“What are you doing?” I demanded harshly as I dangled like a doll from his shoulder.“Let go of me, you jerk!”As he ascended the stairs, I drummed my fists along his spine and kicked my dangling legs against his stomach. He did not even flinch; my protests were no stronger than butterfly wings flapping against his barreled chest. I even bit him a couple times. Theo did not come to my aide; I was surprised Aldrich would do this in front of him to begin with. I suppose my son and his father’s bond ran deeper than I theorized. My protective boy did not utter a word in assistance or protest. I silently cursed Aldrich for influencing him so much; he definitely wanted to be just like him.“You’re my wife,” he nonchalantly responded, pulling open my bedroom door. “How is a man hugging his wife considered a jerk?” The sunset was dimming to a dark, twilight sky outside my window, and the last shreds of today’s light kissed my bedsheets.“This isn’t a hug, this is assault!’ I argued, batting a
“But not now,” Aldrich declared, climbing off me. I looked up at him incredulously, surprised that he was relinquishing. He straightened up after lifting himself from the bed, brushing off lint from his shirt. I cocked an eyebrow at him. “What kind of punishment did you expect, Cathy?” he questioned mockingly, mirroring me by raising an eyebrow right back. “Gather your mind from the gutter. I don’t take advantage of women like that.” I glared at him, knowing he was well-aware of what he had been implying. “You’re a liar.” He scoffed. “You know, just for that, I will punish you,” he then abruptly grabbed the glass of water from my nightstand and poured it over my head. I gasped as the cold liquid washed over me, extinguishing any of the heat growing inside of me for him. It dampened my hair and dripped icily down my spine. I glared at him with ice more cold than the water, and he smirked in response. “I did witchcraft on them,” I
Eyes warm with tears, I approached my son, his strong and prideful silhouette plucking at each heart string. I kneeled down and hugged him, kissing his cheeks in the soft moonlight. He giggled at the sudden act of affection and hugged me back. I rested my chest on his little shoulder. “Theo,” I said, rubbing soothing circles on his back. “Do you like Aldrich?” I couldn’t help but ask. As the question hung in the air, I felt stupid. How selfish it was of me to want to keep him from his own father. If he liked Aldrich, it was his own choice to accompany him. Plus, Aldrich had a lot more to offer him than I did. Theo sunk back slightly, a bashful look on his face. He seemed as if I just told him something important, and I worried that I revealed too much of my insecurities to him. “Do you like him?” he finally answered, reflecting my question with urgence.“If you do, I like him. If you don’t like him, I don’t.” He looked worried, looking l
The only explanation behind the glowing garden was him, but there was no explanation behind the witchcraft. I desperately looked to him for answers. When did he recognize me? How did he create the glow? His eyes looked farther away as he launched into his tale, his voice low and soft. “When I was young, I was lost in the forest and almost died because of a warrior’s betrayal,” he said, his hazel eyes darkening, “A beautiful healer found me. She healed my body and my mind and then gave me a crystal stone.” I started at that, opening my mouth. “Yes, the glow is from the crystal stone,” he confirmed, “I don’t know why she gave it to me at that time. But when she left, she told me that something useless might be something useful in the future.” He presented it to me right in his hands, and my eyes saturated with tears when I realized I recognized the stone. “She’s right, Cathy,” he whispered, and he kissed me again, our lips tasting like my
Cathy The servant informed me my sister had arrived. I tore my attention away from the beautiful chrysanthemums growing in vibrant shades of peach, pink, and oranges. Against the staff’s will, I demanded no one hire a gardener or servant to tend to the garden; that would be my role. Servants watched me stain my luxurious skirts of spun gold and rose embroideries with soil and dirt. I refused to relinquish my days in the garden, even as the season cooled. I was careful to remain clean and sparkling today; I wanted to impress my sister to full extent. We had not seen each other in years, but we always had been close during childhood. She has not seen my face unscarred since forever. For that, I knew she would be impressed by that alone, and I wanted to really make her proud with the estate, and her new nephew. I had the servants dress him up like royalty, and he protested when his sleeves were too rigid to lift his bow in. Following the servant to the grand e
Cathy The unease I felt in the garden that day continued. I watched as the trees slowly died, the ivy green dwindling to autumn hues, like paint brushes dipped in crimson and orange smudging over the horizon. I often missed the willow outside of the cottage; it was not only beautiful in the fall, but felt like a protector, as if it was always watching over us. Now, it felt like we were being watched in a different way. The silhouettes of gowns and coats in the closet suddenly seemed more alarming, and the weight upon my skin felt heavier, not only the hair standing up but eyes. Eyes in my window, eyes in the garden, eyes in the trees. I often found myself peering around walls I did not care for prior, slowly counting each step and breath walking into a dark room, and jumping each time a servant or guard spoke a word into the silence. I also missed Aldrich more than I thought I would. He provided a sense of masuculine protection that Theo and I eventuall
