Brace yourself for the coming chapters. There is a lot!
"Where the fuck is Cinnia? Where is my mate?!" Denzel was on a rampage upon returning from New Orleans with no sign of Cinnia or Sophie. Neither of them had been seen around the pack house ever since they left for the mission. "Calm down, brother. Cinnia trusts the witch for whatever reason. I'm sure they must have gone somewhere and will return soon," Maverick said in a bid to calm Denzel. "I have left her a dozen messages and voice mails. They have been delivered but there is nothing from her. I swear upon the goddess if something has happened..." Denzel picked at his fingers in a rage. "She's fine. I am certain of that. There has to be a reasonable explanation for their combined absence, okay? In this state, you won't even be able to access her through your bond. Relax, Alpha," Mya pitched in. "The bond. Yes. Thank you, Mya." Denzel snapped his fingers and rushed off to the solarium on the south side of the pack house—one of the only places except for his room where Denzel c
Cinnia wasn't sure how long she was out of it until she felt a splash of water hit her face. When she was finally able to open her eyes, the sky was blanketed in the cover of evening and as she turned her head to the side, she saw Sophie's worried face staring at her. "Oh. Thank the ancestors. If you hadn't come to, I would have had to start using magic on you. What happened?" Sophie questioned as she helped Cinnia get back on her feet. "Huh?" Cinnia grabbed onto Sophie's shoulder to steady herself. She laid a hand on her belly, then frantically patted around. Sophie placed her hand over Cinna's, stopping her movements. "She's fine. First thing I checked." "Are you sure?" Cinnia bit her lip as she rested her head which felt like it weighed a ton, on Sophie. "One hundred percent. Trust me." Cinnia nodded. "Of course I do. It seems you're the only one I can trust these days." Sophie grimaced at her words and turned her face away so Cinnia wouldn't see. "Come on, let's go. You have
When Cinnia's eyes fluttered open for the third time in a row, she was met with the sight of beauty. The full moon shone down at her as if inviting her into its embrace. For a moment, she was at peace as she gazed up at it. She made to sit up, to admire it fully but to her consternation, she was unable to move. Her body was tied down by heavy chains which were a bit loose around her baby bump. Her breathing quickened as she turned her head from side to side, trying to get her bearings and figure out where exactly she was. Cinnia caught sight of the stack of wood beneath her. An altar of some sort. She was in an open space but there were walls all around her so that meant she wasn't outside. Suddenly, she remembered. The guilty look on Sophie's face. The proud smirk on Esther's lips. They were responsible for this. "Sophie..." Cinnia's voice cracked. A wave of sadness washed over her. She had trusted Sophie with her life. 'Why must everyone I trust betray me? First him...and
"Sophie, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Maverick asked, his face an emotionless mask as he tightened his hold around Sophie's slender neck. "I'm...s-sorry..." Sophie gurgled, her eyes bulging from their sockets as she clawed at his hand but his grip didn't loosen for a second. Mya held Esther against the altar after binding her hands with the special chains used to cut off a witch's flow of magic as she waited for Denzel to return once he had dropped off Cinnia in their car and sent her home with the trusted driver and two competent gammas. "Maverick, let her go. You can't kill her before Denzel gets here. He's the one to decide, remember? Him being the Alpha and all?" Mya reminded Maverick when she noticed how blue Sophie's face had become. Maverick scowled and with a grunt, he released Sophie who instantly doubled over and began coughing and fetching before slouching on the other side of the altar. "Don't count yourself lucky. If I don't get th
Cinnia regained consciousness two days later with a massive headache and an incessant ringing in her ears. The sunlight hurt her eyes and the constant hovering and murmurs of people going in and out of her room caused her to wince and hold her head in her hands. Eventually, she managed to push herself into a sitting position and that was the moment the memories her brain had fought to suppress to allow her to sleep and recover, rose to the surface. Denzel's lies and corresponding betrayal. Sophie's treachery. Esther's attempts to kill her and her child so she can curse the werewolves. The memories tore through her. Slicing and cutting deep till she thought it would leave her in a stringy mess of meat and blood. She pulled her knees up as far as they would go without her belly getting in the way and bowed her head. Cinnia didn't notice the tears rolling down her cheeks at first. After all, crying was out of the question for her. She had done so much of it in such a short time an
"You are a funny man, Lycan King Denzel Montgomery. You have made a mockery of my emotions and my intelligence for far too long. All because you saw that I have fallen in love with you even without the influence of the mate bond. You are only sorry that I found out about it," Cinnia said with a cool smile on her lips. "Please—" Cinnia held up a hand before Denzel could complete his sentence. "Let me finish. You know, I understand Maverick not telling me. He tolerated me mostly because he realized I was here to stay. I don't know if he even likes me but that's by the way. I expected radio silence from him but you? My so-called fated mate? You've been lying to my face for months, Denzel. How could you?" Cinnia couldn't withhold her voice from breaking. "He's my father. I couldn't bring myself to kill him, Cinnia. Listen to me, the Kaiv Machia was the best option I could think of. Exile was much less painful than his death," Denzel tried to make her understand. "Much less painful
