The first time Lori ever felt powerful, she was four years old. Four years old and she had been playing with a Barbie doll. Local charity organizations were always donating toys to her orphanage and she had her eyes set on the Barbie doll. The long golden hair, the pretty white dress and heels, Lori wanted it so bad it hurt. She grabbed it first. Playing with it, enthralled with it. She ran around the yard with it. Then a big bully called Billy had come over and dragged it from her. Naturally she cried for him to give it back but he just laughed and tore the head of the Barbie from its body. The rage Lori had felt, she had never felt it before... She stood up and walked up to him and slapped him. She was only four, he was seven and weighed at least twenty five pounds more than her, but her slap had sent him flying across the yard and hitting the wall. He had to get eight stitches. One of the workers showed her Billy before he left for the hospital. The woman practically shoved Bi
"He's alive... The Fullers kept that knowledge away from you."No. Lori could not believe her ears. Could not believe the lies the woman in front of her was spewing. She was lying. It was a blatant bold faced lie. Why would she lie about something like that?! Sabine saw that Lori didn’t look convinced and she brought out her phone. "I have a picture of him with the Fullers. Maybe this will make you believe."She said as she showed Lori her phone. Lori took cautious steps towards her. Walking closer to her but staying at a respectful distance in case it was a trap.She froze. Her hands shaking slightly as she looked at the family portrait. Was it another baby?Could he really be her son?"You know why he didn't die?"Lori looked up to Sabine.Confusion etched in her blood splattered face."He didn't die because he's just like you. He is half nephilim but he still inherited your powers. Super fast healing... among other abilities..."Sabine said as she ran her eyes all over Lori a
Astra Barlow. That was the name of the nephilim woman that was given to her.Astra Barlow lived in a dump, the dirty long streets deep in Denver and Lori was too tired to care. She had to see the woman, she needed her help one way or another. Sabine had been right about two things. That Jack was alive and that her powers were dangerous. She still couldn't fully believe it. That her son was alive, she couldn't even find the appropriate emotion to describe what it was she was feeling. Her mind was all muddled up and she knew it was directly linked to her newly found powers. She felt like a ticking time bomb, occasionally having to keep a stoic face to keep her powers from going off at the slightest provocation.The random bursts of power that came with an emotion was unbearable. And it had only been a few hours! She could not, she would not live with this forever. She couldn't even think about Gabriel. It hurt too much whenever she tried to. She didn't accept Sabine's offer. She
Elliot had made many mistakes in his lifetimes and the past few days there seemed to be no shortage of the wrongs he could do. He just kept making one horrible mistake after the other. Turning Lori was a bad idea and he has realized it immediately after his fangs dug into her flesh.She passed out immediately, her slow heart rate was the only indicator that she was alive. He tried to rouse her but she didn’t wake up. And he had sat there in utter panic, so scared shitless that he couldn’t even turn anymore, the Super moon influence wore off so fast it was almost as if it was a regular night for him. Until he saw the most bizarre thing, right in front of his eyes the bite started healing. The flesh melding itself and becoming smooth and good as new. The only indication that something happened was the blood that was left on her skin. He tried to rouse her again and he had pulled away when a soft white glow covered her whole body. It was almost as if she was covered in light and Ell
"I knew your mother...""What?"Lori asked as she stood up slowly. "That's a lie."She retorted and Astra nodded."It's been years but I still remember...""What do you remember?"Lori asked and Astra shrugged."A pregnant nephilim on the run. She was in some sort of trouble with the father of her baby... she was avoiding everybody, even our kind.""Why? What did she do?!"Lori asked as she gripped the edge of her seat. Astra gave her a pointed look."Calm down. That sofa is new."She murmured and Lori relaxed. Astra walked back to the window to check on their spy, he was no longer in the location he was before but Astra could bet that he was still around. "She didn't tell me much. But she did tell me her name and you look a awful lot like her.""Her name was Ione."Astra answered and Lori furrowed her eyebrows."Ione?"It was the first time she was learning about her mother... anything about her. Lori didn't realize how curious she had been about her until Astra had mentioned her.
