RheaI froze in place. Had the thing really called me Veronica? Where had I heard that name before? Maybe I just heard it wrong.I was just about to shift back and ask what was going on when the wolf’s head snapped to the right. I heard it too. Someone was walking this way. Its eyes went wide, and it ran off in the opposite direction. I couldn’t believe it. Surely, it could take whoever was coming in a fight. Why was it running?Why did it call me Veronica?Who even was Veronica?I shifted back into my human form and started to make my way back to the pack house. I realized quickly that I had turned myself around in the forest and was hopelessly lost. I tried retracing my steps, following the blood splatters from both me and that monster.Fortunately, in my human form, I was more or less unscathed, so I was able to walk without much trouble. I found the trees we destroyed, and there was the clearing where most of our battle had taken place. If I turned around here…
RheaI felt sick and my head was hot. I couldn’t believe even Anastasia would lie like that. How could this be happening? I knew Anastasia hated me and wanted to kill me but was she really willing to let a monster run free just to get back at me?How could she be so evil? How could she not be as terrified as I was? The monster had attacked her, wasn’t she worried it would come back? I looked at her face and it was clear she wasn’t. She was just smug and happy for the opportunity to blame me. I wanted to scream. I felt like my defense was drowned out by her dramatic displays of pain. It seemed so obvious to me that she was faking. The monster had hurt her but she was playing it up for the Horace brothers. How did they not see that? But still, I tried. Surely, my mates would believe me. They were my mates, after all, not hers. “I didn’t do this. I tried to warn her. There was a monstrous wolf-like beast. It attacked me before and came back to attack again. Please believe me
Rhea Day one was the worst. I woke up to see my guards were some of Anastasia’s older friends. They seemed delighted to see me in jail. When they opened the gate, I backed up against the stone wall but it was pointless. I couldn’t escape. They beat me until I was almost unconscious. I didn’t know if they truly believed I had hurt Anastasia or not but it didn’t matter. I huddled against the wall and wrapped my knees around myself. My left eye had already swollen so bad I couldn’t see out of it. I expected them to come bring me food and water, even if it was crap but no one ever came for anything but more beatings. I cried until I had no more tears. Then I laid as still as I could and stared at the ceiling. None of my mates came. Day two I could feel the numbness setting in. My ribs were cracked and bruised. My eye was swollen and my wrist was fractured. Anastasia’s friends still came to hurt me more but the pain was duller, less shocking. I wasn’t as surprised when I,
RheaI turned away from the boys, refusing to look at them. Ezekiel stood his ground, staring down my friends with authority in his eyes. Nina and Emma started to protest.“You can’t just throw us out of here!” Emma exclaimed.“We’re her friends!” Nina continued. “She needs us.”“Go,” Ezekiel repeated, this time with more force. Even I felt inclined to leave. “I won’t ask again.”Nina and Emma bowed their heads and left. I didn’t want them to, but they had no choice. The Alphas had asked them to leave. I listened to their footsteps until I couldn’t hear them anymore. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.“Leave me alone,” I snapped, keeping my eyes on the ground. “Rhea—” Lionel started.“I said leave me alone,” I repeated, staring them down.The boys withered under my glare. Good. They all thought I was capable of evil, terrible things. Everyone wanted to be scared of me so badly. Maybe it was time they learned what that really felt like.“We had no idea th
RheaMany, many people showed up to my trial. Alpha Angus, Luna Simona, and some of the elders were there. Anastasia sat in a wheelchair, surrounded by the Horace brothers.She smiled at everyone who came to give her condolences and well wishes for her health. She looked awful, pale, and gaunt, as if healing was taking everything out of her. Somewhere, deep in my soul, even though all of this was her fault, I was glad she was okay. Like I said that day in the woods, I might have hated her, but I didn’t want her to die. Alpha Angus stood up and raised his hands after everyone had settled into their seats. All the present members of the pack in the room went silent. “Today, we stand to hear the testimony of Rhea, who stands accused of attempted murder against Anastasia,” he said. “Rhea, how do you plea?”“Not guilty,” I said immediately.He nodded. “All right, then. We will be the judges of that. Let Rhea’s trial commence,” he said, his voice booming around the room.
