Chapter 4

Sabine POV

“How could you?” I breathed, tears falling from my eyes as my body trembled.

“How could I do what, Sabine? Kill your parents? Betray you? Stop worshipping the ground you walk on? Sorry, but you’ll have to be a little more specific if you want answers.” She spat the words.

“They loved you…” I whispered. The tears I couldn’t control chased each other down my cheeks. “My parents treated you like their own. I treated you like my blood sister—”

Her face became a mask of hatred and I finally saw the twisted soul inside her. “Don’t give me that bullshit! You never treated me like your sister. I lived practically in your shadow. You flaunted your perfect life, perfect family, perfect title in front of me every chance you got. And as if that wasn’t enough, I was supposed to be grateful that the almighty Varela family had taken me in. Deep down, all you thought was that I was dog shit on your shoes!”

My voice rose to a shout. “So you killed my parents—the ones who raised you—just because you were jealous of me?”

“No. I killed them so I could become Luna.” Her eyes roamed lazily over me. “You were so sure that any man, including Dominic, would fall for pretty Alpha Sabine. You never realized that Dominic was my true mate and you were about to snatch him away from me just because of some stupid prophecy.”

I trembled. Her true mate? How could I not have known?

“Anyway, Dominic and I got rid of your parents once they discovered the truth about us. They were going to tell you later, but first they wanted to understand the prophecy.” She continued. “He convinced you to marry him after you lost your memories so he could get the Alpha title… Ah, that reminds me…”

She pulled out her phone and moved to the window, never taking her eyes off me.

“Dominic,” she said into the phone. “She knows… Yes. She got her memories back. Don’t worry. She’s here with me and she’s definitely not going anywhere.” She listened and her smile returned. “Of course, love.”

She tossed the phone aside and that was when I saw murder in her eyes.

She grabbed the fruit knife and looked at me with a leer.

“No,” I croaked and pushed my wheelchair backward. “Don’t do this.”

“Yes,” she hissed. “Now you know the truth. You can see I really have no other choice. You have to die.”

She stopped in front of me, twirling the knife in the air. “Dominic will be here soon to finish you off, but I think I’d like to do the honors myself. Want to know why?”

“Lilian—”

“I want to see if you really have blue blood or if yours is red like the rest of us. What—”

I surged to my feet with every ounce of adrenaline in me and launched myself at her. With a cry of surprise she stumbled and cracked her head on the corner of the table. Her body hit the floor with a dull thud, twitched, and went still.

I ran out of the room on trembling legs. My muscles immediately screamed in protest and pain tore through every cell inside me. For a moment everything spun.

I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth against the pain, and ran. I had barely cleared the hallway when I heard my bedroom door slam open.

Someone shouted, “She’s escaped!”

Within half a minute the entire estate came alive. I could hear guards running, searching for me. I headed for the back exit that led straight into the forest surrounding the estate.

When I burst outside I heard Dominic roar, “Find her and bring her to me alive or dead! GO!”

More doors slammed inside the house. More guards pounded up and down stairs.

I stopped for a second, trying to catch my breath. But I saw a guard coming and started running again.

“Hey!”

I looked back. A guard was right behind me.

“There she is!” he yelled and others joined in.

As I ran toward the forest I could hear more guards chasing me.

I could hear them close behind, running and calling to one another. Panic threatened to drown me, but I held it back with effort, knowing that if I made one wrong step, if my aching legs gave out, I would never see another sunrise.

And then a voice inside me said, “Run faster.”

I almost cried with joy. It was my wolf, Sab, who had been completely silent since the first accident. Now she was back.

“Faster, Sabine,” she urged. “They’re gaining on us.”

I bit my lip, tasted blood, and pushed for an extra burst of speed.

The effort was too much for my battered body and my vision began to blur. I staggered, fell onto my hands and knees, and my wrist snapped. It throbbed violently and I started to cry.

Somehow I found the strength to get up again. Then I realized something terrible when I smelled blood.

The stitches holding the large gash on my stomach together were coming undone and blood was pouring from the wound in terrifying amounts.

“Please. Please. Please,” I whispered, not sure who I was begging or praying to.

I tore a long strip from my blouse and wrapped it tightly around my stomach.

“Don’t let her escape!” someone shouted and I immediately started running again.

Sab stirred inside me. “Let me out. You need me now.”

I shook my head, sending drops of tears flying through the air.

“No,” I told her. “I can’t. I’m too weak… Too much blood. I could die.”

Sab whimpered. “Then run faster.”

I pushed the image of my parents’ dead bodies to the front of my mind. It gave me the strength to keep going. I couldn’t avenge their murders if I ended up planted in the cold hard ground myself.

But it was getting harder and harder. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my system starting to fade. I jumped over a log in my path and more stitches tore open. Suddenly the world turned gray. I took two steps forward, but my legs finally gave out.

“NO!” Sab screamed inside my head. “Get up now!”

I started to push myself up but fell back, gasping weakly. The guards’ footsteps grew closer. As I fought to hold on to consciousness, they found me and surrounded me.

“Get up,” one of them growled.

When I didn’t move, he grabbed my arm and yanked me upright.

“We have to go now,” the second guard said, looking around uneasily. “We’ve crossed the Nightbane border.”

The guard holding me growled and gestured to a third. He produced a thick coil of rope. Together they bound my arms and then my legs so tightly I could barely breathe.

“Let me go,” I whimpered and struggled weakly, their faces blurring in my vision.

Somewhere nearby a twig snapped and the guards holding me stiffened. Their heads turned to the right and from the shadows of a thick cluster of trees, a figure emerged.

I couldn’t really see him, but I felt his aura. It made my heart stop and then race as his scent filled my nostrils. Everything that made me who I was disconnected in that instant. He—whoever he was—was the one holding me now.

“MATE,” Sab gasped and I barely stopped myself from saying the word out loud.

“A-Alpha Evander,” the guards stammered and bowed.

The guard who wasn’t holding me took a hesitant step and said, “We’re sorry for crossing your borders, Alpha, but capturing this woman is important to our—”

The man then spoke, his deep voice cold and laced with the command of the Alpha. "If you value your lives, then let it go now."