Cursed by the one who hid and loved him. That his fire may do him harm should he use it. That his flame should bring him death should he wield it. Cursed was he and his descendants.By his blood and that of his love, his salvation locked away in the Deanton forevermore. Split in two by a sacred stone and scattered that no one might find it.Alas, For in the place called after that which blooms and the North of Norths so true, that which holds the cure in the centre may be found. With a sacred stone, the blood of the marked and of his lost love, they shall set free that which is bound."Undeciphered text from the Kriona Archives.______________________________________________Tamara’s POVWhat started out as an investigation into the reason for the disappearances and deaths of supernaturals and humans alike had led to a chilling revelation. The Unnaturals were trying to break the curse that had made them prey for centuries. A curse that if broken would unleash a dangerous and vengeful
"What happens if the hybrids get what they want and come for us all?""We will ask for their forgiveness and pray they spare our children, Rhea. Even though our ancestors did not spare theirs."Kriona chief Dahlia to Rhea, representative of the Witch order at the neutral meeting in Quebec. ______________________________________________Ally’s POVYou shouldn't bottle up your tears, sister. It doesn't make you look strong. No, it just parts the way for a greater devastation, Kara had said to me once. Unfortunately, I was never one to listen to advice. Not the good ones anyway. I'd gone to sleep immediately Caleb and Tamara left, the migraine ensuring I'd had a dreamless but otherwise restless nap. I'd smiled when they were leaving. On a search to find the thing that could save my life. A search that I'd have been able to go on by myself if I wasn't already dying slowly and literally. My body felt weaker with each passing day, a truth that I could never bring myself to say. Not when
"What happens if we don't find anything? What's going to happen to her, Tamara?""I don't have that answer, Caleb.""Have you ever wanted someone bad enough that you accept to be their friend just so you could be by their side?""You know who should be listening to this. And you have the chance to tell her before it's too late." Conversation between Tamara and Caleb ______________________________________________ALLY’s POV"Stay strong, little girl. I would sleep with one eye open if I were you."Staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, I watched as my yellow eyes flicked on and off, a sharp reminder that despite everything that had happened today, the clock was ticking. In the direction of my death. Tick tock.Aiden's family had been casualties of the Great Purge. His six year old sister. Dead. In a battle between wolves and vampires. Of all creatures on earth, only you, Aiden would be a guardian to the species that had a hand in the death of your family.Even though it'
Tamara’s POVWe'd searched all of the gardens in the city and found nothing. Dahlia had called us to say the same thing too, her voice sounding like it was the apocalypse. Caleb was seated beside me in the passenger seat, too angry and weary to speak. He'd been so hopeful in the beginning of our search that I'd had to keep my pessimistic thoughts to myself and I hated to be him right now. I'd texted Aiden a while ago and he'd told me everything was fine on his end and that they were going to attend a festival, because Curt Reyes had sent his nephew Edward to request his presence. The last time Aiden had been in Victoria, Charlotte, Edward's sister had suffered what the psychologists now called a fatal attraction syndrome and had tried to kill Aiden when he didn't reciprocate her affections. Of course, Edward had said Aiden was at fault. Too fucking cold and handsome were his exact words. Fortunately for everyone, Charlotte had found her fated and mated with him, a human from Regin
Ally’s POV"It is your destiny.""Find the moonstone.""It will set you free.""Allyson.""Allyson.""ALLYSON!!!"Breathing heavily, I opened my eyes, jumped out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom to empty the contents of my stomach, only it wasn't vomit but blood. My blood. Her degeneration has already begun, I heard a voice say and turned around to search for where it had come from. There was no one, just me kneeling in front of the toilet seat, smelling like my blood and stale blood that wasn't mine. Shrugging out of my clothes, I stepped into the shower, the water scalding hot as I tried to recall what had happened. Aiden and I left the house for the festival, a little girl gave me a bracelet, I talked to Aiden and then ... And then what?Did I black out at the festival?Why did my clothes have blood stains on them?Don't panic, Allyson. Whatever happened, you woke up back in the house, in the bed that you've been sleeping on for days. Removing the moonstone from the unde
ALLY’s POVWe were standing in front of the largest oak tree I'd ever seen A Fae Queen with the palest skin, eyes of the greenest grass and hair of the darkest ebony, illuminated by the lights hanging around the tree as she leaned into it. Ailine. Turning my gaze to the person beside me, I saw his body tense, his face looking apprehensive of the question I'd asked the queen. Aiden. The vampire who'd gotten under my skin."In order to source knowledge from the Fae, you must tell a secret. One that causes you shame." Ailine, Fae Queen of North America whispered. Looking at Aiden, I closed her eyes and spoke a secret. "I was the one who found my sister's body by the pack border, two days after she'd been taken. The vampires who'd taken her believed she was an Unnatural when she lied to them on my behalf." Aiden stiffened, his eyes on my face. "I think they found out she didn't have magic. So they slit her throat and let her bleed to death. A small mercy, rather than drinking from her