Rhea The energy in the room was shifting and I could feel everyone starting to get a bit more anxious. The brothers seemed to be drastically switching their arguments and I was grateful for their support but it still seemed in vain. “We’ve sent warriors out to look for the monster. If there are rogues, the warriors will find them,” Dylan insisted.I sighed. I wondered when they had sent out the warriors to find the rogues. I knew it wasn’t that night and therefore I had no hope that his warriors would amount to anything. I knew those rogues were long gone by now. Anastasia would have covered her bases. She was too good at being a terrible villain. Besides, rogues like that were well-trained to avoid capture. I was tired of talking. I didn’t want to run around in more circles if they had already made a decision. I didn’t need any more false hope. I had demanded they make a choice but instead, they kept bickering as if we were still debating but the battle had already been
RheaI stood there feeling dumbfounded. I was certain that I misheard him. I stared at him blankly. Everyone did until Luna Simona finally found her voice. I looked at the Horace brothers. Did that mean I had been mated with my cousins? They looked at me with equally horrified expressions. I was family with them all along. I couldn’t believe it, it all felt unreal.“You never told me you had a sister,” Luna Simona said in shock, and she looked at me and the boys. She seemed confused by the impact the Alpha’s words had on the rest of us. “They couldn’t be cousins. Rhea was mated to our sons!”Alpha Angus looked at her and shook his head. “She was not my sister by blood but she was one of my family. I made a promise to her that I would protect her daughter,” he answered.Luna Simona frowned. She seemed as confused as I felt. My eyes darted back and forth between them desperate for more information. “What do you mean? Protect her from what?” Luna Simona glanced at
EzekielRhea’s eyes widened in shock when she heard her mother’s name. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe she had heard it somewhere before? She stared at the ground, confusion and shock warring on her face. Part of me wanted to go to her, to help her, but the rest of me was still angry. After all she’d done to hurt Anastasia, she didn’t deserve my comfort, right?Part of me still needed her desperately, needed her to be okay, to be with me. I was able to ignore it for the most part, but seeing her look like this, so scared and confused, hurt me more than I’d care to admit. I pried my eyes away from her, focusing instead on Anastasia.At that moment, my warriors returned. My gaze snapped to the open door where the two of them stood. They entered the room, sweat pouring down their faces but looking proud of themselves. They must have found something. That same part of me hoped it would prove Rhea’s innocence.“What is the meaning of this?” Alpha Angus asked.“Sir, we found traces o
RheaI had no answers and no ideas but I felt determined. I couldn’t just let this go. If my mother was out there and still alive, I had to find her. I had to save her.I turned to the only friend I knew might be able to help. “Emma, what do you know of this kind of dark magic and dark witches? Have you heard of a man named Adonis?” I asked the next time Emma was over with me.Emma frowned and shook her head. “All witches, but especially dark ones tend to keep to themselves. They know their actions are evil, but they aren’t about to display that to the world. They would be tricky to find. I also hadn’t heard of this Adonis person until you mentioned him. I’m sure that’s intentional. These types of witches are very good at hiding themselves and going unnoticed if they wish.”Emma picked at her fingernails and did her best to keep her eyes away from me—I could tell she didn’t want to talk about this. She wasn’t pleased I was going to put myself at greater risk to find my
RheaMy father nodded at me and continued speaking.“We moved many times all over the state, trying to get away from Adonis,” he said, “but Veronica still did not feel safe. No matter where we went, she always thought he was one step behind. I wanted to get your help, Angus, but Veronica thought she’d be putting you all in danger. She wanted us to stay hidden for as long as possible.”“You could have come to us regardless,” Alpha Angus said sincerely. “We have plenty of warriors who would have been willing to take this Adonis head on. I would have been happy to help.”My heart warmed at the thought of Alpha Angus helping my parents. He’d helped me for so long. He’d taken me in when I no one else would. In a way, I guess he did help my parents by helping me, I thought. I understood why my mother wanted to hide, though. She thought she was protecting everyone. I wondered what would have happened if they had come to Alpha Angus in the first place. Would everyone still be a
RheaMy father had everyone’s attention now. All eyes were on him and no one was objecting or arguing. He looked like some sort of prophet standing in front of a crowd, explaining the truth of things.Well, part of that was true.Adonis had been more powerful and clever than I had given him credit for. I hadn’t put together the idea he might have been the dark witch we were looking for but now it made sense.Now I understood why my father had found me now. Adonis had probably been close to finding me as well. “I had been tracking this man for a long time. He is the one who cursed me and killed my wife. I smelt him and tracked him here. I had been chasing him for a long time and I hoped to catch him before he reached any kind of civilization. I knew the deviation he could cause. I stopped him just outside your borders. I started to fight him and tried to stop him from doing more damage. Your mem…I’m sorry, they got in the way. They saw us and probably assumed I was the d
