KAYLA.The second I snapped my eyes open, my face was met with the cold railings of the cell. My first instinct wasn’t to scream but to try to stand to my feet but my body was in so much pain. I had a sour headache, I realized and my joints ached like I’d run a marathon earlier.Where was I?Looking around, it looked like a prison. Like a dungeon but somewhere I’d never been before. I wasn’t sure I was still in Black Mountain but the last thing I remembered was being carried by this uniformed group of men. I was probably sedated later on because my whole memory was a hazy mess and that would explain the pain radiating through my body.My hands fell to the pockets and I felt a lump. I reached out to the piece of paper clumped in my side and saw it was the test result from the clinic. “So it wasn’t a dream” I whispered but the dark empty room returned a hoarse echo of my voice.I looked around and then back at the paper and wasn’t sure why tears filled my eyes that moment. I knew what
KAYLA.The truth hit me like a shockwave that even hours after Lucien had left, I was still curled up in the corner with his words echoing in my ears. I had no idea what to make of the fact that I was here because of Rafael.A man that I trusted with my whole heart was the one to ultimately betray me. He knew of the trauma and the scars that came from being caged through my entire childhood, only for him to now do the exact same thing. I was gutted and to be honest, I’d cried so much that it wasn’t physically possible for any more tears to come from my eyes. It wasn’t until more than five hours had passed and night had fallen that Rafael finally came. I scented him even before he walked through the doors and my heart started to pound in my chest.“Kayla” His voice thundered the walls, only to be followed by sheer silence. I cupped my chin, trying to hold back the tears in my eyes. As much as I wanted to yell at him, I couldn’t bring myself to say a single word yet, even about the f
CHRISTINA.The raging noises through the wall was what brought me to a halt. The person yelling sounded a lot like Rafael and his voice was followed by the slamming of a door that shook the entire building."What do you think you're doing?!" He yelled at the top of his voice, throwing what sounded like a punch. I made my way around the corridor and came to a halt right in front of the door which had somehow bounced open, leaving a partition from where I could see him.It was a vengeful altercation between him and his brother. Although I knew neither of them, I wasn't a stranger to the news and the gossips that spread around the pack about them. Rafael was the first to grasp Lucien by his collar, throwing across the wall and into a pillar. He seemed so furious like he wanted to kill Lucien in that moment.His anger was evident in his eyes."What do you want with Kayla?" Rafael yelled and Lucien raised his head, struggling to stand to his feet but the king didn't allow him so much time
APRIL.“Come with me!” I immediately clinched my sister’s hands, grabbing her behind a door. A million questions raced through my mind all at once and I wanted to make sure I’d heard correctly. “Is Kayla pregnant?” I asked her and Christina was so fearful in her eyes.You could tell she was burdened by the unwillingness to say the truth.“Tell me, Christina” I grasped the collar around her neck and pushed her into the wall. “You weren’t even supposed to be speaking to her. I told you to stay away from her after you claimed she fell ill” I said and then my eyes widened in realization.“She fell ill—“ I echoed. “Now that makes sense, I fear.” I muttered beneath my breath and Christina struggled until she broke free from my hands.“She was ill” She admitted.“She was ill and I had to help her. Not everyone finds it easy to turn their backs against the whole world like you do, April” She yelled in my face and it was the first time I’d heard Christina shout so much. I freed my hands from
KAYLA.It was in the earliest hours of the morning that I heard the door click open. My eyes snapped almost as fast as my feet rose to the ground because I knew it was him even before I saw him. His gentle scent serenading the room and it was sickening how hard I tried to be mad.To stay mad at him.“Kayla” He finally appeared with his hands in front of him and I fell quiet, not even sobbing because there was only so much tears that could fall from my eyes. Both our own locked into each other with the pain and the overbearing emotions that built up from the last few days.And it was an intense few seconds before I finally turned away.“Can we just talk, Kayla?” Rafael whispered, desperately trying for it not to end in another argument but by the look across my face, I made sure he knew that I was done. “Leave” I muttered, forcing the words out of my mouth but he went against them, inching closer instead and his hands clawed around the bars that separated us. I wondered if he could ju
TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE.RAFAEL - SEVEN YEARS AGO. “Come on, Rafael!” Gerald’s voice brought my feet to a halt and I fell to my knees, breathing heavily. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me” He snarled, running his hands through his hair before turning back to me.“You’re going to need to run a lot faster if you plan on beating Lucien in the challenge” He added and the sweat that dripped from the sides of my face could fill a bucket. I chugged a bottle of water before looking back at him. My beta, Gerald had dedicated his entire day to train me for the battle against my brother.Last week, Lucien had announced his intention to challenge me for the Alpha kinship title. That when Carlos’ reign was over, he would take charge as the leader of the pack. It came as a shock at first even though a lot of us probably saw it coming since his outrage the first time I was announced as heir instead of him.Carlos was like a father to the both of us and he raised us to even call him one. He raised
RAFAEL. Then came a few years later while I was hunting with Gerald, I saw her again but this time from the foot of the hill that held up her packhouse. She looked so much older now, tendering to the flowers in her garden and I took a picture. From one picture, to two and to three. Each time I was around there, I would search for her and wouldn’t leave until I saw her—until I was sure she was safe. But then came a night that I happened to be close to her and saw for myself, the treacherous ways they treated her like she was worse than an animal.There was a man who pushed her to the ground and struck her sides with the heel of his shoe. It took everything to restrain myself from saving her, even as I saw her struggling to breathe. I could hear her cries and I could feel it even inside of me. It was like an unexplainable bond which ignited my need to save her from them.I knew with the way she was treated, it wouldn’t take her long to try to kill herself again and what if I wasn’t ar
KAYLA.I keep a lot of things to myself.It was the way I grew up—without really having anyone but my journal to talk to and when even that was gone, I was left with nothing. My mind was accustomed to hold these many secrets I burdened it with and my heart was no longer willing to open up to anyone after everything. I was barely living throughout my whole childhood, I was only surviving. And the closest thing I was to feeling anything at all was the pain from all the torture and the guilt from the fact that I killed my own mother and I remember hearing repeatedly in my head that I didn't deserve this life—I didn't deserve to live.Many people told me that so many times that it registered in my brain and haunted me in my nightmares and daydreams. I was suffocating and still, no one to talk to. Jumping off the cliff wasn't the hardest part, it was finally caving in to the voices in my head.It was walking all the way there and thinking killing myself was the only way out of this. I hat