RYDEN Once he released me, I marched toward Amelia. With my heart felt like crushing in my chest, I stared at this person who had Amelia’s face, wearing the same clothes. “Who’s this?” “Meet, Arakiel, but I doubt if he’s Arakiel,” Lucius told me, holding his sigil. The Arakiel had my Amelia’s face smirked. The evil smirked, making the hair at the back of my neck stand. “Aren’t you clever? How did you figure it out?” “Where’s Amelia, demon?” I asked her, and she just laughed at me. “You’re not Arakiel, are you?” Lucius asked. “You used your father’s name, who owned the wings at the tower?” He faced Lucius, leaning towards him, looking at him eye-to-eye. Her eyes were dark as an abyss. “You know for a fact that this is not Arakiel or his son anymore. I’ve been trying to kill you all these years, and you managed to escape and stay alive. I’m impressed Alexander, or do you prefer me to call you Lucius.” “Where’s my mate?” I summoned the fire, forming a fireball in my palm. She on
AMELIA I suckled in a breath, waking up to a reality. I thought I made it through, but it was like a dream talking to them, telling them what I saw. But I swore I was there before something pulled me out. I cracked my eyes open, only to see the same darkness I walked in before. I quickly got on my feet.“What the hell?” I felt like someone just pulled the ground under my feet, throwing me through the hole into the abyss. I tried to walk through many times, but I was still here, in this wasteland of dying people. It was horrible— the smell of death and corpses. The atmosphere was worse than the desert in summer. It felt like being inside the heating pot without the water and my skin kept simmering. The canister smoked a long time ago, and those people stopped running after me. They couldn’t keep up anymore and went back to whatever they were digging. I realized they were not dead. They were just trapped here to starve to death. There was nothing left but bones and skin. The hollow
AMELIA Victor scoffed but it came out like a pig snort. “I would have tried it weeks ago if I knew how.” “Where are we anyway?” “Call it hell because this is hell to me. It’s his lair anyway.” Or another dimension. “I know you can help me, Victor. I need you to think. Maybe you know an incantation or something.” “These people worked at the council and the Enochian. They knew many things, and they tried everything. Do you think we would last a day here if we knew how to escape? We’re gonna die here, Amelia. I hope you’ve said goodbye to the people you loved.” “No!” I stood up, towering over him. “I don’t believe that! I will find a way. And you won’t die here either. This is all your fault. You and Alec fell under his spell, you pathetic lapdog. I will take you with me and you will pay for what you’ve done!” “Do you think I haven’t been paying for everything I did? Keeping me in the cell at the council was way way better than down here no food and smell like a rotten corpse.” “
RYDEN My limbs quaked in exhaustion. Every inch of my body ached. I had cuts everywhere, splinters in my skin, blood dripping from my forehead and my arms. I lost count of how many times I flew away, dropped, and dragged, and I couldn’t even get close to the demon. He was far stronger than I’d ever imagined. Knowing that he had Amelia’s face, he could have taken her powers, too, if it was even possible. Margaret’s power couldn’t even match with his. She tried harder and managed to throw him away, but he came back stronger. I didn’t know what to do anymore. Ren, Nora, and everyone didn’t make any difference either. I lost him in Ren’s tornadoes, but knowing that the storm had formed because of his presence, it was useless, and my fire wolf fighting a demon from hell? It would only burn the skin and regenerate itself in seconds. I looked at Lucius. His expression was pained, and he dragged his wolf to stand in exhaustion. We were all exhausted, and nothing could beat that son of a
AMELIA Oh, Goddess. My heart broke to see Margaret lying on the ground with a hole in her chest, and as I looked at everyone they were exhausted and beaten up. I didn’t know how were they still standing despite their bruises, cuts, and wounds, and the devastating tragedy surrounding them, and the ground looked like it had been wiped out by a hurricane. I was glad I wasn’t too late. As Victor helped the people out of the demon’s lair, I distracted him, now wearing my father’s face. “You chose the wrong face, asshole. You targeted the wrong people to mess up. You’re maybe stronger, but I will take you down with me and send you to hell.” “Do you really think you can defeat me? Look at them.” He gestured at everyone. “Many of them are dead. They’ve tried, and they failed. I suggest to bow down to me.” “Well, they’re not me. And no one is bowing down to you because the last thing we want is to be ruled by someone who is Lucifer’s puppet. You live in hell and this earth is close to h
AMELIA Father, help me protect my people. With all my strength, I ran with the sword on my side gripped by both of my hands. The director aimed at me, swinging it right into my neck. It was merely an inch away before he could separate my head from my body. All my hopes were slowly fading away.I sucked in a breath. Chills ran down my spine as I ducked, deflecting the blow, and slammed my foot on his knee as hard as I could. When I heard a crack, I knew I had broken it, and it would slow him down a little bit. He shrieked in an animalistic kind, and he staggered and fell on his unaffected knee. Then I stood up and screamed as I jumped high to point the tip of the sword on my neck, but I missed it. I stabbed it on his shoulder while he swung his sword around. Then he twirled his wrist before I could pull out the sword from his shoulder, piercing the skin on my arm. I hissed in pain. Then I smelled more blood and felt it dripping from the cut down to my hand. I drew a deep breath s