The next day, Cinnia was gone before the crack of dawn using her cloaking spell to leave unnoticed. She had almost considered changing her mind when she saw Denzel sleeping on the floor outside her room but her goal ate at her. Cinnia couldn't risk him waking up before she could even escape so she cast a silencing charm to make him deaf to any sounds she might make at least till she left. "I'm sorry but I have to do this for me and them. If I could change fate, I would," She had said to his sleeping form before slipping into the cool darkness of the early morning. At the airport, her gaze ran across the many seats in the departure hall till it landed on a certain blonde. "What took you so long? You were thinking of backing out?" Sophie asked with a straight face when Cinnia sat beside her on the cold, hard airport seat. "No... I was a bit distracted by—" Cinnia started to clarify. "If you're going to mention any of them, please just don't. Unless you want to find another
Cinnia narrowed her eyes when she noticed him taking surreptitious steps back and inching toward something in the shadows. She stretched out her hand and concentrated on lifting him off the floor with her mind just as she had been practicing. A smirk graced her lips at the panic in Jerome's eyes when he found himself floating against his will. "Surprise, father-in-law," She said, sarcasm dripping from her words. "What madness is this? Let me down this instant and speak to me like a mature adult!" Cinnia scoffed. "Like father like son." She shifted her hand to the side and threw him on his couch. He landed with a grunt but fluidly rose to his feet anyway. She had to give it to him, the man was still agile. "To answer your question, I'm here for your life." Cinnia gave a hand signal to Sophie to go out and put up a barrier around the apartment so that no one could get in or out. When Jerome raised both eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest, Cinnia could have sworn t
Six months later... It is during the time of peace that one should fear the occurrence of war. However, the prospect of war was a distant threat. One that Cinnia didn't even want to think or worry about. Sebastian was gone; so were Elijah and all the other vampires and hybrids he had created. Therefore, Cinnia only sought to enjoy the relative peace that had settled over West Volken for the last six months. There had been a lot to do after finally defeating Sebastian. The wounded had to be attended to—fortunately, they healed quite quickly, some faster than others—and a lot of collaboration among all the factions had to be established to ensure that adequate excuses and compensations were given to the families of the humans that had been turned by Sebastian and the matter hidden from the press. In the two months after New Orleans, although everyone constantly reassured Cinnia that none of the deaths was her fault and nothing was held against her, she still couldn't help but occasio
Embers, ash, and pillars. That was all that was left of the ancient edifice that had once stood in the position Cinnia, Denzel, and Mya were standing on. "One step ahead of us... Fucking son of a—Agh!" Cinnia balled her fists and kicked a pebble in front of her, sending it flying. She ran her fingers through her hair and sank to sit on her heels. A muscle in Denzel's jaw ticked. He wanted to break something, to kill someone but he had to keep his anger in check. There had to be another way. "When could he have done this?" Denzel murmured to himself as he stepped further into the rubble, not minding the smoldering ash that licked at his shoes. Mya moved ahead of him, kicking away crushed stones and waving her hand in front of her to block away the dust that threatened to suffocate her. Some minutes later, they returned to where Cinnia still sat, her fists shaking in her lap. The look on their faces said it all. The tree was gone. Cut down and burnt to a crisp. Only a single root r
"I feel I should be surprised but weirdly, I'm not," Cinnia whispered to Maverick whilst keeping her eyes on Denzel who stood ramrod straight as he stared down at the bloody heart in his palm. "Me neither," Maverick replied with the corners of his lips raised in satisfaction. His brother always had a way of showing up at the right moment. "Can you please find me some water around here? My throat is dying," Cinnia requested to Maverick. "Sure." The moment he left, Cinnia took slow steps to Denzel. The clangs of weapons, grunts and growls of the supernaturals, and the whimpers of the wounded echoed through her ears which created a nagging feeling in her chest. Something was wrong. Sebastian was dead, wasn't he? Then why was the battle still ongoing? His creatures should have dropped dead...even the one she had granted the illusion of choice. Yet, when Denzel's eyes met hers finally, all previous thoughts melted away and she picked up the pace and ran to him. A huge smile lit up Den