Cathy How are you doing? I thought. Good. Tired, but good, the voice in my mind answered back through the tunnel. I snorted to myself. Tell me about it. Exhaustion was now a staple to my life, accompanying me everywhere. My only friend besides Theo. But I care more about how you are, the voice continued, sounding a bit concerned. You don’t really talk about yourself. Sighing, I looked at the ceiling, following the pattern of angels carved in the stone. There’s not much to talk about myself. The estate is well, the garden is fine. The only thing I have to talk about is Theo. Since it was Aldrich, he always had to analyze each one of my words. The garden is only ‘fine?’ That’s not how you usually describe it. I have not told him how I don’t like to be outside anymore. Or the mysterious figure in the trees I saw with Theo, or the eyes I felt on me, or the lack of sleep I was getting, or the heavy disapproval I was feeling from th
Aldrich The hours between battle were usually too somber to talk about life. Soldiers normally liked to bond with the brothers they battled with, but it was often too emotionally difficult to formulate words. There was too much blood spilled and lives lost to talk like it wasn't happening. It was also hard to talk about life outside of war in case you didn't get home to continue it. But it was different this time. Last time, I didn’t know Cathy. Now, she filled the spaces of silence from my lips perpetually, each drop of silence dried by her name. “You seem to really love this girl,” Agar chuckled, sharpening his dagger with his claws. Agar had to hear most of my ramblings. He was my second in command warrior, replacing Alan’s spot for this war. I only told him about Cathy because he was my most trusted and worthy warrior. He was the only one who accompanied me in my general chambers tent, wide awake while everyone rested. “And she has
I froze. My hand gripped the door, and I was contemplating if I should run back inside the house and slam the door. The vampire would be on me before I could even get it all the way closed. I noticed it was morning, but the sun was not out. Shit. “Hello there,” the vampire drawled, blood seeping from his lips and glowing in his eyes. I stumbled back, my breath shortening. “I wouldn’t try to run if I were you.” I gulped, trying to figure out how to morph into my wolf form before the vampire could kill me. “I’m not as weak as you think I am,” I threatened, willing my hands to stop trembling. “I admire the delusion,” he chuckled, “you have no one to protect you now when you fail to make even a mark on me, little girl.” I looked around the empty field desperately. All the guards were in the emergency battle or dead. He was right that no one was here to protect me now. But that meant there was no one left to protect the estate, eith
The dread became heavy in my stomach the moment they left. I felt cold when Aldrich was gone. It was like losing the sun, the land becoming a snowy and desolate wasteland where nothing lives. The only rays of light came from Theo. He looked like the light in him was completely gone after the vampire attack. I hadn’t slept in two nights, but there were still things that needed to be done. I needed to tend to my son and make sure he was okay. The royal therapist and I sat in his bedroom, where three guards manned the door and outside the window. It probably didn’t help his fear, but we had to make sure what happened didn’t happen again. I sat with him on my lap, arms wrapped around him while I cradled him in a fluffy duvet. “I want daddy,” was the only thing he said, seemingly refusing to say anything else. On one hand, I was thrilled that he was referring to Aldrich as his daddy and that he felt safe with him around. He also liked to
Just as I felt my wolf teeth and claws ready to slip out and attack, I looked into the afraid, wide eyes of my sister. “Danika,” I gasped, pulling her against me in shock. I allowed my eyes to fall closed for a moment, breathing her in. “You’re okay.” She squeezed me reassuringly. “I’m okay, Cath. You think I’d let these weird looking fuckers lay a finger on me?” I laughed, pulling back to examine her. She had no wounds, not even a blonde hair out of place. “Let’s go show Alan you’re alive before he secretly has a heart attack.” She rolled her eyes before taking my hand. I weaved through the crowd again with her, wondering how she found me.“Where were you hiding?” I asked as we sidestepped a woman trying to console her crying child. “In the corridors,” she answered, shrugging nonchalantly. “If any vampires got in, I figured they wouldn’t vehemently be searching through hallways. But none got in—all the injured people are from the village.” “
