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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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