room from a forgotten fairytale castle and if I weren’t locked inside as a prisoner, I might’ve thought it was charming.But I couldn’t bring myself to care about the bed or the decor. I slumped back down onto the floor, burying my face in my knees.My mind drifted to Amaris an
ALLISON.“Oh, Sullivan. You’ve failed me again. I told you to bring me the mother and child. Why did you only bring your sister?” she hissed, her tone sharp and dripping with disdain.Child? Is this bitch talking about my daughter?The realization made my stomach churn. She wasn’t just after me. She wanted Amaris too!“You bitch!” I spat, trembling with fury. “I already came here and you still want my daughter? Just what the hell do you want?! Why don’t you just—”Her gaze snapped to me, cutting me off mid-sentence.“I don’t like it when people interrupt me,” she said, her voice dangerously low.Before I could react, an invisible force wrapped around my throat.I clawed at my neck, gasping for air as I collapsed to my knees. My lungs burned, my vision blurred, and tears streamed down my face as I struggled against the crushing pressure.The witch watched with delight, her crimson eyes gleaming as she flicked her finger, tightening the invisible grip. Fucking witch!“S-Stop!” Sullivan’
ALLISON.As the helicopter dipped lower, my stomach churned, and not just from the motion, but from the overwhelming sense of dread creeping over me. I couldn’t believe that I surrendered myself to them. I didn’t regret my decision but damn, I knew things were about to get messier from here. The only thing that could console me was by doing this, my daughter and everyone were safe, at least for now.I tried to keep a straight face the whole time but I was nervous. Every second felt heavier like the air was pressing in on my chest. When the chopper finally landed, the deafening roar of the blades eased into a low hum, but the tension didn’t let up. We were on a massive helipad, and my gut told me this wasn’t going to end well.Three of the masked men jumped out of the chopper first, followed by another two. Then, when I didn’t move, one of them shoved me out. I cursed under my breath when I almost landed on my face after getting pushed like a kid. It took me every bit of self-control I
LIAM."The Crimson Fangs weren’t prepared for an attack of this scale. And I don’t blame them. No one could’ve been prepared for that,” Wesley said in a grim voice."The bastards fell from the fucking sky,” Mason cursed under his breath."And they brought hell in her. As soon as the fire enveloped the garden and around the main house, the helicopters that dropped the masked men came back to take them and escape,” Wesley added.Those fucking bastards!"One particular man stormed out of the main house while dragging Allison with him," he added.“That’s her brother,” I said, my voice hollow. The memory of how that man dragged Allison flashed in my mind again.“But Allison’s brother is dead. Has been dead for ten years,” Mason interjected.I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails bit into my palms.“Well, it’s either he’s a ghost or a fucking demon because he was very much alive when he took Allison from me. And for some reason, he can also control fire,” I growled."Yeah… we did witn