Cinnia straightened her fingers from the tight fist they were in and scrunched her eyebrows as she willed the tips to light up in flames. So far, that was the only 'trick' she could do even after Sophie tried—and failed—to make her learn something more complex after taking the block off her magic. Cinnia had been at it in the garden for hours and while she wanted to punch herself repeatedly for being unable to master the simplest spell in the book, she thoroughly enjoyed watching Sophie's face twitch from increasing frustration. She guessed how long Sophie would last before yelling at her but the witch did not break. If Cinnia weren't observant, she would never have caught the almost murderous look in Sophie's eyes. Eventually, Cinnia succeeded after four grueling hours of non-stop 'encouragement' from Sophie. It was already late in the evening when Cinnia bumped into someone and lit their shirt on fire. "Shit!" She frantically dabbed at the flames till they were extinguished.
Three days. Three days since that rare moment of vulnerability. Three days since Elijah's shocking confession. Cinnia peeked around Denzel's shoulder, not even trying to hide her curiosity, as he tore open the envelope. She smirked when she saw Maverick tense on the other side of Denzel, from her peripheral vision. Denzel pulled out the document and scanned through it. Cinnia didn't understand much of the gibberish on the page so she waited for Denzel to explain. Judging from his crushing grip on the paper, she felt he must understand what was written. "He's our brother," Denzel announced. His words hit Cinnia like a hard slap. Silence reigned; loud and deafening that it made Cinnia cover her ears to escape from its overwhelming nature. It couldn't be. Is the Alpha of the Blood Demons Denzel's brother? That was impossible...and yet, it made perfect sense. The uncanny resemblance, the pale skin of Jerome, the green eyes, the aura around him, and the way he carried himself even whil
Cinnia missed Denzel terribly. It wasn't even up to two days since he traveled to Paris but the ache in her chest was strong and hard to let go of. Denzel had told her that this was what the marking would feel like but she didn't expect it to be so powerful and irrepressible. "Cinnia? Cinnia! Are you even listening?" Sophie waved her hand in Cinnia's face till she blinked back to reality. "Where's your head at? You need to perfect this spell. Come on.""Huh? Oh, right. I'm listening," Cinnia said. She patted the side of her hair which was slicked back into a low bun and scratched her brow. "I'm here. I was just...""Thinking about your mate. Of course." Sophie nodded. She spread her arms over the lit candles around them and with a flick of her wrists, she quenched the flames. "I see he has marked you." Sophie gestured to the small, dark purple bruise by the side of Cinnia's neck. Cinnia ran her fingers across it, a tiny smile playing at her lips as she recalled Denzel's confession
Cinnia forced out an exhale. "Sophie, how long have you been practicing magic?" "Well, I'm twenty-three now...and I started at 6...so it's been seventeen years. Why?" Cinnia scoffed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You've been doing magic for sixteen years and I only started about two days ago. How do you expect me to know this and be proficient enough? I can't do more than this!" She groaned. Sophie folded her arms and gave Cinnia a pointed look. "I learned the fire summoning and cloaking spell within hours of each other," She paused. "When I was six. With my newly opened magic gate." Cinnia bit the inside of her cheek. "But still. I wasn't born into a coven. You told me that my mother blocked my abilities to protect me," She protested. "Cinnia. Manara was your mother. The most powerful witch of the Darah Haven coven was your mother. She may have been the best of all the witches. Though everyone spoke of her in hushes, nobody could deny her abilities." "So?" "Are you d
So far, Cinnia had learned three spells and her favorite was the cloaking spell. She made sure to use it at every opportunity. Sometimes, she felt sorry for Mya and Maverick because they had to constantly search for her since she was carrying the future of their pack. It was exciting to sneak around unnoticed though there were times she had to hold her breath as many of the werewolves had very good hearing. Denzel was to return that evening and she could not wait to receive him. It was as if there was a gaping hole in her that needed to be filled. Pun intended. "Cinnia, for the love of the goddess, please stop using that damn spell!" Mya pleaded as she looked for Cinnia in all the rooms of the pack house. "Fine..." Cinnia sighed as she materialized from the wall of the hallway in the upper right wing. "Fuck!" Mya shrieked and clutched her chest at the sound of Cinnia's voice. "Jeez. Don't give yourself an aneurysm." Cinnia chuckled and patted Mya's shoulder. An action that elici
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Mya asked while taking a careful step back. Cinnia's eyes flicked from Denzel's serious demeanor to Mya's skeptical one. Her eyebrows shot up, almost disappearing into her hairline as her mouth formed an 'Oh.' "Uh... I think he means that you..." Cinnia coughed into her palm. "Don't tell me... Brother! That's a risk," Maverick said in protest. Mya scratched the back of her neck, still lost in confusion. Everyone else knew what was going on except her. "Can someone just make a full sentence? This suspense is not necessary!" Mya threw her hands up in exasperation. Denzel took a step closer to her and squeezed her shoulder. "I will never force you to do something you don't consent to. If you're not comfortable with this arrangement, then I can always think of something else." "Tell me." Denzel gripped her chin with his thumb and index finger. "You'll have to become Cinnia." He paused to let that sink in before he went on. "I thought ab
Riding and hiking were on Cinnia's bucket list but she wasn't exactly an outdoors girl and only added them to her list for the experience. As she explored the trails and woods—the ones that she hadn't seen already—that enclosed the Nightfall pack territory, she was quite thankful that she was with Denzel, else she would have turned and left at the beginning of their trek. Cinnia still didn't understand just how wealthy Denzel was as she was still befuddled at how he managed to procure horses that she was sure were purebred and very expensive, on such short notice... Or maybe he had this planned for a long time like Maverick said. The horse ride around the pack house and the smoother parts of the woods were simultaneously pleasant and uncomfortable. There were horses in the Fae forests, so she was a fairly good rider but this time, she remembered why she didn't like it all that much. However, what made it pleasant was when Denzel jumped down from his horse and led hers by the re
"Damn," Cinnia whistled under her breath. New Orleans was beautiful when the sun was at its peak. That much she could tell from when she and Conall's flight landed at the Louis Armstrong Airport and hailed a cab to a hotel in the French Quarter. The city resonated through her as the cab sped by the highway, making her wish that she was there for other reasons-more entertaining and exciting reasons. The afternoon sun warmed her skin through the open windows of the cab as she stared at the narrow one-way roads filled with different cars and people once they entered the French Quarter neighborhood and drove through Bourbon Street. Cinnia sighed and leaned back in her seat. She felt fear grip her heart in a tight fist. She had been adamant in coming to New Orleans but now that she was there, she wasn't sure of what she would do exactly. "How are we to get weapons?" She whispered to Conall. "That's not an issue. I'll just have to ask the Reef pack. They aren't a very large pack bu
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