"Once upon a time, there lived a princess who was chosen by the gods to save her people from destruction.""Ma, you've told us the beginning several times and never the ending, we want to know what happens at the end.""Yes, mama, Kara is right. What happens to the princess? Does she save her people? Does she find her prince and live happily ever after?""The end is up to the princess ,my darling children. The ending of a tale is what we want it to be." Camille to her children, Kara and Ally. ______________________________________________Tamara’s POVThis was not good. "Why the fuck is she wearing your clothes, Aiden? And why is she looking like that? What happened?" Caleb yelled at Aiden, rushing to sit beside Allyson who looked too pale, sitting in clothes that were clearly bigger than her and staring at nothing in particular. Caleb's eyes turned wolf blue, pinning Aiden who stood a healthy distance away, his face stoic except I could literally feel his sadness. He stood up, hi
Tamara’s POV"When do you think we should go in?" I asked Aiden. For someone who'd just heard that the lover he'd tried to kill had instead lived, he looked better than most, his hands clasped as his face remained calm. The forever apathetic mask. We were sitting in the coffee shop opposite the house, after returning from Curt Reyes' home. Neither them nor the king wolves had found any trail that would lead us to locating the Marin witches. And now that we knew they were making use of portals, that changed a lot of things. According to the witch order, the Marin witches stopped existing after majority of them were killed after the Great Purge. Unsaid were the words, by a certain A-telekinetic. Said telekinetic that looked like he'd been about to drop dead after hearing that he'd failed in carrying out his revenge. "They need some time to talk without worrying about us hearing them." He answered, referring to Allyson and Caleb. "How did you know all of those things that you and Ally
Dahlia’s POVIt'd been weeks since she disappeared. The local news had reported an explosion in the mountainous uninhabited area of Yukon and there was a hole in the ice. Nothing had been found. No bodies. No castle. Nothing but ashes in the snow. Aiden and Caleb were found in the woods in Fairfield by the Reyes vampires, barely conscious and agony written over their faces as they struggled to accept the reality of what Allyson had done. Post explosion, more rogues and black witches had been caught and killed thanks to the information Renee had given Caleb, the whereabouts of Ian Sinclair, the only known hybrid a mystery after he'd spoken to Caleb who'd shakily passed along a message from his dead friend, Renee. The last time I'd spoken to him, he'd been cold and distant, muttering 'I shouldn't have promised her.'Aiden Thorne had disappeared, his whereabouts known only by his cousin Tamara who looked grim anytime I asked about his state. Along with instructions to find the safe,
Ally’s POVThe last person I expected to see when I opened my eyes was sitting in front of me. Hale and hearty. Caleb. My best friend. My best friend who'd told me he was in love with me. My best friend who'd let them take me. I shifted away from him almost immediately and he looked hurt. "Allyson, look–""No, Caleb, you look." I showed him my cuffed hands and he winced. "They said it was to stop you from hurting yourself. All the times I came to see you, you were unconscious.""Because they were drugging me, Caleb. I don't even understand. I feel like I don't know you anymore. How could you have betrayed me like that?"His face turned to the side like I'd slapped him. I wished I did. "Betrayed you? You think I did this because I wanted to betray you? Why would even believe that?" "So, what the hell happened?" "The day I picked up Renee from the airport, she said something about helping us in whatever way she could and when I questioned it, she said she didn't do it for me. Tha
ALLY’s POV"Wake up, lovebirds." The sound of glasses clinking together made me force my eyes open despite the throbbing headache and blurry vision. I was tied to a chair that was turned sideways, placing me in direct line of sight of Aiden's barely conscious form tied to another chair. "It makes me sad to keep you both sedated but that is the way it must be, we can't have this one–" Dorothea Marin finally appeared in my line of vision as she walked towards Aiden, lifting his face up and placing a soft kiss on his mouth. Biting her lip with his fang, Aiden opened his eyes and glared at her, seemingly forgetting that hurting her would hurt me. She smiled, cupped his jaw and turned his head until he was looking in my direction to see the cut on my bottom lip where he'd bitten her slowly close up. His eyes were hazy, the grey of his blue-grey eyes seemingly vanished beneath the blue that looked even darker as the light from the fireplace illuminated his face. "What did you do to him