"Why are you calling?"Sabine asked and Lori scoffed."Why wouldn't I?""Not only did you send me on a wild goose chase with the ridiculous promise of me getting help from a woman who wants nothing to do with me, you also had me followed.""None of this is part of our fucking agreement! None at all!"Lori shouted into the phone. The kind stranger who had lent her her phone looked at her weirdly and Lori murmured a string of apologies to the nice woman.There was a short pause before Sabine replied."You must understand... I'm merely trying to protect myself.""From what?"Lori retorted. "I thought you were winning.""Are you not?!"She fired back and Sabine sighed. "I would be... but now your mate is after me and you know that doesn't bode well for you. Or your son."Lori contemplated Sabine's words, she wondered if she was truly capable of hurting her son to spite her."You wouldn't hurt him. You wouldn't dare."Lori warned and Sabine laughed."Try me."She answered in a serious to
She had arrived in front of Astra's door. Bloodied, tired and with no shred of hope left in her. She thought the pain would take her away. She wanted it to. She had even risked going up to the penthouse. But no... she couldn't risk Gabriel seeing her like that. Not in that condition. Especially when she wasn't sure if she was still being followed by Sabine’s men. She wanted to make sure she was as safe as possible. Sabine had her ways... and she didn't want to put all of them in jeopardy. So she had cleaned up herself as much as she could in the bathroom and rushed out.She took a taxi to Astra’s place. Despite feeling uneasy about going back to the woman’s place. After everything she had told her and how she had rejected her, Lori wanted nothing more than to stay far away from her.But she was nephilim. And she was just like Lori and Lori couldn’t avoid or deny the fact that she would be better suited to helping her than Gabriel ever would. She had to at
Elliot had given everything he could. Said his piece, told them all he knew, yet it still wasn't good enough for Gabriel to let him out of the cage he was in.He wasn't complaining. At least he wasn't being tortured, or being starved. They had been treating him fairly well and he almost didn't mind that he was in a cage. Gabriel believed that Lori was alive. Draco was still skeptical. The two of them were scouring the city, with Gabriel barking demands on the phone to Draco running helter skelter. In the midst of all the drama Elliot wondered where his brother was, what he was doing and if he had the good sense to at least flee the country before Gabriel focused his full attention on him. At least Gabriel's attention wasn't on him anymore, even though he didn't know his fate, Elliot didn't worry endlessly about it.Whatever came to him, he probably deserved it. He wasn't hoping for a death punishment, but if he was banished from the pack for treason, he coul
Gabriel's POV. Six months later. I want to marry Lori. I've been thinking about it for months, I've bought the perfect ring. The type I know she will like. A classic, oval cut diamond I’ve caught her admiring at least three times on separate occasions and I’ve been waiting for the perfect time. But something keeps coming up. Lori’s too busy. She has way too much on her plate and sometimes I think adding wedding plans to the mix would be a little thoughtless of me. We just celebrated Jack and Emilia's first year birthday a few weeks ago and the planning drained her. Physically and mentally drained her. She wanted a big party, I didn't mind a small one but we ended up going all out anyways and thankfully it didn't turn into a complete mess. And after the party I thought we'd be getting more alone time since we finally have a new nanny but that's not really the case. Lori has decided to apply for college and while I'm finally happy that she's getting to d
Lori's POVIt's been three months. Three long months but they have been full of more bliss than I've ever had in my life. More peace, more tranquility than ever before. After the issue with Sabine and all that nonsense, Gabriel and I were finally glad and happy that things were back to normal. In our lives and in our children's lives. We could finally live the life we always wanted to live. No, not the whole white picket fence suburban kind of house that Gabriel wanted, but picture something larger, grander, with more rooms and more space for kids to play in.We did move to the old mansion. It was just honestly so much better than the penthouse and for me it held a lot of fond memories. And knowing that Sabine would never step her feet in them again gave me a sense of comfort and relief like never before. It made me happy. And there were so many things to be happy about. I had completed the Luna rites two months ago and I was officially Gabriel's Luna. In were
It all went by in a blur, but every punch, she remembered. For herself, for Gabriel, for her son and most especially, for Elliot, who didn't make it. How could she let her go, how could she let her live after all the pain and harm she caused her?! No, she would not.She didn't plan on letting her walk free. no, she didn't plan on letting her stay alive. She vaguely remembered punching Sabine, then she saw someone pulling her up. The hands around her arms pulling her away with superhuman strength. She fought against it but it was futile, the hands were much stronger than hers. "Loretta. Loretta!!!"The voice called out. Lori snatched her hands away from her mother. "Don't call me that."She murmured as she tried crawling back to Sabine. Her face was bloodied and battered beyond recognition, she was barely breathing but Lori knew that the bitch was still alive. She was like a cockroach. She wouldn't die so easily. "Trust me you do not wa