AMELIA Tahoe, twenty-six months ago I wondered how long it would take to die. So this was how I died— so brutal— burn to ashes. What did I do to deserve this? Was this what it felt like to be trapped in hell for eternity? Smoke and fire were the only things I could see, obliterating the home where I grew up. “Help!” I screamed out loud as I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them as I watched the fiery flames devour my bedroom door, leaving me no way to escape. The crackling sound was horrifying. I was the weakest, the tiniest in the pack. At sixteen, I couldn’t even call myself a werewolf as I hadn’t shifted yet, which always got me bullied. Tears blurred my eyes. Thick smoke began suffocating my lungs, making it hard to breathe. Sweat covered my whole body as heat seemingly slowly melted my skin. I’d never been so terrified in my entire life until today as the flames began crawling over the pink carpeted floor. In point of fact, I didn’t want to die this w
AMELIA Gasping, my eyes flew open from a vivid carnal dream of many dreams I had almost every week. I froze as I stared outside. When the Ford truck stopped at the red light, I rolled the window down to half and noticed the same gift shop across the street. Then a captivating strong male scent with a gust of tobacco, cedar, and spices hit my nostrils. I wished my heartbeat would settle down. It was extremely hard to concentrate and relax as I searched for where the smell came from. Before I could explore the tattoo that was similar to a sigil on a man’s neck in a black Chevrolet Tahoe, the light turned green. The moment I heard the bad news about Zeph, I knew it left me no choice but to go back to the pack and the place that rejected and banished me. I knew this day would come. I just didn’t think that it involved with my brother being hurt. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Theia asked. Her hands were steady on the wheel. It was funny how we met. She tried to steal my wa
AMELIA Father, help me protect my people. With all my strength, I ran with the sword on my side gripped by both of my hands. The director aimed at me, swinging it right into my neck. It was merely an inch away before he could separate my head from my body. All my hopes were slowly fading away.I sucked in a breath. Chills ran down my spine as I ducked, deflecting the blow, and slammed my foot on his knee as hard as I could. When I heard a crack, I knew I had broken it, and it would slow him down a little bit. He shrieked in an animalistic kind, and he staggered and fell on his unaffected knee. Then I stood up and screamed as I jumped high to point the tip of the sword on my neck, but I missed it. I stabbed it on his shoulder while he swung his sword around. Then he twirled his wrist before I could pull out the sword from his shoulder, piercing the skin on my arm. I hissed in pain. Then I smelled more blood and felt it dripping from the cut down to my hand. I drew a deep breath s
AMELIA Oh, Goddess. My heart broke to see Margaret lying on the ground with a hole in her chest, and as I looked at everyone they were exhausted and beaten up. I didn’t know how were they still standing despite their bruises, cuts, and wounds, and the devastating tragedy surrounding them, and the ground looked like it had been wiped out by a hurricane. I was glad I wasn’t too late. As Victor helped the people out of the demon’s lair, I distracted him, now wearing my father’s face. “You chose the wrong face, asshole. You targeted the wrong people to mess up. You’re maybe stronger, but I will take you down with me and send you to hell.” “Do you really think you can defeat me? Look at them.” He gestured at everyone. “Many of them are dead. They’ve tried, and they failed. I suggest to bow down to me.” “Well, they’re not me. And no one is bowing down to you because the last thing we want is to be ruled by someone who is Lucifer’s puppet. You live in hell and this earth is close to h
RYDEN My limbs quaked in exhaustion. Every inch of my body ached. I had cuts everywhere, splinters in my skin, blood dripping from my forehead and my arms. I lost count of how many times I flew away, dropped, and dragged, and I couldn’t even get close to the demon. He was far stronger than I’d ever imagined. Knowing that he had Amelia’s face, he could have taken her powers, too, if it was even possible. Margaret’s power couldn’t even match with his. She tried harder and managed to throw him away, but he came back stronger. I didn’t know what to do anymore. Ren, Nora, and everyone didn’t make any difference either. I lost him in Ren’s tornadoes, but knowing that the storm had formed because of his presence, it was useless, and my fire wolf fighting a demon from hell? It would only burn the skin and regenerate itself in seconds. I looked at Lucius. His expression was pained, and he dragged his wolf to stand in exhaustion. We were all exhausted, and nothing could beat that son of a