ALLY’S POVI'd counted the number of people I'd walked past as Dorothy led me through the corridors of what she called 'The Love Castle'. Twenty. Rogue vampires and wolves. And witches. I didn't recognize any of them. They seemed to know who I was and some lingered to stare at me before resuming on their way. Apparently, I was the only one who'd done something to deserve being in chains. After the revelation that Aiden was coming here, I'd shoved all of her supposed truths to the back of my mind. I was in denial. It was either that or believe all that she'd said when I was still finding it very difficult to wrap my head around what Renee Falls had revealed to me. Everyone around me seemed to have some shocking revelation whenever I was present. There was a scar on my right palm from where a witch who'd claimed to be blood of my blood had sliced me open. I assumed if I was crazy enough to believe Dorothy, it meant she was a Marin witch too. She'd done the same thing to Dorothea an
"There's been an attack, Aiden.""Where?" "Quebec. Rogue sightings. Uncle says his people have it under control. It seems the Gomez pack and the Benets are also having disagreements. Territory related." "The Alpha of the Gomez Pack is Grayson. Is it not?" "What are you thinking?" "Distractions. Distractions from the real plan, Tamara. If the factions are too busy fighting others–""No one will be as interested in the hybrids that are supposed to be myth."______________________________________________ALLY’s POVI'd spent most of my life dealing with involuntary unconsciousness after every fire incident. My ability crippled me, controlled me without my will. It was no wonder why I hated being forced into doing things I didn't want to do. Like being injected into unconsciousness. And being forced out of said unconsciousness. I should've been hysterical after everything that happened with Renee. I should've started the hysteria the moment I walked into a lake and came out in the hi
ALLY’s POV"Trust not the woman with hair of fire and blood as like that which runs through your veins.""Child of moon and fire.""Wake up, sister. Wake up." The instant I opened my eyes, I knew I wasn't alone. I was chained to a bed, silver cuffs holding my hands to the headboard. I was dizzy, nauseous and my vision was blurry but I could make out the shape of the woman standing by the window, with her back to me wearing a red cloak. Sniffing, my blood ran cold. Vampire. Not Tamara. The memories of the last thing that happened before I lost consciousness hit me like an arrow to the heart. Caleb had betrayed me. I shook my head, trying to believe that wasn't the case, trying to see it from his point of view.Whoever fed him those lies, that's who was to blame, right? I was sure that he'd believed he was doing it for my own good. After all, I needed whomever had the Deanton to break the curse and I needed the blood of a Marin witch. They had two of the elements, I had two. The moo
If you're reading this, it means that you finally opened the locket, my love. My prognosis is bad and I'm afraid that I don't have much time left to wait till you've come of age. I'm so sorry that I hid the truth from you for such a long time but it was the best I could do, that we could do to protect you. To make sure you stayed alive. If you've not already figured this out, I'll tell you. Christian and I are not your biological parents. I never got a chance to meet your father but your mother was the sweetest person there was and no, she didn't abandon you. She needed a place to hide you from some really bad people that wanted to take you because you were special and different. Like your real father was. She took her last breath after cradling you in her arms. I'm sorry that I couldn't save her like she saved Kara's life all those years ago, but I promised to protect you and love you like my own till fate came for you. Please know this, neither of us knew what exactly your fate was
"Dahlia, there is something you must do for me, please." "Anything, Allyson.""There is a place in London that I need you to check. A safe. Retrieve the contents and keep it safe. I'll come to you for it.""Send me the coordinates. I'll see to it personally.""Thank you.""And Allyson? Whatever you do, you must not let yourself be manipulated. Remember what Ariel said.""You saw something, didn't you?""It's close. Trust your gut."______________________________________________Ally’s POVI'd asked Aiden to bring me to the place where I'd almost been taken. It was a park situated not too far from where the festival had happened that night. Remembering nothing, I'd turned to leave but he'd held my hand and now we were sitting on a bench, watching the sunset. "Where'd you apply to? For college." Not allowing my surprise that he'd chosen to fill the silence with a random question show, I took a deep breath and answered as honestly as I could. It was the least I could do since I was pl
Tamara’s POV"When do you think we should go in?" I asked Aiden. For someone who'd just heard that the lover he'd tried to kill had instead lived, he looked better than most, his hands clasped as his face remained calm. The forever apathetic mask. We were sitting in the coffee shop opposite the house, after returning from Curt Reyes' home. Neither them nor the king wolves had found any trail that would lead us to locating the Marin witches. And now that we knew they were making use of portals, that changed a lot of things. According to the witch order, the Marin witches stopped existing after majority of them were killed after the Great Purge. Unsaid were the words, by a certain A-telekinetic. Said telekinetic that looked like he'd been about to drop dead after hearing that he'd failed in carrying out his revenge. "They need some time to talk without worrying about us hearing them." He answered, referring to Allyson and Caleb. "How did you know all of those things that you and Ally