RheaI petted out my father’s fur. Patches were missing and dried blood was throughout his fur. I looked like a miniature person compared to him and barely straightened the fur on his paw. He was shaking and I could see where he was hurt and bleeding.He whimpered quietly and I worried he might not survive. My heart was pounding and I felt a strange sense of calm come over me. This was it. This was what I had been practicing and training for. I hoped I was ready. “It’s okay, I’m here. I’m here. I’m not going to leave you,” I kept whispering.There was a huge crowd surrounding me now. I did my best to soothe him and when I was certain he was stable enough I thought, now was the time to help him and cure him. I prayed to the moon goddess that he was strong enough to survive the healing.“I’m going to fix it, okay? Don’t worry, I’m going to fix this.” I looked around desperately for Emma. When I found her in the crowd I beckoned her to me. She came at once, pushing through
RheaI looked around, looking for any sign of my father. The clearing was empty. The safe house was empty.How could he just be gone? He was here not that long ago.Where was he? I looked back at my friends and my mates, who looked just as confused as I was.I took another look around, searching every nook and cranny. He was just gone.I left the safe house and saw my mates and friends standing there expectantly. I was about to say I hadn’t found him when a few people came running out of the woods. They were disheveled and limping. One of them nursed an injured arm. Some of their clothes were torn, and one of them had blood running down the side of his head.“Help!” they cried. “Someone help, please! There’s been an attack! We’ve been attacked by a monster!”My stomach dropped to my shoes. An attack by a monster? Near here? What if it was my father? What if he escaped from that pack he’d allegedly just attacked? What if he didn’t? Where was he now?While I stood
RheaWhen I woke up, people were surrounding me, yelling. Someone held me. It took a second for the world to come into focus. I was still in my bedroom, but I appeared to be on the floor. I pushed whoever was holding me away.“Guys, she’s awake,” Dylan said, his voice coming from above me. I looked up, and he was the one who had been holding me. “Sorry, Dylan,” I mumbled groggily. I forced myself into a sitting position. Pain shot through my head. I pressed the heel of my hand against my eye, trying to use the pressure to relieve some of the pain. “What happened?”“You passed out from overworking yourself,” Gerard said. “We’re worried about you, Rhea.”“Yeah,” Ezekiel said. “You’re doing far too much in far too little time.”“You’re scaring us,” Lionel admitted, his voice small.Hot shame crept up the sides of my face. I didn’t mean to scare them. I just wanted to help my father be free of his curse. I looked down at my hands, hoping to hide the tears springing in
RheaThe whole room was eerie now as Emma leaned forward and kept her eyes on the ground. She continued like she was telling us some dark fairytale and we all listened intently. “I wasn’t sure in the beginning, though I couldn’t imagine what else could create a monster like that. Still, it wasn’t until I saw his reaction for myself that I knew it must be a curse. This is a seriously powerful curse from a strong dark witch.” Emma shuddered at her own words before continuing, “Dark witches are terrifying. They are completely outlaws—enemies of both werewolves and other witches alike. Most witches are good and work alongside werewolf packs when needed. They live outside the boundaries but they are peaceful and always willing to help. But dark witches…that’s another story. They are unfriendly to all and their magic is evil. It comes at a high price.” “So if it’s a curse we can ask another witch to look at him and break it, right? I mean they might not practice dark magic if they
Rhea“What? What did you just say?” I asked, demanding roughly from the monster. It took a step back and seemed agitated and confused. “Please tell me again! Tell me more!” I kept asking and moving closer to the monster but he kept backing up and getting more unsettled. I started to get desperate. “No. N—” it started to say but then shook its head, confused. It said nothing else, or at least nothing else human enough to understand. I could tell that it was getting upset and starting to lose focus. The boys urged me back but I pulled away from them. I couldn’t let it go. Not yet. They listened and let me keep going with the wolf, but they stayed close. Lionel looked ready to grab me and pull me away at a second’s notice.“Who are you? What’s your name?” I asked. But the monster shook its head and growled. It looked like it was having some sort of mental battle between how it was when it spoke and when it seemed more mindless and violent. I backed up and tried to give i
RheaThe monster huffed, its hot, smelly breath hitting me in the face. I tried not to wince. My eyes closed for a brief moment as it breathed on me. It looked at me, studying me like it had before.The mist swirled around its feet and leeched over to surround mine. It looked worse than it had the last time we met. More patches of fur were missing. I heard my mates behind me react to the ever-worsening smell of dead flesh and blood. Someone gagged, and everyone else made disgusted noises in the backs of their throats. The monster’s bright red eyes locked onto my blue ones. “Veronica . . .” it growled. It didn’t sound intimidating or frightening, though. It growled in a longing way like Veronica was the most important thing in the world to it.“I’m not Veronica,” I said with authority in my voice. I kept my shoulders and back straight, my chin high. With my powers, I was able to project my voice more than usual. “How do you know my mother’s name? Who are you?”The monste