AMELIA Victor scoffed but it came out like a pig snort. “I would have tried it weeks ago if I knew how.” “Where are we anyway?” “Call it hell because this is hell to me. It’s his lair anyway.” Or another dimension. “I know you can help me, Victor. I need you to think. Maybe you know an incantation or something.” “These people worked at the council and the Enochian. They knew many things, and they tried everything. Do you think we would last a day here if we knew how to escape? We’re gonna die here, Amelia. I hope you’ve said goodbye to the people you loved.” “No!” I stood up, towering over him. “I don’t believe that! I will find a way. And you won’t die here either. This is all your fault. You and Alec fell under his spell, you pathetic lapdog. I will take you with me and you will pay for what you’ve done!” “Do you think I haven’t been paying for everything I did? Keeping me in the cell at the council was way way better than down here no food and smell like a rotten corpse.” “
AMELIA I suckled in a breath, waking up to a reality. I thought I made it through, but it was like a dream talking to them, telling them what I saw. But I swore I was there before something pulled me out. I cracked my eyes open, only to see the same darkness I walked in before. I quickly got on my feet.“What the hell?” I felt like someone just pulled the ground under my feet, throwing me through the hole into the abyss. I tried to walk through many times, but I was still here, in this wasteland of dying people. It was horrible— the smell of death and corpses. The atmosphere was worse than the desert in summer. It felt like being inside the heating pot without the water and my skin kept simmering. The canister smoked a long time ago, and those people stopped running after me. They couldn’t keep up anymore and went back to whatever they were digging. I realized they were not dead. They were just trapped here to starve to death. There was nothing left but bones and skin. The hollow
RYDEN Once he released me, I marched toward Amelia. With my heart felt like crushing in my chest, I stared at this person who had Amelia’s face, wearing the same clothes. “Who’s this?” “Meet, Arakiel, but I doubt if he’s Arakiel,” Lucius told me, holding his sigil. The Arakiel had my Amelia’s face smirked. The evil smirked, making the hair at the back of my neck stand. “Aren’t you clever? How did you figure it out?” “Where’s Amelia, demon?” I asked her, and she just laughed at me. “You’re not Arakiel, are you?” Lucius asked. “You used your father’s name, who owned the wings at the tower?” He faced Lucius, leaning towards him, looking at him eye-to-eye. Her eyes were dark as an abyss. “You know for a fact that this is not Arakiel or his son anymore. I’ve been trying to kill you all these years, and you managed to escape and stay alive. I’m impressed Alexander, or do you prefer me to call you Lucius.” “Where’s my mate?” I summoned the fire, forming a fireball in my palm. She on
RYDEN Lucius rubbed the sigil on his neck. My instinct told me it was a warning sign, and he failed to inform us about it. It wasn’t there before. Suddenly, it appeared when he was in danger. Was that how he survived being hunted all these years? I could see now the dreaded look in his eyes. “What did Margaret do over there?” I couldn’t figure out what she did earlier than casting a spell, and I was hoping it would be useful. “Trap spell.” He didn’t explain further, but Lucius seemed to know what he was doing.I learned to trust him. He had more honor, humility, and integrity than most alphas. In fact, he was better than me in so many ways. I had tons of respect for him as the Alpha King.“Ask Amelia for her sword?” Confused, I asked, “Why?” Then I saw his sigil lit up in the color of a fire that terrified me, not his sigil, but what was about to happen. “What the fuck is going on?” “Calm down. Just act normal.” He walked along with me to the pack house. “Lucius.” I gritted my
AMELIA Lucius struggled to start telling me the story of his sigil, but I waited patiently. I wanted to know why it came and went, and why it appeared now. He drew a deep breath and let it go slowly. “A few months after you died, I had constantly dreamed of you dying. It was a nightmare for weeks. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to sleep, and it drove me crazy. One of the elders told me about a Shaman. I tracked him for a week and found him in Asia, in Mongolia. He was retired, peacefully living in the forest, but the people there accused him of practicing witchcraft. I saved him before they could shoot him with arrows.” “Oh, Goddess. That was awful.” “Yeah. Then I told him the story and my dreams. He healed me. I stayed there for a few days. Then he gave me this sigil. He only touched me, and the sigil on his arm moved to my neck. He said it would protect me from harm and evil spirits, and also warn me for the incoming threats. I didn’t trust it at first, then it sometimes felt l
AMELIA “Oh, Goddess.” I instantly sensed extreme fear everywhere. The pack was under attack. I pulled out the sword from my back and swung it at the wolf attacking Jaxon, pinning him to the ground. “Jaxon, don’t move!”Jaxon froze. The wolf hadn’t seen me, and I took it to my advantage. The blade made a zing sound, piercing my ear. Its head nearly separated from its body. “Amelia, we’re under attack!” Zeph said. My brother was one of the members who hadn’t shifted yet, but carrying a gun. “Who are these people?” I asked him as he shot the werewolf in the head and watched him drop dead to the ground. “The fuck I knew. I called Zarah, but the New York packs were also under attack. I couldn’t reach Alpha Knight.” “Can you hold for a moment? Where are the others?” “Women and children are already in the bunker. The rest of the guys are fighting at the borders. Where are you going?” “Getting a reinforcement. It won’t be long.” I dialed Zarah, and she did not pick up, which left me on