Cinnia's heart pounded in her chest as she waited and hoped that Sebastian was truly messing with her and Maverick wasn't dead. She didn't think she would ever be able to forgive herself if he died because of her rashness. She gasped when Maverick landed face-first on the ground right in front of her. A relieved smile grew on her face but promptly bled out when she noticed that he wasn't moving. "Why isn't he getting up? What did you do to him, you bastard?!" Cinnia yelled, struggling against the bonds that held her back. She felt the skin on her neck break and begin to bleed but she paid no mind to it. She screamed her voice hoarse, yanking at the chains but it was futile and all to Sebastian's glee. "What did you do?... What did you do to him?..." Cinnia sagged against the chains that held her down; her voice reduced to a pitiful croak. Sebastian sat on his heels and bent his head to the side. A wide smile that immensely irritated Cinnia was stretched out across his face. "It's
"Beg your pardon?" Cinnia quirked up an eyebrow, uncertain about whether she heard properly. "Kneel before your King," Sebastian repeated, dragging out each syllable like she and Maverick were dim-witted five-year-olds. Cinnia and Maverick exchanged a glance. Then, Maverick scoffed while shaking his head and clutching the fresh wound caused by the grazing of the silver bullet, on his arm. "I only have one king and I don't even kneel before him..." Cinnia bit back. A second later, she added as an afterthought, "Often... And I certainly won't do it if he demands it in that tone you're using." As she spoke, she kept her right hand behind her with a portion of her mind focused on chanting a spell and channeling power to her fingertips. Sebastian barked out a laugh. "I do love your sense of humor. It's refreshing. Very rarely do average people make jest in dangerous situations." "Thank you for recognizing my immense potential." At the last word, she fired two bolts of crackling ligh
For the first time in a long while, Denzel had a dream. One that he remembered the moment his eyes fluttered open to the dimness of his room. A smile grew on his face as he recalled the events. He was happy. There were no foes. Just him and his princess. Yawning, he stretched out his muscles and then turned to pull Cinnia closer to him. But the sheets beside him were as cold as ice. He shot up from the bed, his heart racing in alarm. A glance at the bedside clock let him know that it was almost four-thirty, half an hour before the pack would assemble by five a.m. He got up and threw open the curtains. As someone who never slept for long, he should have been awake thirty minutes before. "Princess?" He called out to the eerily empty room, hoping that she was in the bathroom and just being extremely quiet or holding her breath or something. Yet, from his incredible hearing, the sinking realization occurred to him and his eyes widened. In a flash, he washed his face, threw on some c
Cinnia watched from her window as Denzel drove off with Maverick, Mya, Kai, and five of his best gammas. As Luna, without even being told, everyone was looking up to her to run things in the absence of their Alpha and Beta. However, she didn't feel like doing anything pack-related. Earlier that morning, she practiced various spells from a grimoire she had taken from her mother's house before the Darah Haven witches decided to try and drain her of her magic. Yet, she still experienced some difficulty in performing some of the more complicated magical spells and it made her throw the entire book aside from frustration. Cinnia leaned her head against the window frame and heaved out a melancholic sigh. Just as she was about to lock her door and try the spells again, someone knocked on her door. Her shoulders dropped as she bowed her head and let out another sigh. "Come in," She called out after a beat. Conall stepped in and shut the door behind him. "Do you people not have off
"Fuck the drive. What is it?" Denzel whirled around to face Maverick, his eyes alight and expectant. "It's not good, brother." Maverick shook his head solemnly. Mya scoffed and folded her arms across her chest. "When last has anything been good around here?" Denzel shot her a look that made her zip up her mouth. "Well? Speak up, brother," Denzel pressed as his index finger drummed an anxious beat on his thigh. "Sebastian has made more vampires out of innocent humans. The council just sent a memo about a meeting tomorrow because of all the disappearances the human faction have had to cover up as freak accidents or kidnaps," Maverick informed. Denzel raised an eyebrow at him. "You aren't telling me everything." "Can this get any worse?" Mya mumbled while tracing a pattern on the ground with her foot. "It can. It has," Maverick answered her. "I don't understand how Sebastian has done it but the smaller packs have been recruited into working for him. He's making an army of vamp
Cinnia wordlessly threw dirt onto the little coffin in the freshly dug hole in the ground. Three days had passed since Sebastian's victory and barely a word had left her mouth. To someone who wasn't privy to her situation, they would think she went about her days like a normal person but those who knew her intimately—especially Denzel—were aware that she wasn't the same. The Cinnia he had met that starry night in Bromsken was gone and replaced by a hollow shell of the woman she used to be. Maverick was like Cinnia. The only difference was that he buried himself in business, pack duties, and hunting for Sebastian. Sophie's death had changed something inside of him. Though he never properly acknowledged the relationship they had, it didn't make him feel any better. In those three days, he was filled with unwavering regret that he couldn't have been with her the way he wanted. He finally understood just how Denzel felt about Cinnia even though she was part witch. Worst of all, he cou