Right as I turned my head up to look around, a plethora of pale and red-eyed faces were jumping upon us. Instinctively, I curled down around Theo, squeezing my eyes shut in feared shock. Aldrich acted quickly, shooting up to defend us. They came flying down from everywhere, as if they had been lurking in the trees. “Alan, take Theo and run back with Cathy until they’re inside,” he called before transforming into his notoriously murderous wolf. I startled at his swift transformation, one moment looking up at my handsome husband and the next seeing him with glowing eyes and bloodthirsty teeth. He immediately sank them into the nearest vampire’s throat and spit the decapitated head out into the trees. Theo saw all of it. Alan rushed over and fluidly picked him up. I couldn’t protect Theo as well as Alan could, and Aldrich wasn’t insulting me by instructing him to take him. “Cathy,” Alan urged with alarm, looking behind us, “run.” He didn’t have
I wasn’t sure if anyone tried to catch me, but I fell to my knees in the snow. My son was captured. Aldrich immediately came and scooped me off the ground. I was ashamed to display such weakness, for he had been seeing me at some of my lowest points recently, but when it came to Theo’s well-being I could easily melt into nothingness if it was threatened. “Cathy, maybe we should get you inside,” he said with some alarm, most likely concerned by whatever look I had on my face. “I’d rather die,” I immediately spat out, shaking my head violently, “Let’s go.” I used his arms as balance beams before digging my feet into the ground. There had to be more footsteps trailing to wherever my son and his captor went. Who knew if it was even a captor? He could have willingly gone with him. Theo had been targeted so many times throughout this experience, that I would not be surprised if he was coaxed right out of his bedroom window and scaled down the wall with
He didn’t say anything. The anger began to brew in his eyes like a storm from the west, but it never hit the east. Instead of letting it hit, he left the room. I stared at him before letting out a sigh. I supposed he was rather gracious for exiting rather than yelling at me in a state like this, for why wouldn’t he? I had basically sworn away our happily ever after. Instead of following him, I tossed aside the duvet before slipping out of bed to then cross the room to Theo’s door. He would be waiting for me to kiss him goodnight. I opened the door as quietly and tactfully as I could, making an effort not to wake him in case he fell asleep waiting. The moonlight drenched the room a little more than usual; the curtains were drawn. As I peeked into his room, I discovered the moonlight was shining onto an empty bed. “Oh, my god,” I sputtered, hurrying over to his bed. The sheets were void of any presence, wrinkled as if there was a body on it a me
“The last time I was honest with you, you stormed out of here saying you didn’t love me,” I declared acidicly through gritted teeth. “I did not say that,” he snapped back, matching my energy. “I said you were not acting like the woman I love.” I laughed humorlessly at that. “Well, maybe she does act like that. Do you not love me now?” There was a challenge in my voice, and I almost wanted to push him to the point of saying no. Aldrich looked at me with incredulous belief, his lips parting like he was offended by my words. “Of course I love you, you fool. How do you think I felt when the guards alerted me that you were unconscious?” I hesitated before simply shrugging. “Cathy,” he said, his nostrils flaring. He stormed up to the bed in a small fit of rage. “I thought they finally got to you,” his voice became gruff, like it was weakening, “I thought you were dead.” I stared at him wordlessly, not knowing what to say. “So many people ha
Once the sun was gone and the moon had returned, the mysterious healer returned to Emily and Elias’s residence like every night. “Everything is going according to plan,” the man informed the couple. They silently rejoiced at this, the mischief twinkling in Emily’s eyes. Elias looked at the ominous healer. “Tell us.” “The poison I concocted worked with ease,” he said with a predatory smile, “the staff is slowly dying off one by one. They soon fall dead within two hours.” Benjamin was present as well at the meeting. He provided no brains behind the operation, just willingness to do anything to get ahead. While of course, not knowing the two people he was working with were also working against him. “Perfect,” Elias smirked. “That estate will fall apart piece by piece.” “She is going to pay for what she has done,” Emily sneered. The mysterious healer seemed to be formerly proud of his plan, but uncomfortably shifted at that. *
Aldrich soon bounded into the room a couple moments after I did. I did not turn to look at him, too busy staring at the doctors with my arms crossed tightly. I was not afraid of the answers they had evident all over their faces, and I was even slightly agitated at the concern in their eyes. I wore the same nightgown for seven nights in a row, only leaving my bed to occasionally bathe, and had not eaten or drank much. I probably looked more like the corpses they have been examining rather than their hostess. “My lady,” our main doctor, Dr. Laurence, regarded me. His lips were set very tightly; he was not thrilled about the news either. “Have you come to a conclusion?” Aldrich inquired from behind me, the worry in his voice further irritating me. “I’m afraid we have,” Dr. Laurence answered, nodding curtly. He looked at us warily over his thick glasses. “We have deemed the victims’ causes of death as all poison.” “Poison?” We both echoed in unison. I glanced