CANNONStepping out of my bathroom, I picked up my second towel on the bed’s side table and glanced at The Sleeping Beauty, Aurora. She was cuddling my pillow in place of a stuffed animal, with a little drool rolling down her slightly open mouth.I cleaned it off her with my least used napkin and dried the rest of my body, opening my closet to see what I could wear. My underwear was the only thing on when I heard a whistle come from the bedside and saw Aurora giggling.I turned back to the closet and picked a singlet. This thing that Aurora and I were doing was nice, and I wasn’t just ready to leave it. I guess they weren’t brats after all and it’d be lovely if we could spend the morning together before letting her go. Shadow loved her company too so why not extend it a bit?She got up from the bed, rubbing her tummy.“I’ll get Susanna to make us something.”“Yes!” she exclaimed, shining her not-so-perfect teeth. “I wan
KATRINA“Perfect…” It was the voice of a woman, or what should be one. The tone was thin, weak, and fading more with every letter she pronounced. Icy cold fingers were poking my stomach and that was what initially brought me out of the temporary coma.Apart from her disturbing voice, I also heard the sound of thick liquid dropping into more liquid. It was quick, like a drop every two seconds and as my eyelashes slowly moved, I felt numbing pain around my wrists.My whole body hurt but that could be ignored, compared to how my wrists felt. My back wasn’t lying on a bed—unfortunately—I wasn’t even lying down. I forced my guttering eyes open and was punched with nausea.The cave I was in looked like it had been dyed red. There was no entrance and no exit that I knew of. I was only in my underwear and my nose couldn’t pick up any scent.My hands and legs were bound to the walls by chains in a crucifixion pose and icy fingers poking me stopped. I didn’t find the woman the eerie voice belo
CANNONWe made our own search teams and split to increase the chances of finding Kat. And also because we couldn't work together. Susanna was linking us once every hour for updates, but nothing so far.We combed Azonos, each taking a section of the forest to clues. The search has been on for half a day and neither search team took rest. In the end, if we didn’t find success here, we’d find it in Dorcha Azonos.I was giving Azonos three more hours before we moved to the darker regions. The mind-link between the three of us was always on, in case we got any lead, but so far there has been no success but giving up wasn’t an option.A river was up ahead and this one was a major water supply to animals in the day and rogues at night. Being one of the most popular water sources, there’s a high chance that the agmarbhs might drink from here.Unless they don’t have to drink.“Search everywhere! We must find something!” I announced for the millionth time and the Sigmas of my search team scour
KANE “They were the only ones willing to help. The rest didn’t seem to understand what we were saying.”I told my brothers as we looked at the two humans. Their hair was matted; they had sores and bruises, some of which had maggots crawling out of them. The little left of their clothing was covered in layers of dirt, blood, and sweat which piled up and turned their clothes black.They looked better now they had taken a wash in the river. The man didn’t have a good eye anymore and the woman had a deep cut on her hand that needed treatment. She also had a swollen mouth and there were eyesore heat rashes on his body.Most of their skin had reddened because of heat and the doctors I previously called had just arrived now, carrying out their duties. We sat opposite these humans while some of our Sigmas escorted the other humans and wolves to the packhouse.They tried to talk but even after drinking the whole river up, their voices were too ho
KATRINA ‘What next is how we get out of this sh*thole?’‘Right.’My poor kids. They’d be worried sick about me. ‘They’ll be fine, they have Susanna but the Alpha Triplets don’t and I’m sure they would’ve turned the whole pack and forest upside down.’She wasn’t lying. I know I said they’d come for me but I was barely conscious and a bit delusional, I wasn’t sure myself. This cave looked like nowhere in Azonos. Finding it in Dorcha Azonos might even be harder. ‘They’d have turned this into a race. First to get Katrina wins because those three cannot work together.’ I shrugged that off but was very uncomfortable in the underwear I was wearing. ‘You should be glad she didn’t strip you naked. Who was that crazy lady anyway?’‘A demon.’ I recollected her frosty hands and chilly voice. ‘Her hands were so cold and she was pale, too pale.’‘Vampire?’‘Vampires don’t exist, Mel.’‘Humans said the sam
KATRINA Don’t look down. Why the f*ck did I say that? The bridge was reasonably wide but that didn’t dim that there was still a high chance of someone falling over and Melora, as always, wasn’t making things any better.‘It’d hurt if you fell inside. Like really hurt. I can’t even imagine.’ Just ignore her. Ignore her. ‘The lava is super hot and we’ll melt. We’re right under this lava! Doesn’t that freaking scare you?!’ Ignore. Her. ‘If we slip and fall it’s over. The bridge isn’t wide enough!’ “MEL!”I stopped walking as my voice echoed in the caves. I froze, waiting for any movement, and didn’t walk further until I was sure I was safe. But who the f*ck, was I kidding? I was over boiling lava!And Mel almost blew my cover. Sometimes I wonder if I got the wrong spirit animal.‘Hey!’It got worse when I looked down. Mel’s words haunted my consciousness and partially affected my body. I looked ahead and was relieved when I saw that the end wasn’
30 MINUTES EARLIER…HENRY “I’ve done everything you wanted me to, Lilith. It’s your turn now.”She came closer, smirking as her fingers played with each other. Her presence choked me and I wanted to strangle her to death but that would be instant death for me. I must think.“The deal is broken. We are detached,” she said.“You didn’t acknowledge my first statement,” I reminded.“Why so keen, Hen? She’ll arrive.”“I need her now,” I roared with a tied tongue, pinching myself so I wouldn’t do something stupid.She stopped at a small table at the center, and sitting on this same table was a bowl of white powder. Her fingers encircled in this white powder, and as she did, it made her paler and she seemed to be getting addicted to it… until she pulled away.“Someone is deep in love. Deep deep in love. I know how you feel.”I scoffed. “I’ll hardly call that love,” I muttered to myself. “And I’ve been patient enough. If you know how I feel then bring her back to me.”Her red eyes rolled and
KATRINA While I watched what was happening, I tried to break the silver bracelets that the demon had cursed on my hands and legs, but the more I tried, the more it got worse and it annoyed the hell out of me.“Where is Katrina?!” Kane’s prevailing voice echoed in the cave and he was a different wolf from the partly comedic and frisky Kane I had gotten to know. He was unnerved and I could feel his angry aura all the way here.Cannon had a gun pointed at the demon but Ian held a sword with another one behind his back while Kane directed a different-looking sword at her.She raised her hands in the air, trying to take a step back but shook when Cannon shot a bullet next to her ear.“Move and this goes into your head!” I could feel his fuming aura too, but there was something personal and choking about it. A crowd of Sigmas swarmed out of the entrance and stayed behind them, each aiming a deadly weapon at Lilith. I though