AURORA“That’s terrible advice, Lizra. I need to talk to my parents.”She frowned at me, huffing. “So your parents are better counselors than me?”I appreciated how Lizra didn’t make the pregnancy look like it was a big deal, even though it was. It wasn’t my fault that I expected her to jump in excitement and start blabbing about the good news. Good news? How could this be good news?My relationship with Adrian is hanging on a thread and bringing a pup into the situation would only make things worse. What if he hates me because of the pup? What if, because he wasn’t expecting it, he asks me to abort it? I swear to the goddess if he forces me to do that, I’m leaving him.If my mom aborted us when she was pregnant with triplets, we wouldn’t even be here. Why would I steal the chance of life from an innocent baby? I didn’t even stop to think for once that he never used a condom on me and I never even took pills to prevent this from happening in the first place. Stupid, Arie.I was terri
KATRINA I don’t know how long it’s been. I’ve lost all sense of time and for all I cared it could’ve been a day, it could’ve been three days… it could’ve been a week… it could’ve been a freaking month… but all I knew and cared about is what I saw. It’s made me lose my sleep, my appetite, and my fucking mind!Sometimes, I just had to break into maniacal laughter to confirm my insanity and unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who thought I was crazy. I leaned on the frame of the open door, hugging my pillow so hard like I was wishing it would turn to Lilith so I could strangle the bitch to death. My children were all I could think about and I was not okay.Carissa and Kendra were out there, doing all they could to find them despite the fact it was just early morning—they’ve been doing this ever since she was gone and I feel guilty about it—but I couldn’t thank them more because I’d rather have them helping than trying to comfort my miser
AURORA‘How do you think it feels like… to hold your baby for the first time.’ Evolet sighed, thinning her lips. ‘How do you think mom felt when she took us in her arms for the first time.’‘This has been going on for two days, Arie. Why don’t you just close your eyes and…’‘It’s crazy you know…’ She curled her tail when I cut her in. ‘…how I never even met it, recently just realized that I was pregnant, and immediately fell in love. It was probably three weeks old, no more than a ball and yet it took a big chunk of me away. Isn’t that just amazing?’I couldn’t help my thoughts. It was probably the only thing holding me together and stopping me from entering a series of fits. Perhaps he did me a favor by getting rid of the baby. Maybe he knew all along and it was all a grand scheme to make sure I lost it.The scents lingering outside barely left and I had gotten used to them so much for the past two days, that it would take some
ADRIANI shouldn’t have left her there. I kept telling myself that from the moment I turned my back on her. But she was mad and only I understood the gravity of what I had done. She needed more time—I needed more time—and I’ll give her all the time I can take from staying away from her—before I needed her back by my side—but even that wasn’t a lot. I’ve never regretted something as much as I did now and I couldn’t believe what I did. I traumatized myself and made my nightmare cry by taking the one thing that really connected us, before I knew it even existed, and crushed it. How could I live with myself knowing I was the one who pushed her, that… I killed our pup.I’d always wondered how soon our risky sex would backfire but this was a rebound I'd been waiting for because I thought having one would… do something to help our… It was a stupid idea and the horrible result of it confirms that. I didn’t know how I’d get Aurora to look at me
AURORAI returned my stupid feet to the balcony, realizing that all I needed to stop myself wasn’t even my father’s words or his presence but just memories of him. My heart had already decided that I wasn’t going to do this and when he spoke—right from the first word—my body followed suit but my brain was the only thing that kept fighting.Whoever brought up the quote ‘your greatest enemy is yourself’ knew damn well what he was saying..It’s not every day your dead father shows up so yeah, I’m still in shock at how he suddenly appeared but… he came for me. He came for me when I needed him and that’s the most amazing thing that’s happened to me in a while now—apart from Adrian.I would gladly jump out of a plane or swim towards a sea storm if it meant I’ll see him again.My feet had barely touched the ground when I heard a yell behind me as powerful arms encased my waist and dragged me back. My heart raced when I felt how fast his heart was beating and how terribly his hands were shaki
AURORADylan rushed us to the top floor and with every second that passed, the chaos grew. I'd never seen so much chaos in a place at a time and it was clear that ‘she’ or whatever the fuck she was, was getting closer.It didn’t take us long to reach our destination and as soon as we arrived, we burst into Adrian’s office. I hadn't even caught my breath when Adrian grabbed me and pulled me into his arms, taking a heavy sigh of relief.‘Sheesh, he’s like an overprotective mother hen. Can’t stay away from you for a minute.’I knew that as much. ‘No... he’s worse.’“What’s happening?” I demanded, pulling away from him and scanning all the worried faces in the office—I didn't like what I saw. “Why is there a fire coming our way? The whole packhouse is in chaos, can’t we contain it or do something? You must have some emergency plan.”The office had been turned upside down and it felt smaller, and more suffocated... my poor heart was suffering for it. The power of the packhouse was cut on
KATRINA“Ice cream, calm down, you’re not making any sense.”'I can't say I don't agree.''Shut up, Mel.'I had called an impromptu meeting and gathered everyone that mattered here because it turns out that Hilda must have gotten her genius genes from me since I was able to unlock a discovery of my own.I’d spent nights trying to solve it, hoping to find the missing link—that Edward Ryerson couldn’t before he died—in his book, and if the man were alive now, I’d give him a gold medal because he’s given me the solution to everything and as much as it was holding me together, it was also tearing me apart.Everyone here was expecting me to start with the reveal of the blank page of the Book of the Undead—which was extraordinarily useful—but I had to chip this in first... and though I didn’t believe I was saying half of the things I was now, if it was going to help me find my kids, then fuck beliefs and fuck sanity.I growled at Kane and he raised a cautious brow. “Tell me to calm down agai
AURORAAdrian didn’t give two shits about the creature in front of us that was emitting nightmarish screeches because he only made the car move faster and drove us right into it. I screamed when it sent the thing over the car, its screech still scarily audible even with how swiftly we were moving.My body jerked back when Adrian pressed down the accelerator like our lives depended on it—our lives actually depend on it—sending us faster than we were anything should ever be able to move. It felt like my face was going to peel off and I was going to fly out but the seatbelt kept me in check, and Adrian continued rushing us down the dirt path with those... things... behind us.'Since there is a lot of fucking things I don't know, can you please start with... WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!'Seven more of those things were chasing us… and gaining speed. And I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating, but those things appeared organized... like they were p