ALTHEA. “Can you take it off?” Blade asked as we continued walking. “I can.” I showed him, but I put it back on right away. “I want to wear it. I think Alas was trying to enchant or hypnotize me at the library, but it didn’t work because of this.” He stopped walking and tugged on my hand, forcing me to stop and face him. “What were you doing with him at the library?” I bit my bottom lip as I shifted my balance back and forth between my two feet. “He asked me to check my manual, and he showed me almost everything we answered was wrong. I didn’t want to submit it to my professor with the wrong answers, so I agreed to meet with him at the library.” “Wrong answer? Even if I helped you with it? You didn’t trust the answers we came up with?” “Please don’t be upset. Hear me out first!” I snapped at him. “I’m not even raising my voice. Explain then.” “He changed the answers. How would I know he’s not human? When I was redoing it at the library, I realized that the method and computati
QUEEN PATREA. The moment Althea appeared in the bedroom where we were, I knew something had changed. Or maybe I was just feeling guilty for keeping the secret from her. But I’d been keeping this secret since I met her for more than six months. It shouldn’t be any different, but somehow, I knew something had changed — if it was her or me, I needed to find out. After Blade had calmed down, we decided to discuss everything in his office. We waited until they appeared, and the moment they did, Lucy asked Althea to come to her to check on her marks. As soon as she walked away from Blade, I created a floating fire in bold letters behind her, asking Blade: Did you tell her she’s not my blood? Blade shook his head. I then changed the letters: We are not telling her yet. And he nodded. No argument. No objection. He just agreed. I had no idea as to why, but I wanted to believe we both didn’t wish for Althea to feel unwanted, either by us or by her biological parents, until I got an
KING LUCIUS. “Is Althea your daughter? Did you feel any connection with her the first time you met her?” Patrea asked, and time stood still. How do I answer such a thing when I have no fucking idea? The possibilities are endless. I could have offspring everywhere, and I wouldn’t know about it if they were only half-demons until the demon side of them awakened. And I was sure I was not the only demon that fucked Zelda. My father did, too. And knowing her cunning nature, if Althea happened to be her daughter and mine or Lucien’s, she would surely inform us because that would make her have a powerful hold in the underworld, especially if she was Lucien, as Lucien seemed to favor a daughter over his sons. But why the fuck was Althea with Adora? There were too many questions, and I had no answer. “Demons never had any connections, as werewolves do. But I’m sure Zelda would not hide it if she’s mine.” I started, and Patrea opened her mouth, but I cut her off before she could say some
BLADE.I was not comfortable letting Althea use her spells tonight, but I didn’t want to upset her by rejecting her idea of finding Fabian. Lucius and Adan reminded me earlier to avoid angering Althea, as it might trigger something from the necklace, as it seemed that the azurite stone had an attachment to her. And since they knew the stone was protected and created by dark magic, triggering any forces could pull Althea towards the dark side of witchcraft.They said they would find more information, but it was up to me to make sure Althea would not draw energy from the necklace. I had no idea how I would manage not to anger my little witch when it seemed she would snap at me if I said no to her every whim. I just needed the necklace off her neck. “We’re here.” I slapped her ass lightly before I let her down on her feet, but I didn’t let her get away from me. I turned her body around and pressed my torso against her back before snaking my arms around her shoulders, caging her into m
BLADE. Althea ended up not using a locator spell to find Fabian’s body, as she couldn’t stop crying and just wanted me to hold her. I had no problem with that. With the necklace gone from her, she was probably beginning to feel all the impact of her encounter with Alas. So I just held her the whole time. But instead of heading to the packhouse, we stayed at the cabin. We sat in front of the fireplace with a blanket around us even though the cold never bothered me, as it was what she wanted. We talked about Adora and her childhood at the Red Mountain, and then she told me about a nightmare where she was beaten when she was younger. She knew it was just a nightmare, but it felt so real to her. I asked her to elaborate more or tell me what exactly happened, but before she could, she stopped talking, and her breathing steadied. She fell asleep. I held her for a while before carefully laying her on the bed in the only bedroom in this house. After making sure she was comfortably tuck
BLADE. “Thank you, sir.” The little girl said politely, but she refused to meet my eyes. The female, whom I now identified as Adora, was carrying her. “Are you afraid of me?” I asked, trying to soften my tone, but with my build and how hoarse my voice was, it was next to impossible. She didn’t reply, but she nodded her head with her gaze still fixated on the ground. I felt Adora wanted to take her away, but I refused to make way and still blocked them. “I’m not a bad guy.” “I know, sir. I don’t like... people looking at me. They look at me all the time.” “Very well, then. Are you sure you will be okay with her?” “Yes, sir. My spirits don’t like her, so it means she’s good.” I was baffled by her answer, but I was not able to ask more as Adora slipped past me. And as soon as she did, she began running away. I saw her grab another female’s hand, and they both ran away. It was only now that I was trying to remember everything that I could see — that the female she grabbed was the
BLADE. Three days passed, and everything was so peaceful that I often wondered if this was the calm before the storm. I hoped I was wrong. Althea was back to her old self, so I knew Patrea was right about how the necklace was sucking her into the darkness. But even with the azurite stone not around her neck, I noticed how she became more sexual and aggressive when it came to intimacy. Not that I was complaining. I liked it that way, knowing I could fire her up as much as she does to me. All was well, and so far, Althea had shown no intention of taking the necklace back, so I was keeping it but not wearing it, as I promised her I would wear it once when we were outside the territory for added protection. We still hadn’t told her about her dark origin, as Patrea feared her curiosity would lead her to find out more, which might attract her back to that side. They wanted more answers, so even if I wasn’t agreeing to it, I just went along. But I did tell her about the necklace and h
UNKNOWN POV. I could never forget the day when everything changed. The memories still flood my head like they were just yesterday, when, in fact, these memories happened thirteen years ago. ------------- The sound of a door being unlocked reached my ears, and I knew they had returned. I grunted and hid my head under the pillow, wanting more sleep because I was up all night. But with the way everything was banging outside my bedroom, this was an impossible task. My door opened as expected, and she came musing in. “He took her. He took her…” “Mom, please…” I complained. “Let me sleep. I don’t want to talk with you when the sun is not even up.” “Get up!” She exclaimed, and the blanket covering my body was pulled off of me. “Give that back!” I shouted as I abruptly rose from lying down, ready to grab the blanket back, when fear enveloped my senses. Mom’s eyes were totally black, with black mists emitting from her skin. “I’m sorry…” I blurted out as I sat back, inching closer to