RAFAEL. The car sped across Oakland highway and I impatiently looked to the clock for the nth time in the last few seconds and we were still an hour away from the pack house. “Come on, come on” I muttered beneath my breath as I looked down at Kayla in my hands.She didn’t have up to one hour—her heart was slowly threading meaning the poison from the syringe was hastily flowing through her veins and the moment it did sting her heart, it was over. It was a battle against time but now, we’d gotten rid of the guards and Lucien had filled her stomach.We were all in the vehicle, including Veronica who stole glances from across the front seat whenever she heard my voice, knowing it was Kayla I was talking to but for the first time, I didn’t care.I didn’t care that she knew about us, I was tired of hiding—of living a lie and most of all, I was tired of hurting Kayla, over and over again even if it was never what I wanted to do. I should’ve never locked her in that cage because all of this
KAYLA.I used to hate looking into the mirror, at the scars and bruises carved into my skin that made me, me. I used to hate looking at myself because it was a treacherous reminder of what I wanted most to forget. But in this moment, the mirror was all I wanted to look into.I wanted to look at myself because as awful as it sounded, it seemed like I had forgotten. Ever since I opened my eyes, I felt different. I didn’t feel like Kayla and there was this awful feeling that tied my stomach in a knot. My hands fell to enclasp my bump as I stared at my reflection. It wasn’t entirely a bad thing to forget who I was before, maybe only then will I be able to let go of my past. But each time I remembered the child I was carrying, I prayed amidst everything that had happened, he was unharmed. I remembered it all, Rose standing above me and even as far as when Lucien was shot and he fell to the ground.I remember the feeling of a bag over my face and my lungs closing in on air. I remember the
KAYLA.I should be searching for books about the necklace or many similar amulets, I know. But it was a lot harder than you thought especially amongst the thousand books around us. So most of the time, something else caught my attention—either the book of the history of Lycans or the one about their never ending rules and principles.I rolled my eyes, but the truth was I used to love reading books like these growing up and I even remember stealing ones that belonged to my step siblings and then sneaking off to the garden to digest the pages. It was a weird but comforting hobby—reading.My hands wrapped around one particular book lined with red and silver and across the top was a boldened calligraphy of the word, Lineage. But as I flipped through the pages to start reading, someone appeared behind me. “You know you shouldn’t be reading that” As you would have guessed, it was none other than Lucien.I closed the book immediately, a little startled and when I turned back at him, he chuck
KAYLA.ONE WEEK LATER.My heart has never known this kind of pain—the kind of heartbreak that tears you down and renders time meaningless. You feel numb, even after days watching everything pass while you’re barely holding on. The kind of heartbreak that aches your soul and fills you with a million unanswered questions and it’s all you ever think about.The what ifs, and the what could have been.The kind of heartbreak that stems from your worst fear and leaves you uncertain whether or not you want to carry on. I would never wish that kind of pain on my own enemy—the pain I was going through right now.The pain of losing an unborn child.As I sat across my bed with my arms folded, it didn’t hit me that I haven’t left this place in a while. All I did was lie down here with my fece turned to the ceilings, drowning in my own tears. People had come by but they could only do so much especially as that wasn’t what I wanted.I don’t even know what I wanted and what I didn’t.All I had were w
KAYLA.The sun rose up early in the morning before I could even get a chance to rest. All through the sleepless night, I found myself sitting with my back against the headboard and my arms around my knees. I gazed out of the windows but at nothing in particular.Just the gazillion thoughts that roamed in the back of my head that made it so difficult for me to close my eyes. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Sebastien had said and how eager he was to help me get to the root of the matter. He’d prescribed some medicines to get rid of the thanine that might have still been in my bloodstream.But there wasn’t a greater harm it could cause after killing my child and Someone I knew was the one who did it. It was obvious why the first name that came to my mind was Veronica’s but I waved it off because there was no how she knew that I was carrying a child as well.It was just between Christina and Sebastian and myself, and like the fool I was, I really wanted to believe that there was some
KAYLA.The scent of the woods trickled up my nose and the moment I closed my eyes, there was a sense of freedom that filled my entire body. The truth was I’d unknowingly kept my wolf repressed for so long amongst all the emotions I was so afraid of feeling. But still Isla didn’t take so long to rise within me, rather she burst out like my claws, bonding both my supernatural side to my humanity. She slowly comes out and it’s not as violent mad frantic as the very first time but rather it feels like my body stretching into anew.I could feel Lucien’s gaze pierce through me from a distance, watching my bones crack and my fingers flex and the fur that rose across my skin. My shoulders latched forward and all of a sudden, I was filled with senses that worked twice as much. My ears were sharp and my vision could see miles away now, although it could take some getting used to.But before I did anything else, I stood still for a moment to heave a deep breath, an attempt to fill my lungs with
KAYLA.“Lucien” I was used to calling to his name and he was used to shutting me down. “Kayla, no!” He muttered but it was a tad bit late to convince me otherwise. I’d seen the way his pupils dilated when I asked that question and his initial silence told me all I needed to know.“Listen to me, you’re being irrational now” He turned around, storming down the hill but I trailed right after. “Lucien, you can’t challenge him for Alpha—““I’m not!” He yelled back at him, forcing me to halt in my tracks. “I’m not. Just fucking let it go, no one must hear it from you. Do you hear me?” His eyes went cold, sending a shiver up my spine as I heaved in a deep breath. I really thought running was something I could do everyday with him but today was so unlike the previous. And now, I wasn’t so sure that he’d changed after all.Maybe it was just a layer that facaded his true self and his truest intentions. “Just—“ His voice calmed after realizing how loud he’d yelled at me and his shoulders flatte
KAYLA. I sat by my windowsill in the darkest hour of the night when all of a sudden I heard a knock upon my door. The frantic thud was loud enough to pull me out of the million thoughts that raced through my head. And when I turned around, my eyes met the ever compelling ones of Lucien. “What are you doing here?” I softly asked, without really fighting his presence this one thing. He was hesitant with his words, only clearing his throat as he closed the door behind him. I got up from the chair and we both walked to the opposite edges of the bed.“Knew there would be running tomorrow after everything that happened, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay” Lucien stuttered, sticking his hands into his back pocket and I raised my eyes to look back at him. “It’s hard I know, seeing your father that way. Even with everything, it doesn’t mean it will hurt less” He comforted and it struck my mind that damned be the day that Lucien Cordero was the one to comfort me.“Ridiculous” I crossed my