Even though they had gone over the plan multiple times, Lori still felt jittery and nervous. The anxiety was eating at her, fast and quick. It didn't help that her clothes were still slightly wet and she was uncomfortable and cold. The nephilim guards Ione had got had managed to do a sweep of the area. They estimated the number of wolves around to be at fifteen, all scattered strategically around the mansion. The nephilim guards promised to handle all the guards, just as long as Lori and Gabriel went inside first, they promised to handle everything else. They would block all exits, so no one got out, that way anyone in the house would be unable to escape. Gabriel assured her that it would all be fine, and she tried to stay calm at the thought that it would, they were so close now, closer than they had ever been. Her son was just a few metres away from her. The nephilim guards went in first, and then chaos ensued. The whole party erupted in chaos, Gabriel ushere
Lori transformed. The full transformation and the cabin suddenly felt small and stuffy. Two huge men came to her side, one ways holding a book. Lori didn't know what it was or what it was for, but it looked important enough. "We have created a bath, you have to stay submerged in it to drown out our voices and movements."Lori looked around, they pointed to the end of the hallway. She wondered if whatever bathtub they had prepared would fit her wings. "Will this work?! You look unsure."She noted as she got a sense of her mother's emotions now that she was fully nephilim. She could smell her worry, also laced with fear.She wondered if the ritual was safe. "It will. It can take several hours though."Ione answered. Lori decided at this point she needed to alert Gabriel. Just in case anything that wasn't supposed to happen, happened. Come now. As fast as she had sent the message, she heard footsteps on the front porch, the door opened
"Hello?""Who is this?!"Lori asked as she rolled on the floor. Oh Myra had kicked her ass during training. In fact, she could barely feel her legs. Her muscles had been out of use for a while. It had only been about a week or two since she was out of training yet it felt like it had been years. "Loretta? Am I speaking to Loretta?"Lori sat up. Something about the voice was oddly familiar. "Yes?! Who is this?""This is Ione."Ione. Ione. Where had she heard that name before? She could have sworn it was familiar. "Ione what? From who?!""Ione Verstrynge. A friend of yours gave me your number. Her name is Astra."That was when it clicked. Astra had told her. That her mother was named Ione. And that she had heard of her. Lori couldn't believe her ears!She couldn't believe that she was talking to her birth mother. As shocked as she was, she also felt overwhelmingly angry. It had been years, what reason did the
Lori was late. She had promised to start training again and was well on her way there when Grace called and canceled due to a family emergency. Lori couldn’t blame her, but she also had to go to training and needed someone to watch the baby, so she had stayed home till Gabriel came back to take over. She had hurried out of the penthouse, in nothing but sweats and slacks, her gym bag over her shoulder with a pair of socks almost falling out. She stopped at the lobby to stuff it in. One of Gabriel's men was waiting at the parking lot to driver her to the training ground. She was late already and she was also sure that he must have been waiting a while. In her hurry, she bumped into someone and her whole bag came tumbling down again. She muttered a string of apologies as she picked up her bag, not even glancing at the person before turning away. The person touched her hand and she turned, alarmed and confused. Her eyes narrowed as she saw who it was. Axel Walker. She loo
Ione Verstrynge had stared at the contents of the letter ever since it arrived. The words were even starting to replay in her head. Alongside with a past she had fought hard to forget. She had sent for Graham, her right hand man, confused and angry, he was the only one she could trust in her state and the only one she had entrusted the information with the minute she got the letter. If it was true she had a grandson, then her daughter must be alive and in danger. She had lost her for years. Years of running and running had made her paranoid she she had run without looking back. The only problem was that she had left her daughter behind. With no time to look back. For the first few years she visited at least twice. She found out the orphanage had named her Loretta. And that she was a spitting image of her father. That had hurt more deeply than anything and so she had left again. The last time she went back, she didn't find her, too bad, she had wanted to at least see h
“Hello?!”Lori answered the phone, knowing fully well who the caller was. She had been expecting Sabine’s call ever since they launched their series of coordinated attacks on her. It had taken at least five days before she finally deigned to call her. She knew the woman would call once she found out the extent she was willing to go to. And Sabine did not disappoint.“Lori.”She answered in a clipped tone.“How have you been Sabine?”She asked and Sabine didn’t reply for a few seconds. “I’ve been better.”She grunted and Lori resisted the urge to chuckle. She was itching to gloat. “Must have been a pretty hard week…”“I’ve had better…”Sabine murmured. Lori examined her nails as she smiled to Myra who was sitting next to her and listening to every bit of the conversation. Myra had come to ask her when she would resume practice, Lori had avoided all talks of practice and told Myra about what she was up to instead, Sabi